Chapter 30

Aggie searched the medicine cabinet for some aspirin. She needed to remember that drinking wasn't a contest. Especially when in competition with big guys like Sedric Lionheart.

"Will you hurry up in there?" Jon said from the corridor.

She swallowed several painkillers and slid the bathroom door open. "All yours."

"About time. Tell me something, Aggie, why do you and your little boyfriend get the bed while I'm stuck sleeping on the hard sofa?"

"Jace is injured. He needs a comfortable place to recover."

"You two should have stayed in LA. I don't even know why he's here. Doesn't he get it? I'm back. There's no way in hell I'll ever let him take my place again."

Aggie crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought you were the spare."

"You thought wrong. I'm the original. He's a bad copy. A fake. A wannabe."

Aggie was certain Jace's position in the band was secure. At least she hoped it was. If he lost his music because he'd gotten himself shot trying to protect her, she'd never forgive herself.

"Where did you get this hideous necklace?" Jon lifted the heart-shaped pendant from between her breasts. "Did Jace pick it out for you?"

"My mother gave it to me," she said, snatching it out of his hand. "Don't touch things that don't belong to you."

"I'll touch anything I damn well please."

She didn't expect him to grab her. Kiss her. Ugh! Arms pinned to her sides, she struggled for release. Why was he so strong? A hand appeared from the top curtained bunk behind Jon and grabbed him by the collar. "Let go of her, dipshit," Eric said.

As soon as Jon released her arms, she slapped him across the face.

Jon covered the red handprint on his cheek with one hand. "You fuckin' bitch." He lunged toward her.

Eric jerked Jon's collar, and he stumbled backward. "You deserved that. Leave her alone."

"What? Do you need to protect your new best friend's little whore?"

Eric shoved him, and he stumbled into Aggie. "I should have never suggested you stand in for Jace. Why don't you just go home?"

Damn, Jace needed to hear this. He probably wouldn't believe her if she told him.

Jon burst into laughter. "Good one, Eric." He swaggered into the bathroom and slid the door shut with more force than necessary.

Eric muttered under his breath, punched his pillow a couple of times, and turned to face the wall in his bunk. Aggie approached him and poked him in the back.

"Trying to sleep here," he grumbled.

"Thank you," she whispered loudly.

He peeked at her over his shoulder and grinned. "No problem." He scooted over in his bunk. "Room for you up here, if you'd like to offer a more personal thank you."

"Hmm," she murmured. "As soon as I get a new whip, I'll be sure to show you my gratitude."

He chuckled. "If you didn't scare the shit out of me, I might take you up on that offer, gorgeous." He turned back to face the wall and pulled his covers up to his chin.

She drank a large glass of water from the kitchen sink. Her head throbbed like Eric's bass drum. Jon exited the bathroom. As he passed her, he lifted his fist as if to hit her and then laughed when she flinched.

"You ain't so tough."

If he didn't quit fucking with her, she was going to show him tough. "Would you like me to kick your ass in front of your friends? I'd be more than happy to oblige."

"Whatever." He wandered back to the couch, and when he laid down made a big, pissy show of its lack of comfort.

She hoped Jace recovered soon so they could get rid of this ass, if for no other reason. She liked the other guys in the band and was even growing attached to Eric, who she hadn't understood at first. Jon? She wondered whether anyone would care if she accidently threw him out of the bus and over a bridge.

***

Even crossing the Canadian border was an adventure with Sinners. Aggie couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard.

Eric marched up and down the bus aisle like a British soldier, using a drumstick as a baton as he sang at the top of his lungs. "O Canada! O Canada! How friggin' cold are thee!"

"Sit down, Eric," Sed demanded.

"O Canada! O Canada! A population of twenty-three!"

"Eric! I said sit."

Aggie clutched her abdomen to keep her spleen from rupturing in her hysterics.

"O Canada! O Canada! At least you have some trees!"

