“Sure,” I reply, smiling over at him. He looks like he might vomit and I squeeze his knee before standing. “Let’s go change?”
Danny follows me upstairs, and we put our swimsuits on in silence. When I turn, pulling my tank top back over my head, he’s standing with towels he’s miraculously produced out of nowhere. I shake my head before following him out the room. When we get downstairs, Joey’s relaxed a little bit, playing Mario with Aaron and Zack. I lean over and rub his tensed shoulders before kissing his forehead when he looks up at me.
“Good luck, brother,” I say, and he smiles.
“Have fun,” he replies, and I follow a still-silent Danny out the door.
Danny slips his hand into mine as we walk towards the empty pool. He dives in and comes up sputtering. “Shit! That’s cold!”
I laugh as I dip my toes in and am tempted to pull them back out, but Danny committed so I should at least go half in. I slide down to sit and drop my legs in, tensing as the cold water reaches up to my knees. Danny swims up to me and pulls his body out of the water, teeth chattering. I’m pretty sure I know why there were only surfers out in the water today and not swimmers. We’re in Northern Cali, so late October means it’s starting to turn colder — not East Coast cold, but still too cold at night to be in a pool.
“You remember that last day before you went on tour? Aaron had his dad keep the pool open until the day you left, and the water was freezing,” I say, and Danny scoots over so his hand is next to mine, and the sides of our bodies touch.
His teeth slowly stop chattering. “We didn’t want to leave until you were a few weeks into your junior year…to make sure you’d be okay. I guess we should’ve never left if that’s what we wanted.”
I glance over at him, and his eyebrows gather over his eyes before he looks down at the sides of our hands touching.
“Those were my choices, Danny.”
He cuts me off with a nod, standing and going to the towels. I watch as he shuffles around in them and then comes back to sit down next to me. I tilt my head at him, narrowing my eyes.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about the promises I’ve made you,” he says and his hands open to reveal a black velvet box. My mouth drops, and my heart races. He looks up at me, a crooked smile on his face. “I’ve kept them all, Sky and there’s a promise I need from you.”
My head jerks up and down as I try to catch my breath.
Am I breathing?
“So,” he begins, and the sound of the box opening knocks whatever air remains out from my lungs. He pulls out a ring, but it’s nothing like the one Joey got Meredith. This is diamonds set in an infinity loop; it’s not an engagement ring. “Will you promise me that somewhere, when we’re both ready, that forever is what we’ll have to make ridiculous promises?”
“I promise,” I whisper and he slips the ring on my left index finger. I suck in a quick breath and stars pop in my eyes, framing his face. Just like at Aaron’s pool, we lean into a perfect kiss with our legs in the too cold water and our teeth not chattering only because of one another.
Danny pulls away and presses his forehead to mine. “Let’s start with another ridiculous promise?”
I’m not sure if it’s the adrenaline or the cold water, but my legs are tingling as I nod. “Sure.”
“We’ll always tell one another our fears without being afraid of what the other will say,” Danny says, and my heart seems to stop midbeat. He looks out over the pool, entwining his fingers with mine. “I was afraid you’d think I was proposing and run, or start shaking your head as soon as you saw the box.”
I burst out in a crazy high pitched and relieved giggle. “I’m glad I didn’t.”
He looks over, his brows serious, but eyes playful. “Were you thinking about it?”
“I thought you were crazy and that made me even crazier,” I reply, putting my head on his shoulder.
“So that means you’d have said yes?”
“There’s only room for that kind of crazy in Disney movies,” I say, and he laughs. We sit for a moment before I speak, “I’m afraid I’ll ruin your song.”
“That’s not possible,” Danny replies, and I keep my head down, looking at the way the water distorts our legs. “Sky, seriously, that’s not possible. If I was singing it, yes, but not you. I wrote it with your voice in mind.”
I swallow before looking up at him. His eyes rush back and forth over my face as he reaches up to cup my cheek. “I promise you there is no way for you to ruin the song– it’s not my song– it’s our song.”
“I’ve never sung in front of any one, what if I can only sing in the shower?” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I know how stupid they sound.
It makes Danny’s lips quirk, but he keeps serious all the same. “Then we’ll record it in the shower. Bathrooms have the best acoustics anyway.”
Chapter 33
I open my eyes to the California sunshine streaming in through the blinds of our bedroom and turn in Danny’s arms. His eyelashes flutter against his scruffy cheeks, and a soft smile comes to his lips. I tilt my face up to kiss him, and his hand comes up to my face, making my heart stutter and the air stagger in my lungs. Our bare skin grazes and heat flushes through my body. Danny tips his head back, exposing his neck and I trail kisses there as he looks at the watch on his wrist.
