“I love you.”
“You too,” he whispered. Giving her a final hug, he released her and grabbed her bag from the floor. “I’ll talk to you soon.” When she smiled, waved good-bye, and then disappeared into the crowd, Reid’s shoulders sagged with guilt. He hated himself in that moment. Because underneath the guilt and the shame, he felt nothing but relief and excitement. Relief that she was gone, and excitement that things could go back to the way they were. That he could go back to being with Chloe as much as he wanted.
With a final glance, Reid headed back to the bus. As soon as he stepped on board, he could feel the shift. He could also smell it, and it was rotten. With his brows pulled together in confusion and disgust, he edged closer to the table where everyone had gathered, laughing as Greer held a shot glass in the air.
“When this backfires, remember that you only have yourself to blame,” Greer warned before downing the drink.
“What’s going on?” Reid asked, wasting no time slipping into the open space next to Chloe.
“You don’t smell it?” she asked, her face twisted with distaste.
Reid grimaced. “I don’t know what it is, but it smells like shit.”
“Exactly. Greer broke the rules. He shit on the bus. This,” Chloe explained, waving her hand toward the collection of liquor bottles on the table, “is his punishment.”
Reid’s eyes widened. “What the fuck did you guys make him drink?”
“All of it,” Inky said, her voice deadpan.
“All of it?” Reid repeated, his stomach rolling just from the thought.
Chloe giggled. “Yup. If he shits on here again before we get to the hotel, it’s going to smell like death to us, but that hot sauce we added will make his experience so much worse.”
“This is your fault,” Greer said, his face twisted in a scowl.
“My fault?” Reid asked, his eyes wide.
“Yes. You took too long in the airport. We should already be at the hotel. I think you should shoulder some of the blame.” Greer grabbed the shot glass and the closest bottle to him and filled it to the top. “I won’t do to you what these assholes did to me and mix ten different things. Consider this me going easy on you.”
Reid looked around the group, noticing their wide smiles and relaxed demeanors. They were happy and having fun. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed all of them. Shaking his head, he moved next to Greer.
“No way, man.” Reid smirked when Greer’s expression morphed to indignation. Not giving Greer a chance to speak, Reid grabbed the shot as well as the bottle of hot sauce. Using his thumb to spin the cap off the bottle, he lifted it toward Greer in cheers. “I did take too long. I won’t let you suffer alone.” With a deep breath, he downed the shot then chased it with a shot of hot sauce. Gasps of surprise and cheers erupted from the group as Reid choked on the fire sliding down his throat. With watery eyes, he slammed the empty glass on the table and coughed. “Fuck, that was awful.”
Greer laughed and slapped him on the back. “Welcome back, bro,” he whispered before handing him a bottle of water.
Reid coughed. “Thanks,” he croaked before narrowing his eyes, his expression clouded with mischief. “I think now would be a good time for one of those team-building exercises we always hear people talking about.”
Greer matched his expression as a look of understanding crossed his face. “Now you’re talking.”
Reid looked around the group, his smirk growing as he saw Chloe’s and Inky’s eyes widen. “What do you say, ladies? Let’s team build and shit.”
“I could use a nice big dose of team-building,” Tom said, grabbing a bottle of vodka off the table and taking a long pull. “Who’s in?”
To Reid’s surprise, as the bus weaved through the streets of Rome at one in the afternoon, the band passed around bottles of vodka and tequila, taking shots, laughing, and getting shit-faced. It was exactly what they needed and everything that had been missing since they had arrived in Paris.
When they took the stage later that night, even though they were buzzed, sluggish, and worn out, they put on one of their best show of the tour. Chloe and Reid fell in sync, their chemistry resurfacing with fervor, the sheer force of it rolling over the crowd like an aphrodisiac. They played an hour longer than any previous show. No one wanted to leave. No one wanted the night to end, but none more so than Reid.