“Wait, what?” I yelped. “Cass is coming to remodel the studio this summer?”
“More like this morning.”
“This morning!” I snatched one of the inspirational sticky notes from the wall, crumpling it in my hand. “Leo, what?”
“Aw, crap, Shawn, I’m sorry, I’m getting another call that I need to take. Thanks for being so understanding!”
The line went dead. I stood there, the phone hanging limply in my hand. The sounds of deep space echoed through the house, howling like electric wind. I looked at the stacks of old books and the star maps I had pinned to the walls and then to the picture of the astronomer Carl Sagan that I had cut out from a magazine and shoved in an old frame.
I looked down at myself, naked except for a pair of pink boxer briefs, as short and tight as they came.
“Shit,” I whispered.
I scrambled for a cardboard box, desperate to hide everything away. I had embarrassed myself in front of Cass enough times for one life. But before I could even cross to the living room, a loud knock on the front door sent a shock down my spine.
Definitely not the way I wanted this high school reunion to begin.
Chapter Two
Cass
Idlingmy truck on a back-country road, I squinted at a post that was sticking out of the ground, then looked back at the directions I’d written out.
Was that an old horse fence post? How the hell was I supposed to know?
Exhausted, I turned down the dirt road. I’d spent the night before packing my shit up, then drove out of Nashville at two in the morning. With my drums and some tools in a trailer behind the truck and plenty of unfamiliar roads to navigate, it took me straight through until sunrise to find my way to my destination.
Thank god for Leo, though. After quitting the band a couple months ago and breaking up with Monica last week, I was desperate for a damn escape hatch. Getting to rebuild an art studio and retreat to the mountains sounded about perfect.
Sure, I hadn’t exactly planned on Shawn being there until Leo called with the update that morning, but I’d already moved out of my studio, and I wasn’t about to turn around and couch surf in Nashville while I scrounged for work all summer. If Shawn was anything like in high school, he’d be easy to live with.
It was funny. Even though Leo’s younger brother didn’t talk much back in those days, I still felt like I knew him.
We shared these quiet walks down the hall together. Sometimes, I’d tell him about the band I was listening to, and he’d ask about his brother or make a clever joke about one of the classes we passed. He was smart, I remembered, and he noticed things that other people didn’t.
Shawn had a way of making me smile, I guess. All those bullies in the small Indiana town where we grew up were such assholes to him. I never could figure out how someone could have a problem with a guy as nice as he was, but at least I was able to help a little and keep an eye on him in the cafeteria and the hallways.
I glanced at the trailer in the rearview mirror as I bumped and bounced down the dirt road. I just hoped my new housemate didn’t have a problem with drums. The carpentry was going to be just as loud most days, so I figured if Leo thought that was fine, then a little music shouldn’t be a problem, right?
At least I hoped not. Things might have taken a turn with Twice Shattered, but just because I left the band didn’t mean I’d quit drumming. It was how I knew my heart was beating, and after my life fell apart in my hands, I needed that release.
I pulled up to the house, backed up the trailer to a clearing, and jumped out. There was a cute old Subaru parked in the driveway, which I thought I remembered from when we were all growing up. Could Shawn still have the same car? Something about it made me chuckle, which was kind of a miracle, considering how long my tired ass had been on the road.
I stretched out for a minute, pulled one arm back at the elbow, and then hopped around to loosen my legs. The house looked perfect, cozy and comfortable, and the rolling hillsides stretched endlessly into the distance. I felt a little wired from the coffee I’d grabbed around sunrise but figured a shower and a bed would be enough to knock me out.
After fetching my bag from the back of the car, I stepped up to the door, then paused. Should I knock? I was going to live there for the next few months, and Leo did say to make myself at home. There was apparently a room in the back of the house for me with its own entrance. Should I just head there?
I shook my head, obviously too tired and overthinking, then beat my fist on the door.
A moment passed, then another, and I finally knocked again. A voice called something out from inside, but it was too muffled to understand. It sounded like Shawn but kind of strained, almost panicked.
There was a knocking noise and then a scraping sound, like something was being dragged across a wood floor. The voice cursed, and a second later, I heard a loud bang.
I tightened my eyebrows, concerned, and rested my hand on the doorknob. What the hell was going on in there? When I heard another loud bang and curse, my instincts took over, and I shoved the door open.
Sprawled on his hands and knees, Shawn was gathering up a bunch of books that were scattered across the floor, which explained the noises I’d heard. It was early enough that he was in his pajamas, apparently, just a pair of boxer briefs and a T-shirt, and my eye immediately caught on his ass, hoisted in the air and wiggling while he scooped up the books.
I shook my head, obviously tired if I was staring at a guy’s ass, even if it was curvy and firm in just the right ways.
