34

Emma checked her hair in the mirror after putting the last of her cigarette out then began putting on her shoes. As she filled her pockets with a room key, lighter, cash, and the appropriate ID’s, Skinner looked at her and raised an eyebrow at her. “Going out?”

“Yeah…”

“Where to?”

“Dinner.”

“With which of your new toys?” he laughed.

“Excuse me?” she asked as she turned to look at him.

“You’ve certainly moved up in the world. Forget about hanging with the band when you can sleep with the headliners.” She rolled her eyes at him and kept grabbing her things to leave. “Oh come on, Em. I know you’re fucking them. Why the hell else would they hang out with you so much? I just never took AJ and Nick for the threesome sort of guys. Answer me this, when you fucked them on the bus ride today did you at least do it with the bedroom door shut? Or did you let the bus driver watch?”

Emma’s stomach churned with anger but she knew better than to argue with Skinner. Like it or not, he was the reason she was on the tour and wouldn’t out it past him to somehow make sure that she wasn’t on the tour if he was pissed off enough at her. She picked up her cell phone from the bed and slid it into her back pocket all the while looking at Skinner, “Jealous?”

“Sure I am…” he said with a laugh that made her sick to her stomach. “I’ve been trying to get into your pants for months. Guess I have to be a pretty boy pop star in order to get some from you though, huh?”

“Skin,” she said just as she heard AJ’s knock on the door of the room.

“Yeah?” he asked with a grin.

“Go fuck yourself, why don’t you?” she asked then turned promptly to leave the room.

When she opened the door to find AJ and Marcus in the hall she heard Skinner yell out to her, “It’s no fun if you’re not here to watch, Emma!” She rolled her eyes as she shut the door behind her and cut him off from making any other comments to her. She sighed and looked up at AJ, “Hey…”

“Hey…” AJ said back and immediately had his concerned face on. “You alright?”

She nodded, “Yeah… peachy. Let’s get the hell out of here though.”