I joined him at the front of the bus and said, “Thank you for showing restraint.”
Suddenly, he smacked his forehead and cursed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just realized that the bed is mine tonight.” He pointed toward the back of the bus. “We could’ve been fucking on it instead of in the cramped bunk.”
I shrugged. “I actually kind of loved doing it in the bunk.”
Milo flashed a boyish smile and said, “Me too.”
“Want to play a game of cards while we eat?” I asked. “I promise not to get grease on your cards.”
“They’re Vi’s cards, so you can fuck them up as much as you want. So long as you don’t blame me.”
We dealt the cards out and started playing, taking bites of pizza in between turns.
“Weren’t you meeting the others for dinner?” I asked. “That’s why you came back to get your wallet, right?”
“I don’t even remember,” he replied while frowning at the cards on the table. “Everything in my brain has been overwritten by the filthy things we just did.”
“Same.” I wolfed down the last bite of my pizza slice and grabbed another. “I was starving. This is the most food I’ve had since getting sick.”
“You can pretend that your appetite is because you’re not sick anymore. But I’m pretty sure it’s from the workout we just did.”
“I wish I’d tracked it on my Apple Watch. I probably burned a few hundred calories.”
“At least.” He smiled across the table at me. “I can’t get over how fuckingcoolyou are.”
“Me? All of you are the ones in a rock band. That’s, like, aprofessionallevel of coolness.”
Milo shook his head. “Nah. That’s our secret. Wetryto be cool. We pretend. But we’re mostly just a bunch of dorks.”
“A bunch of dorks who fake it well,” I replied.
“Riot’s pretty cool, I guess,” he admitted. Then he jabbed a finger at me and warned, “Never tell him I said that. I’ll deny it and call you a liar.”
I laughed. “I can keep a secret.”
“But yeah. Riot’s got that aura about him. The rock starvibe. That’s why we stick him front and center.” He cocked his head to the side like he was listening to something. “Speak of the devil…”
I heard their voices a moment later, and then the door to the bus opened. “The fuck are you doing?” Violet scolded him when she saw us playing cards. “You said you were just getting your wallet. We’ve been texting and calling for the past half hour.”
“A better opportunity came along,” he replied. “Someone who actuallywantsto play cards with me.”
Riot and Cash were behind her. The tall lead singer stopped next to the table, glanced at both of us, then grinned. “It smells like sex in here.”
“Nice,” Cash said. “About time.”
“You two finally fucked?” Violet asked.
Milo and I shared a look, then nodded at the same time.
“ThankGod. Now we can all act normal,” Violet said.
“You weren’t acting normal before now?” I asked.
“I was normal, because I can handle my shit without being weird. But I was getting sick of these guys all drooling over you and not doing anything about it.”
