"No shit?" Sed shoved his grocery sacks in Trey's direction. "You can tell me all about it later. I need to call Jess."
Trey managed to grab the sacks before Sed released them. Sed dug his phone out of his pocket as he stomped up the bus steps.
"He's kind of a jerk," Reagan said.
"Kind of?" Trey said.
"He's different once you get to know him," Jace said. "He's like that with strangers. Doesn't know who to trust."
"True," Trey agreed. "It's been a while since I've seen him act like that. He must've thought you were a groupie."
"That excuses him being a jerk?" Reagan asked, her eyebrows raised high above her grayish-blue eyes.
"You'll have some groupies of your own soon. Then you'll understand why it's easier to be an asshole when they're around."
"So you're an asshole to your groupies too?" Reagan asked.
Trey started backpedaling. "Well, no, I-"
"Trey just uses them for sex," Jace said and headed up the stairs after Sed.
Trey was going to invest in four sturdy ball gags. One for each of the members of his big-mouthed band.
Reagan managed to stifle a laugh as she watched Trey try to come up with something to say after Jace dropped that bomb. She didn't care that Trey had a long list of sexual conquests. One didn't get as good in bed as he was without a lot a practice. It wasn't as if she was clueless about what went on backstage. She had a few acquaintances in the business. No one as famous as Trey-well, until yesterday-but even small-time bands had plenty of women to keep them entertained.
"If you're going to get upset every time one of your band members reveals one of your dirty little secrets, you're going to go nuts."
Trey raked a hand through his long bangs and held them out of his eye. "I'm not upset."
"You don't think I know these things already?"
His face fell. "What things?"
"That you've slept with a lot of women."
He released his hair and it dropped to conceal one eye again. His typical devil-may-care expression replaced the worried one of just a moment before. "You're not the jealous type?"
"If I was, I wouldn't last as your girlfriend for three seconds. I see the way women look at you."
"You do?"
"I can't blame them."
He grinned that sexy smile and even though it made her heart race, she couldn't resist teasing him. "I want to take a pair of scissors to those bangs as much as they do."
His sexy smile faded and he looked up at his bangs. "You don't like my haircut?"
She bit her lip and shook her head. "It's much too sexy. It makes me want to grab you and do naughty things with you."
He laughed. "One of these days I'm going to get used to you fucking with me and quit falling for your taunts."
She produced an exaggerated pout. "And ruin all my fun?"
The bus engine started and Trey took her hand. "Time to sequester ourselves in a small space with six or seven other people who like to fuck with me."
"This should be fun."
Reagan paused at the top of the stairs. There was a lean man with a foot-tall, blond mohawk behind the wheel. How many people were crammed onto this bus?
"Hey," the guy said, rubbing one eye and blinking rapidly as if he'd just been pulled from a deep sleep. "Are we finally ready to roll?"
"Let's move," Dave said. He'd given up his wheelchair, which was folded and tucked behind the drivers' seat. He had a pair of metal crutches resting against the side of the sofa beside him.
Reagan offered a hand to the driver. "I'm Reagan."
"Jake."
"You'll want to get to know him. He's our guitar technician," Trey said.
Jake squeezed her hand before honking the bus's horn. "And occasional driver."
"Nice to meet you. I'll harass you later."
"Booyah!" Jake said.
Reagan walked down the bus aisle and looked for an empty seat. Sed was sitting in one of the two captain's chairs talking into his cell phone and flipping through the pictures on Brian's phone with a huge smile on his face. "I'll be home in two weeks. Get off the pill now." He paused. "I'm sure." Another pause. "I'll still marry you even if you're as fat as a hippo. I'll just put you on a diet after the baby is born." His face fell and Reagan couldn't make out Jess's words, but she was definitely yelling. "What?" he said. "What did I say?"
Brian was in the other captain's chair watching his cell phone anxiously. Sed waved it around as he tried to talk himself out of the hole he'd dug himself into with his fiancée.
Jace had settled onto the sofa across from the captain's chairs. He was on his cell phone too, texting at a hundred miles an hour and blushing again. He looked tough and so cute at the same time. Reagan wouldn't mind sitting next to him for the entire journey to Topeka. There was a narrow space between himself and Dave, but not enough space for Reagan to sit. She didn't think it was appropriate to sit between them and wiggle until they gave her some space. That left the booths around the dining table. The bus moved and Trey placed a steadying hand on her lower back as she stumbled.