“Ian’s married,” Davis points out.
“So? Ian’s wife isn’t coming on the road with us.” Rudd’s growing belligerent, and Davis’s face is getting red.
“She’s only coming for two months,” Davis tells our bassist.
“Two?” I ask, feeling strangely disappointed. “The tour’s for five.”
“My parents will be back in two.”
That changes my timeline a bit but will help to appease Rudd, I hope. “It’s two months. Learn to love it. Davis is our lead singer. He wants his sister to come. End of story,” I say tersely. To Davis, I ask, “What can your sister do? We don’t need someone to run the merch tables. Hollister is going to handle that.” He’s also taking a ten percent cut, but if the tour is as profitable as he thinks it’s going to be, then his manager fee will be well worth it.
Davis shrugs. “What do you want her to do?”
“I’ve got some ideas,” Rudd says slyly.
Davis stiffens. “She’s off-limits. No one here touches her.”
I don’t immediately stake my claim. I haven’t figured out how to break it to him that his sister and I are going to be a thing. He’s understandably protective of her, and during the short time he’s played with the band, he’s likely developed a few misconceptions about my attitude toward relationships.
Davis clears his throat.
Ian raises both hands, palms up. “I’m married, dude.”
Rudd petulantly crosses his arms. “What? All I’m saying is if we’re going to have a single, attractive female on the tour with us, she might as well sleep with me.”
Davis scowls. “She can clean, get the food, do whatever it is that needs to be done. Take care of the books, track the per diem, that sort of shit.”
Rudd looks like he wants to protest, which Davis won’t like, and soon the two of them will be rolling around on the new flooring. That’s not the best way to build band camaraderie. Besides, they’ll both find out soon enough that the only guy who’ll be sleeping with Landry is me.
I clap my hands together. “Great. Now that that’s solved, let’s get the rest of this shit on the bus and get ready to go. We’ve got a tour date to make.”
Mention of the tour predictably cheers everyone up. Everyone but Davis, that is. Ian and Rudd tumble off the bus to help Finn carry in the rest of the gear. Davis lingers behind.
“Need something?” I ask, trying for a light tone even though part of me wants to bust Davis’s chops for making this more difficult than it should be.
“You need to keep Rudd away from Landry. She’s had enough to deal with. I don’t want some poon hound sniffing around her twenty-four seven.”
“Rudd will keep his hands to himself.”
“He better,” Davis says darkly. “Because anyone touches her and I’m gone.”
“She’s a grown woman. Let her make her own decisions.”
Davis grabs my arm. “Adam, I really need you to help me on this. She’s vulnerable. It makes no sense for me to bring her on this tour to keep her away from Marrow if all I’m doing is exposing her to a different kind of danger.”
“Maybe she falls for one of the guys on tour and they live happily ever after,” I suggest.
He snorts. “Pigs will fly before then. We both know that bands are mostly made up of horny shits who will sleep with anyone who offers herself up. I’m no choirboy and neither are you. That’s not what I want for Landry. She’s my sister.”
“I think you need to let her make up her own mind.” How protective is he?
His jaw hardens. He releases me and straightens. “If you won’t help me, then I’m not going.”
My jaw drops. “Are you kidding me?”
“No. Promise me that you’ll make sure no one touches her while she’s on tour.”
I scrape a hand across my chin. I can’t make this promise because I have all kinds of plans to touch her.