Page 13 of Layla

Lance snorts again. And then his eyes go to John and I see them widen. “You let one spend the night?” he mutters in my ear so only I can hear him.

Awesome. He thinks John is a hookup. I see Willa looking at my bodyguard with curious eyes. When she turns to me, her expression is appreciative and more than a little gleeful.

For a second, I’m tempted to let them believe he’s a hookup—that’s a hell of a lot less embarrassing than telling the truth. But it’s hardly a lie I’ll be able to maintain once we get downstairs and G.I. Joe follows me to the bus. Cursing to myself, I gesture at John. “Have you guys met the new security yet?”

“New security?” Lance asks, caught off guard. “Since when do we have new security?”

John holds out a hand. “Mr. Foster, I’m John Whitmore. The label just sent me over yesterday. I’ll be heading up security for the rest of the tour.”

Lance still looks confused. “Did something happen to Eddie and Sean?”

John shakes his head. “Not at all.” He gestures for us to continue down the hall towards the elevator.

Lance shoots me a look as we walk that tells me he isn’t at all satisfied by that lack of an explanation. “Louis has been worried about the crowd size,” I say quickly. “Maybe it has something to do with that?”

Willa looks immediately relieved. “Oh, good. The fans in Kansas City were absolutely insane. I was sure someone was going to get past the barriers and onto the bus.” She looks up at Lance. “I told you Simon was freaked out.”

“Where is Simon?” I ask, happy for the subject change. Simon is Lance’s seven-year-old son, and he’s been with us for most of the tour. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday morning.”

“He’s staying with my mom for a few days,” Lance says, punching the down button when we reach the elevator. “Our schedule is nuts this week and I won’t be around too much.”

His expression tightens a bit, and it strikes me, not for the first time, how absolutely insane it is that Lance has a kid. Not only that, but he’s actually really good with him. It’s obvious that he already misses Simon and I know he’s feeling guilty about the busy schedule preventing him from spending as much time with his son as he’d like.

“He always has a blast with his grandma,” Willa says soothingly as we step onto the elevator. “And he’s so excited to go to the beach in Florida when he comes back.”

Lance visibly relaxes a little and I feel myself doing the same. He seems to have forgotten about his confusion over John’s appearance. We chat easily about Simon and Lance’s mom, Jackie—who the entire band is crazy about—until the elevator reaches the lobby and we find the rest of the band, and Louis, waiting for us.

“Wow,” Dylan says when he sees me. “Layla you don’t look half as pissed off as you usually do in the morning.”

I hold up my cup. “I’ve been caffeinated.”

Dylan’s gaze travels over to John and I know he’s thinking the same thing Lance did—that this is one of my hook-ups. Which would be understandably confusing, considering the fact that I rarely let any of them stick around long enough to do the whole awkward morning after thing.

Before he can say anything, Louis clears his throat. “I see some of you have already met John, our new head of security.”

John nods at the group, his face expressionless.

“Head of security?” Haylee asks, and my stomach clenches at the immediate concern I see in her face. Security will always be a sore spot for her.

“It’s standard,” Louis says easily, and his eyes don’t meet mine. “You guys are getting bigger every day so the label wants to make sure we’re taking the proper precautions with crowd control and all of that.”

I studiously ignore Lance’s sharp gaze on the side of my face—I’m totally getting the sense he still finds something off about this—but Haylee visibly relaxes at Louis’s explanation and I can tell the rest of them are buying it. I breathe out a little in relief.

“There might be a few new rules to follow,” Louis continues. “John will be working with Eddie and Sean, as well as a few new hires, to determine the best security protocols going forward. We’ll fill you in on any changes. For now, please consider any direction from John to have the same authority as a direction from me.”

Dylan grins broadly. “So you want us to completely ignore and ridicule him?”

Louis scowls and everyone else laughs. There’s nothing like giving our manager a hard time to brighten up an early morning.

“Just get your asses on the bus,” Louis mutters. “I need to check us out.”

Before we can move towards the door, John holds up a hand. “Actually, I need you guys to hold a minute.” I’m not the only one to shoot him a puzzled look. “I need to confer with the rest of my staff,” he goes on, stepping towards the door. “And make sure we’re clear.”

We all stand there as he goes outside and a quick glance around at my band tells me that they’re all taken aback by this change. Louis runs a hand through his hair. “You heard him. Stay here. I’ll go deal with check out.”

“Wow,” Dylan says, his eyes on the door through which John just disappeared. “New guy isn’t messing around.”

You have no idea,I think, feeling grumpy all over again.