Meet Me Backstage

38. For Once in My Life

SKYE

Jacks stands up and holds out a hand to me. I take it and he helps me rise to my feet.

"Come back to the bus with me?" he asks.

Oh god. The bus.

"Shit," I say. "Does everyone know what happened? Are they going to be asking me questions?"

I can't imagine facing everyone right now, especially since they already saw my little pool freakout.

"They just know you got attacked and we couldn't find you." He rubs my arm in an attempt to relieve my anxiety.

"Oh god, this is so embarrassing! Everyone is going to think I'm overdramatic." I look behind him and see Kay standing there with a security guard. "Everyone on the bus is going to want to know what happened."

"Well, you can go back to your bus if you'd prefer, but I'd really like you to come to mine for a bit. At least for the first leg."

I pause for a second before giving him a reluctant nod.

When I'm feeling vulnerable, usually the last thing I want to do is be around another person, but for some reason, it's different with Jacks. Everything about him makes me feel safer.

The walk to the bus is relatively quiet as we avoid any direct routes through the rest of the crew. Jacks steps onto the bus and I follow behind.

I tuck my hands into the back pockets of my jeans and groan. Apparently I sat in something gooey in that alleyway, because now my hands are slightly glued to the denim. I peel my hands from the fabric.

"Uggh, I'm all covered in alley dirt and my jeans are sticky."

"Take a shower," he says. "I'll put out some clothes for you to change into."

"If I come back to the bus in your clothing, that's going to be quite the scandal." I giggle and he smiles back.

"Why don't we worry about that later?"

"Are you sure you don't want to use the shower first?" I ask.

"I'm good." He nods and I make my way into the bathroom.

I peel off my grimy clothes and sigh as I look in the mirror.

This is not my best look.

My hair is frizzy and disheveled and my face is puffy and pink. A purple bruise is already forming near my tailbone. I look like I tried to break up a fight between a dumpster and a tornado. I step into the shower and turn on the tap, letting the warm water soothe my aching body.

With any luck, I can wash away the memory of this whole night.

I never thought something like this would happen to me while I was working, but now that it has I'm not sure where to go from here.

They're not going to fire me, are they?

I shake the thought out of my head.

After a few more minutes in the shower, I step out and wrap one of Jacks's fresh white towels around my body. I crack the door open and see a bag in front of the door with clothes in it, so I pull it inside.

There's a pair of red boxer briefs, gray sweatpants, and a black fitted men's t-shirt inside. I slip them on and wrap the towel around my head.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I hear someone coming up the steps and I freeze, but it's just Jacks. His hair is wet and he's changed into another pair of sweats and a white tank. He must have used the shower in the venue's dressing room.