Dan’s place to live depended on Mach keeping his nose clean and staying out of trouble.
Tanner was only there for him because he had no other place to be, and they bonded over that. But, eventually, Tanner would have his own family and he wouldn’t need Mach anymore.
And Dimefront? They could say all day long that they would always be there. But sure as shit, he knew the band was only there as long as circumstances allowed and fans bought tickets.
"Falling in love is easy," Tanner said. "You just let it happen."
"Sounds like a song you need to write," Mach said. That’s the stuff fans loved to hear. All lip service, but they still ate it up.
"You come from a place where we did and you wonder if you’re enough for her. I know how that feels," Tanner said. "But you can’t let the shit of the past fuck with the goodness of the future."
Tanner did get it. Though his parents were still kicking, so he didn’t have the same opportunity for adoption that Mach always fucked up.
"Falling in love is easy. It’s like pissing in a twenty-five mile-per-hour wind with a full bladder," Knox announced. "It’s a strange relief with a shit ton of frustration."
The other guys nodded along as he spoke.
"And in the end, you feel better about life," Bax said. "’Cause at least you don’t have to pee anymore."
"This is the strangest conversation I’ve ever heard." Tanner scratched at his temple with a drumstick. "But also, not wrong."
"There was this Ten one time. Boston." Linx held up his hands. "That was in the pre-Becca days." He pointed to Bax. "I’m allowed to talk about it. She said so." He seemed to get lost in a memory that Mach was certain he didn’t want details on. "She gave head one time with a peppermint candy in her mouth." He shivered. "Weird, and great, and frustrating all at the same time." He pulled his lips to the side. "You kind of hope you never have to do it again, but you don’t regret it, either."
"Falling in love is definitely like that." Bax nodded, with a knowing grin.
"Listen, dude, if she’s not feeling it, just rely on your good looks instead of your charm," Linx said with a huge grin and a twinkle in his eye.
"I don’t want to fall in love with her," Mach confessed with a tinge of uncertainty in his voice.
"It’s not something you get to choose." Tanner stared at the wood panels that made up the recording studio floor. "Not something you get to control."
"You know, I think I said something like this before," Knox scowled. "With the wind thing."
It couldn’t be that. Because Mach didn’t get that.
"Maybe it’s just hooking up with a hot girl," he said tentatively, trying on the words for size. But they fit funny—too tight and entirely too wrong.
"If that was the case, we would be playing music right now." Knox blinked. Oh-so-innocent, he blinked.
Bax elbowed Knox in the ribs. "Seriously, man?"
"I’m saying." Knox rubbed at his side where Bax had whacked him. "If he’s this tied up, then he should accept that he likes being with her and this is more than just a bang, clang, did my thing."
"And if I admit that I like her? That I think she is literally the one?" Mach asked, trying those words on for size, too. They fit. Felt right.
"Then we can play some music and call it a day," Knox said, tapping out a rhythm on his knees.
"Are you admitting it?" Tanner asked.
"Fucking hell," Mach muttered under his breath, a mix of nerves and relief all through him. He nodded, meeting their gazes with determination. "Yes."
Chapter Twenty-One
DARLA
Darla wasin a state of disbelief because she had made it. Her Frontline acceptance landed in her email shortly after Mach left to head to the studio and right before Irina and Courtney came over to pick her up.
Dear Ms. Davis,
