Page 27 of Layla

He rolls his eyes and grabs at my hands when I try to bring them up into his hair. “Has flirting with me ever got you anywhere?” he asks.

“There’s a first time for everything.”

He smacks my hip and I laugh, looking back to my bandmates. “Tried my best,” I say, but then clamp my mouth shut when I see John standing by the door. His laser gaze is locked on me—or, more accurately, it’s locked on Louis’s hand, which is still resting lightly on my hip. I can’t read the expression on his face but for some reason I find myself scrambling back to my feet, my cheeks flushing.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Luckily no one else seems to notice my awkwardness. They’re all still teasing Louis, trying to convince him to set up a night out for us. Dylan has now fallen to his knees in front of the couch, giving our manager his best puppy dog eyes.

“Fine,” Louis finally says, laughing as he stands. “I’ll make some calls if it will shut you all up.”

“You know what, Lou,” Haylee says, slinging an arm around his shoulder, “you’re not all bad.”

“Yeah,” Dylan agrees. “I don’t care what the rest of these guys say about you.”

“Okay,” James says, clapping his hands. “We gonna stop at the hotel first or can you ladies get ready on the bus?”

“I don’t know what you mean byyou ladies,” I say. “No one spends as much time on their hair as Dylan does.”

He grins at me. “You can’t achieve this level of perfection without some effort,” he says, ducking when Lance throws a cookie from the catering spread in his direction. “But I can clean up on the bus.”

“I don’t need the hotel,” Haylee says, looking at me.

I scrunch up my forehead. “I can’t remember if my Louboutins are on the bus or in my room.”

Lance snorts. “Heaven forbid you go dancing in normal shoes.”

I poke him in the chest. “When I go out, I go all out. You should know this by now.”

“We do,” he says drily. “Believe me, we do.”

Everyone starts to gather up their things to head out to the bus. I sense, rather than see, John approach me. “What’s going on?” he asks quietly.

I don’t like his tone. It’s like he’s already disapproving. “We’re going out.” Even I can hear the defensiveness in my voice. “To celebrate our morning off.”

He frowns. “Going out where?”

Okay, Ireallydon’t like that tone. “I don’t know, Louis is setting it up.”

He scowls over at our manager, who has his phone pressed to his ear. “I don’t like this.”

I roll my eyes. “Take it up with him.”

“Layla—”

I lean in close, suddenly pissed off. “Listen, none of your precious little security protocols say that I can’t go out with my friends.”

His eyes flash. “No, but they do say that I make all decisions relating to—”

“Oh, just give it a rest!” It’s almost impossible to keep my voice low. I want to scream at him. I kind of want to hit him. I’m so over this shit. It had been stupid, letting myself forget the reason why he’s here. It isn’t to buy me chocolate or keep me company at night. And it certainly isn’t to make gooey eyes with me from the wings. He’s here to do a job, nothing more.

And right now, that job is really pissing me off.

“I’m going out,” I snap. “If you want to come and keep an eye on things, fine, I can’t stop you. But I am going.”

He stares down at me, breathing heavilyand it’s only then that I realize half the room is watching us, confused expressions on their faces. Luckily, Haylee is not one of them. She’s talking to Lennon, totally oblivious. I take a step back, needing distance between us. “Please, John,” I whisper, hating the way my voice cracks on his name.

He takes a deep breath, his eyes searching my face, and then nods. “I’ll talk to Louis. And I’m bringing the whole team.”