Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 121916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“Why didn’t you tell me about the breakup?”
“I didn’t feel like talking about it.”
“Have you told Titus yet?”
Ruby nods. “A couple days ago.”
“And?”
“He told me not to settle for a guy who doesn’t deserve me, ever again.”
“Amen.” I nod decisively. “Words to live by.”
“From now on, if it’s not amazing, I don’t want it.”
“Atta girl.” I raise my glass. “To amazingness or nothing at all.”
We clink and drink.
“Are you signing onto this life philosophy as well?” Ruby asks. “Or did you only drink to that for me?”
“I drank to it for both of us. I’m the only one of the two of us who’s been single this whole tour, remember? I’ve been living the ‘amazing or nothing’ life for a while now.”
“Yeah, and it’s killing you slowly.”
I scoff. “Not at all.”
“This is the first time you haven’t fallen into something hot and heavy with a tour girlfriend, and it’s also the first tour you’ve experienced persistent, chronic insomnia. Do the math, babe.”
I roll my eyes. “One has nothing to do with the other. And I’ve never had a tour girlfriend. I’m clear up front, it’s always a tour fling.”
“How gallant of you.”
“And this isn’t the first time I haven’t gotten together with anyone on the road. I was a rockstar cliché during our first tour as openers, remember?”
“Sweetheart, it’s burned into my brain like witnessing roadkill too close.”
I laugh. “You’re one to talk. You’ve had some meaningless fun here and there over the years, too. We all have.”
“Yeah, but I’ve always been more discreet about it than any of you. Is it more nature or nurture for men to enter dick-swinging contests, do you think?”
“Little bit of both, I’m sure.”
She sips her drink and pauses like she’s gearing up to say something.
“What?” I ask.
She purses her lips. “Do you think that quarterback doing so well is the main reason for your insomnia? It started right around the time he started making national news.”
She’s talking about the star quarterback from the college I dropped out of after my knee injury—a guy who’s been tearing it up so much this season, everyone’s saying he’s a front-runner to win the Heisman. What she hasn’t clocked, however, is that Cooper joined the tour about two months ago, too—and he immediately started annoying the fuck out of me to the point where I can’t stop thinking about him and how much I can’t stand him whenever I try to fall asleep. But since I don’t feel like I should admit that to Ruby, I reply, “Yeah, that’s probably it.”
“It’s either that or no tour girlfriend. Sorry, fling. Those are the only two things that are different this tour. I don’t believe in coincidences, sweetheart.”
“Maybe.”
“When you were banging Tracy during the last one, did you sleep like a baby every night?”
I cringe. “Why bring Tracy up?”
“Why not?”
“It’s my birthday. You know it didn’t end well, and I feel bad about that.”
“Sorry.”
During our last tour, I fell into a tour relationship, as one does, with our tour manager at the time, Tracy. And I swear, I made my intentions with her clear out of the gate. I’m not ready to settle down. Not looking for anything serious. I’m going to be really busy when we get home to LA. Blah, blah, blah. She said that was perfect because she wasn’t looking for a relationship, either.
But then, I’ll be damned, on the last night of the tour, Tracy told me she’d fallen deeply, madly in love with me. And when I told her I didn’t feel the same way and didn’t want to continue the relationship, she didn’t take it well. In fact, she said some things that made me realize I’d kind of been a dick without meaning to be. I couldn’t help the way I felt, but I kind of knew she was falling for me and I looked the other way.
“You were dating Finn when I got with Tracy, and he wasn’t exactly someone to write home about.”
Ruby pulls a face. “What does Finn have to do with anything?”
“I’m just saying.”
“Saying what?”
“That people sometimes get with people they later regret.”
“I don’t regret Finn. He was nice. And fun. A total cutie pie.”
“Oh.”
“Was it deep and meaningful? No. Was he long-term boyfriend material? No. But not everything has to be serious. Honestly, after three months of Cooper love-bombing me and talking about me having his babies, a meaningless fling is the only thing that sounds even remotely attractive to me right now.” She sips her drink. “Speaking of Tracy, Titus said you’ve been a monk this whole tour because nobody’s caught your eye, but I said it’s because Tracy’s made you once bitten, twice shy. Who’s right?”
“It’s nice to know you and Titus gossip about me behind my back.”
“We gossip about everyone. If it makes you feel any better, we’ve been gossiping about Kai the most lately. It used to be Savage. But ever since he got married, there’s nothing juicy to say about him anymore. He’s kind of boring these days.”