Page 55 of Ballads of Lines Blurred

“Only if you promise not to ask their intentions or any other shit like that.”

“I won’t. Neither will Corbin. Val on the other hand…”

“There’s no stopping him when he wants to say something.”

He smiled. Xaiden was so in love with them it shined from every part of him when he brought them up.

“Does Thursday night work?” I asked. “Slater is in the studio today and tomorrow. Milo works tonight and Wednesday. Thursday’s the next time we’re planning to get together.”

“Corbin’s off so it should be fine.”

“I’ll text Slater and Milo. I don’t want to spring it on them last minute. I have a feeling Milo is going to freak out and have a whole meet the parents crisis.” The relationship talk got easier for him, but this was a step he hadn’t crossed yet.

“Just tell them to be prepared for Val. I have a feeling he’s the one you’ll have to worry about.”

“Not you?” I asked. They were all protective, but Xaiden took it to another level.

“Oh, I wouldn’t count me out, but he’s the one with no filter.”

At least it wouldn’t be boring. Milo would freak out. Slater… Shit, I hoped it didn’t make his anxiety worse. He’d want to go, want to be there with us. He’d probably worry they’d hate him due to the age gap between us. I knew that wasn’t the case and had told him so, but he would worry anyway.

I’d do what I could to minimize his anxiety and Milo’s nervousness. Hopefully, we’d have a great evening together and Val wouldn’t say too much to embarrass me.

25

MILO

I checked my rearview for the fifth time. There was something in the water. Or maybe it was that the people I’d fucked had decided they needed to see me again, now that I was in a relationship with a rock star. Either way, I was not having it. A quick online search brought them to my house. Where I didn’t want them. Ever.

Danny and Simon had chased away three more guys. I couldn’t even use their dog, Bailey. No one was scared of a smallish dog who had no bite with her bark.

“Are you on something?” Slater asked.

“What? No.” We were on our way to Cody’s house for dinner. That was another thing. Dinner with his parents… I wasn’t freaking out at all. Except I was. A lot. “There’s no one following us, right?”

“Um, no, why?”

“The exes, man, the exes! Not really exes. More like men whose names I’d forgotten as soon as I got off. I’m horrible. Jesus, why do you want to be with me?”

“Maybe I should have driven.”

“I’m fine. Really. One of them brought me a casserole. Who does that? Did he think I was going to eat it? I didn’t know if he put drugs in it or came on it.”

“Seriously, what the hell?”

We were on a stretch of road where there was nothing but farmland, so I pulled onto the shoulder and put the car in park. I turned to Slater, who looked at me like he was debating on taking me to a hospital. “Slap me.” Okay, that wasn’t helping my case.

“I’m not hitting you.”

“I need to chill the fuck out. Between the men showing up with cum-laced casseroles and us going to have dinner with the Dremests, I’ve reached my limit.”

Instead of hitting me, Slater dove for my lips, pressing his to mine in a punishing kiss. I sighed wistfully. All the tension drained from me like air leaving a balloon and my dick went from not an iota of interest to bring it on!

“Fuck yeah,” I murmured against Slater’s mouth and threaded my fingers into his hair. I needed more of this. Every single bit of the sexiness of this man.

Slater pulled back far too soon, leaving me chasing his lips for another taste. “Better?”

“I’m not a live wire anymore, but my dick is hard as a rock.”

---