As Yasu headed off in the direction of his apartment, I watched him for a few moments. I must have gotten through to him. Hopefully. We needed Ryosuke, and I had a feeling that he needed us as well.
Chapter 10
Yasu
It took three days, but I had a feeling that our new bassist was making a reappearance when Itsuki came bounding into the room, a giant smile plastered on his face.
“He’s back!” he announced as he ran over to me wrapping me in a hug. It wasn’t like everyone was always super affectionate. It was just Itsuki. He didn’t know how not to touch people.
“What do you mean?” I asked, feigning ignorance as the tall, broody redhead walked into the room. He wouldn’t meet my gaze—I didn’t blame him after the way I’d treated him the last time he was there.
“Ryo-san,” Itsuki cheered as he released me flinging himself across the room to the bassist.
Tatsuki and Riku stood by and watched the theatrics. It wasn’t all that unusual. Any time we had a visitor, hell, even when Reiko made it to our practices... Itsuki would act like a puppy that had been given its favorite treat and didn’t know how to relax afterward.
“Who is Ryo-san?” Riku asked, leaning in closer. I shook my head. It would be Itsuki who would have already shortened the bassist’s name.
I rolled my eyes before walking over to extract Ryosuke from Itsuki. If the practice was going to go off without a hitch, we needed to talk, and I needed to apologize for the way I’d behaved. There wasn’t a guarantee that I wouldn’t do it again. I was still bitter about having one of my closest friends replaced without any input on my part.
Ryosuke’s eyes widened as I grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the hall. There was a chance he thought I was throwing him back out, but not this time. No, Itsuki was right that I needed to give him a chance.
“Ryosuke-san...” I sounded weak and pathetic. It shouldn’t be that hard to say I was sorry. Yet, there we were.
“If you need me to leave—”
“That’s not it.” God, for a guy who was so much bigger than me, he looked surprised that I’d cut him off. I cleared my throat before trying again.Put your big boy pants on Yasu, we got this.“I owe you an apology for the other day.” My face heated as I said it, because it took a lot for me to humble myself in such a way.
Ryosuke laughed and shook his head. “Territorial, much?”
The way he was brushing off the situation had my hackles rising once more.
“You would be as well if everything you’ve ever worked for was at risk.” So maybe I was a little snappier than I needed to be. I couldn’t help it. There was something about the man that seemed to bring out the worst in me. I hated that as well. I needed to get over it because it wasn’t fair.
Ryosuke raised his hands in front of his body in what appeared to be an effort to placate me. If I’d been him, I wouldn’t have ever come back, but he was giving us another chance, and I knew I had Itsuki to thank for that. That was a problem for anotherday. Itsuki always saw the best in people, and it sometimes got him taken advantage of. At some point, I’d made it my mission to watch over him. I needed to understand that he was a grown-ass man himself and let him make his own mistakes.
“Yasu-san, I get it. I just want to make music. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’ll admit to mistakes in the past, but I wouldn’t be here if I thought I’d mess things up for you.”
For whatever reason, that small bit of reassurance seemed to do the trick. Even though a voice in the back of my head kept screaming at me to proceed with caution, I needed to take a page out of Itskui’s book and let this guy prove himself.
My emotions still felt all over the place. While I still wanted to fight the guy and keep him away from Pink Cherry, I needed to do better and stop being so damn childish. I reached out a hand, offering it to him to shake. With the way it quivered, it might have been more than a little obvious that I still had my hesitations, but Ryosuke took it anyway, giving it a firm shake.
When I turned to head back into the practice room, I was startled when Ryosuke suddenly grabbed me by the shoulder, pressing me against the wall. The firm and unforgiving surface was cold against my cheek as I fought against the bass player’s hold. What the fuck was this guy doing, right after I’d been so damn nice to him?
Goosebumps erupted over my skin as he leaned in close to my ear, his warm breath fanning over my ear. “Yasu-sama, I’ll play this game for now, but know, I don’t play submissive for long.”
With that, he let me go and walked into the room. All I could do was stare after him, because what the fuck had that been about?
Chapter 11
Ryosuke
Was I playing with fire?
Oh, I definitely was, but it was fun to watch Yasu squirm through practice. He kept casting glances over his shoulder as if he were trying to figure me out. Yasu wasn’t the only one who had my attention, and that was a huge ass problem.
I needed to focus on the music doing what Toshi had told me to do. Keep my nose down. But when I had two gorgeous men that I wanted to play with?
Itsuki was sweet, I liked that he was so trusting and willing. He’d accepted me the moment I’d walked in the door. When he reached out to me after the disaster the other day, it meant something to me. No one in my life had seemed to care all that much, and that had maybe led to some of my bad choices. We’d texted off and on until I made the decision to give Pink Cherry another chance.
