No Chance by Lisa Suzanne

CHAPTER 38: HANNAH

I shake Brett awake when I see the time on the clock. “You need to get moving for your interview.”

“Shit,” he mutters, and then he slowly rolls out of bed and grabs his jeans.

“Did you sleep well?” I ask.

He shrugs and yawns, and it appears he’s not yet awake enough for a conversation.

He grabs his shirt and heads to the front cabin presumably for some coffee and breakfast, and I get dressed then get Chance dressed since he woke up as I was shimmying into my jeans.

When Chance and I get up there, though, the bus is already empty. And that leaves me feeling a little empty since Brett took off without so much as a goodbye, let alone a kiss.

I’m sure it’s nothing. I’m sure I’m overreacting.

But I don’t like it.

A short while later, Amanda and I meet up on Danielle’s bus with the kids for a little girl bonding time.

“So how’s it going with Brett?” Danielle asks.

We’ve had such a grueling travel schedule the last few weeks that we really haven’t had much time to just sit and gab.

I offer a smile. “Good. Really good.” Even though he didn’t say goodbye this morning.

I feel like it’s petty to harp on it, but it’s a strange way to start the morning. I’m not going to bring it up with the girls since it’s nothing, but it feels a bit like a loose thread that someone’s just starting to pull.

Amanda bounces Maya on her knee. “Have you two talked about what’s going to happen when the tour’s over?”

I shake my head as my smile falters a bit. “Um...no.”

Amanda and Danielle exchange a look.

“What?” I ask, and I don’t mean for my voice to sound as desperate as it does.

“Nothing,” Amanda says quickly. “Just...it’s a different world when tour’s over. They get a little down and it takes some time to readjust to normal life again. Then they’re usually back in studio right away and it’s new and different things pulling their attention away.”

Danielle nods. “Honestly, tour’s the best because you get pretty much unlimited time together. But it’s also the worst because...well, you get pretty much unlimited time together.”

They both giggle as if they both get the meaning, but I can’t muster up a laugh at that.

“I like getting to know him, and I haven’t gotten tired of being around him yet...so that’s all good, right?” I ask.

“Absolutely,” Danielle says. “And just his change in demeanor, too. It’s clear he’s smitten with you, but it’s more than that. He gets a little serious around you. He’s always been so...”

“Immature?” Amanda interjects, guessing at her meaning. “Volatile? Vulgar? Disgusting?”

Danielle finally puts an end to Amanda’s rather offensive labels. “Flippant.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Amanda admits.

“You know, like just not serious,” Danielle says. “Kind of disrespectful or irreverent, usually pretty sarcastic, sort of an I don’t give a crap attitude.”

“Yep,” Amanda nods. “That’s him to a T.”

“And he’s not like that now?” I ask.

“He’s strapping the Bumbo to a chair before you ask him to. He’s picking up Chance before you do. He’s stopped calling him the kid and has started using his name. And with you...” Danielle trails off, and she shrugs. “He’s not just taking you to the back alley behind some bar to have a good time.”

I wrinkle my nose. “What if I want him to?”

They both glance over at me with surprise, and my cheeks warm with color.

“What?” I ask. “Can’t a girl want a little adventure?”

Danielle raises a brow. “He’s not giving you adventure?”

I hold up a hand as I realize how my words might be misconstrued. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s been incredible.” I shake my head as I make the comparison from Brett to my ex. There’s no comparison to be made. It’s a man with experience and skills versus a boy with none of those things.

Since we’re having girl talk, I’m going to assume nothing’s off limits and I just go for it. “He has been incredible. He makes sure I’m taken care of, if you know what I mean.”

“But there’s no adventure?” Amanda asks.

I lift a shoulder. “You know how it is. You hear rumors about things. I’ve just always heard he was known for his escapades, and the stories always made me think he’s just so passionate that he couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and had to have his girl right then and there, wherever that was. But with me, he always waits to get me back to the hotel. He waits for privacy.”

“And you think that means he’s not as passionate about you as he was with the others?” Danielle guesses.

I shrug then nod as my lips twist a little and more heat creeps into my cheeks.

Danielle and Amanda exchange another glance, and then Danielle says, “Honey, I’ve gotten to know him fairly well, and I think what you’re seeing as a bad thing is his way of showing you how much he cares. You’re worth more than a quick screw behind a bar. He wants to protect what the two of you have and he values your privacy. He didn’t care about that stuff with the others because they didn’t mean anything to him. But you do.”

She points a finger at me, and I clutch my chest where she’s pointing.

“I do?” I ask, and then I amend it with a little more confidence as I jut out my chin. She’s right. This morning was a fluke. I’m sure there’s an explanation, and he’ll give it to me when he gets back. “I do.”

When they get back, Tommy and Brett walk onto the bus with boisterous laughter. Tommy’s smile fades when he spots me sitting with Chance on the couch in the front cabin, and he presses his lips together and nods at Brett before he makes his way to his bedroom.

“He hates me,” I say softly to Brett.

“No he doesn’t,” he says, and his tone is exasperated.

“Then what was that?” I ask.

Brett heaves out a breath. “That was my best friend being reminded that he’s the lone single guy left in a band where we started out as four single guys hitting the bars and trolling for women. It’s a reminder that he’s the only one of the four of us who doesn’t have a kid. He’s the only one who doesn’t have a woman in his life. He’s the only one who keeps filling that empty place with women and drugs and shit that doesn’t make any damn difference.”

“Oh,” I say softly. “I’m sorry.”

“I’d like it if you didn’t keep assuming he hates you just because you’re here,” he says thickly.

I nod. I feel like a child being reprimanded.

“And you should also know that very shortly, some photos will be hitting the media that look very compromising. They’re old photos and I can’t control what I did in the past.”

“Photos?” I ask, my brows dipping.

“I don’t need to defend my history to you,” he says, and now he’s both exasperated and a little snide.

I hold up both hands. “When did I ask you to? Why are you jumping to the defensive?”

I know the answer to that. Because you just spent the morning with Tommy and he’s trying to poison you against me.

I don’t say that, though. Obviously.

“I don’t want to get into it.” He stalks through the bus, and I wish we could just start this day completely over. Before he disappears through the door, he leaves a few words behind him. “Besides, it’s not like you and me are in a committed relationship.”

I have a feeling this is him bracing for whatever comes next. He’s throwing up defense mechanisms and he’s protecting himself as he works his ass off to deliberately destroy what we’re building. Tears pinch behind my eyes, but I won’t cry in front of Chance.

Instead...I guess I just need to start bracing myself, too.