Chapter 12
The ride was smooth, the bus barely hiccupped as we rode down an open stretch of highway. Bushes upon trees upon bushes. Some landscape I'd seen before but couldn't place. I tried to eye the sign speeding past but made out only the first three letters.
My head rested against the window as the green whizzed by. Wheels turning, moving closer and closer.
Closer.
In two weeks we'd hit Rochester, Minnesota. Three days off. No shows. The guys going wherever, off the bus. Carlisle headed to New York for business and I should be happy about all of it.
Fucking Minnesota. Nothing good waiting for me there.
Sighing, I pulled my mental Rolodex up to see if I still knew any girls in Minnesota. Anyone at all that could ease the suffering.
I looked over to Carlisle, deep in conversation on his phone. That ugly fight wasn't the first, and it sure wouldn't be the last.
I was hurting him, I knew that.
I loved Carlisle. Outward appearances might not show it, but I really did. And he loved me. There was a bond there no one else would ever understand, but I sure as shit wasn't going to pony up and let him know that he was the only...
The bus was too quiet and it made me uncomfortable. Made me think of the paper bag I punched my way out of with empty fame and an empty life.
The boys were all doing their own thing. Sleeping, reading, whatever.
Too quiet too quiet too quiet.
"Cheetos. I want Cheetos. Carlisle, can you get me the Cheetos?" I knew where they were. In the cupboard where all the junk food was, but he was sitting right there.
"Get your own Cheetos, Edward."
"But I'm comfy." My leg had stopped its anxious, constant shaking, and I stretched out to make my point. Bare feet hanging over the vinyl bench. One toenail glitter blue from the girl in Florida.
"I got it." The niece, the girl, the one that he didn't want on here spoke up. A bag of orange Styrofoam appeared in my hand. She looked as shocked that she did it as I did, her now empty hand hanging in mid-air.
"Thanks, love." Can't let her know I remember her name even if I just spoke it a day or so ago.
Carlisle looked at me sharply over the frame of his glasses.
A crunch of my mouth on a snack I didn't want. "I think the last few days have worked out well, no?" I smiled at her as I chewed. "You being on our bus." I feigned a stern look. "Daytime only, of course."
Bella stood by, waiting for something. Staring with those big, brown eyes. I'd already thanked her, what did she want? Those eyes made me oddly nervous, like she was seeing right inside my fucked up brain and was working her way through the cobwebs.
Strange that I wanted her here but her presence made me uneasy. "Would you mind giving me a refresher while you're up?" I raised my glass and shook the ice around. Be the dick, Edward.
"Bella, go check the calendar, see where we are on September 25th, will you?" Carlisle looked at me and nodded his head towards my new toy. "She's not your assistant."
She looked from him to me. Me to him. Which is the one. Who do I listen to?
"I'll check the calendar." She turned so quickly towards the desk Carlisle used, her wrist hit the edge of the bench. She didn't yelp or cry. Just cradled the hand as she left.
Wrong answer.
I never saw a girl scurry so fast. Certainly not away from me.
That didn't sit well.