Double Time (Sinners on Tour #5)(55)

Brian dropped Reagan's luggage and brushed past her to sit next to Eric in the booth. He began flipping through pictures on his cell phone. He'd been so excited when he had been allowed to turn on his cell phone after landing and found he had six new pictures and a video of Malcolm sleeping in his bassinet for the first time. While Eric ooo-ed and aww-ed over baby pictures, Trey struggled with Reagan's abundance of luggage.

"I brought too much, didn't I?" she asked.

"You think?" Trey laughed and stacked her four guitar cases on the only sofa on the bus.

"Maybe we should store them underneath the bus," she said.

"Good idea."

"You're not going to introduce her?" Eric asked. He lifted his gaze from Brian's three-minute-long, baby-sleeping video to look at Reagan.

Brian elbowed him in the ribs. "This is Malcolm's first meal."

Eric looked at the picture and grinned. "Niiiice."

Trey stared at her as if he had no idea how to introduce her to Eric. Eventually he said, "This is Reagan. She'll be on tour with us for the next two weeks. Dare's idea."

Eric scratched behind his ear. "Dare's idea?"

"I'm Exodus End's new rhythm guitarist. Taking over for Max," Reagan explained.

"Oh. Max's carpal tunnel syndrome. Pussiest reason for giving up guitar that I've ever heard. So why are you touring with us instead of rehearsing with them?"

"I think they're afraid that I'm not man enough to go on tour with a rock band."

Eric's gaze traveled down Reagan's entire length. "I'd hazard to guess you aren't man at all."

"She's also Trey's girlfriend," Brian said.

Eric's head snapped around in Brian's direction, his bright blue eyes wide with astonishment.

"I know, right?" Brian said.

Trey cringed. Reagan wondered why it made him uncomfortable.

"Let's go put some of your stuff under the bus," he said.

A loud mechanical sound came from near the front of the bus. Before Reagan could figure out its source, Trey took Reagan's arm and directed her to stand with him between the captain's chairs along one wall while a good-looking young man maneuvered his wheelchair down the aisle.

"You ready to head out, Brian?" the man asked. "We'll be on the road for hours. The other bus and equipment trucks are already in Topeka. They've started setting up."

"Yeah, let's go," Brian said. "Where are the rest of the guys?"

"Jace and Sed went to get some necessities," Eric said. "Jon left with the other bus. Jake's napping."

"Rebekah?"

Eric smiled and glanced at the back bedroom's closed door. "She's getting dressed."

"We need to store some stuff under the bus," Trey said to the man in the wheelchair.

The man started when he noticed Reagan crammed between Trey and the wall. "Sorry, I didn't see you there." He extended a hand in Reagan's direction. "I'm Dave. I run the soundboard when Rebekah lets me."

Reagan reached around Trey to shake Dave's hand. She had heard about Sinners' bus accident and that their soundboard operator had been paralyzed in the crash. She hadn't known that he was still part of the crew.



       
         
       
        

"You better be glad Reb didn't hear that," Eric said.

Dave grinned and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. "Rebekah is my younger sister. Also one of Sinners' soundboard operators."

"And my wife," Eric said. "She's a little kinky. Just to warn you."

Trey laughed. He'd never heard Eric apologize for his wife's kinkiness before. Of course, she'd been the only woman on the bus for the past seven months and the guys were used to her emerging from the bedroom dressed as a vampire or an umpire. She would then corral her husband into the back bedroom and a whole lot of happy emanated from that area of the bus for the next couple of hours.

"So Dave is your brother-in-law?" Reagan asked Eric as she worked out the dynamics of the bus occupants.

"Yep."

"What are you working on?" Brian asked Eric, finally taking his attention off his collection of photos to look over the scores of music. "New Sinners' songs? We just released the last album. Don't you ever take a break?"

Eric collected his music and stuffed it into a folder. "It's not Sinners. It's for Hot Dog Junkie."

Brian laughed. "I still can't believe you named your new band that. Why not call it Wiener Eater? Maybe Trey-"

"Let's go put this stuff under the bus," Trey interrupted loudly. He reached for two guitar cases and handed them to Reagan. He grabbed the larger of her two suitcases and another guitar case and encouraged her to head toward the exit.