Daron's Guitar Chronicles: Vol 4

300 EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN

EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN

What woke me was someone knocking on the door. I lay there for a second trying to remember where I was. I wasn't used to waking up in an actual bed, you know? It was so bright in the room I was amazed I'd slept. Then again, I'd gotten laid. My entire body felt better than it had in weeks.

I sat up suddenly, wondering if Ziggy was still here somewhere. It was hard to tell if the other side of the bed had been slept in. I looked around quickly as I went toward the door, where whoever it was knocked again.

I looked through the peephole.

Thank god. Bart. I might not have opened it for a lot of other people. "One sec," I said, loud enough for him to hear me, and he gave me the high sign.

In the closet next to the door there were guest bathrobes. Perfect. I dragged one on and opened the door.

He stared at me for just a fraction of a second, then came in.

I collapsed back on the bed like a felled tree and bounced slightly.

"That bad?" he asked as he sat down in the desk chair and spun in a circle.

"Yes. No. I'm not awake yet. How'd you sleep?"

"Fine. I'm starting to think I'm the only one who sleeps really well in the bus, though."

"I was okay for the first week," I said. "I kind of like the vibration and engine noise. It's...other things that are keeping me up these days."

"You mean like worrying your ass off."

"My ass is still firmly attached, I'll have you know."

"So do you need a check-in, or are you all right?"

I thought about that for a second. "Have you seen Zig yet today?"

"No."

"Then, I don't know." I was, amazingly, not feeling like I'd been taken advantage of or jerked around last night, but that feeling could change in a heartbeat... I knew from experience. Maybe that was why he wasn't here this morning? So he wouldn't say anything like he had in the past? I hate guessing.

Bart looked at the clock, then picked up the phone, placed a room service order for lunch for both of us, and then hung up again. "In case we're here for a while," he said.

"I'm still full from yesterday's feast." I rubbed my stomach. Actually, that was a lie. I could eat. "So, you want the situation update?"

"Yep. I'm assuming from what you've said so far that Ziggy is up to his old tricks."

"See, that's what I don't know. A lot depends on how he treats me today."

"Daron..."

"It's not as pathetic as it sounds."

"Isn't it?"

"I don't know. Let me think about it a minute." Why was I all of a sudden trying to defend Ziggy to the person I'd enlisted to help keep me from getting hurt by him? Maybe because every time we had sex I got all wrapped around his finger again? "Let me change the subject for a minute, but let's go back to this later. What did you think of yesterday?"

"Hah. Where to start? I think the song's going to be fine." His curly hair was starting to grow over his eyes some, giving him a sheepdoggish look. "But that's sort of the least of my worries."

"Seen Chris yet today?"

"Yes, just barely. He was picking up his per diem from Carynne same time I was."