Part 399
The group gathered for breakfast before heading out to the venue, and as the guys ran their sound checks Becca logged on to check her email.
"Hey baby, you've got mail."
Becca snickered as her mail window popped up and Kevin's voice announced new mail.
"Hey Kev," she whispered in a dramatically sexy voice.
"You'd better not let Nick hear you do that," Sarah warned.
Becca waved her off. "He hears it all the time. At first he was ticked, but now I think he kinda gets into it. He told me the other day that if I was so hot for Kev, maybe he should let him ride with us on our bus some night."
"He did NOT!" Sarah gasped.
"Did too," Becca laughed. "I said sure, fine with me. He hasn't mentioned it since, and I think he's secretly afraid I might take him up on his offer."
"You should, Bec." Sarah smiled at Becca, her comment made with a completely straight face.
"Uh huh, as if," Becca snorted and continued to scroll through her mail.
"He's so good," Sarah sighed. "I mean, not as good as D, but … well, yeah, I guess in some ways he is." Her eyes took on a faraway look and she was obviously lost in a memory. Or several.
"Sarah!" Becca whispered, looking around.
"What?" Sarah asked. "Bec, you know I was with Kevin when Howie and I broke up."
"Yes, but I didn't really know the guys that well back then and I do not need to hear the details of you and Kevin having sex."
"Bec, Kevin and I NEVER 'had sex'. Kevin and I made love. Kevin and I fucked. But we never EVER just 'had sex'.
"Yanno my friend, there IS such a thing as too much information." Becca blushed deep crimson and turned back to her mail as Sarah smiled sweetly.
"Anything good?" Sarah asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Pictures," Becca sighed. "LOTS of pictures."
"Of the guys?" Sarah came to look over her shoulder. "Oh my god! That's US! Bec, there are pictures of US!"
"It seems someone on the DailyJournal page posted these and now they're making the rounds of the lists. Look at that … I look like a horse."
"Stop it," Sarah chuckled, "you do NOT. That outfit was perfect on you. I'm the one that looks like they're ready to give birth to a tractor."
"Aren't we terrible?" Becca giggled. "I still can't believe I got up and sang in front of thousands of people."
"You need to do it again, Bec, it was SO awesome singing with you."
"Not likely, sis. I'll admit it was kind of fun, but-"
"But nothing, Bec, it was GREAT."
"Oh god, speaking of butts," Becca said, opening up the picture attached to her next email.
"Not Nick again," Sarah groaned.
"Not exactly," Becca mumbled as Sarah peered over her shoulder once more.
"Oh my, ‘Boo’, lookin' GOOD!" Sarah nudged Becca with her elbow, chuckling as Becca blushed again. "You're so easy, Bec."
"Stop it, Sarah," she hissed. "Someone's going to hear."
"Hear what?" The deep southern drawl was right behind them and both girls jumped with a guilty start.
"Kevin! We were just talking about-"
"The show last night," Becca said, effectively interrupting Sarah. "We were talking about the show last night."
"And the pictures, Bec," Sarah grinned. "Don’t forget the pictures."
"Pictures? Of the show? Let me see!" Kevin tried his best to look over their heads at the laptop, but Becca managed to hit the 'off' button before he could see what they'd been looking at.
"Oh damn," she said with a sigh. "It just went off. It did that the other day, too. I'll have to get it looked at."
"Ah, too bad," Kevin agreed. "Bec, I want to talk to you soon. I have a few ideas I'd like to try out, so Nick suggested maybe I could ride on your bus tonight?"
Becca was speechless and it was all Sarah could do to keep a straight face. "Umm, okay, sure. Tonight. We'll umm …. see you tonight."
"It's a date, Bec." Kevin kissed both girls on the cheek and sauntered off toward the dressing rooms.
Sarah had the grace to wait until he was out of sight before losing her composure. "It just went off"? Bec, what the hell was that all about? You TURNED it off!" she laughed.
"Never mind," Becca grumbled. "Oh dear god, you just HAD to plant those images in my mind didn't you?" she said accusingly, glaring at Sarah.
"Bec, come on, I was just messin' with you. You know how much I love Howie, and all that other stuff was a long time ago."
"I know, but still … god, I am so dead." Becca dropped her head onto her arms and sighed loudly.
"Bec, you're so easy," Sarah reaffirmed with a grin.
"Shut up."
*******************
"Mr. Callahan? I'm sorry to disturb you, but you said-"
"You have information for me?" There was no hesitation, no room for informal pleasantries.
"Yes sir. Here is the updated file. All of today's news reports are included as well as some of the more, um, informal reports." He stammered just a bit and was relieved when his employer smiled up at him, a gleam in his eye.
"Reading the newsgroups again Michael?"
"It seemed the most expeditious way to obtain information." He stood back silently, watching as the older man perused the information in his hands.
"You've done well, Michael. I think this is all I'll be needing for now."
"Yes sir," he said politely, turning to go.
"Michael? One more thing. Get me Heidi Johansson on the phone. And I won't speak with her assistant this time, only her."
"Right away, sir."
Robert Callahan turned his leather chair toward the bright afternoon sun, gazing out of his penthouse office that overlooked downtown Orlando. In his hands, he held a thin manila file. A file labeled 'Rebecca Morgan Carter'.