Running with Scissors Read Online Free PDF Page B

you’ve got nothing to complain about.” She wagged
    a finger at him. “The mechanics are working on the bus as we
    speak, so you only have to spend one night in a shitty motel.
    We’ve been staying in them since Little Rock.”
    “Ouch.”
    “Yeah. Ouch. Okay, let’s rol .”
    26
    Everyone climbed into the Explorer. While Kristy
    shifted gears, A.J. settled into the backseat. As it happened,
    the seating arrangement gave him a perfect vantage point to
    surreptitiously check out Jude.
    So, heart pounding and palms sweating, he fixed his gaze
    on the ridiculously hot bassist-slash-drummer.
    And wondered just how screwed he was.
    27

CHAPTER 3
    ude hadn’t expected the new drummer to show up at
    jthe airport with Kristy. He hadn’t expected anyone,
    really, but especially not the guy who’d taken his place.
    Good thing he’d been on the escalator when he first saw
    A.J., or he’d have tripped over his own feet, because he sure as hell hadn’t expected . . . that.
    The kid definitely took the “I’m a fucking rock star” look
    seriously. His bleached blond spikes with “I don’t give a fuck”
    dark roots were eye-catching, as were the eyebrow piercings
    and the nose ring. Jude was willing to bet money this kid
    never went onstage without eyeliner, and that thought . . .
    Shiver .
    The drummer behind him was the least of his concerns
    tonight, though. All the way here from California, his
    stomach had been in knots that those twelve-dol ar bottles of
    booze on the plane hadn’t been able to touch. His bandmates
    had every reason to want nothing to do with him. Kristy had
    undoubtedly warned them against giving him shit since he
    was bailing them out. That didn’t mean they’d be thrilled to
    see him.
    28
    Kristy pulled into a parking space outside one of those
    cheap motels where people either got knocked up or
    murdered.
    He craned his neck, scrutinizing the decrepit clapboard
    shithole beneath a faded sign. “Record company’s really
    making you guys travel in luxury, aren’t they?”
    Kristy sniffed. “Yeah. If Schadenfreude’s bus had broken
    down, they’d be staying in the goddamned Four Seasons. But
    whatever. It’s only until after this show.”
    He turned to her. “What’s wrong with the bus?”
    “Plumbing issues.” She dropped her keys into that giant
    ever-present purse. “If the mechanics value their lives, we’ll
    have it back by the time we hit the road tomorrow, and y’all
    will be sleeping in it in Denver.”
    “Great.” He swallowed. “Do I need to sleep with one eye
    open?”
    She laughed uncomfortably and patted his leg, something
    she only did when she was trying to sell somebody bullshit.
    “Oh come on, honey. It’s all in the past.”
    “Yeah. Not-the-very-distant past.”
    She sighed. “You’ll be fine.”
    “At least let me have a cigarette first.” He paused. “You got
    a light?”
    Kristy rolled her eyes and then dug through her purse.
    After a moment she found a cheap BIC lighter and handed
    it to him. “Do we need to have a talk about your smoking?”
    “Not if you want me to get through this tour without
    turning into a nervous wreck.”
    She scowled but shrugged. “Okay. When the tour’s over,
    we’re—”
    “Yeah, yeah.”
    “I mean it.”
    29
    “I know you do.”
    They got out of the truck, and Jude lit up a cigarette before
    he helped A.J. unload what little luggage he’d brought along.
    He’d been itching for a smoke for hours, especially since the
    Denver airport, where he’d spent a way-too-fucking-long-
    layover, had cruelly eliminated its smoking lounges. Now he
    needed two or three in a row, not only to kill the craving but
    to settle his nerves. There was no telling how this was going to play out, but he wasn’t all that optimistic.
    He extinguished the cigarette beneath his heel. Kristy
    pushed herself off the truck, which she’d been leaning on, but
    A.J. didn’t move. He stood beside her, and he studied Jude,
    holding his