Page 41 of The Rogues

She opens her mouth to say something else, but then the door to one of the buses swings open and Lennon appears.

“Oh!” he exclaims when he sees us, acting surprised, but I know he had to hear us through the thin bus walls. What a little shit.

He’s completely shirtless, and by the way his arms are propped up on the side of the door entry, I’d say he did it on purpose. He flexes as discreetly as he can, his stomach muscles becoming prominent in the moonlight. I roll my eyes, but I also can’t help admiring him myself.

“You’re back early,” Lennon comments, his accent prominent as his lips curve into a shit-eating grin.

“I didn’t like the noise,” I say, stealing Josie’s excuse. She looks at me, her lips twitching with amusement once more.

“That’s a lot of snacks,” Lennon inserts, pointing at the pile in Josie’s arms.

“I was hungry,” she says with a laugh, and then looks toward her own bus. “Have a good night.”

She starts to turn, and I panic, pointing toward my bandmate in the open doorway. “Do you want to hang out with us?”

I expect a polite refusal, but she turns back to us with a look of something that I’ve been feeling all too well these past four weeks. There’s reluctance, but there’s also longing—it reaches out and grabs me so quickly that I can’t stop the surge of hope that bursts right through my chest.

It’s like nothing ever happened. I am completely in, ready to give this omega everything she’s ever wanted.

“You don’t have to,” Lennon says and she turns to him.

“I… no, I think that’s cool. I’d like the company.”

The smile that takes over my bandmate’s face is wide, light sparkling in his eyes. “Then welcome to our humble abode, little vicious.”

She bites her lip at the nickname, but doesn’t say anything as we move inside the bus. Lennon has the laptop that we use for movies placed on the kitchen table, paused on some anime that I’m sure he has seen a million times. He moves to the tiny kitchen and tries to hide a cough by muffling the sound with his shoulder.

I give his shoulder a small squeeze. He looks back at me and gives me a weak smile, letting me know he is okay. I think I’m the most panicky when it comes to his condition, even more than he is. I hate that he doesn’t feel his best all the time, but I’m sure the night in helped him recuperate.

I turn back to Josie, her eyes stuck on the place where my hand holds Lennon’s arm. I try to hide a smile but fail, moving my hand so I can take a seat beside her on the bench.

“Fancy a drink, love?” Lennon asks Josie as he opens the lock for the tiny cabinet in the small kitchen granted to us.

“Sure.” She gives a tiny nod, her nervousness evident as she takes off her jacket and holds it in her lap.

“I thought you’d be pissed, Remi,” Lennon says, taking out the plastic tumblers before going over to the fridge to get a pitcher of juice.

“Why would you be pissed?” Josie turns to me, her brows scrunched.

I let a chuckle out before clarifying, “Pissed as in drunk, not upset.”

“Oh.” Her lips part, understanding flashing over her features, but then her lips fall. “I see. Because of me.”

Lennon accidentally clinks the pitcher against the counter, causing a loud sound to cut through the tension just before silence falls over us. We weren’t going to bring up our current situation, and it isn’t in our character to guilt trip anyone, so we were going to leave it unspoken. I’m surprised that she brought it up so willingly.

I clear my throat. “Not because of you, because of the situation. We’re all still trying to wrap our heads around it.”

“I know it sucks. I’ve been feeling—” She shakes her head, her voice a little hesitant. “My omega has been in shambles, but I don’t know what else to do. Things might fall apart at any second, and I don’t want to be the reason for that.”

“What do you mean by that?” Lennon asks before continuing to make a drink for both of us. “Cyrus didn’t really give us any details. He just said you had some stuff to take care of.”

She sighs. “I trust that whatever I say won’t leave this bus?”

We both nod. “Anything you say to us will stay between us, lovely,” I tell her. “No matter where we are.”

Lennon steps closer, handing over the drinks before taking the seat next to me. She takes a quick sip, humming when she enjoys the taste of whatever my friend put together. I take a sip of my own and find a mix of champagne and strawberry lemonade. I give him a look of thanks before turning my attention back to our omega.

“Cleo changed when we started touring. Not just this time, but our last tour as well,” she admits. “Our friendship has become strained and I don’t know how to help her. She’s distant, cold. She yells at the crew a lot more than usual. I feel like something bad happened along the way and I just didn’t look hard enough to see what it was.