A Face in the Crowd Read online

  Sitting next to his brother in a hospital was about as normal as it got. How ironic, he was getting to be ordinary, here, this way. Not exactly what he had in mind. He closed his eyes and willed away the worry which tended to creep over him whenever the room quieted. It wasn’t in his nature to bend to fear, but when it came to his family, he cared too deeply to avoid it.

  Chapter 4

  The rest of the day passed as usual, busy. On the bright side, it seemed as though Oliver and Bailey were having a busy day, too. There was someone different in the room each time she’d stopped in throughout the afternoon which meant they hadn’t had the chance to do any additional teasing. It was a nice break. Among the visitors were Andy, an older looking lady discussing real estate, and a younger guy who, covered in tattoos and piercings, looked like he was part of the music industry. Lexie did her best to remain invisible during each visit.

  She let out an audible sigh which stemmed mainly from her aching feet. With the day almost complete, she needed to stop in Bailey’s room one last time. Come on, Lexie. Time to rally.

  “Back again so soon?” Bailey smiled at her, but there were dark circles under his eyes. The long day had worn him down.

  Her eyes flickered over to the marker board where someone had changed it from Lexie to Sexy Lexie. The feminist part of her wanted to launch into a lecture, but she was too tired.

  “That wasn’t me.” Baily must’ve followed her gaze. “You can thank my brother for that little adjustment, but please, don’t be too hard on him. I think he was just trying to make me laugh. You know, lighten the mood a little?”

  “Figures,” she said under her breath. The corner of Bailey’s mouth lifted at her tone.

  She wasn’t usually so hostile, but there was just something about Oliver Honeycutt. There were a lot of somethings, actually, but his ability to get under her skin when he wasn’t even in the room was impressive. She could practically picture him smirking at her, dry erase marker in hand.

  She had never met a man that made her want to stomp her feet like a little girl having a tantrum, that is, before Oliver Honeycutt. She straightened her spine. She would not give him the satisfaction of an acknowledgement.

  “Lexie.” The sudden change in Bailey’s voice snapped her out of her musings over his older brother.

  “Yes?” When she turned, she found him with his head back on the pillows, staring at the ceiling. His usual playful nature was shadowed by the fear only hospitals and unknown results could bring.

  “You guys are starting my chemo tomorrow.”

  She waited to see if he was going to say more, but he didn’t. Her heart went out to him. After the drugs began to do their job his quality of life would change considerably. It was time for a change of subject.

  “What kind of food do you like? You know, if you could have anything? Wait,” She crossed her arms over her chest and when he sat up, she narrowed her eyes at him playfully, “you’re not vegan are you? I know a lot of celebrities are into that whole vegan thing.”

  He tilted his head to the side, but grinned. “No vegans here. I like some good old American food. You know a big cheeseburger or a big greasy hot dog at a baseball game. Oh, and the good kind of fries cut from the potato and have a little skin on them.” He kissed the tips of his fingers. “Perfection. Why do you ask?”

  “Just curious.” She felt a small pang of regret, part of her wanted to stay and continue talking, but her shift was over.

  “Will you be here tomorrow to torture me some more?”

  “Count on it. Try to get some rest.”

  “Good night, Lexie.”

  The elevator chimed and she stepped off on the top level of the parking garage. As she walked, she pulled her ponytail down and shook out her hair. In a few short minutes she’d be home and immersed in a hot shower. The idea of the warm spray on her tired muscles almost made her groan.

  Keys in hand, she hit the unlock button. The car let out its familiar beep, the sudden noise too loud in the silence.

  “Long day?”

  At the sound of the male voice, she spun around and pointed her keys at him like she was brandishing a knife instead of a blunt key.

  “Hey, whoa, there.” Oliver stepped away from the dark ledge where he’d been standing, hands raised. “You might want to put those things down before you hurt someone.”

  His familiar smirk did nothing to calm her pounding heart. “You jerk, you scared the crap out of me.”

  “That wasn’t my intention.”

  She glared at him while she willed her heart to return to its normal rhythm, but with Oliver Honeycutt standing ten feet from her, she wasn’t sure that was possible. “What are you doing up here?”

  He shrugged. “I needed some air and considering the chaos down there,” he jerked a thumb toward the parking lot below where the paparazzi had setup camp, “my options were limited.”

  “Makes sense.” Calm enough to function, she gave a slight wave. “Okay then. Enjoy the air.” She turned back to her car and squeezed her eyes shut. Enjoy the air? What. An. Idiot.

  “Wait.”

  She opened her eyes and turned back around. A small part of her excited he still wanted to talk.

  “You sure don’t seem to like me very much.” Regardless of the negative accusation, his smile remained in place, one part cocky and one part smolder.

  Was he flirting?

  She adjusted the strap on her bag to regroup. When she dared a glance at him again, he was still watching her, hypnotic grin in place. He knew what he was doing and he was good at it.

