Free Random on Tour: Los Angeles (Random Series #7) by Julia Kent Page A

sound, alone, in a car with him? Oh, yeah.
    “Maggie? You there?”
    “Yeah, Darla. I’ll get him there.”
    She let out a whoosh of relief. “Thank you so much! I know you and Tyler have a...past.”
    “Stop right there. I’m not talking about it.”
    “But maybe this is fate.”
    Please.
    “Maybe it’s just bad luck,” I replied, trying to get her off this track. “And I can help Frown now. It’s all good.”
    “The band owes you. Big time.”
    “The band can foot the bill for my night at a luxury hot springs spa in Colorado on my drive back.”
    I could hear her smile through the phone. “Deal.”
    “I mean it.”
    “I know you do.”
    By the time I got off the phone and back into the kitchen, Tyler’s smile was long gone and his laugh was, too. Lena was filling an insulated grocery bag with enough food to feed the entire band for two days.
    My bags were packed from coming home. I was just on a plane yesterday. My mind reeled. Tyler drank another cup of coffee and expertly worked the espresso machine, filling a mug with an empty thermos next to it.
    Way to make yourself at home. And how had he figured out the machine so quickly, without watching the instructional DVD?  
    “You need to pack?” he asked, not looking up from the machine.
    “Yeah.” I walked upstairs, grabbed three of everything I’d need, and as I went through my suitcase I found the five-pound bag of gummy bears Darla had given me after that night I babysat her, Charlotte and Amy when they’d gotten something psychedelic in their drunk ice cream pie.
    Darla had mumbled something about having twelve bags of them and how her mother entered sweepstakes and won shit like that and not homes or cars. On impulse, I carried it in one hand and my backpack in the other.
    I pack light.
    “I printed maps for you,” Lena said, a little breathless with excitement. “Just in case GPS dies on you. You have two choices: go through Kansas, Colorado and Utah, or the southern route, through Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.” 
    “Boring old farm land or boring old desert,” he said.
    Lena just shrugged. “I’d recommend the northern route. More scenic.”
    I thought the southern route would be easier, but said nothing.
    I plunked the gummy bears in the insulated tote and turned to Tyler.
    “Ready?”
    His eyes locked on mine, seconds descending us into a bond I couldn’t bear. Something about that penetrating gaze and his very few words made me dissolve.
    “Yeah,” he said, walking toward the door. “Wait. You got a guitar?” 
    “A guitar?”
    He shrugged, jaw tight with tension. He really hated asking for help, didn’t he? “Yeah. I need something to practice on. Something to keep my fingers busy.” He held out his palms. The calluses were thick.
    Lena made a silly snorting sound, then walked upstairs to a small storage closet and came down with her old guitar in the case. A layer of dust coated the top.
    “You haven’t played that in years!” I declared.
    She looked at Tyler. “You can have it.”
    “No way. I’m borrowing it,” he ground out, nostrils flaring, as if she’d offended him.
    Lena didn’t notice—or didn’t care—that he was being contradictory. “I haven’t touched that thing since my senior year of high school, and I’d rather see it put to good use.”
    He spat out a grudging “Thanks,” then said, “but Maggie’ll bring it back.” He climbed in Lena’s little red sedan and slammed the door shut. 
    All Lena did was nod.
    Just like that, we said good-bye to Lena, who gave me a big hug and whispered:
    “I packed condoms for you in there, too.”

Chapter Five
    Tyler
    I was stuck in a car for twenty-nine fucking hours with a woman who had thirty hours worth of lecturing built up inside her like a pressure cooker.
    And no phone. No earbuds. I was a sitting duck.
    “You should have something to eat,” she said as I sank down in my seat and pretended to sleep. 
    “I’m