"Eric!" Sed tackled him into a captain's chair. "Wait until we're across the border. Do you want us to get searched again?"

"Trey always enjoys the body cavity search," Eric said.

Aggie tumbled off the couch, still laughing. She lay on the floor on her back, holding her midsection with both hands as she tried to catch her breath. "Stop. Stop, I'm gonna throw up."

"Now look what you did to Aggie, Eric," Brian said with a grin. "She's damaged goods."

"She looks healthy to me," Trey murmured, looking down at her from his perch on the arm of the sofa. "Mmmmm, incredibly healthy. Of course, I could be mistaken. We could go play doctor for a couple hours. I'll examine you thoroughly to make sure."

"Help me up." She extended her hand in the air, and Jace knocked Trey's hand out of the way to help her to her feet. She forced herself not to hug him when she noticed the twinges of jealousy sparking in his deep brown eyes just before he lowered his gaze to the floor. She knew he didn't like public displays of affection, but it was so hard to keep her hands to herself. The guys always seemed to be around. "Do you need your bandages changed?" she asked hopefully. If she got him alone in the bedroom, she could smother him with affection without repercussions.

"Not right now."

"And…" Dave called from the driver's seat. "They want to search us. Everyone get your passports and step off the bus."

"Shit," Sed grumbled and slapped Eric on the back of the head.

"You don't really think they want to search the bus because I was making fun of their national anthem, do you?"

"No, I just like to hit you. They want to search the bus because they assume if we're rock musicians, we must be on illegal drugs."

"I fuckin' love Canada," Eric said. "I can't wait until they reinstate the draft so I have a legitimate reason to move here."

"Border patrol," a uniformed officer announced as he stepped on the bus. "Anything to declare?"

"I declare that this sucks," Trey said, shuffling past him.

"Hey," Eric said to the officer and pointed at Trey. "I saw that guy shove something up his ass."

Sed slapped Eric again. "He's joking, sir. Just joking."

"I did see him shove something up his ass. Another guy's cock." He snorted with laughter.

Sed pushed Eric toward the exit. "Just ignore him, officer. He has no concept of when a joke is inappropriate."

"That was funny though, right?"

"Oh yes, hilarious, Eric. We won't tell the nice officer about what you shoved up your ass."

"I didn't—"

Sed covered his mouth. "Just ignore him. He gets jittery when he comes down off the crack. That was another joke, by the way. This bus is clean. I guarantee it."

A second officer entered the bus with a German shepherd, which was fighting its leash and barking excitedly. The man waited with the dog in the driver's area while everyone exited.

"Are you sure it's clean?" Aggie whispered to Sed.

"Unless you brought something with you."

Aggie shook her head. "No, I gave up drugs after high school. Almost OD'd a couple times."

"Well, there you go. You have something in common with Jon."

Aggie's lip curled with displeasure. Now there was something to be proud of. She glanced at Jon, who was staring venom at Jace as usual. Aggie huddled against Jace to block the cool breeze. She wasn't expecting it to be this chilly in September and hadn't put on a jacket. After around fifteen minutes, the border patrol came off the bus.

"Can we take a look underneath?"

"Do you have a legal right to?" Sed asked.

"Yes."

"Then why bother asking?"

Dave opened the doors to the storage compartments under the bus. The dog sniffed around and pawed someone's jacket. The officer set it on the ground. After a second sniff, the dog lost interest.

For no apparent reason, Jon careened into Jace, knocking him into Aggie. At Jace's gasp of pain, Aggie turned to scowl at Jon. "What did you do that for?"

She saw him shove something into Jace's pants pocket and then his empty hand retreated.

"You two just looked like you needed to cuddle a little closer," Jon said with a chuckle. "There was at least a quarter of an inch between you."

Aggie stuck her hand in Jace's pocket. Felt the small bag full of dried leaves inside. Knew what the bastard had done. Before she could return Jon's bag of pot to him, the dog caught scent of it and charged toward them.

