The Best Deceptions (Want You Bad sequel)

Chapter 3

Just a quick note: Updates should come quicker after this next chapter, thanks for all your patience!

Sharing a tour bus with nine other people isn't as bad as people would assume. Rick and Damian, Devoted's manager as well as Ellis' older brother, were great about making sure everyone was cleaning up after themselves as well as diffusing any tension before it started. Not that there really had been much tension. Chase and Ace, Devoted's drummer, can both be kind of loud and intense, and they had gotten under each other's skin one night, but after some intense back and forth, they both seemed to calm down and go about their evenings until Chase came back to apologize, and since then the two had spent most of their off time together. Delia had been eerily pleasant, especially when anyone from the other band was around. It was easy for the other members of Silent Playground and I to see that she was faking it, practically choking on every pleasantry that escaped her lips, but to anyone that hadn't known her most of their lives, it would seem that she's just a nice person. Sav, the guitarist for Devoted, kept mostly to himself but was always friendly—according to Sutton, he just took a while to warm up to new people. Garrett had found a new friend in Ellis, who was also sober, and the two of them were often locked in quiet, seemingly intense conversation if they weren't on the verge of tears from laughing. They also spent time with Sutton and I. Sutton was teaching me what he knew about editing videos, helping me improve my guitar playing, and basically just doing whatever he could to make sure I was keeping busy.

Sharing a tour bus with nine other people while dealing with your husband needing 'time to think' when you've decided that only one other person on said bus needs to know about that massive detail of your life...that's a little more stressful. The bedroom area, with a locking door, has become sort of my solace. I had taken on the responsibility of editing and uploading our tour vlogs, so often times when I retreated to the bedroom, it was under the guise of editing. I would really just sit in there and think, listening to music. Sometimes, it all got to be too much and I would cry. Somewhere between thirty minutes and an hour, Sutton would come knock and, once I let him in, give me a hot cup of green tea with honey and ask me if I wanted to talk about it. A lot of the time I didn't, and we would instead spend the time getting to know each other, like the fact that the small town in Ohio that my band and I grew up in is less than an hour away from the small town in Ohio that Devoted grew up in; both bands just said we were from Cleveland because it was the closest major city and prevented us from naming the other towns surrounding our towns and having people tell us they've never heard of it. Cleveland was easier. Everyone knows Cleveland. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Drew Carey, "The Mistake on The Lake," a football team that was mediocre on a good day and the relentless fans that never gave up hope that next year was the year the team would succeed, "Cleveland Rocks."

We were rolling down the freeway, somewhere between Denver and Chicago, and I had yet again taken up residence in the bedroom. I had every intention of editing our latest vlog until my phone pinged with a text notification. My heart seized when I saw that it was Niall. He and I were friends and I loved that he was dating Erin, but we didn't really talk that much, which meant that his text was likely something to do with Louis. Swallowing back my fear that had formed a lump in my throat, I opened the message. It was a photo of Louis asleep on a couch with a blanket pulled up to his chin. He looked almost angelic; he was so peaceful. The text attached to the photo read 'Your hubby demanded a FIFA rematch and I find him passed out! Hahaha that means I win!'

I blinked furiously, but nothing could hold back the onslaught of tears that escaped my eyes. With shaky hands, I closed that message and composed a simple one to Sutton: 'SOS.' After I sent it, I unlocked the door and curled up in a ball on the bed, hugging my knees to me.

Moments later, I heard Sutton's voice through the door. "Nat, Garrett saw my phone and wants to come in with me."

"Whatever," I groaned, closing my eyes at the sound of the door closing. My back was to the door, but with my eyes closed, I couldn't see them taking in the sight of me. I heard the click of the lock and seconds later, the guys sat on either side of me.