  She inhaled deeply through her nose. She needed to take control of this situation before she ended up looking like a bumbling idiot. Besides, it wasn’t that she didn’t like him. Hell, she’d been crushing on him for the better part of a decade, but here, in the flesh, he tended to drive her crazy.

  “I don’t know you well enough to know if I like you or not.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Exactly, what?” She was too tired for games, but what other time in her life was she going to be standing around talking to Oliver?

  “You don’t know me and I think we should remedy that.” His smile widened. “Or, do you not like musicians?”

  “I can’t say I know any.”

  “We could fix that. I am one, after all. Survival of the Fittest, maybe you’ve heard of us?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that supposed to impress me, Mr. Honeycutt?”

  “I don’t know what would impress you, Miss Lexie.”

  The way he said her name sent a little shiver through her. She hoped he hadn’t noticed.

  “You’ve barely looked at me all day, and I’ve been trying to figure out if I’ve offended you in some way. Was it the nickname thing?”

  “Not exactly, and you haven’t offended me, annoyed maybe, but believe it or not, I’m busy when I’m at work. Besides, you guys had a lot of visitors. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “Yeah, there were quite a few people around today.” He ran a hand through his long hair. “A lot of work goes into canceling shows and issuing press releases.” He turned back to the concrete wall surrounding the lot and pressed his fingers against the surface hard enough for his fingertips to turn white.

  She took a few steps closer to him, but stopped a little shy of the wall. From her place behind him, she could smell his shampoo on the breeze and something else masculine. Her heart started beating faster for the second time since stepping off the elevator. Hypnotic smile and hypnotic scent. Great.

  “We also had to meet with the assistant of a friend of mine. We’re going to stay in his house while he’s away since it looks like we’re going to be here for a while. This way my mom will have somewhere to stay other than a hotel. She’s not really fond of hotels
.”

  A horn sounded in the parking lot followed by some shouting. She took the final steps and stood beside him as they watched the scene play out below them. All those people waiting around to catch a glimpse of the man beside her, completely unaware how close they were to achieving their goal.

  “There’s also more privacy if you have a house, preferably with a fence.”

  “After this morning’s teen surprise in your brother’s bathroom, I’d say a fence is a good idea.”

  “It’s not the first time a girl went to great lengths to get one of us alone.” He grinned at her again and her stomach fluttered.

  “I can only imagine.” She squinted at him and returned his smile, her shoulder’s relaxing a notch. “So, what’s the craziest thing a fan has done to meet you?”

  “Let’s see.” He turned and hitched one of his hips on the wall in a kind of half sitting half-standing way. “One that stands out.”

  She studied his face—strong jaw, a little stubble, perfect lips—as she waited while he thought back over his many fan run-ins. It was crazy to think he’d been dealing with celebrity status for more than half of his life. She couldn’t imagine the lack of privacy.

  “Okay, I have one. When the guys and I were on our first arena tour,” his eyes lit with excitement at the memory, “we were staying at a hotel in Boston. After the show, I was up in my room taking a shower, like I always do. Well, when I stepped out, there were two girls in the room waiting for me.”

  “I bet that was exciting for everyone,” Lexie wiggled her eyebrows at him.

  “Considering they were about thirteen, I’d say so.”

  Her laughter mixed with his. A sound she never would’ve considered possible and although she was hyper aware of the man sitting beside her, she felt relaxed. It was more like talking to an old friend than a rock star. When he wasn’t going out of his way to drive her crazy, his company was rather enjoyable. Another side to the legend revealed.

  His phone rang and he stood to dig it out of his pocket. The change in position allowed her a perfect view of his ass. She bit her lower lip and debated taking her phone out to take a picture. It was one she wouldn’t soon forget. Between his backside and his shoulders which were currently bunching as he brought the phone to his ear, she was almost willing to let the whole Sexy Lexie thing slide. Almost.

  “Hey, I’ve got to take off.”

  She jerked her eyes away from his body and felt the heat rise in her cheeks. The last thing she wanted was to get caught checking him out.

  “Yeah, me, too.” She jumped to her feet. “I need to get home.” She started for her car and he fell into step beside her. Unexpected, but not unwelcome.

  “Will I see you tomorrow?”

  “I’m always here.”

  He grinned. “Cool. I’ll see you, then.”

  “Yeah, see ya.” She watched him jog to the elevators and dropped into her car as though her legs had been kicked out from under her. The promise of more Oliver tomorrow. Not a bad way to end the day.

  “Hey, Simone, yeah work was work. How are things with you?” Lexie continued to balance the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she stirred her dinner. “That sounds fun. Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to grab a quick bite tomorrow in the cafeteria, but instead of eating hospital food I was wondering if you could pick up three orders from The Varsity for me?” There was a slight pause while Simone wrote down the orders. “Yes, I’m aware I’ll have to stay at the gym twice as long after eating food from The Varsity. Yeah, let’s make it early. That’ll be easier for me, too. See you tomorrow.”

  Lexie hung up the phone and shook her head. She was losing her mind. What had possessed her to want to do something out of the ordinary for Bailey?

