Ransom (Courting Chaos Book 2) Read online

  He groaned deeply. “That was… a headache.”

  “I was thinking more specifically.”

  “Ex-girlfriend. We broke up a few months ago.”

  “And now she’s just a headache?” I asked. He nodded but didn’t elaborate.

  We talked a little more. Me about school and having only one year left. I told him I was majoring in communications with a concentration on social media marketing. Perfect for my generation. Social media wasn’t going anywhere and when I declared, I hadn’t planned on needing to abandon my own personal social media due to an insane ex-boyfriend. But I figured that would pass eventually.

  At some point, I lay back as we talked and watched one comedian after another. How much I enjoyed spending time with Ransom Drake was what both surprised and scared me the most.

  That fear sat heavily on my chest as the world around me darkened and disappeared.

  Chapter Ten

  Ransom

  I learned long ago how to sleep anywhere at any time. That was life on the road, but even before that. When we’d first formed Courting Chaos and begun playing actual gigs, we’d be out until the very early hours of the morning but have to show up to school the next morning. Or at least I had to and I knew Cross did, too. That was the deal we’d struck with our parents. Graduating high school was non-negotiable. It was tough, but we made it work.

  But as my body slowly began waking up, I realized I’d had one of the best sleeps ever. Certainly on this tour. And when a soft, delicate hand brushed across my arm, I remembered where I was and why I’d slept so well.

  Bellamy had fallen asleep before me last night after we’d talked for hours. A better man than me would’ve quietly left and gone back to his own room. Maybe one day I’d be that man, but I wasn’t in that moment. I couldn’t bring myself to walk away. Walking away would’ve meant I could no longer watch her chest rise and fall slowly with the content, peaceful look on her face. So instead, I covered her with a blanket and stayed right there.

  Last night, I’d gotten the feeling that she hadn’t been telling the truth when she’d said her mother had gotten to her and made her cry. I could see it happening, but something about the way she’d said it told me that wasn’t it at all. There was a stress that Bellamy carried on her shoulders that the rest of us didn’t and I wanted to take some of that on for her.

  She might be adamant that she wasn’t interested in anything more than friendship, as was clear by the way she acted around me, but I could feel myself falling for her little by little. Kind of sucked knowing she’d never return the feelings I was developing for her, but that wouldn’t stop me from spending all the time with her I could before she went back home.

  I grabbed my phone to check the time while trying not to move too much so I wouldn’t disrupt the sleeping beauty beside me. But fuck. I had to go. I’d wanted to grab breakfast with Bellamy before all the band shit, but that was out of the question now.

  Instead of leaving right away, I watched her sleep a few moments longer. When I reached out to gently touch the red curl lying against her cheek, I found that it was as silky soft as I thought I would be. This woman was fucking me up on the inside. But alas, I had shit to do.

  I took my time slipping my feet back into my shoes and even I could’ve admitted it was to be near her as long as possible. We’d become friends, I thought, that day at the coffee shop and last night we’d really gotten to know each other. Yet I wanted to know more. Specifically, I wanted to know what had made her cry yesterday morning.

  But alas, I ran out of excuses to stay in there with her, watching her creepily as she slept.

  Slipping through the door without disturbing Bellamy was the easy part. Doing it without anyone seeing was the hard part. I personally wouldn’t have cared who saw me, what they thought about it, or what we’d done last night. But I had the feeling that Bellamy would have.

  “I overheard Dixon say you all are in three twenty-one,” Hope’s shrill voice said from behind me.

  I turned on my heel to face her, then sighed as I folded my arms over my chest. Hope was the nightmare that kept on going, but she hadn’t always been that way. We’d only been together about four months, but she’d gotten annoying quicker than that.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Why are you coming out of room three eighteen if you’re supposed to be in three twenty-one?” She wasn’t going to let this go.

  “None of your business. Why are you here?”

  “I wanted to talk before you went to the arena.”

  “So talk.”

  Hope narrowed her eyes on me and folded her arms over her chest, almost mimicking my stance. “I think I deserve an explanation.” She raised her voice louder than it needed to be.

  “For?”

  “Ransom!” she screeched, making me wince.

  “Hope. Say what you need to say, then go away.”

  Her eyes widened and her nostril flared. “Seriously. Why were you in that room?” She pointed over my shoulder. “The fucking redhead?”

  I really hoped Bellamy was still asleep so she wouldn’t walk out into this.

  Chapter Eleven

  Bellamy

  “Ransom!” someone yelled from somewhere, bringing me out of the very comfortable sleep I’d been enjoying. I hadn’t called him and the voice wasn’t inside the room, either.

  I sat up and threw a blanket off of me, disoriented from sleep. The voices in the hall were low, making it impossible to make out the words, but I’d heard his name loud and clear. There were very few reasons the voice would’ve come through the door. The most logical being that whoever had said his name had said it quite loudly.

  As I walked over to the door, I treaded lightly, as if those outside would be able to hear me. Which was dumb. I pushed up onto my tip toes and peeked through the peep hole. Ransom had his back to me and that same girl, Hope, from the parking lot.

