Nobody Falls for the Opening Act (Break the Rules Book 2)

Chapter 23

She needs time. Time to think.

Time to think about… what, exactly?

I’ve already made up my mind. I’m all-in. I’ve never made a decision faster in my entire life. If the choice is between being with Addison Abbey and not being with Addison Abbey, I’m gonna plow right through door number one without a second thought.

But she needs to think.

She’s standing at the end of a long hallway, looking at two different doors, and she needs time to think about which one to walk through.

That’s bad, isn’t it?

I ponder this and more on the long bus ride to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Only about seven hours — far shorter than previous routes on our tour — but still far too long to sit with these thoughts. I’d love to stand up and walk into the back of the bus where she’s currently relaxing with the others and talk to her, but her need to think also, no doubt, includes an inherent need for space. The last thing I want her to do is tell me to go away, so I won’t give her the opportunity to even have to.

No, I’ll sit here and stare out the window and I’ll wait until she’s ready.

“Hey, Harvey. You okay?”

Or I can talk to Jordan.

I glance across the aisle, and nod to her and Chrissy sitting at their usual table behind Mac. “I’m good,” I answer.

The two of them stare at me silently, the gears behind their eyes turning endlessly.

“Why?” I ask with caution.

Jordan waves me over. “Come here,” she says, patting the empty side of the table. “Hang out with us.”

“Uh…” I stand up. “Okay.”

As I cross the bus, I look into the back. It’s been a quiet trip from Phoenix as the members of Criminal Records stayed in the hotel bar until closing — then apparently took their party to the roof until sunrise. The only one left standing right now is Katrina, who sits quietly with her tablet as Addison snoozes beside her, using her shoulder as a pillow. The rest are in bunks, sleeping away.

I smile as I sit down. “They sure know how to party, don’t they?” I say.

Jordan playfully sighs. “That’s what I get for telling them they get a day off the night before.”

Chrissy shakes her head. “Rookie mistake.”

“Eh.” Jordan shrugs it off. “Everyone needs to let off some steam sometimes. Better they do it now before we get to Austin.”

I perk to attention. Just hearing the name of the city is enough to get my heart pounding.

“Ugh.” Chrissy sneers. “Don’t remind me.”

“Getting them on the schedule was enough of a pain. Dealing with The Electrics and their dumbass shenanigans, too?” Jordan rolls her eyes. “Kill me now.”

“Jordan,” I say, “can I ask you about something?”

“Sure,” she says, eagerly leaning forward. “Go ahead.”

“Well, August told me you maybe might be able to get me in to meet Dade Connery,” I say, swallowing hard. “And I just wanted to first, thank you. If that’s something you can really do, I will be eternally grateful for it. And also, how might that work, exactly?”

“Oh.” Jordan sits back. “I thought you were going to ask me about Addison.”

“Uh…” I blanch, discreetly glancing at Chrissy by her side. “No. W-w-why would I do that?”

Jordan waves her hand, tapping Chrissy’s arm. “Don’t mind Chrissy. I already told her everything.”

Chrissy shows a knowing grin, her eyes bouncing between me and Addison snoring on Katrina’s shoulder.

“Oh,” I say. “You told her… everything?”

“Well, not everything,” she says, leaning in again. “Not what you guys said to each other in the hallway last night. I couldn’t hear it through the door.”

“Ah. Good. That’s?—”

“So, what’d you say?”

“Yeah,” Chrissy says. “What’d you say?”

I stare at their eager little band manager faces. “Uh…”

“Don’t mind Mac, either,” Jordan says. “He can hear every word we say back here, but his NDA is rock solid.”

“He can?” I look forward, making instant eye contact with Mac in the large rearview mirror over his head. He winks at me. “Oh, that’s… wonderful.”

Jordan points at me. “Don’t blame me if she blew you off,” she says. “I told her to go for it.”

“You did?” I ask, feeling as grateful as I am confused. The last person I expect to be cool with on tour liaisons is the one who enforces the rules.

