Abby and the Cute One (Backstage Pass) (6 page)

LJ’s voice cut into his pre-occupied brain. “Are you sick?”

“No.”

He pulled Nathan to a stop and eyed him. “Then don’t let it happen again.”

“No problem.” Lester freaking poppycock.

Ugh, God. He’d somehow channeled Miles.

Chapter Seven

Abby

B
efore Nathan escaped into the interview room, Abby grabbed his wrist. “Can we talk?”

He gazed wistfully into the room where reporters already sat with their fingers poised over record buttons. “I’ve got a couple of minutes, but LJ really hates when we don’t show up on time.”

The urge to roll her eyes was something fierce. The guys were all taking ten. He was the one making a beeline for the interview room just to avoid her. She’d gotten the message loud and clear from LJ earlier, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t talk at all, did it? Or that he needed to avoid her. “You don’t have to help me if it bothers you, you know. I’ve got a manager who can figure this stuff out. I’m sure she already has a plan, so I don’t need to be your charity case.”

His eyes softened. “It’s not that, Abby. I really do want to help you.”

She didn’t believe him. Due to the sour look plastered on his face every time she stared at him, she was positive he wanted to do anything but help her.

Two roadies walked by with a wrap of cords hiked up on their shoulders. Nathan glanced both ways and then pulled her into a small, dead end hallway a couple down from the interview room.

“You heard LJ earlier. We can’t be anything…anything more than friends or he’ll fire you. He definitely can’t find out that we kissed last night. He’d still fire you for that alone, and I’d get in so much trouble. I don’t know if you’ve read the tabloids recently, but I’m supposed to be Seconds to Juliet’s most eligible bachelor right now. I can’t be a bachelor and get caught kissing.”

She narrowed her eyes. “So you don’t hate me?”

“No,” he said emphatically. “I don’t hate you.”

She gazed at her feet. It hadn’t crossed her mind that he might be pretending to save both of them. She should’ve known he’d felt the same connection she had last night. “I’m sorry.”

Nathan tipped her chin up. “It’s not your fault, and I’m probably being more standoff-ish than I should be, but if LJ finds out, we’re both screwed.”

As if to prove his point, Nathan looked at the mouth of the hallway. No one had noticed they were gone and alone together yet, which was apparently a very good thing. From what little Abby had seen of LJ, she knew she should take his threats seriously. Especially if Nathan was so worried about it.

“I get it,” Abby said finally. “I do.” She toyed with her lip. “But this is all new to me and I’m kind of freaking out. It would be nice to have someone I could talk to about it. Kind of like we did last night…”

Nathan leaned against the opposite wall and ran a hand through his hair. “I’d like that, too. I’m sorry I’ve been a jerk. I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m having a war every time you’re around, because I so want to continue where we were headed last night, but both of us can’t afford that right now.”

Abby’s stomach sank. It’d been stupid to think Nathan would help her through this, or anyone for that matter. Her mother wasn’t around, and Reeta was all about the business side of things. It wasn’t as if she had the soft hand Abby was craving right now anyway. “It’s okay.”

Nathan reached for her hand then stopped, clasping his own tightly in front of him. “But this isn’t me. You know that, right? I can’t say or act how I want to because I’m afraid everyone will see right through me. But just watching you look at me like that makes me want to put everything into getting to know you.”

Abby stilled as Nathan reached for her again. His fingers slowly moved closer until they just barely grazed the skin along her cheekbone. He slid his hands into her hair and searched her face. Abby swallowed, her heart racing. With a long exhale, Nathan Strong curled her hair around her ear and dropped his hands to his sides again.

Abby drew in a shaky breath. Nathan really was the genuine, amazing guy she thought he was last night. And there was no denying he wanted to kiss her.

Abby laid her hand on her chest, feeling the
thump, thump
of her heart. She took another deep breath to try to steady it. “So, LJ seems to be particularly interested in you. You can’t get caught kissing, but all the other guys have girlfriends. What’s up with that?”

Nathan’s fingers curled into a fist. “LJ says public interest in the band is down because the guys have girlfriends. He’s setting me up on publicity dates to attract more S2J fans, and therefore, I need to stay somewhat available.”

“Publicity dates?” Abby’s frowned. “What, like fake dates?”

Nathan shrugged. “Kind of. I was on one last night before I ran into you. Now, according to LJ, this fake date is going to turn into two fake dates.”

Abby leaned against the wall across from him. “Wow. People actually set these things up? For marketing?”

Nathan shrugged. “LJ said that’s how Taylor Swift and Harry Styles first got together, and if it worked for Harry and One Direction, it can work for Seconds to Juliet.”

Abby gasped. “No! Haylor? Are you sure?”

He smiled. “PR people do it because we get invested in celebrity relationships for whatever reason. LJ, the band, the fans even, they’re all counting on me whether they know it or not.”

