Page 65 of The Rogues

Lennon: HOTEL TOMORROW! WOOP WOOP

Jamie:

Remi: you are both so dramatic

Cyrus: says the person that listens to those same four chord progressions every night or he’ll go insane

Josie: omg you really did that?

Remi: it’s the only thing keeping my alpha tame

Malaki: Tbh, he’s been playing it out loud. it’s been helping all of us sleep.

Josie: omg

Jamie: It’s been helping me too and I don’t even have a feral alpha to contain

Lennon: you’ve drank enough champagne to drown a whale

Jamie: excuse you

Malaki: womp womp

TWENTY-ONE

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Josie and I aren’t able to arrange our dinner date for a few weeks. With rapid concerts through Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, we don’t get a second to breathe until we get to the end of the American Leg of our tour (the first part at least). Now that our Seattle shows are over, the buses need repairing before we cross the border into Canada.

I never thought I’d miss the sterilized smell of an impersonal hotel room. Halfway through, the guys and I started sleeping together on the big bed in the back of our bus, none of us being able to handle the small bunks much longer.

Now, I get my own queen-size bed and a lazy day to do whatever I want. And the first thing on the agenda is cashing in on a much overdue date with a pretty, tattooed omega.

Luckily, before we left Salt Lake City, she let Malaki give the rest of us her number. Being able to flirt with her even in a small capacity like texting has been amazing for my well-being, my alpha calming more with every interaction. It’s also cool to see her walls come down, each text feeling like a glimpse into how her brain works. I love every single moment of it.

I finally get to the point of cooking where I can let the beef rest on the rack. I wasn’t joking when I said I could make one; it just takes a lot of time and preparation, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to show Josie how committed I am to giving her the very best.

I’ve been at it all day, but it wasn’t nearly as long as it could have been because my pack mates helped as much as they could. Mainly because Cyrus was worried about me being in a smoky kitchen for too long, and the others wanted to eat bits and pieces of the ingredients as they helped prep them.

Their help didn’t come without a healthy dose of teasing. Malaki jeered about how I haven’t made beef Wellington since before we got signed, and Jamie jokingly grumbled that we don’t have pretty enough faces for it.

God, I love them so much.

Before they left to give Josie and me some privacy on our little date, they all threatened me with harm if there wasn’t any left for them when they got back.

The second after I click the timer into place, the hotel door sounds with a knock, and my stomach twists with nerves. When I open the door, however, that anxiousness immediately turns to glee when I see Josie standing on the other side.

She is comfortable in a black T-shirt and long skirt, the material billowy, the pattern the perfect mix of punk and hippie. She beams at me, and I beam back.

“Welcome to our humble abode, little vicious,” I say as I let her into the suite. She looks around, her eyes taking in how different our room is from theirs, before I catch the sight of her sniffing the air.

“Are you smelling the masterpiece I cooked up, or are you trying to get a hint of my scent?”

She flushes, but smiles. “Why can’t it be both?”

“That’s the best answer,” I say honestly, guiding her to the living room. “I just got done with our meal, so it needs some time to rest before we can dig in.”

“Just now?” she asks. “How long have you been cooking?”