by C. M. Owens
“Don’t take it from her today. Britt’s way more emotionally mature than all of us combined, and Base has life goals he isn’t ready to risk. They’ve got this. It’s not our place,” she says like she’s scolding the entire table.
I finish off my omelet, finding it odd I wish they’d hurry up and order so we can all go. Usually I like it when we stick around longer at brunch. Today, however, I’d like to get back in time to see the end of his rehearsal.
“Fine. I’ll just say that you need to make sure you two stay on the same page. Things can spiral out of control in tricky situations like these,” Rain says in a soft voice.
“What tricky sorts of situations?” I ask, genuinely confused about what conversation I’m missing.
“The super hot rocker guy with panty-melting eyes, a voice that can leave you in a puddle, poetically took your virginity, is really intense, and is essentially living in your bedroom with you,” Bella tells me like she’s explaining something crucial. “He’s your only relative introduction to the real dating world. That’s the tricky situation.”
I don’t really know what they’re talking about, but I nod absently like I do, because through the wide windows in front of our table, I see Base’s truck pulling around to the parking lot.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell them.
My cheeks both burn and hurt, so I can only assume I’m blushing and smiling. Why is my stomach fluttering? I see him all the time.
“I feel so sorry for the next guy,” I hear Ruby saying on a sigh as I start walking toward the doors.
“Is she really going to go call him?” Rain groans.
It’s the last thing I hear as I walk out, and quickly move around the side of the building. As soon as I turn the corner, I catch sight of Base’s smile before his hands are on me and his lips crash to mine.
I’m careful when putting my cast around his neck. I’ve hit him in the head twice in the past three weeks because he sometimes short circuits my brain and I don’t think.
His fingers dig into my sides like he can’t pull me close enough, and I lean into the kiss more, until he’s groaning into my mouth.
He breaks the kiss, leaning back on his truck and smiling again as his eyebrows bounce.
“I was just going to wait on you to finish. The rehearsal ended quickly after you started sexting me, because I was pointless,” he says as he starts kissing his way down my neck.
The flurry of irrational reactions seems to double daily.
“I finished my omelet, so we can go as soon as I pay,” I tell him very distractedly.
I feel his smile against my throat as his hands slide into my back pockets.
“Did you drive?” he asks, kissing my neck again.
“No. I walked.”
“Britt? Britt, where did you—”
Rain’s voice cuts out, and I turn around just as she stumbles to a halt, gaping at us.
“Oh,” she says as she shuffles back a few steps. “I’ll cover your tab.”
With that, she turns and heads back around the corner, and Base turns my face back to his so he can start kissing me again.
I’m not sure how long we stand in the parking lot, but we have to finally break for air. He straightens as his hands slide away from my waist.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” I decide to say while he’s walking me toward his passenger side. “About the oral.”
“It’s hard to make promises like that, Britt. Once my hands are on you, all I want to do is get—”
He stops talking, and I turn to see him staring over his shoulder as he opens the door for me, brow furrowing. It’s mildly disconcerting when I see…everyone staring at us, sans Rain and Ash.
Brin curses and yanks her head back around the corner, as Ruby falls forward, eyes wide like she’s been caught. The rest scatter like roaches under a light, and Ruby gives a small, uncomfortable wave.
“This is…exactly as ridiculous as it looks,” she states with a firm nod before briskly walking away.
“Ever feel like that goldfish in the bowl around them?” Base asks.
I smile too hard about that question, mostly because we had a similar thought on the same day; we don’t have a whole lot in common, so the little things become big wins.
“Actually, I was just thinking that earlier.”
His grin grows again too, because he thinks of the little things as big wins as well. Or he’s smiling because I am. One of the two. I think.
“I’d rather take you out in public to eat instead of ordering takeout tonight,” he says as his lips brush over mine, and he tucks my hair behind my ear. “Which means we can’t go to bed as soon as we get back, or we’ll never get out of it.”
As if he’s trying to torture me with anticipation, he starts kissing me again, making it hard to say no to bed and yes to dinner. I frankly never thought I’d be capable of such a dilemma.
“Can we attempt dinner tomorrow instead of tonight?” I suggest when his lips break from mine again.
“Deal,” he says on a grin as he resumes the kiss.
I have no idea why people want to make dating so complicated when it can be as amazingly simple as this.
Chapter 32
BASE
“No, the set tomorrow will be completely new, aside from our best covers we do,” Sticks is saying to the girl in his lap as he gives her a lazy grin.
My attention flicks back to the door as I lazily strum the strings on my guitar, waiting on Britt to get here.
A body drops to the chair next to me, and I look over at a smiling blonde.
“You’re the lead singer of the band, right?” she asks.
I just nod,
“I thought about playing it cool and waiting for you to notice me, but clearly you’re the type of guy who prefers to be noticed while you play aloof and mysterious,” she quips. “My name’s Lina.”
I glance back to the parking area behind the pool, waiting for the right headlights.
“Sorry, Lina. I’m not being aloof nor mysterious, and I’m not trying to be noticed,” I tell her dismissively.