Though kind of despicable, it was smart of LJ to play the dating angle with Nathan. If he didn’t date, or was in a serious relationship, fans would have no hope. Just the fact that he was out and about around town gave them all a little bit of hope. It had for her.

If she thought about it, getting together with Nathan during the beginning of her career wouldn’t be the smartest decision. She needed to concentrate, and not to mention the fact that if she took the last eligible S2J member off the market, she’d get hate mail for sure. Probably not a good way to introduce a new artist into the world.

Despite the fact that it was a terrible idea, she couldn’t fight the fact she wanted it anyway. And the way he looked at her made her think he didn’t want to fight it, either.

She reached out and trailed a finger from Nathan’s wrist to his thumb, expertly stopping him from saying whatever he was about to say.

He closed his eyes. “You’re making this extremely hard.”

She licked her lips. Her mouth went dry as the words crowded on her tongue. She just had to summon the courage to say it. “I think I’m trying to make it hard. At least this once.”

“This is dumb.”

“I agree.”

He leaned toward her, and she stepped back until she bumped into the wall. He placed his palms on either side of her shoulders, capturing her between his intense gaze and the understanding that they shouldn’t be doing this.

Just when Abby thought his lips were going to meet hers, he glided his cheek along her own and placed a soft kiss next to her ear. His breath tickled her skin as shots of nerves and pleasure engulfed her body.

“I really have to go to this interview,” Nathan whispered. “LJ will think it’s weird I’m not there early.”

Unable to say anything coherent at the moment, Abby nodded. If only he wasn’t Nathan of S2J—this could’ve been so much easier.

He backed up until he hit the opposite wall. After a moment, his lips quirked. “Okay. I need to pull myself together. I’m about to give an interview in front of blood-thirsty reporters, and I can’t be thinking about you while I do it.”

Abby ran her hands down her face. “Are they really that bad?”

Nathan gave her a look.

Heh. Right. “You’re going to do great.”

He smiled. “Is this you giving me a pep talk?”

Before she could respond, footsteps sounded in the hallway next to them. Nathan jumped and turned away. He didn’t say good-bye as he strode down the hallway.

She slid to the floor with a
thump
.

It was too bad Nathan Strong was off-limits. Everything inside her wanted to chase after him, but she stayed put on the floor, hoping her heart could forget him.

Chapter Eight

Nathan

S
tupid, stupid, stupid. Nathan tried to push down the feelings that spurred in his chest. Way, way down. Anyone could’ve walked down that hallway and seen them.

It didn’t matter that he felt like he could talk to Abby about anything, or that she was pretty much the coolest girl he’d met in, well, forever. She was still untouchable like every other girl LJ didn’t set him up with. He let his mind wander to their kiss again anyway, because he apparently loved torturing himself. Her soft lips, skin, everything. The way her eyes lit and her breath hitched. The flush of her cheeks and shyness in her smile…

And now he’d gone and not only volunteered himself to work one-on-one with her but also pretty much told her he wanted her. But they couldn’t be together. This was masochism at its best.

A hand waved in front of his face—Trevin’s. “You there?”

Nathan pushed his hand aside then pointed at the reporters where there was a middle-aged brunette with a short bob haircut smiling at him.

He smiled, too, on autopilot now. “Sorry. My mind was somewhere else for a minute.”

The reporter’s eyes zeroed in on him. “Thinking about a pretty girl?”

Nathan saw Abby slip into the room and head toward the back. Trevin stood and made his way over to her.

He figured he might as well lay the off-limits groundwork now, whether he truly meant it or not. Sure, he’d been thinking about Abby, but he couldn’t say that. It would be career suicide. The label wanted him to flirt, so he would. “I’m thinking about thousands of pretty girls right now, and I can’t wait to perform for them tonight.”

The reporter actually fanned herself, which made Nathan smile wider. Maybe he was getting better at all this smooth talking stuff.

“Aren’t you going to make Marissa jealous by talking like that? Word is she’s taken with you.”

Nathan’s chest tightened. He smiled like LJ had taught him to do when he didn’t know what he should say then scanned the room for his manager. He found him in the back corner.

LJ smiled and mouthed,
Play it up.

Nathan glanced at the table and pretended to be embarrassed. Words—
nice
words, at least—when he thought about Marissa wouldn’t come to him. He couldn’t tell everyone he thought she was boring and self-obsessed. Where was the love story in that?

That wouldn’t work. But if the reporter was asking about Abby…he could pretend for the sake of playing up this fake relationship with Marissa.

He looked up again and caught the reporter’s eye. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”

That’s all it took—twenty hands shot in the air. Nathan answered their questions about Marissa/Abby as best he could. He must have done something right because eventually the sharks calmed down.

A female reporter in the back stood. “That’s all great, Nathan, but I’m sure your fans want to know if you’d ever date one of them?”