“Well, I left the door open for her,” she says. “It’s not my fault she didn’t walk through it. That one’s on you and whatever you said. So, what’d you say?”

I nod, letting that sink in and… not feeling much better about the situation.

“What did you say, Harvey?” Jordan asks again.

“Yeah, Harvey,” Chrissy says. “What’d you say?”

I lean back, holding up my hands to keep them at bay. “Nothing,” I say. “I didn’t say anything to her.”

Chrissy pouts. “Did she dump you?”

Jordan sighs and looks into the back of the bus. “Such a shame, but not exactly a surprise, either.”

“She didn’t dump me.” I keep my voice low. “We’re just… taking our time. Thinking it through, you know? We don’t want to rush into anything. Why isn’t it a surprise?”

Jordan takes her time answering. “Addison is… well, she’s always been a lone wolf.”

I nod. “I get that vibe, yeah.”

“She’s dated people before,” she adds. “But it fizzles out fast.”

“Do you know why?”

She shrugs. “Not really. I’ve asked her, of course. She’s always been vague about it. She doesn’t like to talk about herself. Getting to know new people has always been tricky for her, so she mostly just doesn’t bother with it. Someone asks something a little too personal and—” She makes a scissor-cutting gesture with two fingers. “That’s that.”

“Yeah,” I say, the words ringing true. “Why is that? I mean, she told me about her mother and growing up in Vegas, but I never got the impression it was a bad childhood, you know? What’s there to be so guarded about?”

Jordan and Chrissy stare back at me, practically blinking in unison.

“She told you about her mother?” Jordan asks.

“Yeah. Former showgirl turned music teacher, right?”

They peek at each other, then they both smile.

“What?” I ask.

Chrissy chuckles as she reaches for her coffee. “Buckle up, Harvey Moon,” she says.

“Why?”

“Because if she’s telling you that,” Jordan whispers with awe, “then she might actually really like you.”

I pause, unsure what to say as the two of them chuckle amongst themselves.

Chrissy grins. “Now, it all makes sense.”

“It does?” I ask, still unsure.

“Of course she wants to take it slow. She’s terrified.”

Jordan nods in agreement.

“But…” I frown. “I don’t want her to be scared of me.”

“She’s not scared of you,” Chrissy says. “But she’s definitely scared of what you’re doing to her.”

“But I didn’t do anything to her.”

They chuckle again.

I sit back.

“Harvey, honey.” Jordan reaches out and places her hand on mine. “Pay no mind to the words of a bunch of gossipy crones like us. Just be patient. And…” She curls her fingers, planting the tips of her nails into the back of my hand. “If you do anything to hurt her, I’ll ruin your career.”

She would, too.

And, more importantly, she could.

“I won’t,” I say, taking the pain. “Believe me, Jordan, you never have to worry about that from me.”

“Let’s hope not.” She releases me and sits back. “Oh, and Dade.”

“Dade?” I ask, my gut twisting with nerves already.

She jots something down on her clipboard. “I’ll fire off an email to his manager this week,” she says casually, as if that’s not the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my whole life. “Shouldn’t be a problem getting you two in the same room.”

I blink twice. “You can do that?”

“Sure, why not?”

Damn. August wasn’t kidding when he said how incredible Jordan Peck was.

Too stunned to answer, I simply say, “Thank you, Jordan.”

She shrugs. “No big deal.”

I take a deep breath to shake off the fresh flurry of goosebumps on my limbs before looking over my shoulder into the back of the bus. Addison is awake now, chatting with Katrina with fuzzy, tired eyes. She’s exhausted.

But still pretty.

Be patient.

I can do that.

I’ll wait forever if it means being with Addison Abbey.

As I look forward, something colorful in the sky catches my eye through the window. Then another. And another.

I shift to get a better view, spotting the floating things drifting among the clouds along the highway.

They’re balloons.

Hot air balloons made up of various shapes and colors, each carrying large baskets across the desert sky.

Not something one sees every day.

I point them out to the girls, and we watch them fly by above New Mexico.