"Where is it, boy?" the officer asked.

Huge paws landed in the center of Jace's chest. Jace winced and turned an alarming shade of puce.

"Wait!" Aggie grabbed Jace's good arm, but the second officer wrenched him from her grasp and slammed him onto the asphalt. Having his arm trapped in a sling, he had no way to catch his fall.

"Easy. He's severely injured," Sed said, grabbing the officer by the shoulder.

The dog located the bag in Jace's pocket. "Good boy," the man said to his dog. "What do we have here?"

"It's not mine," Jace said, gasping through his pain.

"Sure, it's not."

"He's telling the truth. Someone planted it on him." Aggie glanced at Jon, who was doing a poor job at feigning innocence by inspecting the clouds.

The patrol man lifted the bag from Jace's pocket and examined it. Got a strange look on his face.

Jon busted out laughing.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?" Sed grumbled in his deep baritone.

The officer opened the bag, crunching the green leaves with his fingertips, and gave it a hesitant sniff. Dipped a wet finger inside and touched a leaf to his tongue. "This isn't cannabis."

Jon laughed harder. "It's just oregano. Best practical joke ever, huh, guys?"

No one was laughing.

"Then what tipped the dog off?" the officer asked. "He wouldn't go after oregano." He shook the bag at the dog, which pawed its nose and whined.

Jon shrugged. He leaned over Jace. "You okay down there, buddy?"

Aggie helped Jace to his feet. He staggered as he regained his balance. Blood had seeped through the bandage on his shoulder and through his white T-shirt in several spots. He lunged at Jon, murder in his eyes. Aggie wrapped herself around him and widened her stance to hold him back. "Not here, sugar," she whispered, nodding toward the officers. "Get him back later."

"Need your girlfriend to hold you up, little man?" Jon said, sneering.

"That was so uncool," Eric said. He touched Jace's shoulder. "You okay? You're bleeding."

Jace nodded slightly, breathing hard as he worked to bury his anger. He had every right to be angry, and if there hadn't been two cops standing right there, Aggie would have beat the shit out of Jon herself.

"Officer, can I take him on the bus and redress his wounds?" Aggie asked.

"He looks like he's in pretty bad shape," the patrolman said. "Maybe you should take him to a hospital."

"I'll be okay," Jace murmured. He stumbled against Aggie. She grabbed him to keep him on his feet.

"Can I take him inside?" she asked again.

"Yeah, we're done here. You're free to go." The officer pointed at Jon. "You better watch it, buddy. That wasn't funny at all. Your friend had no business being slammed on the ground. It appears he's hurt badly."

"Sorry, sir." Jon grinned cruelly. "It won't happen again."

The group made their way toward the bus, walking slowly behind Jace, who leaned heavily on Aggie. She wasn't sure how he was still on his feet. She was going to kick the shit out of Jon.

"Let me help him," Brian offered.

Brian took Jace's arm and eased his weight off Aggie.

"I'm fine," Jace said.

"You're not fine," Brian said. "And we're taking you to a hospital. We're not going to let you do a Trey and talk us out of getting you medical attention."

"Hooray for socialized medicine," Eric cheered.

"You have to be a Canadian citizen to get that benefit, idiot," Sed said.

"I told you I was moving here."

"Dave, ask that cop where the nearest hospital is," Trey said to Dave as Brian helped Jace climb the steps. Aggie followed one step behind, prepared to catch Jace should he fall backward. He was scarcely able to lift his leg high enough to get up the steep steps.

"I'm not going to the hospital," Jace said, his breathing labored. "It just knocked the wind out of me."

"You're bleeding all over the fucking place," Trey said, one step behind Aggie. "Aren't you already low on blood?"

"A couple pints," Jace said. "I'll be okay. Just need to lie down for a minute."

And he did lie down—on the floor at the top of the steps.