“I’m confused,” I admitted after we had sat down and ordered our coffees. “Grayson is a book lover, isn’t he? He loaned me one the other night.”
Flo grinned, a genuine smile this time as she tucked her sunglasses back up onto her head. “He is. But look at the size of the chairs. Last time I brought him here, he broke the leg off one when he sat down and then knocked over a whole tray of teacups on his way out. He was a whole-ass bull in a china shop and wasmortifiedabout it.”
I winced but bit back a laugh. Poor Grayson. “Let me guess, Rhett and Jace gave him shit about it, too?”
Flo laughed loudly. “They were merciless until Gray kicked their asses in the gym, and then they all shut up about it.”
“Boys,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.
Flo chuckled. “Right? Necessary evil. So… did you and Rhett take advantage of the privacy last night?” She smirked, and my cheeks heated.
“Is it that obvious?” I groaned, rubbing at my tired eyes. Worth it, though.
She grinned. “It’s like a neon sign above your head flashingfreshly fucked. To be honest, I’m shocked you guys didn’t just go for it on the bus.”
“Uh yeah, I wasn’t super into the idea of my ex listening to me getting railed by his best friend,” I admitted in a dry voice right as the waitress arrived with our order.
The woman hesitated a moment after putting down our coffees and cakes, peering at Flo with wide eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she gushed, “but are you Florence Foster? From Bellerose?”
I sat back, watching as Flo graciously chatted with the waitress, who claimed to be ahugeBellerose fan. She only lingered a few minutes and left with an autograph on her notepad, but I was impressed at how professionally Flo handled it. She didn’t once appear irritated by being recognized, and I told her as much when the waitress left us.
Flo just shrugged. “I like it. When I’m out with the whole band, no one wantsme. They all want to take selfies with the guys or get their tits signed by them. Hardly anyone ever squeals or faints when they meet me. Must be my lack of fat dick spirit.”
I choked on the sip of coffee I’d just taken. “Sorry,what?”
Flo chuckled. “You know, big dick energy. My grandma used to call it fat dick spirit because she wanted to be cool but couldn’t remember the right phrase.”
“Oh my god, I love that. But that kind of sucks that the boys are soaking up the limelight… You’re an equal part of the band. You’ve been with them since the beginning, right?”
Flo nodded, then gave me a funny look. “Well, as long as Rhett and Gray, anyway. Jace already had the recording contract and the concept ofBellerose,but he needed a band because…” She trailed off with a wince.
I nodded my understanding. Jace’s original drummer and bass player hadn’t beenamazingmusicians, nor did they have any delusions that they had star quality. There hadn’t been any hurt feelings when Jace’s contract offer had been contingent on a new band arrangement.
Angelo had been the lead guitarist back then—back when they’d been called Snake Soup. In fairness, they’d named the band when they were twelve. Even if things between the three of us hadn’t blown up in such spectacular fashion, Angelo never could have signed on with Jace and Big Noise Records. His fatherneverwould have let him leave the family business.
“Anyway, I didn’t ask you to come out so we could talk about ancient history,” she quickly amended. “That shit last night wasinsane,and I wanted to check that you’re doing okay.”
That rendered me speechless for a moment. Florence wasn’t cold by any means, but she also wasn’t overlywarm… so I'd figured she wanted to get coffee to take a break from Tom rather than for my benefit.
“Oh,” I said, sounding stupid as fuck. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Was I though? Last night wasintense. Kissing Grayson, the chick with the gun, Angelo’s visit, and then mind-blowing sex with Rhett… Without even thinking about what I was doing, I slipped a hand into the pocket of my jeans. They were the same jeans I’d been wearing last night, and sure enough, there was a little scrap of paper folded within.
Angelo’s number.
Swallowing back the panic rising in my chest, I changed the subject to ask Flo abouther.How she got the position in the band, where she was from, about her family, literally anything to avoid the heavy shit weighing down my mind.
Eventually our security told us we needed to get going back to the hotel, so we finished off our third plate of cakes and paid the bill. Or Flo did, since I was still relying on charity. Ugh, that needed to change sooner rather than later.
“Shit, hang on,” she said as we left the cafe. “I need to pee. Back in a sec.”
She disappeared back inside with a security guard following her, leaving me on the sidewalk with the rest of our entourage.
“Ma’am?” one of the suited men prompted, indicating toward where our SUV waited across the street.
I hesitated, though. “Shouldn’t we wait for Flo? She’s the celebrity here, not me.” It didn’t feel good leaving her with only one guard. Not after some crazed fan had pulled a gun on them last night.
The guy in charge, whose name I didn’t know, gave me a long look. “So you’d prefer to stand out here on the street like sitting ducks while Ms. Foster uses the bathroom? I’m no expert, but I thinkyouwill be safer in the vehicle, Ms. Thorn.”