“Oh. So girlfriend or something?” she asks, not sounding overly upset by the rejection.
I pause. It’s oddly the first time someone has presented that question to me over these last several weeks.
“Unofficially, yes,” I say instead of trying to explain the increasingly complicated situation that is Britt Sterling.
It’s not like I haven’t dated over the years, but it was always easy to keep the relationships easy, simple, casual and temporary. But I have to figure out a way to get over the year-long-tour hurdle without losing Britt.
I’m not okay at all with the expiration date anymore. I’m not sure if I ever was.
“I’m good at this. Let me guess, since this is Sterling Shore, she’s a model, has a lot of Instagram followers for her daily selfie, and her goal is to save the planet by running and car-pooling. How close am I?” Lina asks as she lifts her beer to her lips.
Taylor snorts as he sits down.
“She does have a lot of followers,” Randy says with a shrug from the end of the table.
“She is at a photoshoot right now,” Sticks adds, causing me to roll my eyes.
“Knew it,” Lina says as she lazily clinks her beer bottle to mine the second I lift it.
“She’s off-the-charts hot if he’s this uninterested in all other women,” the girl across from us says. “Now I want to see her. I’m too curious.”
I have no idea where Randy even found these girls, but they’re oddly not as vicious or volatile as the usual ones he brings around.
“She’ll be here soon and you can look your fill,” I tell them absently, checking the time on my phone.
“If she’s that hot, it’s possible I’ll hate her just for that,” the girl in Sticks says very seriously. “Some girls are just too—”
Headlights shine over us, and I stand as a lazy grin spreads over my face.
�
�Oh, she’s going to be really hot. Look at him light up like a kid at Christmas.”
I don’t even know which one of them says that, because Britt comes walking up the steps to the deck, and my grin only grows when I see her.
Her hair is in tightly braided pigtails, and she apparently needed elf ears for the shoot. She’s still half painted with the makeup, but some of it has rubbed off. She’s wearing a T-shirt with the game logo on it, along with a pair of crazy monster shorts.
“Sorry. My locker got soaked by an ill-capped bottle of water, and I had to settle for the downstairs store for new clothes so I didn’t have to go home first.”
I’m officially addicted, and I don’t want or need help.
“Sorry it took so long,” she says just as I lift her from the ground.
She grins as her legs wrap around my waist, and she kisses me as I carry her toward the table.
“And he’s officially lost to us for the rest of the night,” Sticks says from somewhere behind me.
I flip him off as I sit down, keeping Britt in my lap, even though she adjusts so that she’s not straddling me.
It takes a second to realize that all the women are just staring at her like they’re confused, and…it starts to feel like they’re insulting her with their confusion.
Just as I begin to feel defensive, one girl points at her. “I feel like I know you from somewhere. Do you always have pointy ears or is this just some weird sci-fi chick fetish thing?” Lina asks like it’s not an insulting question.
Britt shakes her head. “We’ve never met.”
Britt’s eyes flick back to mine, and she gives my guitar a look. “I’m never going to actually hear you play your new songs, am I?”
I smirk, eyes back on her. “I forgot I had a final fitting for my dress that I’m wearing to Dane’s charity event,” she states randomly. “It put me even farther behind tonight.”
“You go to so many charity events that you don’t even know the name of the one you’re getting a final-fitting sort of dress for?” Taylor asks like his mind is slightly blown.
I have no idea how he’s arrived at that conclusion.
“Rich people,” Randy snorts while shaking his head. “They feel guilty for being so obscenely wealthy that they have to toss some good will out into the world. They don’t need to know where it goes,” he adds.
“I don’t want to engage in conflict. They have a firm opinion of wealth and the people who reach for it,” I hear her saying to one of the girls. “Can one of you help me?”
Why is she asking them for help?
“She has an eidetic memory. Of course she knows which one she’s going to,” I cut in. “We know you’re not actually like the rest of them,” I say as I run my hand up her back.
“She really does look familiar,” one of the other girls says.
“Base, your girlfriend is starting to sound more popular than we are. This is beginning to be a problem,” Randy groans as his head drops to his arm.
Lina’s eyes widen before she says, “Dane’s charity event? As in Dane Sterling? Is that what all the ‘rich people’ talk is about?”
“Oh, you’re Britt Sterling, aren’t you? You’re actually hard to recognize out of all the make-up and with the new…pointy ears,” another girl announces.
Britt doesn’t get to speak, because the girl sitting on Sticks leans over and starts talking to her first.
“Oh damn. Did you really lose your virginity? I missed last week’s blog,” she tells Britt.
“Did you really just ask her a super personal question like that before she even knows your name?” Lina asks the other girl in a little horror.
I’m not really sure what happens next. It goes from there to all of them making introductions, and then they talk about the fact Britt hasn’t blogged about our sex life, as though it’s supposed to be a public thing instead of a private one.
“Find confident girls, they said,” Randy mutters under his breath. “That way they don’t fight for attention and our shit stops breaking. I’d rather replace the broken shit.”
Taylor wipes away the smile, clearing his throat a few times as all the women ignore Randy.
