“He didn’t do relationships before me. He was more of a fuck-’em-and-forget-’em kind of guy. It might be easy for him while I’m here, but what about when I’m not?”
She made some good points, though I hadn’t asked Bonham what kind of guy he was when it came to relationships. He hadn’t shown me he was worried about us being together, so deep down, I knew I had to trust him. Yet these thoughts were hard to push back.
Lexi and I only walked another five minutes before getting back to the arena. We hadn’t traveled far in the first place.
I was kind of quiet the rest of the afternoon. Bonham showed me his bus. We spent some time in his bunk just resting. No funny business, as my dad would say. Neither of us had exactly slept solidly last night, so I wasn’t surprised to wake up and find that we had both fallen asleep. We only discovered that when Van tapped on the “door” of his bunk. It wasn’t a door, more like an accordion divider, but Van made noise either way.
They had to go do their preshow stuff, which left me with Lexi again. It was a good thing we got along. She and I grabbed some food while she showed me around the arena and told me how things worked until my sister sent me a text saying she’d arrived. She was coming to the concert with me tonight and driving me home after because Pushing Daisies and Courting Chaos were off to their next show.
Every time I thought about Bonham leaving, I had to swallow back some acid. My stomach was revolting at the idea.
“Delaney’s here,” I told Lexi as I stopped walking. “I forgot to ask Bonham about our tickets because he wouldn’t let me buy my own.”
“Yeah. Why would you? They always have a few tickets set aside for people they know.” She glanced around quickly. “Come on. Mack will know.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the oldest Thompson.
I hadn’t talked directly with Mack other than to say hello. Mack was the oldest and largest of the Thompson brothers. He had to be six-feet-three inches, but I wasn’t the best judge of character and he was built like a football player. His shoulders were broad and his muscles apparent. It was hard not to look at them, but he wasn’t bodybuilder huge. His muscles were more lean than bulky, but I had no doubt there was a lot of power in them.
“Mack,” Lexi said when we got to him. “Bonham wouldn’t let Jurnie buy tickets for tonight, saying that he’d take care of it. Did he?”
“Oh, right.” Mack snapped his fingers then walked away. Lexi gave me a curious look then shrugged as we scurried behind him. “Two, right?”
“Yeah,” I croaked out. That didn’t sound like my voice at all. “My sister is coming with me.”
“That’s right. He told me.” He dug around in a satchel, I guess I’d call it. The things guys used to carry their shit. Not quite a purse, but not a briefcase. “Here ya go. There’s a pass in there for the both of you, which you should already be wearing, but it’s so nobody gives you a hard time about being back here.”
“She’s been with one of us the entire time,” Lexi offered. “Probably why no one’s said anything.”
“Right. Just wear it now that you have it, OK?” It wasn’t a demand and honestly, Mack was being a lot nicer than I’d imagined him to be. There was nothing he’d done thus far to make me think he’d be an asshole, but there was something about the way he carried himself. He seemed a little aloof.
“Yeah. Sure. Of course.” Shut up, shut up, shut up.
Mack went his way as I sent my sister a text saying we were on our way out. Lexi came with me.
After getting everything settled, the three of us hung out on Lexi’s bus until it was showtime.
Outside, we were joined by Indie and Bellamy. The five of us headed in together with Indie in the lead. She’d grown up at arenas across the world, so she was the right one to know where we were going.
I’d imagined what her life must’ve been like, having her father being one of the biggest rock stars in the world. The things she must’ve seen and heard were probably intriguing as well as terrifying. There was only so much you wanted to know about your parent. Secretly, I hoped that the longer I was around, I’d get to hear about some of it.
My heart was pounding as we waited. This was my first real concert, which might’ve sounded lame to a lot of people, but I didn’t care. Indie handed my sister and me earplugs then took out a set that looked like they were molded to her ears for herself.
“Trust me,” she told us. “You’ll want to be wearing them.”
Lexi and Bellamy both already had a set in their hands, though only Bellamy’s looked like Indie’s.
She wasn’t wrong. When the lights went down, I was incredibly thankful for the earplugs. We could still hear the music, but it blocked out some of the screaming.
When Pushing Daisies took the stage it was like an explosion of energy in the room. Daisy was incredible as she worked the music as well as the crowd. Honestly, I’d thought her violin playing had been the most amazing performance I’d ever see, but this topped that. Either way, Daisy was a born performer.
I tried my best not to stare at Bonham the entire time, but his presence on stage was palpable. Like I could feel every time he looked at me. We were seated in the second row to the right of the stage, which happened to be his side. Since he’d secured the tickets for
