Page 17 of Stuck With My Rockstar Boss (Soul Sounds Brothers #4)

Mika

This morning has been a whirlwind. To the airport and now back to the buses. I’m squeezed in the backseat between Dylan and Lucas. The energy in the car is jovial and excitable. Everyone’s talking about how this is a big fuck you to the label and how exciting it is.

Lucas hasn’t let go of my hand since we left the airport. Right now, he’s stroking it gently with his thumb. I lean my head on his shoulder. He kisses the crown of my head.

“Lucas and Mika, sitting in a tree…” Jay starts to taunt, looking at us in the rearview. Dylan flicks his ear.

I grin and turn my gaze to Lucas. He looks back sweetly. “I’ll take care of everything, Mika.”

“It’s in my contract,” I murmur back. “I knew from the start I couldn’t.”

“No, that’ll get worked out. I mean the house. Your parents. I’ll take care of it,” Lucas says firmly.

I suck in a tight breath. It would certainly be easy to let him erase all my problems with his bank account. But things are still so fresh and new. I don’t know if I could ever accept that from him. “No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can,” he says with a lopsided smile. “I want to. You’re my girl.”

I nestle into his chest. His girl. That’s a nice thing to hear. “You have no idea what that means to me. But I can’t accept that.”

Lucas frowns but doesn’t question it. He nods.

Maybe I’m too headstrong. Maybe I should just accept his help.

His charity. I don’t want to start things like this.

The power dynamic already exists: his fame and my lack thereof.

We don’t need to make the gap bigger by him picking up the tab of not just me but my parents.

“If I can get my contract reinstated with the label, then I’ll be just fine.

I always work it out. Always,” I say softly, more of a promise to myself than an actual belief.

“I don’t doubt you will,” he says, although I can detect he wants to say more.

“What if we all pitch in?” Dylan suddenly pipes up from my other side. “We take it on four ways, that’s–”

Jay snorts in laughter. “Take it on four ways…”

“Do you want me to flick you again?” Dylan growls.

“No…” Jay touches his ear that’s still a little red from the last flick.

I laugh. For grown men, they sure can act like kids around each other. “Dylan, I appreciate it, but I just can’t accept your money. It just doesn’t feel right.”

Dylan puts his hand on his chin and leans back, looking out the window. “We’ll think of something.”

Lucas kisses the crown of my head and, for now, I won’t think about the issues of the house or my parents. I’ve got him back and that will make all of this easier, however it shakes out.

§

Back at the buses, the guys are working overtime making calls to Ken and the label, all staunchly saying they won’t perform if I’m not rehired.

I think it’s ridiculous, but there’s never a hesitation from any of them.

Perhaps it’s a testament to how tight their bond is.

Lucas’s happiness is paramount to the band.

And I’m sure if any of them were in his position, Lucas would do the same.

“The lawyers are meeting now. You’ve really put the biggest wrench in this day as possible,” Ken grumbles over the phone.

“I’d say sorry, but…” Lucas says with a glance my way.

I blush. I’ve tried to remain as quiet as possible in the background of all these calls so that I can just be an accessory in all of this.

“If we’re amending Mika’s contract, we have to amend everyone’s which means that we have to get all the signatures and that means everyone . We might have to postpone tonight’s concert.”

“We can come back to Oakland. It’s a short flight,” Dylan says, nonplussed.

Ken replies inaudibly. It’s probably some cursing. But this is the business. No one said working with superstars was easy.

“I’ve got an idea,” Jay suddenly pipes up from the kitchenette where he’s just made a bowl of popcorn.

“About…?” Chase asks with an eyebrow raised.

“Mika!”

Lucas narrows his eyes. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“No, not about–” Jay grabs a handful of popcorn and then passes the bowl around. “She’s on the tour, that’s not what I mean. I just mean with the house and your parents.”

I take a deep breath. “Listen, there’s nothing you all can–”

“I know we can’t,” Jay says, mouthful of popcorn. “At least not directly.”

We all look at him with furrowed brows. This sounds like the beginning of a conspiracy theory.

Suddenly, Chase exclaims, “Oh! Oh, I see what you’re saying.”

“Right? We could–”

“Yes!”

It’s like a different language, the two of them.

“Would someone please enlighten us?” Lucas says, crossing his arms.

“ We can’t help Mika, but we know boatloads of people who can. Arenas full, actually.”

At once, Lucas, Dylan, and I catch on and Dylan claps his hands. “That’s a great idea, Jay!”

