Even if I wanted to go solo—and I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that I did, because it felt a hell of a lot more vulnerable to stick myself up on stage by myself, as if what I had to say was worth listening to—it’d take time to build back up to the place the band had gotten, and even that wasn’t?—
Well, it wasn’t enough to live on forever.
That wasn’t how the music industry worked. You were in or you were out. If you were lucky, you had a shot to claw your way to something real and life changing—but I was scared our shot—my shot—had already passed by.
All I could really do was throw myself into distractions, and that meant getting ready for the concert with Landon.
We were going to have a good time, dammit, and I hoped that after hearing some live music, I’d remember why all this strain and confusion was worth it. Making music was fucking magic.
Just right then, it felt like a chore.
But Landon hadn’t gone to this kind of show before, and I was a little excited to show him the ropes. I even got all of my old band shirts out of the dresser. Would he want one? He looked cute as hell in his button-ups and gray slacks, even his sweaters, but—well, would he want to fit in more?
I didn’t hate the idea of him in one of my shirts.
I was glaring at the wallet chain on my bed and wondering if it was too much when there was a knock on the door to my apartment, and I swung it open to find Landon on the other side.We were going out for dinner, and I had my heart set on a big, juicy burger.
“Heya,” I said, opening the door wide.
The narrow hallway from the front door led past my bedroom, and he glanced inside. The sight of my bed, covered in shirts that weren’t all that date appropriate, brought him up short?
“What are you doing?” Landon asked, his head cocked to the side, amber eyes lit with curiosity as he wandered into the room.
I grinned and stepped in after him. “I thought you might not have, you know, concert attire.”
“So you pulled out every black shirt you own?”
I snorted. “Are you insulting my heritage, Landon?”
He arched his brow. “Your heritage as a panther?”
I shrugged, and Landon turned back to the shirts I’d pulled out, frowning as he perused all of them. He shot me a narrow-eyed, skeptical look before he finally settled, then reached out to grab an all-black T-shirt with a pair of bright green eyes on the front.
On the back, it had a list of Lucky Black Cat’s tour dates.
“Good choice,” I said. “The eyes glow in the dark.”
He blinked, a bit startled. Maybe he’d expected me to have some kind of feelings about him wearing the band’s shirt, like it’d make me sad or something. Maybe it should have, but instead, I only felt a great big swell of possession wash over me, and the sting of losing the band wasn’t quite so sharp.
“Do they?” He lifted the shirt, turning it like he’d be able to tell just by looking at the right angle.
“Put it on,” I said, and went over to the light switch. Before I flipped it off, I looked back at him. He’d already changed shirts, and the T-shirt was big on him, but in that cute way that made me want to slip my hands beneath it.
That wasmyshirt.Myband.
Hell, that was my boyfriend too.
I turned the lights off and the subtle green glow from the cat eyes was the only thing I saw at first. It only took a breath for my eyes to adjust to the dark, and there was Landon, biting his lip and looking down at his shirt and he was just so damn perfect.
I closed the distance between us, dragging him in by his hips. As I kissed him, I slipped my thumbs beneath the edge of his shirt, and he moaned against my lips.
“Is it too big?” he asked.
I shook my head, letting the tip of my nose brush against his. “It’s perfect.”
Landon blinked up at me. “Then why are you trying to get me out of it?”
I gave him a toothy grin and walked him back toward my bed. “Out of it? No, sweetheart. I’m gonna leave it on. I want it to be the only thing on you tonight.”
