In Your Honor (4 page)

***

Blake chuckled, remembering the look
of absolute horror on the new girl's face when she had run into
him. It was hilarious but he was glad he hadn't laughed at her. She
was obviously having a hard day. He didn't envy her, trying to fit
into a ready-made family would be a challenge for anyone. And he
knew they weren't the easiest people to get along with.

He claimed his usual bunk in the red
bus by covering it with his stuff. Then he returned to his hotel
room to drain the mini bar before they departed the next morning.
Had anyone explicitly told him that this was a dry tour? Not
really, but it was heavily implied. And he would honor that as much
as his frayed nerves would allow. But until the tour officially
started at dawn, he was allowed to get as shit-faced as he
wanted.

He probably wouldn't be this anxious
if he had had more time to prepare for what was coming. Or, at
least, that's what he told himself. He had seen the schedule a week
ago and they would be in Pryor in four days. Definitely not enough
time. They had a show tomorrow night in Des Moines, the night after
that in Omaha, the night after that in Kansas City, and then he
would wake up in his hometown. And he'd be there for two days
before playing at Rocklahoma. Two frickin' days.

Blake chucked the empty bottle of
vodka across the room to the trash can. He hated vodka, that stuff
was the worst. But maybe, just maybe, it would help him fall asleep
tonight. A hearty knock at the door told him otherwise.

He shoved himself to his feet and
looked through the peephole. He had thought it would be Mike, but
no, it was Luke. He pulled the door open and returned to the
minibar without so much as a greeting.

The door closed behind him and he
flopped into a chair, twisting off the lid of his next dose of
therapy. He smiled at Luke and waved to the fridge.

“
Help
yourself.”

“
Thanks, I'm good.” Luke
looked uncomfortable, and Blake wondered how the conversation had
gone between him and Mike about who would try to come and talk to
him. Maybe they had just flipped for it. Either way, Blake wasn't
planning on putting up a fight. He'd be honest if the right
questions were asked.

“
You gonna make it through
this one?” Luke got right to the point as he settled in the chair
across from Blake.

“
Hope so. Wish someone
would have told me the plan ahead of time,” he said
pointedly.

“
We thought the less time
you had to think about it, the less damage you'd do to yourself,”
Luke admitted. Blake couldn't fault him for that. He had no idea
how he would have handled it if he'd known sooner, but it probably
would have been something akin to a train wreck.

“
Why do we have to spend
so much time there?” Blake asked, his voice rougher than he
preferred.

“
I got a couple tips on
some local talent there and I wanted to see their act. We still
need an opener for the tour and we have to go after unsigned
artists.” Luke's face was sympathetic and Blake couldn't be mad at
him. He was making the best decisions available for the band as a
whole. He always did.

“
I get it,” Blake sighed.
He did get it, but he still didn't like it.

A few minutes of silence passed before
Luke spoke again. “You gonna try to see her?”

Blake closed his eyes and resisted the
urge to scratch the ink that was still healing on his ribs. “Nah, I
need to let her live her life. It wouldn't do either of us any
good.” It was the clearest and most direct thought he'd had on the
matter all week. “I'll probably stop at the diner and reminisce a
little, though,” he added as an afterthought.

“
You don't think she'll be
there?” Luke asked quietly.

Blake swallowed hard. “No, I heard she
married some rich guy and moved to Tulsa. She was always too good
for that town anyway.” The words tasted bitter as he said them, and
he knew he wasn't convincing Luke that he was as fine with it as he
wanted to believe himself.

“
Will you do me a favor?”
Luke asked, his brow furrowed in concern. “Will you take one of us
with you... just in case?”

Blake chewed on his bottom lip as he
considered the request. It wasn't that big of a deal. If it made
Luke more comfortable then he could do that. He shrugged.
“Sure.”

***

The drive across Iowa was boring.
Like, want to rip your hair out and set it on fire just to freak
out the bus driver boring. Blake regretted not sneaking some
contraband onto the bus before they had pulled out of town. Chances
are Kendra wouldn't have found it, she wasn't as thorough as Lenny
had been. But that thought made Blake feel like shit. Hadn't he
been the one to tell her that she was going to do a good
job?

Come to think of it, Blake had no idea
where Kendra even was. Crew bus? Blue bus? Not in the Love Nest,
that was for sure. Lenny and Luke's bus was brand-new and gorgeous.
No one was allowed on it, Luke's rules. Which left Blake with more
room than he'd ever had on tour, since his only company was Sway.
After all those times he thought he needed more space, it turned
out that being alone with his thoughts was not the greatest feeling
in the world. Especially with the destination that loomed on the
horizon three days from now.

“
New girl didn't miss a
single thing, and I had a lot of bullshit on my 'must-have' list.”
Sway opened the fridge in the kitchenette and lobbed a soda in
Blake's direction.

“
Kendra,” Blake replied,
catching the can and cracking it open.

“
What?” Sway frowned and
sat on the sofa, kicking his shoes off.

“
Her name is Kendra.”
Blake rolled his eyes.

“
Right,” Sway nodded.
“Kendra,” he repeated slowly, trying to commit it to memory. “She's
not bad looking either.”

“
You know you can't—”
Blake frowned at him.

“
I know, I know,” Sway
waved him off. “I wasn't saying anything like that. I'm just... I
don't know, making conversation.”

“
Awkward,” Blake stated
flatly.

“
What else are we supposed
to talk about? You don't want to talk about,” Sway paused, pointing
at Blake's side, “you know. And Iowa is the most boring drive in
the world, and Harrison took all of the good video games 'cause he
thought
that
would be funny.” Sway looked exasperated and Blake cracked a
smile.