He groans. “While I’d love to keep this going, the producer is going to be here in a half hour, and we should probably check on your brother to make sure he’s not drunk from either a good answer or a bad one.”
I roll onto my back, covering my eyes with my arm. I peek out from under it with narrowed eyes. “Do you have to be so honorable?”
He raises an eyebrow before moving his body over mine, holding his weight up with bulging biceps before leaning down and kissing my bare chest. He slides off the bed, and the sheets fall to reveal his naked ass. I inhale, and he winks at me as he grabs a pair of boxer briefs from his drawers and pulls them on.
“We have forever,” Danny reminds me, and I smile as I get out of bed to get dressed too.
“Do you really think Joey’s hung over?” I ask as I slip a sweatshirt over my head and follow Danny downstairs.
“God knows what we’ll find if he’s not,” he replies, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and bursting out in laughter. I look over his shoulders to see Aaron, Zack and Joey are practically swimming in their collection of bras from the various tour stops.
“I thought you left those on the tour bus,” I say as I watch Danny jump over the couch and join the guys to ‘swim’ in the bras.
Zack looks up at me, twirling a hot pink and overly frilly bra around his finger. Whoever would be willing to be wearing it wouldn’t be planning on wearing it long from how uncomfortable and provocative it looks with its nipple cutouts.
“No, you told us to leave them there. After Joey’s excellent news, we thought swimming in bras from ladies Joey’s never going to get to see shirtless was a good way to celebrate,” Aaron says with a wink as he sits up, a black and lime green monstrosity hanging off his ear. He looks down at Danny who has his eyes closed and a smug smile on his face. “You too I’m guessing?”
Danny nods and Zack stops twirling the pink monster. “I wonder if the girl who wore this could be the one?”
Aaron shakes off the one on his head and points to the tag. “If your future is a mannequin.”
I heave a sigh, letting it drag on for longer than necessary, so Danny cracks open one eye and smirks at me. “Can you guys hide these stupid things before the producer gets here?”
Zack purses his lips, shaking his head. “Absolutely not. I’m sorry you’re uncomfortable with it, but this is a part of who we are and the producer needs to acclimate to that fast.”
He cocks his head at the bra and then flings it at Joey. “Hot pink’s your color, man.”
Joey’s hair is back to a dirty blonde similar to mine, and Zack’s stripe is teal since he’s boycotting pink because it looked so good on
Joey. My brother looks down at the bra as he catches it, and then there’s a knock on the door.
“That’s John,” I say, looking at the time on my cell phone. None of the guys make any move towards the door, so I go to get it. When I come back into the living room with the producer, my jaw drops. Joey’s now wearing the bra over his shirt, and each of the guys is also wearing one of the ridiculous ones. I blink hard at Danny who’s dressed in a neon yellow bralette that’s see-thru.
“That’s what you chose?” I ask, my mouth hanging open as I cock my head at the craziness that is this family.
Danny winks at me, and I look over at John, who looks old enough to be our dads with his white hair. He has a huge smile on his face.
“Interesting choices,” he comments.
“We love the gifts our fans give us,” Zack replies as he gets up to sit on the couch. The guys follow his lead, taking seats.
“Apparently,” John replies. “Not the first band I’ve seen dress up in bras.”
“Good to know they’re not the only crazy ones,” I reply as I take a seat next to Danny.
“Hardly the craziest,” John says as he shakes each of their hands and they introduce themselves.
“She tries to keep us in line every day…but obviously it doesn’t always work,” Joey explains, giving me a toothy grin.
John laughs as he takes a seat. He leans forward on his knees, rubbing his hands together. “Good to know. I want to get to know you guys better and understand what your goals for this album are.”
“Of course,” Joey says, and his brows knit together. “I think our number one goal with the album is to show a more serious side of the band. We’re pop-punk, so we have this crazy reputation, but we’re not always like that. Sure, we have fun but what we do has nothing to do with partying. Honestly, we want our fans to know who we are as people and be able to relate to that. They’ve seen the silly, and it’s time for us to share something deeper with them. I think I speak for the guys when I say our fans are our number one priority and we want to continue to grow and touch them.”
“We’ve been working a lot of with local schools as we tour,” Danny adds, smiling over at me. “We’re trying to make a positive impact on these kids’ lives. High school is hell for some people — it’s hard to get through it, so if one song helps a kid get through it, then that’s the song we’ve tried to write for this album.”
“That’s excellent,” John says, and his eyes are serious as he surveys the guys. “The label let me know there was a single you already had worked out for the most part– Beautiful Scars?”
Joey nods. “We’d like that to be the album name as well.”
My hand lifts to cover my mouth and Danny squeezes my knee.
“I’d love to hear it if you guys are up to it. It’ll give me a feel for what you’re going for,” John says, and the guys turn to look at me.