It wasn’t the most original of questions. In fact, one of them had to answer it at least once a night—even the guys who were most definitely taken. Even when Nathan had just been glowing about another girl. But the reporters knew what sold magazines, newspapers, and subscriptions to their sites—the dream. LJ had drilled that into his head. Nathan had to sell the dream.

The question reminded him of the letter he’d read earlier and he grasped onto an idea. “It’s funny you should ask that. I read a fan letter earlier today and she asked me the exact same question.” Nathan searched the room for a video camera. He found one to the left and stared straight into the lens. “Carrie, I can’t wait to see you at the show in DC. I want to let you know, and every other girl out there wondering, I would most definitely date a fan.” He winked. “It doesn’t have to be our little secret.”

The same reporter gazed down the line at the rest of the guys, her mouth open as if she were about to ask one of them a question, but she returned to Nathan instead. “Are you saying things won’t work out between you and Marissa?”

“No, I’m not. I think it’s safe to say Marissa is a big fan of Seconds to Juliet, too, so yeah, I would date a fan. I’m doing it now.”

He winked at the reporter, and she sat with a satisfied smile.

As the interview room supervisor announced they were going to wrap up, Trevin brought Abby behind the table with the rest of them. Cheeks flushed, she fidgeted with her dress. She hid her hands under the table when she sat, but it sure looked to Nathan like they were shaking. This had been some day for her.

Trevin stood behind Abby’s chair. “If we’re done grilling Nathan about his love life, I’d like to introduce you guys to Abby Curtis. She’s going to be opening for us for the rest of the tour. Look up some of her videos on YouTube. You’ll be glad you did.”

It was like throwing a puppy into a kindergarten class. The press was all over her, launching questions at her one after the other. She held up pretty well. LJ was right. She’d be America’s darling in no time.

At least, she was holding up fine until her eyes widened and her skin turned pale. Nathan blinked—what had the reporter asked? He hadn’t been paying attention.

“Right now?” she asked.

Nathan gazed out into the sea of reporters again. One of the only men in the room stood. “Yeah, right now. Will you sing for us?”

Nathan glanced at Abby. Her hands were fists on her thighs and one knee bounced madly. She’d told the guys she had a little bit of stage fright and she wasn’t kidding. If no one helped her, she’d probably start hyperventilating.

Nathan grabbed the mike in front of him and started singing “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.”

Abby’s head whipped around and, slowly, the terror on her face melted away. By the time Nathan got to the chorus, she sang along with him.

Wow. She really did sound beautiful. Her voice dipped and rose in the most unusual places to create her own unique style.

They locked gazes and Nathan’s heart slammed in his chest. He cursed himself for wanting to save her. It was torture.

Before long, the guys got into it, too. Miles, Trevin, and Will started swinging their arms in the air to the beat and backed up their lead vocals. Ryder sat in silence until they got to the rocked up part. Then Ryder stood and belted out the next lines.

Nathan, along with every single reporter, burst out laughing. Mia had really chilled him out. He couldn’t picture Ryder doing that before. He’d been so moody.

After the bad boy finished his impromptu verse, Abby sang solo for the last few lines. As her voice faded into the room, everyone stood and clapped.

Miles pulled his mike closer. “Hey, we should do that more often, mates. That was brilliant.”

Afterward, about five reporters stood at the same time, but before they could get their questions out, LJ walked to the front of the room and called it quits. S2J had to get back to work.

As they shuffled out, Nathan in the rear, their manager squeezed his shoulder. “Excellent job, Nathan. You even had the male reporters swooning out there. That’s exactly what we need to see. Guarantee you your little talk into the camera is already posted on the net and getting views. That Casey girl is probably crying her eyes out.”

“Carrie.”

LJ’s eyebrows drew in. “Huh?”

“The fan’s name is Carrie.”

He shooed him away. “Yeah, yeah. It was fantastic. I couldn’t be happier about it. And then you saved Abby, which was perfect, by the way. Now you’re not only sexy, but you’re sensitive, too. Girls eat that up.”

An uneasy feeling curled into Nathan’s stomach. He hadn’t sung to make himself look good—he’d just wanted to take the focus off Abby. But there was no way he’d admit that to LJ. He seemed so stoked about the press conference that Nathan’s earlier sound check screw up was forgotten for now. It felt good to be the reason for one of LJ’s good moods again.

He was on that high for about five seconds until Will slapped him on the back. “Nice one, man. Weren’t you worried she wouldn’t know the words to the song, though?”

Nathan squeezed his eyes closed and swallowed. “What?”

Will gave him a weird look. “That song. It’s old. Weren’t you worried Abby wouldn’t know the lyrics?”

He should’ve been, but he wasn’t—not after dancing with her on the pier.

Nathan breathed out the tension rising inside him. Pretending not to like Abby was proving harder than he imagined, and he already knew it would be difficult. He just needed to stay neutral. “It’s an iconic song. Figured anyone who loved music would know it.”