Night Moves (The Night Songs Collection) (4 page)

“You’ll certainly make Michigan more interesting.” He pulled me in close and nuzzled his face in the hollow of my neck. “What are you running from, Melanie?”

“W
hat the hell is she doing here?” Drake Bonham’s words alarmed me, waking me up better than any cup of coffee could at four in the morning. I tried to hide my shock and act as nonchalant as possible.

Did I really want to explain what I was doing here? As much as I wanted a hole in the head.

I let Ryder take the lead.

“She’s coming with us.” Ryder didn’t look at Drake when he spoke, unaffected by the tone of his inquisition. His eyes lost in the shadow of the bill of his baseball cap, he continued playing with his phone. I stood nervously next to him as he perched on his suitcase. I wanted desperately to reach out to him for some sort of comfort. I didn’t, in fear that Drake would swat my hand like an old nun with a ruler.

“No. Maddox, you know the rules. You double bag it and forget about the chicks when you leave town.” In Drake’s eyes, I was less important than luggage. I wondered about all the girls who followed the band around, hoping for a second of Drake’s attention would feel listening to him right now, talking about me like I was some cheap souvenir.

Ryder sighed and shoved his phone in the pocket of his motorcycle jacket. “I’ve had enough of the rules. They’ve already cost me my kids and marriage. How much more do you expect me to give up for
your
band? She’s coming with us.”

“That’s right. My band. As your boss, I’m telling you we don’t need to be transporting groupies all over the country.”

“Don’t worry, she won’t cost you a cent. I’ll take care of her out of my per diem.”

“She’s not coming.”

“Either she comes with us, or I stay here with her.” The tension in the room was electric as Ryder and Drake glared at each other, almost willing each other into a full blown fist fight. The other members of the band hardly reacted, like this was a regular occurrence. Great.

Was I willing to destroy any more lives to enter some sort of parallel witness protection plan universe?

I was still recovering from the shock of learning that Drake regarded the other members of the band like bad children who couldn’t think for themselves. If it wasn’t for Ryder, Drake wouldn’t have ever written all of those songs, or had the success he had enjoyed.

No wonder I always liked Ryder better. I always thought Drake was a pompous ass. What had Erin seen in him?

Even a pretty face couldn’t excuse all that ugly.

I put my hand on Ryder’s shoulder. “Listen, I don’t want to cause any trouble. I can meet you there instead.” It might have been a good idea anyway. Otherwise, my car would be left in the parking lot and I’d have no way to get home from wherever they left me.

Like I could ever go home again.

“No. It’s no trouble at all. I want you to come with me.” He looked up at me but didn’t smile.

I could feel the steam rolling off of Drake as he crossed his arms in front of his chest from the corner of my eye. I didn’t dare make eye contact with him, lest he incinerate me with his glare. “It’s cool, I don’t want to cost you your job or anything.”

Drake scoffed, but we both ignored him.

“You won’t. If you’re going to hang around with me, baby, you need to get used to Drake’s outbursts.” Finally the corners of Ryder’s mouth turned upward. I nodded and smiled, sneaking a look at Drake. He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

An awkward silence spread over the lobby as we waited to board the bus. I tried to distract myself by looking at my phone. Friends back home were wondering how Jamie and I were faring during the storm, with some even asking if we needed anything. A friend with electricity and heat offered her house if the cold was too much to handle. All the kindness overwhelmed me. I could probably still feign being a power outage victim; it bought me some time before I had to start answering their questions.

How long would it take before someone started looking for us because we didn’t answer them? How long before Angela’s family started searching for her, if not already?

I attempted to focus, hard, on how excited I should be to be going on tour with my favorite band. But all I could see was Angela’s two little girls.

I focused my thoughts again. I’d never been on a tour bus before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. We boarded a small kitchen area first, and rows of bunks eerily stacked like coffins, filled the middle.

“This is home.” Ryder stopped at the top bunk off to the right side. He graciously took my bag and slung it up on the bed. “The lounge area is in back, and the bathroom is right here.” He pointed to a door at the entrance to the living area. “You know the rules of the bus, right?”

“No. What rules?” What I thought would be a party bus was turning into a boarding school on wheels.

Ryder chuckled and blushed. “I can’t believe I’m saying this to a lady. Serious business, if you know what I mean, goes in a bag and gets thrown out the window.”

I burst out laughing. “Why on earth would you do that?”

“You don’t want to be traveling on a rolling cow patty.”

“Oh my God.” I pictured myself throwing a bag of crap out of the window onto the side of the road. “That’s so gross. Funny, but gross.”

“That’s kind of what life is like on the road.” Adam, the drummer, piped in as he put his stuff in the bunk below us. “Funny, but gross.”

“I wouldn’t expect much else from five guys living on a bus.” I smiled at him. He winked at me and headed back toward the lounge.

Speaking of Drake, where was he? “There are only four bunks and there are five of you.” I did a head count while looking at Ryder. “Where does Drake sleep?”

“He has his own bus.”

“What? Are you kidding? He’s too good to travel with you guys?” And he was concerned about me costing too much money? Little did he know I could more than pay my own way. And the bastard
had his own bus
.

“Something like that.” Ryder shrugged.

Drake was obviously a sore subject. I needed to stop pouring salt on the wound. Time to switch gears. “So what happens on this bus?”

“Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that.” Ryder smiled, leaning against the bunks, making his black T shirt ride up a little on his stomach, and exposing the line of hair that started at his belly button disappeared into his jeans. I forced myself to tear my eyes away.

“Do the mice play while the cat is away?” I traced my finger along his jawbone.

“They do.” He grabbed my hand, putting my finger into his mouth to suck on it. He had some crazy sharp teeth. I thought I had imagined it while we were in bed together, but now it felt like he practically had fangs. I’d never noticed that before. And believe me, I’d spent a lot of time looking at Ryder Maddox in my life.

“Even if it’s against the rules?” I could barely manage the words as Ryder’s lips made their way down my arm, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Especially if it’s against the rules.” He pulled me in close, nuzzling my neck.

“Jesus, if you two are going to fuck, at least come to the common area so we can enjoy the show!” A thick Scottish accent jeered from the couch. Thomas, the bassist who replaced Chaz, had already cracked into a beer and had a game controller in his lap. “I’d rather watch you, lovie, than fight these bloody dragons for the thousandth time.”

“She’s not that kind of girl, Tommy.” Ryder pulled away, looking annoyed.

“They’re all that kind of girl, mate.”

Ryder rolled his eyes and smiled at me, shaking his head. “That’s why your credit card is maxed out on porn. You need to treat a girl like a lady to get them to stick around.” He turned back at me and pulled my face towards his. “I’m ready for a private viewing.”

Nothing is less sexy than having to climb a ladder into a bunk bed. Well, maybe slightly less sexy is having to crawl across said bunk on my hands and knees, ass high in the air. There wasn’t much room between the mattress and ceiling. I couldn’t sit up completely and I stretched out best I could, giving Ryder enough room to join me in the bunk. His body filled the space, making me claustrophobic. Behind the privacy curtain, the small space was pitch dark, almost airless.

I closed my eyes to regain my bearings, concentrating on Ryder’s hands making their way down my body, under my shirt. I hadn’t bothered with a bra in the early morning hour. I let my mind wander a bit, away from this tiny space as his fingers softly tickled my stomach, and caressed my breasts. The soft movements combined with the whir of the bus lulled me to sleep.

I practically hit the top of the bunk when my phone startled me back to consciousness. Blinded by the darkness, I fumbled around the bunk as quickly as possible to reach my purse that I’d forgotten about at the foot of the bed before the ringing woke Ryder and the rest of the bus. Once I dug it out of my bag, the screen illuminated the bunk and dragged me back into reality.

Work.

I hit ignore to make it stop.

Ten fifteen and they’d called three times. Lydia the Lion sounded more annoyed than concerned. It was nearing the end of the month and our group was swamped with reports to turn in, along with the regular crap we dealt with on a daily basis. Half sitting up at the end of the bed, my back arched over Ryder’s feet, I held the phone against my chest and tried not to hyperventilate.

What the hell was I going to do?

My first instinct was to call Lydia back with some cockamamie excuse. Tell her I was sick, no electricity, and snow up to the roof. But as the bus catapulted me and my new traveling companions toward the Great Lakes, I couldn’t bring myself to make the call.

Because I just didn’t want to.

For the first time in a long time, I was able to forget about all of the stress and nonsense I’d created in my life and just be free. I didn’t feel numb anymore. I guess murdering your boyfriend and running off with a traveling circus was just the thing to get the blood pumping.

Besides Jamie being dead, which I would give anything to take back, I wouldn’t change any other part of this.

So Lydia could go shit in her hat. I shut my phone off.

Thankfully, Ryder seemed to sleep like the dead. He barely stirred as I climbed over him to go down the ladder to the bathroom. Everyone else in the band seemed blessed with the same ability for deep sleep. You could hear a pin drop on the bus. Even in the middle of the morning, only soft lights illuminated the walkway and backroom. No trace of sunlight anywhere. Even the windshield and bus driver were separated by a dark partition.

To make sure I didn’t get woken back up by any more pesky work calls, I threw my phone out of the bathroom window like the piece of shit it was.

Ryder’s body felt refreshingly cool under the tangle of blankets when I climbed back into bed with him. I laid my head on his bare chest, my palm flat on the hard muscle of his shoulder, and let peace wash over my body as I fell back asleep.

T
he bus screeched to a halt. The sudden stillness jarred us back to life.

“I guess we’re in Detroit?” I asked Ryder, still lying on his chest.

“If we’re not, we’re so screwed right now.”

I laughed. “What time is it? I feel like I’ve entered a time warp.”

“You have. Who cares? When someone wants us to do something, they’ll tell us.”

Ryder’s philosophy on time was shockingly different than the rat race mentality I was used to, and I didn’t even know what to say in response.

“Are you hungry?” I hoped his answer was yes.

“Not for food.” He pulled me back on top of him. “But your stomach’s growling like crazy, so you should go get something – then come on back, so we can both get our fill.”

“Okay.” I gulped, almost forgetting about my stomach lining eating itself. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?” I didn’t think Ryder had eaten anything in the three days we had been together.

“I already told you what I want.” He kissed me before letting go. “Hurry back.”

My knees knocked together as I pulled my scarf around my neck. I zipped up my heavy coat and headed off the bus. I’d never been to Detroit before, but I felt fairly confident in guessing it was just as cold as Boston.