Of course he did. How could he not? She was unequivocally marvelous.
“Logan! Are you on the bus?” Butch called from up the corridor.
“Yeah!”
“Curtain call, buddy. I hope you’ve finished with her.”
He hoped he never finished with her.
“We’re just talking!” Toni called.
“Then hurry up,” Butch yelled. “You’re late.”
“Are you coming to the show?” Logan asked as he helped her slide from his lap.
“I’d like to,” she said, “but I need to try to salvage the data off my memory card.”
“You can do that tomorrow.”
“Please don’t force me to go out in public with taped glasses.”
She gazed up at him with imploring brown eyes, and he melted on the spot.
“You look cute.” She always looked cute.
She gave him a look that called bullshit.
“Logan! What’s taking you so long?” Butch bellowed.
“You’d better be at my next show,” he said, backing out of the room.
“Find some superglue to fix these glasses, and I promise I won’t miss it.”
He smiled at her. She gave him so much and asked for so little. Something bounced off the back of his head, and he turned to find Butch glaring at him from the aisle. “Get a move on. She isn’t going anywhere.”
Not if he could help it.
Logan raced out of the bus with Butch on his heels. “I need superglue,” Logan said as they dashed toward the arena.
“By now, I know better than to ask you why.”
Backstage, someone handed Logan his bass guitar and sound equipment, and then shoved him toward the access door beneath the stage. He hurried to his platform, finding his place just as Steve’s drum kit began to rise. Logan rushed to put his instrument in place while a technician switched on his amplifier. His heart thudded with panic when he missed the first note of the song, but he caught up on the second chord and braced himself as the platform beneath him shuddered and began to lift him toward the stage. It moved even slower than usual, rising until it reached the enclosed area of his chute. The platform produced an earsplitting shriek and then stopped with a thud. Logan kept playing as the rest of the band entered the stage, and he wondered if his platform was ever going to start moving again. He was trapped in the chute, the stage several feet above his head and the open side of the chute that allowed him to get on his platform inaccessible from this height. He kept his eyes trained upward to the open space above him so that panicky feeling of being trapped in a small enclosure didn’t get the better of him.
Well wasn’t this just great?
He wondered if anyone had even noticed that he was stuck. He was just the bassist after all. Max’s head appeared far above. He pointed down at Logan as he sang the chorus of “Ovation” and Logan played the bass line as though he weren’t trapped in a hole.
Reagan checked on him next and finding that he wasn’t dead, hopped away to keep her newfound fans entertained. The song ended, and Logan reached up to see if he could touch the edge of the stage above. It was much too far for him to climb out. Maybe if he wedged his back against the metal wall, he could press his feet against the opposite wall and inch his way out of this hell.
“What are you doing, Schmidt?” Max asked, peering down at him from the stage above.
“I’m stuck.” Logan jumped and tried to get a hand on the edge of the stage to pull himself out of his pit, but he missed his mark by at least a foot. “A little help here, guys.”
Max and Dare were too busy laughing to offer him a hand and Reagan did nothing but stand at the edge of his hole and shake her head at him.
Toni should have followed him onstage tonight after all. Surely she’d want to include this fiasco in her book.
May 6
Dear Journal,
Busy, busy day. We started with an album signing, and then everyone participated in a crazy sound check that was a lot of fun. I’m sure the stuff with Mad Dog and Rebekah is going to turn out awesome in the book. I interviewed a few fans backstage and got footage of Logan enjoying a mosh pit before I was tackled to the stage. I hurt my pride more than my ass, but unfortunately my glasses ended up broken. Somehow Logan found some superglue and fixed them for me. He’s such a sweetie. Don’t tell him I said that. Apparently he got stuck in his stage chute and they had to use a ladder to rescue him. Poor baby. He brushed it off as funny, but I’m sure it was scary.
So can you believe this? Mom is bringing Birdie and Susan to Denver in two days. Between now and then I have to get some really good, usable material about each of the band members and start organizing my data. I have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time, so I probably won’t write much over the next few days.
Oh, Logan’s done with his shower. Time for bed. Don’t wait up.
Overwhelmed-but-determined,
Toni
May 7
Dear Journal,
I didn’t get much sleep last night. And not because I was working. Logan surprised me with a sex pop quiz, and I had to demonstrate all the things he’s taught me so far. By the time I was finished with him, he said I definitely earned my A. So I was a bit tired all day.
We’re in Salt Lake City now. The band had a signing at a guitar store today. Sinners, Riott Actt, and Twisted Element were all there too. A lot of people brought their guitars to be signed by a favorite band member or sometimes the whole band or sometimes every musician present. Some fans forked out hundreds of dollars to buy guitars at the store to have signed. I didn’t know each band member has licensed instruments on sale to the public. The guys designed the shapes and colors of the guitars themselves. More stuff for the book! The event was great fun, as usual. I really enjoyed watching Dare and Trey interact. They’re so close. Almost as close as Birdie and I. I used to think that was common, but I’m starting to see the bond we share is truly special.
And I guess I’ll get to see her in Denver day after tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing her, but not Mom so much. When she told me she was coming, I was so pissed that I—Well, I didn’t really do anything. But next time I see her . . . Right. I probably won’t do anything then either. Or maybe I will. I’m just not sure what yet. And poor Birdie. Mom knows she hates flying, so why is she subjecting her to it? I texted her and told her she didn’t have to come, that I can email her sample pages of the book if she needs evidence that I’m working. She said it was too late, she’d already bought the tickets. And Susan is coming too. Ugh! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to tolerate her abuse. I don’t have to take her shit, right? Right. Still, I’d rather get her off my case in a nonconfrontational manner. She scares the piss out of me.
Logan’s at the after-party right now. I watched him play live tonight. God, he’s amazing. He was so sexy, I jumped his bones as soon as he came off the stage. I hoped he would skip the party and stay on the bus with me, but he wanted to go celebrate. I don’t know where the man gets all his energy. I’m not upset that he goes partying with Steve and the rest of the guys after their shows, just baffled by how they manage to keep going. I suppose at some point I’ll have to find the energy to attend another one of those things for the book. I didn’t stay long enough at the first one to get the full experience.
Tomorrow we drive to Denver. The guys have agreed to write out the answers to all of Susan’s questions. Except Logan. Logan said he wouldn’t answer any of them unless I was naked and I asked in a sexy voice. He’s such a tease!
Still waiting for him to admit he has feelings for me, but I’m content with things the way they are for now.
I won’t always be this patient. I need to hear him admit he loves me almost as much as I need to tell him how I feel.
I’m going to bed now. I need to get up early and practice my seductive interviewer voice.
Toni