Girl in Love(67)

“You know, every time I start to think that you might’ve grown up, that you might actually keep your promise to behave like an adult on this tour, you go and remind me why I never should’ve trusted you in the first place.” She shook her head and turned toward the lot where the buses were parked.

The small crowd that had gathered around them dispersed as quickly as the security team could herd them out of there. Pauly and Claire Ann appeared at his side.

“Let’s go home now,” his sister said, gently tugging at his arm.

“No.” He began walking toward the bus. “I have to talk to her. She needs to know what’s going on. And she can be pissed at me all she wants, but I’m not going to watch that little shit do this to her.”

“I don’t think she cares what you have to say right this minute.” Pauly’s face twisted into a grimace. “Listen, give her some time. Tomorrow, after everyone’s had some time to sleep on it, you can talk to her about whatever you like.”

“I’m not leaving here until I talk to her, Pauly.” He turned to his sister with desperation in his pleading gaze.

“Oh no,” she said, taking a step back. “Do not drag me into this. You’re on your own.”

“Please? Just go knock on the bus door and ask her to give me five minutes. It’s five minutes, Claire Ann.”

She shook her head. “Trace, I told you I needed help with Rae. You promised to talk to her tonight.”

“And I will,” he promised. “Swear. But I can’t leave it like this. Don’t make me beg.”

“Fine. Five minutes and then we are out of here.” His sister led the way to his bus, mumbling about feeling like she was in seventh grade. She knocked roughly on the door. Kylie’s friend Lu opened it and stood with her pink-streaked head cocked to the side.

“He wants to talk to her for five minutes,” Claire Ann said evenly. “Then we’re heading to Macon.”

“Hang tight,” the girl said, shooting him an annoyed look.

Trace folded his arms. What the hell was wrong with everyone? Blythe had gotten what he’d deserved. Meanwhile, his right eye was ready to throb right out of his skull.

A moment later, Kylie appeared at the door to the bus.

“What in God’s name could you possibly have to say to me?” Her blue eyes blazed into his. “Wait, why don’t you just wait a few days and sing whatever it is to me in front of my entire hometown?”

She folded her arms, which only functioned to thrust the swells of her breasts visible above her dress even higher. He forced himself to focus on her face.

“I need a few minutes. I’ll meet y’all at the car,” he told his sister and manager.

Once they’d gone, shaking their heads and giving him disappointed glances as they went, he turned to Kylie and sighed.

“Look, I don’t know what I did to—”

“Are you kidding me?” She came down off the steps of the bus and forced him backward. “You don’t know what you did? I was all stressed about letting Steven stay in my room last night. Even though all we did was write. I was planning to apologize to you. Then you went and humiliated me in front of a huge crowd and attacked my guitar player.”

Trace stepped forward into her personal space. “Humiliated you? Kylie, it took every ounce of courage I had to sing that fucking song. Do you have any idea how hard that was for me? But I wrote it for you and I wanted you to know how I felt. I was throwing my hat in the ring, dammit.”

She eyed him warily and he swallowed hard. “What about Gretchen?”

“What about Gretchen? If you want to ask me something, anything, fucking ask already. But you should know I’ve got some questions of my own.” He waited a beat to give her a chance to say something but she just averted her eyes from his intense stare. “For instance, what’s the deal with Blythe? Is he your boyfriend or your guitar player? Because I can’t figure it out and I don’t think he can either. One minute he’s crashing in your room and the next he’s got a Tailgate Twin or Mia Montgomery hanging off his dick.”

Her eyes filled with tears and Trace felt like a complete ass. Pauly was right. This was none of his business and he shouldn’t have made such a public display of her personal issues.

“Dammit, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. All I do is hurt you.” He reached out and she pulled back so fast she backed into the bus.

The girl he’d known couldn’t have kept quiet for this long. She would’ve chewed his ass out ten different ways by now.

It began to dawn on him that maybe she really had changed. Maybe the version of her that he’d fallen in love with had disappeared somewhere along the way to her becoming a huge star.