“I asked her to leave my name out of it,” I cut in, my hand smoothing up Britt’s back again as I narrow my eyes at the women. “I don’t want someone trying to capitalize on her name and setting us up to sign with them just to use her reach.”
They barely acknowledge me before they shift the conversation again. Britt leans back on me, getting comfortable, since these girls seem to be sort of…genuinely interested in Britt and her future Sterling empire.
“Having Harley personally take you under her wing has to be intimidating, but also really exciting. You’re so lucky,” one girl says like she just has to know what Harley is like. “She’s sort of my hero.”
“She’s not lucky. She’s skilled,” I point out.
“And also incredibly lucky that Harley was looking for interns to groom,” Britt tells me very firmly like she’s sending me to school. “I went there thinking I was good enough, and got lucky she saw a future in me.”
I just grin at her, not commenting on how her mind has also attracted plenty of other companies who’d love to head-hunt her. I see the mail load that comes in, and hear the calls she turns down.
I keep my mouth shut because I don’t think Harley is taking advantage. She’s legit grooming her. And to Britt, she’s already family.
“This is why I don’t mess with serious college chicks. I have a type. I should stick to it,” Randy whimpers.
The girls talk for forty-five fucking minutes about the hardcore gaming world Britt is involved in—and it all sounds like gibberish to me.
On and on. And on. And on.
An hour later, the guys and I have moved to a different section of the patio just because we’re being ignored. My lips twitch when Britt grins over at me, her eyes falling on the guitar in my hands as I gently play.
“Take your girl and have sex with her so that we can at least have a chance at working our charm,” Taylor says as he eyes the ass of one girl who bends over.
“Some of them don’t like women being objectified in game context. Do you really think staring at her ass is going to get you anywhere?” Sticks asks him pointedly.
“I think I like a challenge.” After saying that, Taylor stands abruptly. “Let’s do shots and sing a little karaoke. Music’s apparently our most appreciated feature.”
He gets a few smiles, but Britt just seems confused. My lips twitch as she purses hers.
“I think I prefer women who like me and don’t make me feel dumber than I already feel,” Randy grumbles. “Nothing wrong with my kind of girl.”
“Absolutely not,” Taylor agrees as I remain distracted.
“You only say that because Bee would slap you for saying anything else,” Randy tells us.
“That’s not why I’m saying that,” Taylor groans when the girl he’s been eyeing doesn’t even glance his way. “I prefer being chased.”
I flip through the song list, already knowing which one I’m going to choose.
“It’s cheesy as fucking hell, but I can’t pass up this opportunity,” I say as I grab the microphone and select a song on my phone.
As soon as I start singing, I get a chorus of groans, as I rock every single word of the parody song Talk Nerdy to Me.
Britt smiles like I’ve done something right, as I sing directly to her. Her eyes are bright but also glossed over with that dazed, sexy, entranced look. I really should let her sit in on rehearsal. I’d kill it every time if I did.
Just because I’m already sliding head first in the cheese, I even run the tip of my finger over the tip of her pointed ear on the part about the elf ears not needing explaining.
Her grin immediately doubles.
I drop to my knees, dancing a little toward her, my smile only growing when her hands seem to unconsciously move up my chest. The girl with secretive sad eyes lights on fire,
and I forget that I’m even singing as my lips collide with hers.
There’s a loud pop and scratch against the background music when I drop the mic—literally—and lift her from the table. Her legs immediately tighten around my waist, and I kiss her harder as I carry her inside.
“Ladies and gentleman, they made it almost through the second verse. A new world record. Let’s give them some applause,” Randy says over the microphone, causing me to groan and Britt to smile against my lips.
She’s still under the impression we’re not far from amicably parting ways and going our own separate paths in life. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to break up this perfect moment in time to bring forth the reality that we’re possibly all wrong, and yet perfect for each other. We have very fucking little in common, but it just doesn’t seem to matter at all.
Her fingers tangle in my hair, and I stumble over a threshold somewhere close to my room before bumping into a wall.
“Need me to drive?” Taylor calls from behind me.
“Fuck off,” I tell him, my lips still half fused to Britt’s as we finally fumble our way into my bedroom.
Her steady laugh grows as I lower her to the bed.
“What have I told you about laughing when we’re about to have sex?” I ask her when she pulls back and turns her head, working hard to keep a straight face.
She turns on her side, and I slide into bed next to her, pulling her to me by her waist.
“That it’s inconvenient for your penis,” she says very seriously, then starts laughing again. “Sorry,” she says, her face not straightening, despite her clearest best efforts.
“How much did you drink?” I ask, eyebrow arching as she hiccups and giggles again.
“Just one.” Giggle. Giggle. Straight face. Giggle.
I drop my head to her chest, because I’ll start fucking laughing too if I keep watching her attempt to force a neutral expression. Her body shaking with silent laughter isn’t much better.
“Now you could teach me oral,” she suggests like she’s had a stroke of genius that eclipses her paused giggle-fit.
I snort out laughter, then groan as I drop back on the bed, scrubbing a hand over my face.
