Chapter 3:

"Where the hell are you?" A woman's voice snapped in my ear. We were all sitting by the side of the road. The sun had disappeared behind the horizon, taking its warmth with it and I was still in a daze. I had almost been crushed by the 14 ton heap of metal and I was baffled by Randy's heroics. He could have ran out of the way and yelled move or something, instead he chose to tackle me to the ground and shield me from the dirt and flying debris.

My mind wanted to read a lot more into his actions, but the smarter part of my brain rationalize. Randy was a good person. He wouldn't leave anyone behind to be hurt or worse and he would have done the same thing if it had been Kofi or John standing beside him.

Yet, the part of my brain that entertained a more romantic, dreamy notion wanted to believe the man felt something for me. So, ridiculous. Look at me and look at him. The smarter side would argue. He doesn't know you. You don't' know him and surely he knows you were listening to his private conversation. You're lucky he didn't push you further under it. It's not like anyone would have known, nor would they have mourned you. These were my thoughts that distracted me from my job.

"Hello?" the female shrieking continued. "Hey! Abbi!"

"Yeah – oh, I'm here. Who is this?"

"It's Stephanie, who else would it be?" Even the boss's daughter knew I didn't have many personal phone calls. Did anyone not know I was a lonely outcast? "Where are you? I'm standing at an autograph booking and I'm missing three of my top superstars."

"We're stuck on the side of the road. The bus tipped over. Didn't Stacks tell you?" Stacks was the boss of the road crew and the only person I could get in contact with after the incident. He had promised to tell Vince what was going on. "I figured we would have been picked up by now."

"Oh, my gosh, are they okay. Randy, Kofi …"

"Yes and the rest of us are fine too, thanks for asking." Where had that come from? I had never been sarcastic or condescending in my life. "Look, we are on some back road and I have no idea how far away we are."

"What the hell are you doing on a back road?"

"I don't know. It's not like we can tell the driver's what route to take. We're lucky if they stop to let us pee." I was shocked at myself, saying things to my superior that would normally stay locked away in my thoughts. "Seriously, Steph, you need to do something about the conditions on this bus. Most of these guys may not be headlining stars, but they deserve better than this and what are you going to do when the shows split up and go to different towns each week."

"You're giving me crap? Now? I don't have time for this, Abbi. I know my father thinks a lot about your opinion but you can shove it up your ass. I don't care about it. I need my stars here now."

"Well, unless you got one of them tagged with a tracker, you're out of luck!" I screamed back. I don't know if it was nearly losing my life or hanging around with Eve and her friends that made my backbone poke out of my skin, but I couldn't make myself shut up. To make it worse everyone on the side of the road had halted their conversations to listen and Randy smirked and laughed at what I said and that made me worse.

"You go girl, tell them off." Eve loved it.

"I'll try tracking your phone," Stephanie said. I heard her on her computer for a moment. "You're only five minutes away," She exclaimed.

"We're what!" I said in disbelief. "We could have walked there this whole time and you're idiot drivers wouldn't let us leave?"

"I'm sending a couple cars." Stephanie's tone wasn't a happy one. She sounded tired or irritated by me.

No one on that bus knew me and I could tell by the look on their faces that what I had said was not what they had expected. I knew my appearance made me seem like I would be a push over, like I was someone people could walk all over, and up until then, that was true. I had been pushed around all my life or at least looked over.

But I was cold and I was tired and stuck on the side of the road. I was irritated with the business for stranding us there.

Eve and I had to laugh at how close we had been to our destination and how little time we would have had to walk to get there, but I had to deal with Stephanie who eyed me with daggers the moment we arrived at the mall where the stars would be signing autographs. I could tell by the look on some of their faces that they really didn't feel up to greeting their fans.

But Randy put on a smile and went on anyway. He didn't just coast like some of the other's did. He smiled and greeted his fans, signed and took pictures. He was a true performer and I knew I had to do everything I could to keep him on the brand. I didn't think that Vince knew just how valuable he was.

My phone conversation with Stephanie was the jumping off point for our rivalry. She wasn't thrilled with my insubordination and ushered me into the ladies room the first chance she got.

"Who the hell do you think you are talking to like that?" she screamed at me. "Is that the kind of respect you give my father?"

"Where is your father?" I demanded. "I work for him, not you." I couldn't retract my sharp tongue.

"He's at the hospital. He fell down the steps getting off the plane and it looks like he broke it." She informed me. "I had to take a jet out here and then I get here and I'm missing stars. It's a nightmare."

"Well, it hasn't been so great on my end," I reminded her. "Stephanie, that bus is horrible."

"I know." She agreed. "Paul has told me about it, we have other partners who have to agree on the expense." She tried to calm down. "You just remember that you don't run anything around here and don't try to undermine me again. Especially in front of my employees." She scowled. "You have somewhere else to be." She handed me an address. "Dad wanted you at the hospital, in his room an hour ago. I suggest you get there. I don't know why you're so important. He handled things fine before he hired you." She crossed her arms, scanned me up and down before storming out.

I didn't want to take the time to change since my boss was already expecting me. I hailed a cab and hurried to his room. He was still in the emergency room and was just getting fit for a cast by the time I got there.

"There she is." He beamed when I walked in. "Abbi this is Shane." I shook hands with the younger man in the room and he had the same skeptical gaze as his sister. "Have a seat." I did as he said and waited for his instructions. "They've got me on some damn good pain medicine right now."

I had to laugh at his inebriated state. Vince was always on the go. Always talking and it was always about business. He was so out of it that I didn't make too many notes on the ideas that came out of his mouth. Most of them were absurd and impossible.