“
You wanna work on some
music?” he suggested.

“
Like nothing else.”
Sway's face lit up in relief and excitement.

They had been working on some things
the past few months that they didn't intend to present to the rest
of the band. Playing around mostly, experimenting with lyrics and
different technique. But they had agreed to set it aside for the
tour so they could focus on the band. That lasted all of six
hours.

***

Lucy Newton wiped down the end of the
counter one final time before throwing her rag in the mesh bag
around the corner. She stretched the overworked muscles of her back
and shoulders and untied her apron.

“
You ready to go home,
Lucy?” Mac called from the back room.

“
Yeah, you almost
finished?” She released her tired hair from its restraint and shook
out the wild, chestnut waves that tumbled down her back. She
checked the back door again to make sure it was locked and started
shutting off the lights.

Another long, busy day for the oldest
diner in Pryor, Oklahoma. And Lucy was proud of that
accomplishment. She touched the framed photos of her grandparents
by the cash register on her way to the front door where Mac was
waiting.

“
What time do you want me
to be back tomorrow?” her cousin asked as he pulled the door open
for the two of them. She grabbed her large purse that was more of a
small saddle bag than a traditional purse and slipped it over her
head.

“
After lunch; that should
give me enough time to change my clothes before heading to
rehearsal.”

“
You sure you don't want
me to work the whole day for you? I really don't mind.” He
scratched the top of his head, hair the same shade as hers and just
as thick as they paused in the parking lot.

“
No, you'll be working for
me during the show, too, so I don't want to take advantage of you.”
She smiled and lightly punched him in the arm. “Go home, get some
sleep, snuggle that new baby of yours.”

“
Okay, Lucy, whatever you
say.” He chuckled as he walked to his car and unlocked the
door.

Lucy paused and took a deep breath.
Then another one. She squinted towards the horizon but couldn't see
anything beyond the black prairie sky.

“
What's up?”

She turned to see Mac watching her,
perplexed.

“
Nothing... I just...” She
smiled as she realized her absurdity. “I thought I smelled
rain.”

Mac chuckled and climbed into his car.
He rolled the window down and teased her, “Storms come out of the
west, Lucy. Usually not the north.”

Lucy frowned and realized she had been
looking northeast. That was a weird mistake to make. “Yeah,
usually,” she murmured to herself.

“
Besides, they're
predicting clear skies all week. You're tired. Get some rest
tonight.” Mac gave one final, amused head-shake and drove
off.

Lucy stood very still for several
minutes as her head tried to explain to her heart that it was crazy
and she was, indeed, just tired. She inhaled deeply
again.

She hadn't imagined it. It was
definitely going to rain.

***

“
I thought Des Moines was
lovely.” Harrison ran his hands through his curly hair and bounded
into the bus.

“
Yeah, they definitely had
some energy,” Mike agreed right behind him.

“
Sway and Blake seem to be
getting along just fine,” Harrison added, as he took his seat on
the floor and hooked up the video game system. “I thought there
might be more bitching about me jacking all the games, but they
didn't seem to care.”

“
I'm just glad Blake was
sober, he's hard to play with when he's wasted,” Mike said as he
changed out of his too-sweaty shirt.

“
Says the drummer with the
longest record of forgotten performances in the history of rock and
roll, and that includes Keith Moon,” Harrison reminded
him.

“
True story. I shouldn't
talk.” Mike caught the controller that Harrison flipped his way and
settled onto the floor.

“
Do you guys want those
sandwiches now... or...” Kendra's voice made Mike suddenly realize
she was on the bus with them.

“
Are you riding with us
tonight?” Mike asked the first question that popped into his
head.

So did Harrison. “What
sandwiches?”

Mike rolled his eyes at the
guitarist.

“
Um, yes,” Kendra answered
Mike and then moved silently to the kitchenette where she retrieved
two foot-long subs. She handed them both over and then sat quietly
in a chair.

Harrison immediately started eating,
but Mike was still confused.

“
Why are you on this bus?”
He didn't want it to sound like he was upset by her presence,
because he wasn't. But he was still very much
bewildered.

“
Because Carl has me on
the blue bus for the first week.” Kendra's voice was clear, but he
detected the hint of a tremble. She was afraid she was in trouble.
That was his fault. He tried to start again.

“
I just meant, where did
you ride last night?” Mike tried really hard not to frown, but he
knew it was happening anyway.

“
I was... here...”
Kendra's eyes were so round and wide that Mike was a little worried
they might fall out of her head.

“
Yeah, dick,” Harrison
said around a mouthful. He smacked Mike in the chest with the back
of his hand before swallowing. “She's been with us since we left
Chicago.”

“
What?” Mike felt it was
okay to frown at Harrison. He also felt it was okay to smack
Harrison upside the head if the need should arise, which could be
any minute.

“
Um, self-involved much?”
Harrison rolled his eyes.

Mike looked back to Kendra, who looked
like she might cry. “I'm sorry, Kendra. I guess I'm an idiot.” He
attempted to make her feel better.

“
Yeah, you are.” Harrison
started laughing, but his mouth was full again and he
choked.

Mike narrowed his eyes at
Harrison, then turned to Kendra. “Thank you for the sandwiches.” He
nodded at the timid assistant and turned to face the game again.
His mind was spinning. Was she really that quiet and sneaky that
she had been on the bus with him the whole time and he hadn't even
noticed her?
Oh man, Lenny knew exactly
what she was doing.

An invisible assistant. Well played,
Lenny Casey, well played indeed.

***

“
What's bothering
you?”