London tasted different from Paris. The city was also ancient, featuring cobblestone walks side by side with modern improvements. The Tower Bridge swept me away to ideas of the distant past, when kings and queens took barges up and down the river to get away from the London heat. Scorch marks on some of the old buildings served as evidence of the Great Fire of London.
Our hotel wasn’t far from the Tower of London, and our first morning there, we made our way to St Katherine’s Wharf for breakfast and shopping. KC and the girls were waiting for us at the Starbucks. They sported baseball caps to hide their distinctive hair and sunglasses. Like us, they were dressed in comfortable T-shirts, jeans, and light jackets because it was chilly in the early London morning.
Granted, I was used to the suffocating heat of Texas, so the cool air even filled with the smell of exhaust from the cars and the fishier scents from the river was welcome. KC practically skipped toward us when we entered, and then I had an armful of girl in a tight hug.
Aubrey and Yvette followed her at a slower pace, and while their hugs might not have been as fierce, they were no less warm. I found myself wishing Rachel was already there. We took a huge table on the second floor and looked out over the wharf and the people hustling on their way to get to day jobs, open up shops, and tourists like us settling in to enjoy the view.
“You look fantastic,” KC told me as she grabbed the chair nearest mine. I wished I could have said the same thing about her, but as soon as the sunglasses came off, all you could see were the black smudges beneath her eyes and some hollowness to her bone structure.
When was the last time she’d slept? Or even eaten?
Yvette and Aubrey were much the same, though it looked like Yvette had done her cosmetics with a careful hand as though to hide the signs of tiredness, but her eyes were red-rimmed.
“You all look like hell. How many more shows do you have?”
Aubrey actually snorted with laughter. “This is why KC loves you—you are not a suck up.”
No, I wasn’t. “I’m also starving. Can we go get food from downstairs, or do we want to go somewhere else?”
“I can’t eat yet,” KC said. “We have a photo shoot this afternoon, so this coffee is it until after. I don’t need anyone yelling at me about rolls.”
I blinked. KC was tiny, I’d say almost stick-like but that would be rude. If anything, she seemed like she’d lost weight since the last time I saw her. “How are you doing all those shows and not eating?”
“Eh,” Aubrey said with a shrug. “You get used to it. Besides, under the lights and on the stage, it’s hot as hell and you’re in the moment. Too much food, and you’re puking.” She slanted a look at Yvette and then at KC. “We eat after the show.”
“If we’re hungry,” Yvette agreed. “Sometimes, it’s just some drinks, some water, a shower, then falling into a bed if we’re lucky or a transport if we’re not and on to the next show.”
“But this is our last week,” KC said. “We have three shows left. We’re wrapping this bitch up where we started it.”
Three more shows.
Still…
“Don’t fuss,” KC said. “This isn’t about us. Trust me when I say we’re used to it. I want to hear all about Paris. We were there a few weeks ago, but I don’t think I even saw the city other than the route between the hotel and the venue.”
“And please, for fuck’s sake, tell her what song you want to do,” Aubrey stated. “Then we can get our manager off our asses.”
“Do you want to come to our soundcheck this afternoon?”
Was that a real question? Of course I wanted to go to the soundcheck. I also wanted to fuss more and to make sure she ate. As it was, we finished our coffee, and they had to go. Business meeting before the soundcheck, but KC handed us badges that would get us backstage and past security.
Ian and I had chosen “Reckless.” It was one of their earliest hits and the third song of theirs on the album that made me fall in love with them. It was all about making choices and just because a choice seemed crazy, impulsive, or reckless, didn’t mean it was a bad one. Besides the fun message, it had the crazy sexy beat that made it easy to dance to and a chorus that I adored.
KC’s beaming grin at the choice made me feel even better about picking it. “I wrote that, you know,” she told me as we walked them out of the shop and toward the side street where a car waited for them. The guys had been kind of quiet through the whole conversation, letting us dominate it.
But Ian promised we’d be there for the soundcheck and anything else they needed. We grabbed more hugs, and then the girls were gone. I stared after the car, and Ian wrapped an arm around me.
“They’ll be fine, Angel,” he murmured. “Three more shows and they’re free.”
I mean, I’d read between the lines of those emails, and it sounded like Ian had too. They were exhausted.
“You two are never going to tour until you are down to skin and bones,” Jake said abruptly, and I glanced over to find him half glaring after the car that had picked them up. “I mean it. My little finger has more fat on it than any of them, and KC looks like she’s one good stiff wind away from breaking.”
“Yeah,” Archie said slowly. “Not a fan. Not eating because of photo shoots? I get that the camera adds some weight, but not that much.”
Coop, unlike the others, didn’t say much, at least not on our walk back to the hotel. We had a few hours