  She said, “Is this the redhead’s room? Seriously?” She pointed that finger right at me, as if she could see me eavesdropping through the door. “The fucking redhead?”

  My eyes went wide at her implication and I wanted to respond by telling her to shut the fuck up. But then I’d have to out myself and no way was I going to do that.

  “Would you quiet down?” he asked.

  “Does she know what she’s doing?”

  “Hope, leave her out of this.” He stepped toward her, but she raised an eyebrow.

  Whatever was going on with those two was intense, and I didn’t want to be involved in it. Not that I was involved with Ransom, but I thought we might’ve been friends. However, it was becoming clearer every day that we shouldn’t even have been that.

  “Fuck you, Ransom.” Now Hope stepped closer to him and put her hands on her hips.

  This woman was so tall that she and Ransom were almost eye to eye. Honestly, she could’ve been a model. It wasn’t often someone made me feel small. But Hope did with legs that went on forever and her big personality.

  “Does she know what she’s doing?” She asked him. I really should’ve walked away but this was like train wreck you just could stop watching. “That you’re going to be a dad?”

  That felt like a punch to the gut right there. I definitely should’ve stopped listening a long time ago. Ransom help his should tight, hard like granite, whether it was anger or he was cringing. I couldn’t see his face, so I’d never know.

  But fuck, she’d said she was pregnant and Ransom was going to be a dad. I couldn’t get in the way of that. Not even as a friend. Plus, he’d said she was out of his life—a lie. I hated being lied to.

  Being on my tiptoes cramped my calves. As I tried to move away from the door, I lost my balance and started to fall. Right into the door with a loud thud. Fuck. If they’d heard me, Ransom might’ve guessed I’d been listening all along. I jogged silently to grab an outfit for the day, then quickly packed up my room. We weren’t staying there a second night. After the concert tonight we’d lo
ad onto the buses and travel all night to the next city so hopefully I’d be able to escape my room without seeing Ransom again. Then I went off to take a shower.

  When I finished, someone was pounding on my hotel room door.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ransom

  “What’re you doing?” I demanded. My anger took over for just a moment. The thud I’d just heard from the other side of Bellamy’s door could’ve only meant one thing. She had to have been on the other side. How much she overheard I couldn’t have known but even if it was only a little of it, that would’ve been awful.

  The situation I’d found myself in here wasn’t all Hope’s fault. Probably. If the kid was mine. We hadn’t been together for a couple of months, so it could be, but it could also not be. I didn’t know what she’d done once we’d broken up.

  “Fighting for what I want in life,” she said so matter-of-factly that I knew that she believed what she’d said to be true.

  “When does what I want factor into that?” I asked back.

  Hope smiled sweetly and strode over to me, not stopping until she was close enough that I could smell her perfume.

  “Ransom.” She slapped my cheek gently. “You clearly don’t know what you want if you think you want her.”

  My jaw tensed involuntarily as my hands opened and closed on their own.

  “I want proof,” I said again.

  She snapped back as if I’d actually slapped her, which I hadn’t and would never do.

  “You think I messed around on you?” she asked, as if I’d offended her. Which I probably had.

  I took a deep breath to steady my anger and nerves and every other emotion coursing through my body. That way when I spoke again, perhaps I wouldn’t sound so angry.

  “I’m not saying that. We haven’t been together for a few months. Are you saying you haven’t been with anyone else since we broke up?”

  Hope swallowed hard and her nostrils flared, then she returned to normal. But when she bit her lips together, I knew for sure that I was right. But I didn’t care if she’d been with a hundred guys since we’d broken up.

  “OK, so that’s what I’m saying. It’s possible the baby isn’t mine. I want a DNA test—that’s all.”

  She’d begun shaking her head while I was still speaking. “Can’t do that.”

  “I did a little research and the test can be done before the baby is born.”

  “I’m not going to do that. Too risky.”

  “Hope,” I said with a sigh.

  “Ransom,” she countered, but she stepped right into my space and rested her hand on my shoulders. “I personally think the best thing to do is give us another try. For the baby.”

  I smiled because I didn’t want to laugh. “Not a chance in hell.”

  “Don’t be stubborn. A baby needs both parents.”

  I pushed her off me because I didn’t want to send the wrong signal. I didn’t want her to get any ideas. “A baby does and if this kid is my kid, I’ll be there.” Hope began to smile. “But not for you. We’re over. We’ve been over. Hope, we weren’t much to begin with in the first place.”

  She took her time sizing me up, then she smiled sweetly again. “You’ll come around,” she said, then walked away.

  With the dark cloud of Eric Drinkswine and his preference for underage girls still hanging over our heads, Hope knew she had the upper hand. Lawson warned us time and time again not to do anything that might bring more bad publicity our way. It could jeopardize the whole tour. Kissing Cinder had been pretty understanding with the Eric situation but nobody thought that understanding would still be there if we had more scandals.

  I watched her until she got onto the elevator and the doors shut completely. But then I just stood there. Bellamy could’ve now known the one thing I didn’t want to tell her. Fuck, fuck, fuck. At first I just wanted to go back to my room, then I stopped.

