Page 12 of Stuck With My Rockstar Boss (Soul Sounds Brothers #4)

Lucas

“Wow, sweet digs, Lucas.”

I roll my eyes. Amy giggles through the facetime call. I’m giving her a tour of the bus to pass the time and have just shown her my bunk.

We’re in Omaha. It’s a neat little town.

There’s not a ton to do in Omaha. Shocking, I know.

Mika and I have already done all there is to do in Omaha.

We hit up the zoo which is a really fucking cool zoo.

It has the largest indoor rainforest in North America.

It was amazing until a bat flew down and tried to make a nest of Mika’s hair.

She squealed and clung onto my arm the rest of the time.

Mika’s fun. No matter where we go, she makes things fun. From the start of tour until now. Madison, Detroit, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Little Rock… every city has been an adventure.

I’ve had some explaining to do, that’s for sure. The guys ask where I disappear to, especially when I get to brag about all the sightseeing I’m doing.

“Don’t you get recognized?” Jay asked with an awestruck expression.

“Nothing a baseball cap and sunglasses can’t fix,” I replied with a shrug.

Although, I know it’s not all that. Mika has been invaluable in helping me fall into the shadows.

We’ve gotten good at sneaking off to no suspicion.

I’ll drive off and pick her up down the block or she’ll take the bus a few stops away before we meet up.

If anything, I think they’re jealous. There’s a reason the Beatles stayed locked up in their hotel rooms when they visited America.

They couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized.

Now, we’re not the Beatles and fame and celebrity is different now, but at this point in our careers, it’s hard to go anywhere and not have a run-in with a fan.

For the most part, I avoid going out with them and I avoid any of the parties unless Ken says they’re mandatory.

I’ve thought about telling them what’s going on with me…

what happened at the end of last tour that’s made me feel like this.

But I haven’t spoken about it since that night when I gave the police report. I haven’t had the courage to.

“I thought you were famous or something. Why are you sleeping on a bus?” Amy asks with a snicker, bringing me back from inside my head.

“I thought you were a grown-up or something, why are you sleeping in an extra-long twin bed?”

She narrows her eyes, making Facetime work extra hard to not be blurry. “Fair.”

I laugh. Amy’s studying fashion design at FIT in New York. I’m so proud of her for following her passion. Ever since she was little, she’s been a fashion maven.

“Can’t believe you guys aren’t making it to New York this tour. That’s like sacrilege or something.”

“I know. Next time,” I say with a sweet smile.

In truth, I’m not sure how New York didn’t make it on the list of stops this tour.

Probably because we’re not much of an East Coast band.

We don’t have quite a hold there as we do in the West, Midwest, and South.

“I should have flown you out to Chicago or–”

“ Speaking of Chicago… ” Amy asks, a sneaky look appearing on her face. “That girl.”

I freeze. “What girl?”

She scoffs. “ The girl. That you’re singing with on tour. The one in that picture?”

“What picture?” I ask urgently. Perhaps we haven’t been as sneaky as we thought. Perhaps I stole a kiss when we weren’t entirely alone. Or what if someone took a picture of us in private? That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.

“Hold tight, I’ll send it.”

I hold as tight as I can even though my heart is pounding. When the picture comes through, I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s just the group photo of us in Chicago. “Where’d you get this?”

“It’s on People. They did a whole article on her and like who she is. Came out this morning.”

Oh, fuck. I’m gonna have to clear this up with Ken. “We were just on a bike ride.”

“A romantic bike ride…” she says with schoolgirl energy.

I throw myself into my bunk and yank the privacy curtain closed. “Will you keep your voice down?”

Amy giggles. “Lucas has a girlfr?—”

“Amy, I’m only gonna say this once. She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Suuuuure.”

“Amy!” I say, my voice tight and hot. “ She’s. Not. My. Girlfriend. ”

Amy goes quiet. I’m not hard on her often, but when I am, I know it hurts her feelings. All I can see in her face is the little five-year-old I used to yell at for interrupting us during band practice.