“Sky?” Joey asks, and I bite my lower lip.
“Only if you take off the bras,” I reply and the guys slip them off faster than I think I could remove my own.
Zack goes to get his guitar and Danny explains, “It’s a song we wrote as a duet between Sky and Joey.”
“Music talent runs in the family?” John asks, giving me a reassuring smile, reminding me again of a father figure. It’s as if he knows this whole thing makes me nervous. Then again, I might physically be trembling for all I know with how numb I am.
“Sure does,” Joey says as Zack settles back in his seat and throws Danny his tambourine.
I swallow hard as I think about what I’m about to do. The song starts, and I close my eyes as I listen to my brother’s voice as he sings. When he gets to the first verse, I join him, keeping my eyes closed and concentrating on the words and what they mean. I let my voice drift off as he goes back to the chorus. When the second verse comes, Joey’s voice pauses and mine takes center stage. I keep going thinking of Danny writing the lyrics for me. Joey comes back in for the chorus and then I join him for the end verses. When it’s over the room is completely quiet, and my eyes flutter open as I wonder if I sucked.
John’s eyes are closed as if he’s still soaking up the song, and I glance at each of the guys who are watching him intently. His eyes open and he nods, a smile coming to his lips.
“I think we should get started today, lay that track and start working from there,” he says and a breath I didn’t realize I was holding rushes out past my lips.
“Awesome,” Joey says, standing. “We’ll meet you at your studio?”
John and Joey head to the door, followed by Zack and Aaron. Danny stands, holding his hand out to me and pulls me up into his arms
“Amazing,” he whispers into my ear.
I close my eyes. “Thank you for helping me see these scars are beautiful.”
He pulls away and puts his forehead to mine. “Free?”
“Free,” I reply.
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Behind the Lens (Boys of Fallout, #2)
Natalie Scott’s life is simple with no strings attached. As a band photographer, she’s made metal music her life, and life on tour means no relationships.
At least not ones that last and that’s the way she likes it.
She only has one rule.
Don’t date or otherwise screw around with the client.
But she never said anything about love.
Brent Andrews knows Natalie’s rules.
And he’s about to make sure he’s an exception to them.
All of them.
Even ones she didn’t know she had.
Buy It Now:
Amazon
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Acknowledgements
It’s that part again, where I have to figure out a bunch of coherent thoughts about the process that is writing a novel and put them into words. This is a novel I’ve had in my head for years, one of the handful that will be the ‘Boys of Fallout’ series, which is really a bunch of stand-alone novels that all center around music, bands and growing up. Writing about music seems to be something I’m alright at, probably because of my husband. He was the reason I fell in love with music in the first place, and he’s the reason that I try to portray the life of a musician differently. The irony is, he hardly plays music anymore after getting burned out of the lifestyle when we first started dating (over ten years ago!). He keeps me level; reminds me that he doesn’t want that to happen with me with writing– but keeps pushing me, asking how whatever book I’m writing is going and frequently coming up with funny names for them. Like when he called Walking in the Shadows ‘The Walking Dead’ instead.
If only I’d written The Walking Dead.
Thank you to my writer bestie, Cheyanne, for being a sounding board and being there for me to have honest conversations with when everything feels like it’s going wrong. Eventually, we’ll get there–although, I’m about 150% sure you’ll be there way before me.
As always, thank you to my parents, brother and sister-in-law for helping to grow my sense of humor. It took a while, but I think we’re getting there.
Last but never, ever, least– thank you to you, the reader, for taking the time to read my tenth book. I hope you’ll be along for the ride when I reach thirty.
Always,
Cassie Giovanni
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About the Author
Cassandra doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character’s stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. Besides being a writer, Cassandra is a professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England their dogs, Bubski and Kanga. For regular updates vi
sit Cassandra’s website www.cgiovanniauthor.com and sign up for her newsletter.
Cassandra can be found on:
Goodreads
Facebook/cassiegiovanni
Instagram / Twitter @cgiovanniauthor
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Other Novels by the Author
Upper Young Adult
In Between Seasons – Post-Apocalyptic Romance
Walking in the Shadows – Romantic Suspense
Adult
Love Exactly – Contemporary Romance
Finding the Cure – Contemporary Romance
Flawed Perfection (Beautifully Flawed, #1) – Contemporary Romance
Faded Perfection (Beautifully Flawed, #2) – Contemporary Romance
Children’s
The Adventures of Skippy Von Flippy
Mystic Mayhem (Finding Freckles, #1)
Bermuda Bounce (Finding Freckles, #2)
COMING SOON
Finding Perfection (Beautifully Flawed, #3) – Adult Contemporary Romance
Out of Beat (Boys of Fallout Book 1) Page 18
