Rock & Roll Nights: The Lila and Rivers Edit

13. Lila

13

LILA

“ I can’t believe we’re doing this,” I said as I ducked around the corner and scanned the street in front of us. There was no one there, as expected, and the cars were limited to two: a red truck and a brown sedan of some sort. But we were also on a main street in a small town. The sort of place where people were constantly looking out their front windows to see what their neighbors were doing.

I didn’t trust the lack of traffic, and I sure as hell didn’t think we were actually alone.

“And I can’t believe they left us,” Rivers said from right behind me, his hand on my back as he leaned over me to look out of the alley as well. “Actually, scratch that. I can.”

I turned to look up at him, shocked. “You can believe that the guys in your band, plus your roadies, plus your techs, plus your agent, all left you sleeping in your hotel room rather than waking you up to get you on the bus, where you could have gone back to sleep? You believe that everyone who’s supposed to be taking care of you just… left?”

He gave me a very wry, very sarcastic look. “Of course I can. Welcome to the music industry, Lila. They’ll do anything if they think it’ll make for good publicity. I’m more surprised they talked Anna into leaving you .”

I was surprised about that as well, and when we caught up with everyone in the next town, I was planning to have a not-so-polite conversation with her about that. And the fact that she’d taken my car with her. Bad enough that she’d left me; she’d also stranded me. Stolen my fucking keys and taken my car like it was just another day and we were back in Nashville, where I could have found another ride.

Okay so she’d taken my car before. The truth was, she did it all the time. But that was different. I knew enough people in Nashville that it wasn’t a big deal. Doing it when we were in a strange town was totally different.

I didn’t know what her motives were, but they weren’t good enough. We’d never deserted each other, no matter what, and I wasn’t feeling very happy about her having deserted me now—with Rivers Shine as my only companion. I also didn’t understand how she could have bowed to the pressure from Taylor to do something like this. I didn’t think the two were even on speaking terms, to be honest, and I’d never seen them in the same place at the same time. Anna also didn’t go for things like this. She’d never been a fan of pranks. They were too silly, and she prided herself on being all business, all the time.

I was the one who signed up for bad ideas like pretending to date a rock star in exchange for a music contract.

Rivers was right about the publicity angle, though, and maybe Anna had been thinking the same thing. We’d been dodging paparazzi since we found out that we were stuck in town without a ride to the next stop, and it was pretty obvious that they were looking for us. They knew we were still here, and there was only one possible reason for that. Taylor—or someone—had tipped them off. Probably wrote the whole byline for them and then sent them to find us.

Honestly, I was sort of surprised they hadn’t come right up to the hotel room and started banging on the door the moment the rest of the tour left.

The worst part was, I could see what she was doing, and even sort of understand it. I was supposed to be dating Rivers, and it would be easy to tell the press that we’d been in his room and had overslept—or been too busy to leave said room—and that the tour managers had decided they didn’t want to wait around for us to come out. They’d thought it would be better if we came along on our own. Or maybe they’d say that we’d asked them to leave us behind, too caught up in our own world to bother with something as silly as a tour bus.

It made for a cute story. Romantic, if you looked at it through the right filter. Funny, even.

“I’m sure they thought it was funny,” Rivers said suddenly, like he was reading my thoughts.

I snorted. “Sure. Being stuck in a town we don’t know without any mode of transportation is hilarious.”

He elbowed me in the ribs, and when I glanced up at him he was actually smirking. “Come on, Lila. This could be fun.”

Fun. Right. I turned and looked back into the street and went over the plan once again. We didn’t have a car, and this little town didn’t have a rental place. Because of course it didn’t. We didn’t have time to wait for the only bus that came through town, and even if we had, neither of us wanted to stick around, hiding in the hotel room and avoiding the press.

So Rivers had come up with an alternative.

“Now,” he muttered, and went dashing into the street, heading right for the red truck I’d just been staring at.

I stared at him for a split second, caught off-guard at how quickly he was moving. What the fuck? He hadn’t even though to give me a warning ? Then I remembered that I was supposed to be following him and that we didn’t have a whole lot of time, and sprinted after him, failing to look both ways before going.

Serve me right if I got hit by a car, I thought bitterly. That would teach Anna a lesson, too. And she’d deserve it, the traitorous whore.

That thought brought me a bit of satisfaction, and I turned my brain toward what we were doing. The plan was simple. In theory. Get to the truck, get it open, and then wait as Rivers hot-wired the thing so we could get out of town.

“I still can’t believe you talked me into this,” I hissed as we came to a stop next to the truck. “I can’t believe you know how to hot-wire a car.”

He put his hand to the truck’s handle and pressed one finger against his lips. “Quiet. If that gets around, you’ll ruin my reputation.”

That had me rolling my eyes, but I could also feel a smile starting to tug at my lips. No, I’d never hung out with anyone who could hot-wire a car before, but I had to admit that there was something about it that felt... exciting. Forbidden.

Sexy.

The fact that it was Rivers doing the hot-wiring probably helped.

He gave me a quick smile, then pulled a length of wire from his back pocket. A quick movement and the wire was inserted into the slot that held the window and Rivers was sliding it around, looking for something. He frowned, though, and put his hand on the handle of the truck.

Then he opened it up.

“The thing wasn’t locked at all,” he said, surprised. “Who the hell doesn’t lock their truck when they park it on the street?”

“People who live in a town small enough that they know everyone,” I snapped. “And if that’s the case...”

I put my hand up to the visor and ran my fingers along the space between the flap and the ceiling. When I didn’t feel anything, I pulled the flap down.

A set of keys came with it, and I laughed, grabbing them up and holding them in front of Rivers’ face.

“Turns out you’re not going to practice your hot-wiring today,” I whispered. “Get in.”

He made to get into the driver’s seat, but I shoved him toward the passenger door. “I don’t think so. I found the keys. I’m driving.”

“Unfair,” he mumbled. “And from now on, I’m telling everyone that you’re the one who stole this car, not me. Turns out you’re not as good an influence as everyone thought you would be.”

He hustled toward the other side of the truck and climbed in, throwing our bags into the back on his way and being only slightly more careful with the guitar cases. I was already behind the wheel with the truck on and in gear by the time he was seated, and I swerved away from the curb the moment he had the door closed.

“God, Turbo, let me get my seatbelt on!” he said, surprised. “What are you, an actual car thief in disguise or something?”

“Hurry it up,” I said, my eyes on the rearview mirror. “We’re stealing a truck. I don’t think this is the sort of thing we want anyone to see. And we definitely don’t want the photographers getting any pictures.”

“Take it easy,” he said. “No one even?—”

At that moment, someone came tearing out of the store the truck had been parked in front of, shouting. Seconds later, several other people joined him, each of them shouting above the others.

I screamed, and Rivers shouted, “Step on it!”

I didn’t need further encouragement. I jammed my foot down on the accelerator and sent the truck tearing forward up the street, my heart pounding with either excitement or terror—or both—and one thought in my mind: I’d just stolen a truck.

So I could continue on tour with Olivia Johns and Connor Wheating.

And it was all Rivers Shine’s doing.