Keeping Secrets

Late Morning

I groaned again.

Fucking typical Dane. 

He was a very talented drummer and a good friend, but he constantly thought with his dick. He'd made some questionable choices in the past, but it had only gotten worse since we'd gotten somewhat famous. There were more opportunities to score, but there were also more risks because every interesting thing we did appeared in the gossip columns. More often, the bad than the good.

"When do we have to be out?" I realized we were past normal checkout time, but Justin usually took care of stuff like that, so I assumed there was an extension.

Justin glanced down at his watch. "Half hour."

That didn't give us much time, but then I didn't have much to pack. We'd only spent one night in Charlotte, so I had a bag and my guitar. Most of my stuff was in the process of being shipped out to the rental house in LA.

Justin finished his muffin and opened the refrigerator again. He selected what looked like turkey and swiss on thick rye bread. After adding more coffee to his cup, he sat down at the island.

"What do we do about Dane?" I asked.

Justin looked up and grimaced. "I texted him and left him a voicemail. Not sure we can do much more."

I nodded. It was so typical for Dane to be so irresponsible. He was selfish and inconsiderate to the rest of us, but he was a big boy. He'd be able to find his way to the airport on his own. At least we had a couple of days before we had to be in the studio.

A door opened at the back of the suite and a few seconds later Lucas walked into the kitchen in only a pair of blue jeans with his hair wild and messy and all his tattoos on display.

"Morning fuckers," he mumbled as he headed straight for the coffee.

"Afternoon," me and Justin responded in sync, and cracked up laughing.

Lucas gulped down the hot coffee like the temperature didn't bother him in the least and then looked up at us. "What's up?"

"Dane's not here," I said, stating the obvious.

Lucas' eyes widened. "He hasn't come back yet? It's almost one."

"I think his phone is off." Justin took his own phone out of his pocket and looked at it. "My messages show as delivered but not read."

"What the fuck? We have to be at the airport by three, right?"

"Yeah, and we need to get out of here."

That was a tighter margin than I thought we had. "When's the car coming?"

"It's already waiting for us."

Lucas snatched a muffin from the basket and ate half of it in one bite. "I'll get Ron on Dane," he said about our manager once he swallowed.

"Okay," Justin agreed. "I'll let the driver know we'll be there in what," he looked at me and then Lucas, "fifteen minutes?"

"Fuck. Alright. I'll go shower."

I put the coffee cup in the sink and took off for my bedroom. I'd only taken a few steps when Justin asked, "Did Peyton leave?"

Shit.

I wasn't surprised that he'd figured out that she spent the night with me, but I was impressed that he was so calm about it. I'd wondered if he'd have something to say. She wasn't part of his family, but she was his cousin's best friend, and he'd known her for a very long time.

"Yeah."

He nodded and took another drink from his coffee, but kept his eyes on me. "You alright?"

The question surprised me. It wasn't like it was that unusual for one of us to have a woman stay the night, but we never talked about it afterward. Since he was addressing it this time, I'd expected him to give me a lecture about how Peyton was different from the fangirls, and give me strict instructions not to hurt her, but I didn't think he'd be worried about me.

The thoughts flew through my head. I knew she wasn't a fangirl. There was nothing about her that was average, or forgettable.

"Yeah," I answered again.

After another intense look, Justin nodded and turned back to his sandwich, signaling the conversation was over, which was fine with me. More than fine, in fact. I wasn't one of those guys that liked to flaunt my sex life. Or discuss my feelings.

They happened, of course. More so the sex than the feelings. There had been the occasional hookups in college for both me and Justin. Neither of us had ever been like Dane, but ever since we caught a break in the music industry, things had been insane. We were still getting used to the amount of attention we got. Every night we ended up with bras and panties on stage. And every night there was one beautiful girl after another in the green room. Available and willing.

All four of us had gotten a bit crazy over that in the beginning.

The thing was, I did like Peyton. I liked her more than for just a one-night stand or some fuck buddy status. There was potential there. She was fun to hang out with. She just got me, and we clicked in a way I hadn't done with anyone for a long time. If things had been different, I would've pursued her to see if there was something other than friendship for us.

But as it was, it wasn't a good time for any of that. I was leaving with the band for LA in a few days. We had studio time scheduled to record our next album, followed by some time in Nashville, and then we were off on tour. Again.

Trying to keep a relationship going, under those circumstances, would be difficult. Trying to start a new one would be pure insanity.