We took a limo to his hotel and Shane and I helped him into his room and it was a definite possibility that he would remain there throughout the next two days shows.

"Oh, what about Randy?"

"I think there may be something to worry about with him. He received a call from Dixie while we were stuck on the side of the road."

"Why were you on the side of the road?"

"Well, first the tire blew out and then the thing tried to crush me." I informed him.

"Hell, no we can't have that. You and Shane are going to buy two new buses tomorrow. I don't give a damn what the partners have to say."

"Dad, we have to buy one. Remember I told you what the mechanic said about the damage, but I think the old one can be repaired. That will give us two."

"That damn thing breaks down all the time. Hell, buy three more. I want lots of space. Customize them."

"Whatever you say, dad." Shane laughed and made me leave the room with him despite his father's objections. "You can talk about business tomorrow ... when your mind returns."

Shane filled me in as we walked downstairs. He would be filling in for his father for a few weeks and then he complained about how much he wished his father would stop putting his thumb in every detail of the show. He wanted him to retire.

I went to the lobby to obtain the keys to my room that I would share with Eve and he was right behind me.

"Is there something you needed?" I had to ask because he kept following me even after I got the keys and headed to my room.

"No, but it all makes sense now." He was scanning me, eyeing me in the short shorts that I had never worn outside my bed before.

"What makes sense?"

"Just how long have you been screwing my father?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, please. You're with him all the time. He calls you constantly and when you're not with him he demands that you are. You showed up so suddenly and I am not the only one wondering why."

"I'm here to work. That's all I do is work and bedding your father is not part of my job description and believe me it never will be." I spat.

"Damn. You sounded just like Stephanie," he mused.

"Huh?"

"I don't know what the situation really is, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it. So don't get too comfortable with your job. I'll be damned if I let him do this shit to my mother again." He stormed off and I shook my head. Not once had Vince said anything out of the way to me or had he proposed what Shane accused. It was always business. Once in a while he would ask me about my personal life, but there wasn't much to say and I think I bored him.

I threw myself down on one of the twin beds the moment I was inside. It felt so good to lie on the soft mattress and the linens smelled clean.

Eve arrived, pulling both her bag and mine behind her. I had not been able to stand around and wait for our luggage to be brought from the tipped over bus.

"There's my roomy."

I had never shared a room with anyone before. Even on overnight field trips in high school I had stayed by myself. I never had any friends. I was used to sitting alone isolated from everyone. So I was shocked when Eve asked me to split a room with her.

"Oh my gosh," Eve flopped down on matching bed and hugged the pillows. She was only still a moment before she hopped off the bed and bounded for her laptop.

"Let's see what there is to do around here," she said when the internet loaded.

"Eve, I'm too tired to go anywhere and Vince broke his ankle." I whined. "And I know I'm going to have ten times more work to do tomorrow. Shane is taking Smackdown."

"Great. He can be a tyrant when he's in charge, but otherwise he's a sweetie."

"I didn't see anything sweet about him. He accused me of having an affair with his dad."

Eve laughed.

"That's not funny."

"It is. It's so absurd. Trust me if Shane could see the way your eyes follow Randy around he wouldn't think that."

"I do not." I hollered.

"Yes, you do. You're glued to him when he walks away. I think you like him."
"Eve, I don't like him. But he is cute."
"You would be good for him." Eve was not convinced that I didn't have a thing for Randy and she wasn't wrong, but I wasn't ready for her to know about my crush. I didn't want anyone to know. I knew it would fade and the sooner the better.

"Eve, I'm only riding around with you guys because Vince is scared that Randy is going to jump ship."

"Oh."

"You can't tell anyone."

"Randy is a good friend. I don't think its right for the suits to be spying on him like this."

"I don't like it either, but it's not to hurt him. Vince said there is a storyline coming up that pretty much revolves around him and its favorable, but he didn't give me many details. But if Randy takes off."

"I know Vince. If he thinks Randy is serious, he'll have that storyline up and running by next week."

"You can't say anything." I reminded her.

"I won't." she promised. "Abbi, you're my best friend, not to mention I want you with Randy and if he found out you were spying on him, he would be impossible. I would never get him to ask you out."

"Don't you dare do that," I begged. I didn't want Randy to be put up to asking me out. I sure didn't want to be his charity case. "Anyway, I'm so tired I don't even want to take the time to wait on room service. I wouldn't even get a shower if I didn't stink so badly."

"You don't smell." Eve laughed.

"I swear I smell diesel fuel all over me."

"Go ahead and get a shower. Maybe you'll feel better. I'm going to find us some food. You have to eat. We haven't had anything since breakfast. Then we'll sit back and rent a movie. Maybe we'll stay awake through the whole thing." She giggled. I rolled my eyes. Eve had so much energy. Even when she was extremely tired she didn't want to give in. She wanted to do something all the time as if she would miss out on something if she closed her eyes. Sometimes I thought she was scared she wouldn't wake up.

I went to the bathroom, undressed and took a shower. I turned up the temperature until I couldn't stand it anymore and I let it run over my body. I finally felt how sore I was and I didn't wonder why. I had been tossed around the bus and then tackled by a man twice my size, but that was the best thing about hotels, the hot water never ran out. I was a prune by the time I climbed out.

I dried off and wrapped a towel around me, but when I stepped into our room I wished I had taken my clothes into the bathroom with me. Eve was no longer alone and I gasped. I was unexpectedly standing in front of four men wearing a towel so small I had to hold it together at the top and it split on my side, exposing my skin all the way up to where I held it.

I let out a high pitch wail and ran back to the bathroom. I can't think of another time when I was more embarrassed.