Page 86 of Resonance
“Okay, just a sec.”
Ru muffled the phone. Muted conversation came through: a female’s voice, Quinn’s, and finally Owen came over the line. “Dan, I’m so fucking sorry. I thought I locked the door, I mean Ididlock the door. And I really thought I set the alarm. I mean, I was about to do it, about to leave, but then I thought I’d go sit in the Hoard for a second and… maybe I forgot. Fuck, I don’t know.”
Relief flooded through me hearing his voice, despite the frantic ramble. “Owen.” I let out a breath and tried to keep my voice level.
He huffed out a noisy, flustered exhale. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, totally fine. I’m just so fucking sorry, and I feel terrible. They got the deposits and a bunch of Jessup Polk and some Dolly, Ru said. I can work it off, because it’s totally my fault for—”
I took a deep breath. “Owen.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think I’m mad at you?”
It took him a few beats to reply, and when he did, his voice was so small it tore at my heart. “I mean, I would be, because that’s so dumb. I should’ve set the alarm, because it’s not like I don’t know it can be sketchy around there late at night and you’ve told me a thousand times.” Owen’s voice pitched higher. “So yeah, I’d be fucking furious. The shop’s a disaster and…” His shuddering exhale reverberated painfully in my chest.
“Did they hurt you?”
“Not really, no. I told you I’m fine now. Someone kicked the door when I started to open it and it hit me. I think? It’s a little blurry. But the doctor said the scans look fine. I’m just tired. And really fucking sorry about the shop.”
I slid from the bunk and dug around for a pair of jeans to put on. “I’ll be there tonight, okay? I’ll be back tonight.” On the heels of relief and heartache, a molten rage started churning inside me.
“What? No!” His tone shifted from meek to livid protest. “Don’t you fucking dare do that or I swear to god I’ll… I’ll be really fucking upset. Youneedthis tour. You have to finish it. Ru, Ivy, and I have got this.”
“I know but—”
“Dan.” His voice softened in a plea. “Please just finish the tour, okay? Don’t break the contract. We can handle this.Ican handle this. Please just let us handle this.”
I parked my ass on the lower bunk, jeans across my lap as I sat there silently debating. I did need the tour; breaking the contract didn’t come without penalties, and though I thought canceling a single show might be all right, I didn’t kid myself that there wouldn’t be repercussions if I walked away from the rest. We had five shows left, each slated to be bigger than the last. And right now? I didn’t give a shit about any of them.
Ryder appeared in my periphery and stood in the open doorway of the bus’s rear bedroom, listening.
“Please?” Owen’s pleading whisper somehow coagulated into a lump in my throat.
Two weeks felt like an eon. But there were some gaps in shows. Five days from now, I’d have time to fly back to Nashville for a day and then fly out to the next show.
But Owen.
I closed my eyes, sucked in a breath that didn’t reach the bottom of my lungs.
“Okay,” I relented. “Stay with Ru and Quinn. Jez can come there. Or, no, I’ve got someone else who can take care of Jez if we need to.”
“It’s handled, Dan. Stop fucking worrying about it.”
“It.There’s no it,” I snapped. “I’m not worried aboutit,I’m worried aboutyou.”
“Well, like I said, I’m fine,” he chirped lightly, then dropped his voice. “And like I also said, I’ll be really fucking mad at you if you leave the tour.”
I was silent for so long that eventually Owen piped up again tentatively. “Dan?”
Nothing about this felt right, and I didn’t like my options. “I’ll be checking in every day.” But I knew damn well a hundred check-ins wouldn’t resolve my uneasiness. I needed to see him, touch him. And I was a thousand miles away.
“Okay. The nurse is standing here with some papers for me to sign, so I have to go.”
“I’ll call you again tonight.”