“It’s refreshing, your honesty.”
“I don’t do subtle very well,” she said with a grimace. “I didn’t bullshit earlier; I think you would be a good friend. You take no bullshit, and I respect that.” I watched as she tugged her sweater. “Mia’s a flirt. She isn’t the easy girl people think she is. I know shehas a reputation for being a ‘love them and leave them’ type, but she doesn’t sleep with most of them. She just likes company.”
“I have no judgment of your friend; I know what gossips can be like. Her business isn’t mine and mine isn’t hers. Or yours for that matter. You and Jett are a couple — I respect that — but he is my best friend, and he will tell me things, and I can’t stop that . . . and I won’t.”
“He talks to you about me?”
Ava looked too delighted for me to keep a straight face. “Yes, he does,” I said as we resumed walking to her friends. “He’s happy.”
“Oh.” I watched her look at her feet as she tried to hide her wide, happy smile. “I think that just made me stupidly delirious,” she whispered to me.
I couldn’t help it — she was irresistible, and the pull to her genuine openness made me feel very protective of her.
“I’m glad, but now I need you to do me a favor,” I said to her quietly as the band stopped their preparations and was looking at us. “Lie for me when I tell them I know their music.”
Linking her arm through mine, Ava smiled at me as we reached them. “Quinn, I got you, girl.”
Alex smiled at me in welcome, and I was quickly introduced to the others. Mia caught my eye once and smiled at me, and throwing my usual caution to the wind, I returned the smile.
I had this.
Chapter 3: Gray
“Why should we go?” Ash was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. “Country rock is not my thing. Any of our things. It’s gonna suck balls.”
“Have you seen him?” I asked my cousin casually as I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at Jett, who was searching through a drawer in his closet for fuck only knows what.
“So . . . we’re going so he can keep an eye on his girlfriend?” Ash asked with a groan. He was lying sprawled over the couch in Jett’s room and was still only half-dressed since his shower after practice. He had a large purpling bruise on his back and side where he took an extra-heavy hit from the defensive lineman earlier today.
“He’s trying to be cool,” I said quietly to my cousin as I watched my brother quietly freak out. It was funny. “But it’s eating him up inside, knowing she is in the same place as the guy who liked her and she almost hooked up with.”
“Will the redhead be there?” Ash asked with interest as he sat up. “I wanted to get some shut eye before tonight, but you know, I wouldn’t want to let my cousin down.”
“And the redhead is a bonus?” I asked him dryly.
“We all need perks, Gray.” Ash winked at me as he stood. “I need ten minutes.” I watched him walk out of the room when Jett turned to me.
“Ten minutes for what? I thought he showered?”
I barked out a laugh and then held my hands up innocently. “He thinks we should go to the bar,” I told him.
Jett started to grin and then lost it. “I can’t.”
I hadn’t been expecting that. “Why?”
“She’ll think I’m a clinger or something.”
“So?”
My twin genuinely looked stumped, and then I saw his eyes gleam. “You’re right, I don’t have to apologize or feel guilty. She’s my girlfriend.”
“Exactly.” I nodded even as I wanted to shake him. He really was a fucking caveman.
“And it will do the guy good to remember who her boyfriend is.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed while fighting back my laugh at his wholly predictable behavior. “You tell them,” I added with a smirk, which unfortunately the dumb shit noticed.
“You’re pulling my chain?”
