After scrambling through my suitcases for my wallet, grabbing my camera and my new sunglasses, I headed out of the room, ready to take on a new day.
Montana was already sitting on the couch, fully dressed in a tight vintage-green T-shirt, skinny jeans, and black boots. He didn’t really do much with his mohawk, not that it looked bad. There were just a few loose blond pieces hanging on his forehead and the nape of his neck.
“Do you know what’s around here?” I asked.
He looked up quickly and then stood. “Nope, but we have a driver with a GPS. We’ll find something.”
Nodding, I turned for the door and stepped out. It was blazing outside. I looked up and no clouds were around, only the sun. I placed my sunglasses over my eyes and Montana came out, his sunglasses in hand, too. He shielded his eyes as well, and then looked toward the black Escalade parked on the curb.
The driver was on the phone as we approached and as soon as he saw Montana and me getting closer, he yelled something into the phone and then pulled it from his ear, ending the call.
“Arguing with the ol’ lady, huh, Stan?” Montana asked.
“Nah.” Stan sighed, stepping around the car to get to the back door. He opened it for us and I climbed in first. Montana climbed in and shut the door behind him. Stan hopped in quickly with a heavier sigh. “Okay, I lied. It’s the wife. She’s annoying the hell out of me.”
“What’d she do?” Montana asked.
“Just nagging. Obviously in need of some good ol’ Stan. No worries.” He grunted, sitting forward and starting the car. “As soon as I get back home, her nagging’ll stop. She just misses Big Papa, that’s all.”
Montana laughed and rolled down his window. I couldn’t help but giggle. “Keep telling that to yourself, Stan.”
Stan was a round man with an evident beer belly and a bald head beneath his black chauffeur’s hat. He had a meaty neck, but he had kind brown eyes, which made him seem friendlier than anything. To top it all off, he was funny and I automatically knew he was a big teddy bear who probably tried to act tough whenever his wife wasn’t around. I was certain when he was alone with her, he did anything for her in a heartbeat. He just seemed like the type of guy who would kiss his woman’s toes if she asked him to.
Stan looked over his shoulder. “Where to?”
“Just take us to the nearest diner, if you can,” I inquired.
“You got it. I actually know of a place that’s really close. They serve the best damn waffles and eggs I’ve ever had. The waffles aren’t too crisp or too fluffy. They’re just right. I’m tellin’ ya.”
Montana chuckled again, staring out the window. I couldn’t help but laugh as well. Stan was a cool guy. I wanted him to be my driver instead of Marco’s perverted ass.
It took us about ten minutes to get to the diner. It was pretty old-fashioned, small, but seemed really comfortable and welcoming. As soon as we stepped inside, a woman with grey hair smiled at us from the counter. Her lips were smothered with pink lipstick and her makeup was a bit dramatic for her age.
“It’s you!” she squealed, rushing in our direction.
I looked up at Montana with a face full of confusion and he frowned at the lady before looking down at me and shaking his head. “Trust me, I do not get that drunk.”
She continued rushing our way, but then I saw she wasn’t coming for us. She was going for Stan, who was trailing in behind us. “Hey!” Stan boomed from the door. Montana and I took a step to the side as they hugged.
“What brings you back to Houston?” the woman asked, grinning up at him.
“On the road again, as usual. Got a few rockers on tour and I’m one of the drivers.”
“Aw, ain’t that nice.” The woman patted Stan’s belly and then looked in our direction. “Well, let’s go fill you on up, then.”
I figured out during our chat at the bar that the woman’s name was Marceline. She and Stan were like siblings because Stan lived in Houston, Texas, for two years. He’d even worked at the diner with her as a chef for a short period of time.
I ordered the house famous waffles and scrambled eggs Stan mentioned and I admit he was right. The food was phenomenal, the coffee was perfect, and to top it all off, Marceline and the staff were extremely kind.
“Do you guys mind if I snap a few pictures of you?” I asked, pulling the strap of my camera over my head. “I just—I have a thing where I like to take pictures of my surroundings.”
“Of course, dear,” Marceline chimed, waving her hand at me. “I’m all up for makin’ memories.”