“Mika is just a friend.”

“Okay.”

“I’m serious.”

“I believe you.”

I chew on the inside of my lip and then whisper. “She’d lose her job if she tried anything with me.”

“Wow, that’s intense.”

“Yeah, I mean. It’s not my idea. It’s just in her contract from the label.”

The sadness on Amy’s face lightens. “Does that mean you’ve tried anything?”

“Nope,” I say, popping the ‘p’.

Her lips move as if she’s about to reject my answer, but she stops. “Okay. Then keep that girl safe. She doesn’t deserve to lose her job over your ass.”

“Noted,” I laugh.

“Gotta go. I got class in twenty and need caffeine.”

“Gotcha. Love you, sis.”

“Love you, big bro.”

She hangs up and the screen flips back to my phone’s home screen.

Well, fuck. This isn’t good. If there’s an article out and a picture out, then that means people are speculating.

The illicitness was fun at first. And it could have stayed fun if we just…

I don’t know, didn’t keep doing what we were doing.

But now, it’s dangerous. Like, actually.

Mika needs this job. I mean, no one deserves to leave a job, but Mika needs it.

Since she told me about her parents, little details have come out here and there that having this job and making this money is the difference between them being able to stay in their house for the next year. That’s a lot of pressure on her.

So, why am I being selfish and fucking it up for her?

§

I knew Ken would be on my ass as soon as he could be. But I didn’t think he’d fly out to Omaha to give me a talking to.

“I talked to Mika. She denied any involvement. But… I need to cover all bases,” Ken says to me.

We’re standing outside the bus in order to get a tiny bit of privacy from the guys. “Nothing’s happening, Ken.”

“You sure?”

I furrow my brow and scoff. “Uh, yeah. I think I’d be sure if something was going on.”

“Okay, okay. I’m just asking, kid, I just wanted the whole story. I know you haven’t been spending a lot of time with the guys and it would make sense that you might be, uh, rendezvousing with Mika.”

“Mika and I are friends. We do things together. That’s what you do with friends.”

“Hey, it’s not a big deal. I believe you.”

“Do you?” I ask. My voice is raised.

Ken claps his hand on my shoulder and it takes everything in me not to shrug it off. “Lucas. I believe you.”

I take a measured breath. “Mika’s got too much to lose to sacrifice her job to screw around with me, Ken.

I promise you…” I’m lying through my teeth like my life depends on it.

Nothing would happen to me if Mika and I fucked around.

It would all land on her. And I couldn’t live with myself. “She wouldn’t do that.”

Ken nods slowly. “Okay.” Finally, it sounds like he believes me. “I’m sorry I… you know I have to check on these things to protect you boys.”

I nod. My eyes fall to the ground. “I get it, Ken.”

He rattles a few other details off but I’m not listening. I’m thinking about Mika and Amy and all the bullshit.

“San Francisco in a couple days. Then LA. Big shows coming up. Keep your head in it.”

I know my eyes flash with fire when I look at him. I doubt he’s said that to any of the other guys, despite their one-night flings in every town. “Got it.”

When I get back on the bus, Chase and the guys are sitting together. It’s clear they’ve been listening.

I walk past them without a word, but Chase calls out after me. “You good, man?”

I turn on my heel to face him. I have to keep my cool. I don’t have to defend myself. Because I have to ride with the lie. Mika’s life depends on it. I smile dopily, “Yeah, man. Why?”

Chase looks to Dylan and Jay with bewilderment. They were expecting something. Something more than that. “We just… sounded tense with Ken.”

“Oh!” I say and laugh. “Yeah. It was ridiculous. He accused me of sleeping around with one of the backup singers. Isn’t that crazy?”

Jay frowns and nods. “Yeah, man. That’s weird.”

“Weird,” I repeat with a snap of my fingers. “That’s the word.” I start to go again and then turn around to say one last thing: “San Francisco in a couple days. Then LA. We gotta keep our head in it. Don’t you think?”

They are all nodding. I give them an innocent smile and then retreat to my bunk.