Hoping I didn’t see what I thought I might see, I turned to look at the painting. Yep. That was what I was afraid of. The piece that Jenny had been hiding, saving for last, was one gigantic question artistically splashed onto canvas. Rachel, will you marry me? Matt.

I had just fucked up his proposal. Again. He was going to kill me. Jenny too. She was crying again, but not happy tears this time. Evan glared at me as he took her into his arms. Great. He was pissed too. Perfect.

Chapter 4

Will the Real Mr. Awesome Please Stand Up

Everyone decided to call it a night after that. I tried apologizing, but no one would give me the time of day. Matt was too furious to even look at me. Evan just shook his head. Kellan was the only one who wasn’t completely angry, but he left with Matt. To calm him down, I guess.

I wasn’t too worried about it. Once we were on the road, everything that had happened tonight would be forgotten. Water under the bridge. Besides, Rachel said yes to the proposal, so what did it really matter. At least, I was assuming she said yes. There wasn’t a whole lot of talking after the incident. Just yelling. Mainly at me. Rachel dug Matt though; there was no way she’d say no to him.

Jennifer was surprised to see us back home so early. I didn’t feel like explaining what had happened, so I just told her, “It was boring so we bailed.”

She accepted that and started going on about her uneventful evening with Gibson. I was glad her night with my kid was nowhere near as dramatic as my night had been. And I was really glad I hadn’t caught her doing something sordid. If I had, it would have been the last time she watched Gibson. Some part of my mind tried to tell me how hypocritical it was for me to think that, but I ignored my stupid brain. Where Gibson was concerned, nothing I said or did could be used as a moral compass. She was on an entirely different level than me.

After I paid Jennifer and she left, Anna hopped on the nearest computer. It was a little early for leaks, but it wouldn’t surprise me if my schlong was all over the Internet by the morning. Oh well. At least it was an attractive schlong.

Anna let out a relieved sigh when she didn’t find anything. “Maybe it won’t get out. I mean, it was mostly friends and family there, right?”

“And the local paper.” I instantly remembered Kellan telling me to be on my best behavior for the press. Oops.

Anna cringed then bit her lip. With a shrug, I told her, “It doesn’t matter. The guys will get over it, Rachel will marry Matt, Jenny’s gallery will be a hit, and I’ll be headline news for a little while. It’s kind of a win-win.” I smiled, but Anna still didn’t look convinced that everything was okay. “Don’t even stress. This is nothing. It will blow over before you know it. I mean, that wasn’t the first time I’ve been caught in an awkward position, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. After a while, people will just expect me to do crazy shit like that.”

Finally, a slow smile spread over her lips. “Well, maybe next time I can share the awkwardness with you. I feel kind of bad that everyone’s blaming just you for this. It was my fault too.”

With a mischievous grin, I nodded. “Okay, next time we have sex in public, I’ll let you get caught too. Deal?” I held my pinkie out. Giggling, she clasped it with hers.

“Deal.”

A limo arrived early the next morning to take us all to the airport; Anna had to elbow me three times in the ribs to get me out of bed. I was not a morning person. Anything before ten was way too fucking early for me. We had a flight to catch though, so I made myself get up and get moving.

The tour was starting in Los Angeles and ending in Seattle. I had no clue where we were going to be along the middle of the tour, but I didn’t need to know. Someone would tell me where I was before I hopped onstage.

We were taking a private plane down to L.A., which I was thankful for; riding commercial sucked ass. The limo dropped us off right next to the jet. Anna and I were the last to arrive, but everyone else was still milling about outside, killing time before the flight. Matt spotted me stepping out of the limo, and immediately started heading for the plane. Whatever. I was content to let him sulk, since I was still sort of sulking about him treating me like a subpar member of this band. Anna didn’t want to let it linger though. Grabbing my elbow, she told me, “Go talk to him. Please.”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t refuse her; she’d won the negotiation last night before we’d hit the sack. According to our rules, I had to at least attempt to make it up to Matt.

He was quickly speeding away from me, but I got to him when he was on the first step of the stairs leading up to the plane. “Hey, man,” I said, grabbing his elbow. “Wait up.”

With an irritated scowl, he looked back at me. “I think it’s best if we just avoid each other for a while, okay?”

I let out an annoyed grunt. “Dude, it’s not like I did that on purpose. How was I supposed to know the proposal was going to go down like that, huh? Maybe if you’d shared your little painting plan with the class…”

Matt’s pale eyes narrowed to cold slits. “I did,” he seethed through clenched teeth. “More than once.”

Thinking back through all the conversations Matt and I had had recently, I shook my head. “No, you didn’t. I would remember.” Probably. Maybe.

Stepping off the stairs, Matt made a lunge for me. I managed to back away in time, but his arms were extended like a zombie hunting his prey, and his fingers curled and uncurled like he was mentally choking the life from me. It was kind of creepy. Before Matt could actually throttle me, Kellan stepped between us with his arms outstretched.

“Whoa! Let’s not do anything stupid here,” he said, looking between Matt and me.

Matt shifted his angry eyes to Kellan. “He ruined my engagement, Kell. Let me choke him. Just until he passes out. We’ll all be thankful for the quiet flight, trust me.”

Kellan sighed while I raised my chin in indignation. Asshole. Damn Anna for making this such a big deal. Why the hell couldn’t Matt and I just ignore each other for a while? A long while. Self-righteous fucker was still on my shit list.

“He didn’t ruin anything, Matt,” Kellan calmly replied. “Rachel said yes, and that’s really all that matters, right?”

Matt rolled his eyes but grudgingly nodded. “Yeah. I guess.”

Kellan patted his shoulder. “Good. Then how about we let this go so we can get through this tour in one piece?” That made me scoff. Letting it go was Kellan’s answer to everything. Well some of us aren’t as saintly as you, Kyle. Some of us have grudges that aren’t so easily released.

Matt glared at me once more, murmured, “Fine,” then disappeared into the plane.

Kellan let Matt disappear, but when I started to follow him, he put a hand on my chest. “Maybe you should give him a minute.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I locked eyes with Kellan. “Why is everyone so bent out of shape about this? It’s not like I embarrassed anyone but myself last night, and I really don’t care if people saw my junk.”

Kellan frowned as he shook his head. “That’s what you don’t get. What you do affects more than just you. It touches everyone you’re connected to. Try and remember that, okay?”

He patted my shoulder and walked over to Kiera and Ryder. With a scowl on my face, I watched him leave. I was aware of other people. Even though everyone treated me like I was a complete moron, I wasn’t. Last night was an honest mistake, a mistake that any one of them could have made. It wasn’t like I was intentionally trying to hurt the band. Not like they were by keeping me tied down. Jerkwads.