“Just make sure you don’t drool all over the sight of me in that pic later,” Montana teased, standing from his barstool. I rolled my eyes playfully and he laughed, standing on the right side of Marceline. Stan was on her left.
I snapped a few pictures of them doing a few poses and making funny faces and when I was done, I hooked the strap of my camera around my neck again. Marceline gathered our dishes while she and Stan started talking about the diner and I decided I could find a few more things outside to take pictures of, so as soon as I finished my orange juice I headed out.
“So, are you making a scrapbook or something?” Montana asked as he stepped to my side.
“Something like that.”
He chuckled quietly and I looked up at him. “You’re a really confidential person, you know that? It’s weird because I feel like I’ve been around you long enough to call you a friend, yet I don’t know a single thing about you.”
I pursed my lips with a shrug. “I’m not that hard to figure out.”
“You are to Gage,” he said, chuckling.
I was about to smile, but it evaporated immediately as he said Gage’s name. “How am I hard for Gage to figure out?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Gage is a complicated man. He’s one of those guys who likes to get under people’s skin by trying to figure them out completely—girls especially. He calls it a ‘panty dropper thing.’ Trust me, once he’s figured a girl out, he’ll use it as a sweet weapon against them. He’s weird as fuck that way, but I can’t blame him because it works every damn time.”
“I’ll never understand you rockers,” I sighed. I turned around to find something to snap pictures of and he followed after me.
“Look, I don’t want shit to get ugly so I think I should say this now.”
I paused in my tracks, turning to face Montana, who’d placed his sunglasses over his eyes, his face now serious. “What are you talking about?”
“You danced with Deed the night before—at the club. I’m sure it was fun and all, but when Gage is interested in someone, I know it. I can tell. I’ve known Gage for years and he isn’t usually one for talking about a girl repeatedly, but it’s weird how he talks about you. And it’s not in a way that makes it seem like he’s crushing on you or even wants to get in your pants. He’s just met you and for some reason he won’t stop bringing you up.
“Like the night at the club, for instance. We were talking about the girls dancing on us and he’d mentioned that you might have gotten mad at him for it. He also told me he thinks Deed danced with you on purpose since Deed knows he called ‘dibs’ on you. Right after he said something about you, he bailed on us.”
“He didn’t sleep with anyone that night?” I asked, slightly relieved. Of course I tried to hide the relief.
“Nah. He called a ride and went straight to the bus. I’ll be honest here. I think he was upset that you danced with Deed, but of course he wasn’t gonna say it out loud to us… but I could tell.”
I pretended not to care much about what Montana was telling me, but I was kind of glad to hear it. He didn’t sleep with anyone that night. I thought he did since I saw a few girls getting off the FireNine bus the previous morning. I guess there were only two girls for a reason. One for Montana and one for Deed… or maybe two for Montana.
Turning slowly, I looked ahead and tried to find something to take a picture of to distract myself from these mindboggling thoughts of Grendel. Of course, Montana kept bringing it back up.
“What I wanted to say before is if any one of us tries to claim you, it should be Gage. Don’t fuck with Deed. He’s only doing it to get under Gage’s skin.”
“No one’s claiming me,” I said over my shoulder. I bent down to take a picture of a ladybug sitting on a dirty water bottle.
“Just saying.” Montana’s shadow shrugged. “I just hope he doesn’t get too caught up on you—not that you’re a bad girl. I just know he and Deed are supposed to be sort of partners for the tour and Deed can act like a real bitch sometimes when it comes down to going out and shit. The kid hates to be alone for some reason.”
Stan came tumbling out of the diner and I was glad to see he had on his hat and his keys clutched in hand because the conversation between Montana and me was beginning to get a little awkward.
I didn’t want to talk about Gage with him. I didn’t really want to care. On the inside, I was excited as hell. If I would’ve known Gage didn’t sleep with anyone the night we were at the club, I probably wouldn’t have been so rude toward him the morning after. Of course I was still annoyed about him kissing a girl he didn’t know while dating Penelope, but at least it wasn’t me he was hurting. At least, during his whole night, I was somewhere on his mind.