“We can ask the fans to help. That’s perfect,” Lucas says.

I’m not so sure, though. “How would we do that?”

Jay snorts. “Just ask of course.”

“We can create a Venmo or something and put the QR codes out or link it on our site or–” Dylan explains.

“Projections, easily,” Lucas adds.

They all start building on the idea while I remain quiet.

Sure, this isn’t them helping out directly, but I still am having a hard time accepting the idea.

All of this effort for me to stay on tour and now all this effort to make sure my parents and I don’t lose the house?

It seems ridiculous. Unreasonable. I’m not sure I deserve it.

“Guys,” I say, but it only comes out a whisper.

“If you donate, you can be put in a raffle for something. Signed T-shirt or—” Jay cries.

“A meet and greet!” Chase adds.

“Guys,” I say, louder this time.

I get Lucas’s attention with that one even though the planning continues. “What’s wrong?”

I almost feel like crying. I’m so overwhelmed.

“Hey, Mika,” he says, coming toward me. “What’s going on?”

The guys quiet down at this and all look in my direction.

“I just…” I take a deep breath. “I really don’t deserve this. You know, we’re the ones who got into this situation, me and my folks. It would be… I can’t imagine accepting help from the fans for this. I mean, they’re your fans, not mine.”

“Don’t be modest, Mika. They’re your fans too. You sing onstage with me every night,” Lucas says with a soft smile.

I shake my head. “It’s different. It’s way different.”

“But it’s not!” he says so adamantly I’m rendered silent. “It’s…” Lucas looks at the guys and then back to me. “This tour wouldn’t have even happened if not for you.”

I look to Dylan, hoping he’ll understand what Lucas is saying, but he’s just as confused as me.

“At the end of last tour… do you remember what happened?”

I feel the color drain from my face. We’ve never spoken about what happened at the end of the last tour.

The time I had to send security to his room.

I’ve never asked about it and he’s never told me what was actually going on.

I still just remember how terrified he looked that night when I saw him talking with police.

“When you called security to my room?”

“Lucas, we don’t have to do this here. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t–” I begin hurriedly, my voice quiet and private.

“No, we have to. It’s time. You all need to hear it,” he says, casting a look to the guys who are now all waiting to hear what he’s about to say with bated breath. “At the end of last tour, a fan got into my room.”

I hold my breath as the guys react, all of them a mixture of concern for Lucas and concern for themselves.

“And I was really drunk. You know, after that last concert in LA and we all… we all were. And she followed me into my room, but I didn’t even realize until I…

I must have blacked out because next thing I knew I was on the bed with my arms and legs tied down and this girl was… ” Lucas stops and looks away.

I can fill in the blanks. We all can. Just because people act like a woman can’t assault a man doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Of course, it does.

“So, I start screaming like bloody murder. The next thing I know, security barrels into the room and this girl gets yanked out kicking and screaming. They untied me… the cops showed up. And they’re interviewing me and interviewing Mika and–” Lucas stops and laughs to himself.

“I’m like, what does Mika have to do with this?

And they tell me that she’s the one who called security and they needed her witness testimony, and yeah. ”

Even though Lucas is telling this story to the room, his eyes are squarely on me. This is so much deeper than I originally thought. So much deeper than I could have known. No wonder he’s felt so safe with me. I protected him without even knowing it.

“That girl probably would have been able to have her way with me if you hadn’t called them when you did,” he whispers.

“I don’t blame you for your anxiety, Lucas,” Dylan says, voice measured and calm. “That would have freaked me out too. I’m just sorry we didn’t make it safe enough for you to tell us.”

Lucas shakes his head. “I haven’t been ready to talk about it. Not until now.” He looks back to me and takes my hands. “This is the least we can do for you, Mika. The absolute least. You saved me.”

I start to protest but the guys don’t give me a chance and I get so overwhelmed with their votes of confidence, that I finally reply, “Fine! We’ll do it!” I’m grinning ear to ear. How can I say no to that?

§

We head off for Houston later that evening. The contracts won’t be ready in time for us to make our Oakland date. There’s a public outcry on Twitter. The trolls come out full force to give the guys shit, but they’re seasoned pros and don’t care.

To give us privacy, Crystal and Lee have agreed to travel with the guys on their bus for the evening. And given the way Crystal and Chase have been rubbing elbows all tour and the new contracts they’ve already signed, I bet tomorrow morning, there’ll be a story there.