Page 71 of Goodbye Note

I stepped around to try and focus on the crowd, interact with them. I jumped around and came back for the second chorus, this time closer. Not bothering to angle my body away from his. We’d shared a fucking bed this afternoon. What did it matter? We weren’t uncomfortable.

His face exploded into a grin, eyes fixed on mine.

* * *

Midway through Varian’s show, I sat on a speaker, watching from onstage. Totally against the rules, but no one would take this away from me tonight.

The sky opened up, letting down the rain it’d been threatening all day.

We were drenched in a second.

They kept playing.

By the time the set finished, we were soaked through to the bone.

We packed up, sloshing around and a muddy mess by the time Dopamine-Fiend’s gear was loaded. Thankfully, since they were one of the last sets of the night, the showers were not packed. No way we could get into the bus with mud up to our knees.

“Pair the fuck off and get it done.” Kiernan brought me fresh clothes, along with Dopamine-Fiend’s manager. He was long cleaned up after our load out.

“Pair off?” I asked, laughing, because I had no doubt he’d paired off with Hael.

“You fucking heard me! We have a long drive tonight and most of tomorrow.” Kiernan held up his middle finger.

I grinned, holding up my middle finger as a shower opened. I ducked in, but before I could close the door, Varian slipped in behind me.

“He said to pair off.” Varian gave me a cheeky grin, unbuttoning his pants.

“Fuck, no. You don’t get to try to hijack my shower.” I pulled off my shirt and then shoved off my skinny jeans, almost taking my boxers with them. I cast him a look before getting in the shower, not bothering to take my boxers off. He shoved at his tight leather. I turned on the shower, not closing the curtain. “Struggling, buddy?”

“Fuck off.” He hopped and shimmied, but those pants were not moving. “Of all the fucking nights I could have put on leather.”

“The universe hates you.”

“Fucking tell me about it.” He leaned against the wall, out of breath.

“Do I need to come out there and help you?” I stood under the water while warm drops pelted down on my goosebump-covered skin. I’d never thought I’d want heat after sweating out half my body weight, but my sore muscles demanded it after the downpour.

“Maybe.”

“This shower feels so good. You’re missing out.” I leaned to look over at him, still fighting with the leather.

“You’re a dick!” He banged his head against the wall.

“Fuck! If this isn’t still warm when I get you out of those, friendship off!” I turned off the water, groaning.

“Friendship off?” he asked, a smile playing on his lips, but his eyes said it all. “You’d unfriend me over a little water?”

“For at least three to five business days!” I stepped out of the shower in my sodden boxers, way too cognizant of how they stuck to me. I tried to act normal, but I don’t think I’d know what normal was if it bit me in the ass.

“Business days! We are fucking rock stars. I can’t work with business days. Plus, we have a day off tomorrow, and who am I going to spend it with if you’re not around?” He wagged his brows.

“And what are we going to do tomorrow?” I asked, assessing his pants situation. “You’re making it worse by bunching them up like that.”

“What do you expect me to do?”

“Sit on the floor, and I’ll start at your ankles. Work them off that way.”

He wrinkled his nose. “I’m going to get a weird fungus on my ass if I sit on the floor.”