  She thought about the way he looked when he said they were starting his chemo and she knew exactly why she was doing what she was doing. Regardless of his social status, he was a young guy who was about to go through something pretty damn scary.

  Aside from his fame and obvious ego he seemed like a pretty okay guy and one who could use a friend. Even if it was just a temporary one.

  The news crews were still in place the following morning when she arrived at work, but there weren’t as many. Rumors were flying around the internet as fans and reporters speculated what was wrong with rocker heartthrob Bailey Honeycutt. So far, no one had it right.

  As she went through her usual routine upon arrival, she noticed she was no longer assigned to Bailey or Mr. Roberts. She had two new patients. She felt a surge of disappointment and then did her best to shake it off. She wasn’t Bailey’s keeper and there were plenty of other good nurses on the floor who could take care of him. She needed to let go and step back, plus she could check in on him if she had time. There wasn’t a law against saying hello.

  Their floor was especially busy that day. Everyone was running around like crazy people, except their resident lazy ass, Ashley. She was sitting behind the desk playing with her nails and chatting on the phone. Five bucks said it had nothing to do with work.

  When Lexie’s lunch hour arrived, she checked on her patients, made sure they were comfortable, and sprinted for the elevator. This was going to have to be quick.

  “You owe me,” Simone teased when she slid into the chair across from her.

  “I know, believe me.”

  “I’m just kidding. I have plenty of time before I have to pick up the kids. So, what brought on this sudden urge for burgers, chili dogs, and fries?”

  “Don’t judge me.”

  “Okay,” Simone let the word drag out, clearly afraid of what might be coming.

  “A patient is starting chemo today and I thought it would be nice to give him some good food one last time. Everything will taste like crap in a few days, so I thought, you know,” she shrugged.

  “Why would I judge you for that? That’s a really nice thing to do.” Simone bit the end off of a fry. “It’s actions like that that remind me why you’re the nicer out of the two of us.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.”

  Simone’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, this isn’t for him, is it?”

  Lexie remained quiet and decided to take a big bite of her hot dog instead of answering the question.

  “I see. It sounds like you’re making friends.”

  “I’m just doing my job.”

  “Hmmm.” Simone let it drop.

  In doing so, Lexie was reminded why they were besties. Simone knew when it was time to drop a subject. After years of friendship, she knew better than to unleash the temper or tease her too much.

  Chapter 5

  Lexie knocked on the door and waited until she heard a resounding, “Come in,” from the other side before continuing inside with a certain surprise.

  “Hey, hey, where have you been today?” Bailey put the remote down and pushed himself up in the bed.

  “Oh, you know, just running around doing my thing.” She pulled the bag and its greasy contents out from behind her back. “I thought you could use some decent food though.”

  With a look of surprise, he took it from her and spread the deliciousness that was food from The Varsity out on his tray table. “You might be my new best friend.”

  “You’re welcome,” she winked. “Okay, well I can’t stick around. I have to go check on my other patients.”

  “Can you come by later and make sure there aren’t any crazed girls in my bathroom?”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Take it easy.”

  “Hey, Lexie, thanks for the food.” He held up one of the chili dogs smothered in mustard that matched the yellow spot on the corner of his mouth. “This is excellent.”

  “No problem. See you later.” She left and hadn’t had time to wipe the smile off her face before running into Ashley in the hallway.
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br />   “I thought you weren’t on Bailey’s case today,” Ashley stuck her hip out to the side and tapped her foot with an air of nonexistent superiority.

  “I’m not,” Lexie offered and kept walking. She had no intention of getting into it with Ashley.

  Determined not to let her ruin her good mood, Lexie dove back into her work where she remained busy for the rest of the day. She didn’t have time to do anything but the task at hand, at least until she spotted two familiar guys step off the elevator and head toward Bailey’s room.

  As she watched their retreating backs, she gasped when it dawned on her where she’d seen them before. It was the other two members of the band, Leo and David. They looked out of place and a bit larger than life compared to the usual visitors who frequented the floor. Of course, maybe it was just that way to her because she’d been a fan of the band for so long. She blew out a breath. All of Survival right down the hall.

  She and Simone had discovered Survival of the Fittest right before the band hit it big. They were traveling as a supporting band for Imagine Dragons, another band the girls loved, when they saw them perform for the first time. They both agreed Survival was going to make it into the big leagues. Their music was powerful and radiated energy. You couldn’t stand still when their songs were playing.

  Not two months later, the band’s first single went platinum and was the number one selling single on iTunes. It was also featured on more than one commercial and was on the radio every time you turned it on. From there, the band’s fame and success soared.

  Lexie remembered, all too well, the first time they’d seen them. Simone surprised her with concert tickets disguised as a last minute birthday present, but she’d really been trying to get Lexie out of her apartment. Anything to remind her there was life still going on out in the world that didn’t revolve around her then boyfriend, Mike. It was as if Simone had expected him to forget her birthday.