Page 174 of Sweet Temptation

“Yup,” Xander said.

Ash slipped his arm around Danica, who was sitting on his lap. “Nope.”

Danica grinned and kissed him, her soft butterscotch-colored hair falling over them like a curtain for a moment. They were always going at in public. But it wasn’t exhibitionism; when the two of them kissed, I was pretty sure they legit forgot anyone else was here.

I glanced at Xander, who kinda rolled his eyes. His girlfriend, Courteney, was sitting next to him; she smiled and sipped her drink. Courteney was a pretty blonde eighteen-year-old who, despite her age, had become an integral part of our group pretty fast.

I liked my bandmates’ girlfriends, thank God.

“Don’t you all find these album release parties depressing?” I pressed.

“Fuck, yes,” Ash said as he came up for air.

“Good. I was getting worried.”

“It’s easier for him,” Xander said. “He’s going on tour with Dirty. He’s gonna get his fix in a major way. While we sit here, fucking bored, in waiting mode.”

I frowned at Ash. “I don’t think I can be friends with you anymore.”

He laughed.

I clinked my cocktail glass against his pint of beer so he’d know I was kidding. I was just feeling a tiny bit frustrated with the whole waiting game.

I wanted to be done with making music alone in my basement studio, and go into a real studio with my band. I wanted to be “in the zone” with them, and maybe with Ash, especially. I missed him and his whole chaotic, energetic vibe.

We’d gotten pretty close these last few years, in an unexpected way.

Especially since I broke up with the first serious boyfriend I’d had after our relationship ended—the coke-snorting mortgage broker—and we really started hanging out again.

But this summer, he’d been preoccupied with Danica, and we’d barely even been doing our “vortex” music listening sessions together. Every time I saw him, he was with his girlfriend.

He was in love. And I was happy for him. Danica was in love with him, clearly, and if anyone deserved that, it was Ashley, after all he’d been through in his previous relationships.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who’d ended up breaking his heart.

But I was now in a secret relationship I couldn’t yet talk about, which meant the other people at this table were gonna have to carry this conversation.

“Alright, ladies,” I told the girls, “entertain me. I need gossip from the trenches. Tell me how your relationships with these handsome men are going.”

“Gossip?” Danica’s fingers played in Ashley’s hair. I was almost surprised she’d even heard me. “What do you mean, gossip?”

Yeah, so she was over the moon about her boyfriend’s perfection, as always. No gossip there.

“Oh! I have gossip,” Courteney offered. “Xander’s suuuper annoyed that Lucas hooked up with Jordan.”

“Thanks, babe,” Xander grumbled, and took a swig of his drink.

“Lucas?” Ash said, and we all glanced over at Xander’s bodyguard, who was hanging out in a nearby corner. And was now probably wondering why we were all looking at him.

“Lucas hooked up with your assistant?” I said. “How delicious.” I looked around but I didn’t see Jordan anywhere. “Is she here tonight?”

“Yes, he did,” Xander grumbled. “And no, she isn’t. I told them I didn’t wanna see it.”

Courteney grinned, putting her arm around her man’s shoulders. “He’s a little sore about it.”

“I told him not to mess with her. Now what if they break up and she quits? I need her.”

“She’s not gonna quit,” Courteney said. “She really likes Lucas,” she added, leaning toward me. “Like, really. They’ve been going at it hot and heavy, like, every night.”

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