Heart of Stone (Rock Star Fairy Tales #1)

Chapter 30

C h apte r 30

Rabid Fans

Evening, Friday, Febr uary 20 th in Margot’s Bus at the Border of Arma v and Genc

T hey continued in silence through the countryside, eventually leaving the mountains and rejoining traffic on the highway. As they approached the border crossing, Margot felt herself tensing. She knew better. Crossing the border was easy enough, and she had never had a problem before, but she hadn’t been trying to leave Armav since the fighting started. Nor had she been transporting a possibly sketchy traveling companion. Margot knew her and Ash’s IDs would be approved right away—and despite Tobin’s insistence that he wasn’t a criminal, she couldn’t quell the doubt in her gut. They filed into a lane to the left, following the guard who waved them over, then parked in the spot indicated. Margot rolled down her window. A guard from the right lane walked over, taking in her foreign bus with the driver’s seat on the r ight side.

“Good evening, ma’am,” the border guard greeted, a bored-looking middle-aged man with a mustache. He peeked inside the bus, studying the steering wheel. “An ’05 TW? I haven’t seen one of these in a l ong time.”

“It’s a classic,” Margot said, patting the dashboard. “Still got plenty of lif e in her.”

The guard nodded. “Definitely. What brings you to Genc?”

“Business,” Margot replied. “I’m with a rock band tour. Our next show is in Akkoy.”

The guard nodded, as if he had heard this before. “IDs?” he asked, holding out his hand. Margot slid hers out of her small purple wallet, then held out a hand for Ash and Tobin to deposit theirs. Ash’s plastic card was the same as Margot’s—marked with the blue seal of Arillo—but Tobin’s ID was completely white, his picture and name clearly displayed above the word “DIPLOMAT” in gold lettering across the bottom. Margot’s eyes widened as she saw it, but she rearranged her expression as she handed it over to t he guard.

She had heard of diplomatic passes before, but she had never seen one. Lord Redi-whatever must be powerful in this world as well as his own if he could give Tobin that kind of a uthority.

The guard didn’t look at the cards, simply passing them over to his assistant who held a small card reader in one hand. He pulled a flashlight from his belt and clicked it on, moving the beam across the top of her hood.

“So,” the guard began, eyes flicking down to her battered front grill and back to her. “A band tour, huh? Isn’t it a bit late to try and reach Akkoy tonight?”

“We got held up,” she e xplained.

The guard nodded, reaching out to jiggle the metal grill across the front of her bus, making sure it was connected. Margot prayed for her little bus to hold together. “I’m just going to take a little look around,” he said and started walking around the front of the bus, hesitating at the obvious damage to the front end. Margot was glad none of the windows had shattered in the faeng encounter, but she bit her lip, knowing he would ask about the mangled side door. A few seconds after he passed to that side of the bus, he rapped his knuckles on the passenger window. Ash reached over and rolled it down, staring listlessly at t he guard.

“You want to tell me what happened over here?” the guard asked, tapping on the mangled side doo r handle.

“We had an unexpected encounter—” Mar got began.

“With some rabid fans,” Tobin finished for her, leaning forward so the guard could see him. “Believe me, they were wild to get at us. We barely escaped with o ur lives.”

The guard stared at them, unimpressed, but the assistant made his way around the bus and leaned over to whisper in the guard’s ear. “Seriously?” he said, peering more closely into the bus as he aimed the flashlight at them. “You’re with Stone Dragons?”

Margot nodded, squinting at the light. “I’m the stage manager,” she e xplained.

He nodded, then shifted his gaze to Ash, recognition filling his face. “You’re…”

“Ash Stonewall,” Ash finished for him, reaching out a hand. The guard accepted it awkwardly, bobbing the flashlight until his assistant grabbed it, shellshocked at meeting a c elebrity.

“I love your band!” the assistant said, waving with the flashlight as his other hand tucked the card reader under his arm and handed back their ID cards. “So bummed you didn’t do more shows here.” He scowled. “You didn’t have any trouble with rebels, did you?” He glanced at the door. “Is that what happened?”

Ash shook his head, taking the cards. “Nothing like that. We were only in Kerva on Wednesday. As he said, just some … really excit ed fans.”

“Occupational hazard,” Tobin added. He leaned forward conspiratorially, taking his ID back from Ash, “You know how those women can get around rock stars.” He glanced over at Margot as he handed her back her ID. “Thank the stars our Margot here is immune, or we would never get anywhere!”

The assistant smiled at her, clearly pleased to hear she was unattached. “Well, we’re just glad to see you made it here alright. Hopefully, this business will be settled by the next tour so you can do more than one show!”

Margot and the boys nodded. “Definitely,” she agreed, then waited awkwardly for them to say they could go. There was another long pause, and the border guard leaned forward, hands on the edge of the ope n window.

“Any chance I could get a picture with you?” he asked Ash.

“Sure,” Ash agreed. “Just don’t post it for a few days. I don’t want those fans to find me!”

“Of course,” the guard agreed, pulling his phone from his pocket. He turned his back to the bus window, ducking down to show Ash in the background. He took a few pictures, then gestured the assistant over, and the three of them spent a few minutes posing and flashing pea ce signs.

Margot watched in silence, feeling herself and Ash sliding back into their familiar roles. It had been different the last day, just the two of them alone in her bus, but now they were returning to the real world—the world where Ash wouldn’t look at her as anything more than Baby Go again.

Will he bring a strange woman back to the Entertaining Bus tomorrow after the show? She had been avoiding the thought since last night, since she brought out the bottle of wine, but the reality of their positions slammed back into her. Her time with Ash was over. He had been hers for a brief moment—and that was all she would ever get. He had said as much, warned her over and over. And she had warned herself.

Hell, even Tobin had said it. Guard your heart , Margot.

But it was a battle lost long ago, and she bit her lip, looking away from the fan interaction, trying not to acknowledge the hot jealousy flooding thr ough her.

He was never yours, she reminded herself. Just as you were n ever his.

I’m al ways his.

Oh, shut up. Pathetic. A warm hand on her arm roused her from her reverie. The fans and Ash were exchanging a few final pleasantries, Ash even using his rock s tar voice.

“Margot,” Tobin said, staring at her with wide sympathetic eyes, and she knew he understood how she was feeling, however impossible that seemed. “I’m here,” he said quietly, then removed his hand, settling back into the swivel seat and clipping the lap belt into place with a professional smile at the guard through th e window.

“Have a great tour!” the guard was saying and waving her forward. Ash rolled up his window as they drove away, but Margot left hers down, turning up the radio and letting the wind play with her hair. She lost herself in the familiar comfort of the road at night, the glow of the dashboard dials, the smell of the night air in yet another province, the security of the n ext show.