  Ignoring Bellamy wasn’t something I wanted to do, nor should have done and it’d be better to talk it out now rather than later, I decided. Yet I couldn’t get myself to knock right away. I stretched my arms out and rested them on each side of the door.

  Then I thought about what Bellamy had said. She’d never wanted me. Was that her brushing Hope off? Sure. She’d made it clear in her words, actions, and overall behavior that she didn’t want anything from anyone that might teeter on the edge of romantic. And I didn’t know why, but I thought whatever had made her cry the other morning had something to do with it.

  I couldn’t wait any longer, so I knocked. No answer. So I did it again.

  Finally, I heard something on the other side of the door.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Bellamy

  I wasn’t sure who I thought would be on the other side of the door when I opened it. I should’ve been able to guess. Yet somehow, I was still a little taken aback to find Ransom on the other side, his arms open wide as he clutched the door jamb on either side. He didn’t look sexy at all while doing it. His messy, just-woke-up hair wasn’t appealing in the least. Or that’s what I tried to tell myself over and over.

  “Did you forget something in here last night?” I asked.

  He lowered his brows in confusion. “Last night?”

  “When you left last night. Did you forget something when you left last night?” Either he was messing with me or being purposefully thickheaded.

  “Uh, no. I didn’t forget anything when I left this morning.”

  Now I was the confused one. Surprised and confused. “This morning?”

  “Yeah, we both fell asleep. I’d just barely left before you came out into the hall. Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  We remained there in a standoff because I wasn’t about to ask him to come inside. Being lied to smarted, especially when I knew I shouldn’t have been trusting to begin with. What was wrong with me? Hadn’t I learned my lesson when it came to guys already?

  “I don’t think we have anything to talk about,” I said.

  “I want to apologize.”

  I shook my head, let go of the door so that it’d start to swing shut, and turned my back to find something to distract me. I’d already packed everything, so I pretended to look for my purse. I knew exactly where it was, yet still I flipped the blanket over, as if I needed to look underneath.

  Ransom slid into the room and quietly shut the door behind him.

  “There’s nothing to apologize for,” I said.

  “Yes, there is,” he insisted.

  “The only thing I’m irritated about, Ransom, is that your girlfriend refers to me as a whore whenever she pops up. So if you could talk to her about that, that’d be great. But I really don’t think we should hang out anymore.” I snagged my purse and put it over my shoulder across my body and grabbed my overnight bag, then left the room. Sure he could’ve chosen to follow me but if he had any sense, he wouldn’t do it.

  If Indie and I were connected at all, hopefully she’d sense me heading to her. I really needed to get off this hotel floor and go do something. Either that connection was real, or she had impeccable timing. Her door opened before I had the chance to knock.

  “Oh, shit,” she said as she ducked, as if I were about to knock on her forehead. Which I almost did.

  “Sorry,” I said with a giggle. “Where were you going?”

  “To get you. See if you wanted to go get breakfast.”

  “At eleven in the morning?”

  “I haven’t eaten yet. Have you?” she countered.

  “Nope.”

  Indie pulled her bag through the door, then let it shut behind her. We headed for the elevator without talking, not even when we passed Ransom as he closed my hotel room door. His eyes on me were like a physical touch yet he had the good sense not to say anything. But Indie treated the elevator doors shutting in front of us as a cue to attack.

  “Was Ransom Drake just coming out of your hotel room?” she asked without looking over at me. Of course she didn’t need to. Every surface of the box
we stood in reflected any angle she could possibly want to see.

  “What’re you babbling about?” I pulled my phone out of my pocket to give me something else to look at.

  “Ransom coming out of your room just now and not looking too happy about it, either.”

  “Indie, there’s nothing going on with Ransom and me. At all.”

  The elevator came to a stop and we stepped into the lobby. I did a quick scan, as had become second nature these days, but I didn’t see anyone suspicious. Certainly not Chris. When I’d thought I’d seen him the other day outside the venue, I’d nearly had a heart attack. But he didn’t know where I was and I needed to remind myself of that as often as possible.

  “Hey.” I stopped before we left the hotel. “Is anyone coming with us? To breakfast?”

  “Dean is driving us,” she said, then kept moving until we were outside in the warm sunlight. She led us around the hotel, where Dean waited outside a black car.

  Why were all the cars we rode in black?

  Indie slid in the backseat first and I followed. Her questioning gaze stayed on me as Dean climbed back into the car and began driving. I hadn’t even asked where we were going for breakfast because I didn’t honestly care. Away from Ransom, away from his girlfriend and thoughts of my ex was exactly what the doctor ordered.

  As if he could hear my thoughts flit over him, my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number that I assumed was Chris. The message was the same one I got every few days. They all went unanswered. As if I’d ever tell him where I was again.

  Every time I blocked one number, a new one popped up. I doubted the guy was actually changing his phone number but I’d heard there was a way someone could spoof numbers to make it look like someone else was calling. Ugh, I’d have to change my phone number. Again. A momentary panic hit me when I thought about the reason he was asking. Did the idiot really go over to my mom’s house looking for me? So now he’d know I wasn’t home. I really needed to get my own place and not tell anyone where I lived.