“Well, I’m telling you now. I have the ring. It’s going to happen when the tour is over. You’ll be the first to know. No one else knows yet.”
There’s a warning in his tone that I wave off. He didn’t tell me shit. I went snooping. Since when doesn’t he tell me stuff? He plays a lot of shit close to his chest, until I poke and poke, but I thought he’d have told me this the minute he thought about it. Or at least included me in the ring shopping. I could’ve been helpful with that.
“I saw it in a window one day. I wasn’t even looking,” he says, reading my mind.
“Whatever,” I mumble.
He sighs, pulling out his phone. “I have a picture. Do you want to see it?”
I shrug. “Whatever, I don’t care.”
“Stop being a baby. I was going to tell you when I workedout all the details.” He scrolls through his phone before handing it to me.
I study the picture, keeping my face impassive. It’s nice and seems perfect for Olivia. It’s not small, either. That probably cost him a nice chunk of his savings. He’s got those songwriting royalties now, though, so he’s doing fine.
“Well?”
“Fitting,” I say, tossing his phone to him. “Princess cut for the country club princess.”
“How do you know it’s princess cut?” He arches his brow.
“Lucky guess,” I lie.
I was so insane as a teenager I thought I’d marry my girlfriend at the time. As soon as we graduated, she went off to college in California. I stayed for the band, but I was all in, looking at rings and imagining shit that was never going to happen with her. Thankfully, I found out who she was before it was too late.
A whole fucking sea of women swimming at my feet, and I was holding out for someone that had forgotten about me the moment she moved into her dorm. She regrets it, too. The way she treated me. The lying and cheating when all she had to do was be honest with me. She was horny? Fine. I can understand that. Call me, we’ll have phone sex or meet halfway. Or hell, at least tell me you’re trolling so I know. One thing I can’t stand is a liar.
She tried to come back right as the band started building momentum, wanting to hop on the fame train before it took off so she could look like she was a ‘ride or die’ or some bullshit. I sent her ass back to Cali so fast there was a cloud of dust in her wake.
“You good?” Penn asks, dragging me from my memories.
“Yep, I’m going to find something to eat. Congrats man, I’m happy for you.”
Penn’s pendingnuptials have been stuck in my head for two days. Why? No fucking clue. So what? He’s getting married. Nothing’s gonna change between us. We’ll still live within fifteen minutes of each other. Unless he moves? Nah, he’s not going to move. Right?
Olivia already lives with him, and it hasn’t affected my life much.
I’ll see him nearly every day for band practice. We’ll hang out and drink a beer after. He’ll still watch Animal Planet with me. Yeah, nothing’s gonna change.
“Hey.” Ellie plops down on the couch next to me.
“Hey, where’s Cinnamon?”
She makes a face. “She’s sleeping.”
“Bummer.” Who knew I was a cat person? Certainly not me. I mean, I love all animals, but pets are different. I wasn’t sure I could handle the responsibility. I was planning on getting a fish when I get home. Can’t do that if Cinnamon is going to be around. I haven’t said anything to Ellie, but I’m going to want some sort of visitation when the tour is over. I’m not just going to be some deadbeat dad.
“So, uh, what are your parents’ names again? Was it Bill and Martha or?”
My head swivels around. “Why the hell are you asking me that?” My hackles go up on high alert, heart instantly beating five times harder than it was two seconds ago.
“I-I’m doing a profile on all of you for social media. Like a meet the band, but more in-depth. I’m sharing random facts, that’s all. I need everyone’s family names.”
I clear my throat, heart settling. “Oh, fine. Yeah, Bill and Martha Beckett.”
“And they live in what city, again?”
“Fort Lauderdale.”
