Page 14 of Ballads of Lines Blurred

Moving so I stood in front of him, I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him. Slater didn’t hesitate to embrace me back. The puff of air that left him on his exhale encouraged me to hold him a little tighter. After a minute or so, he finally relaxed, although I could hear the rapid beat of his heart.

On stage, Slater was a badass. That one night performing live in front of me hooked me on how much I wanted him, but I didn’t make my move. I had my chance today. It was different. He was different, and not in a bad way. Slater was so much more than the man with the guitar.

He nodded against me. “I’m ready.”

I took his hand again and together we went down the hallway to the door Olivia directed us to. My knuckles rapped against the wood.

“Go away,” came from the other side.

“Cody,” Slater said. “Can we come in?”

The music at the party was low enough where we could hear shuffling on the other side of the door. I was glad no one asked me to handle the music today. I wanted to enjoy myself, not work. Plus, Xaiden had a great sound system outside. Olivia and Cody probably helped him pick out the music.

“We?” Cody asked as the door opened, revealing a very rumpled, but still handsome, guy.

Cody’s hair was unruly, like he’d been lying in bed. Before he went into the house, I saw how neatly he had it styled. His deep gray T-shirt was rucked up on his hip and slightly wrinkled. Jeans sat low on his waist, revealing the wide black band of his underwear. I couldn’t help but stare at him there, wondering how smooth his skin was and how unyielding those muscles would be. He clearly worked out with Xaiden. Cody’s biceps begged for my fingers and his chest looked solid through his shirt.

“Milo?” he prompted, drawing my gaze to his.

“Sorry.” I smiled. “We wanted to see if you were all right.”

He glanced down to where my hand held Slater’s. “You both should go back outside. You don’t want to miss Dex opening his gifts.”

“We don’t need to be there for that,” Slater said. “Can we come in and talk?”

“Yeah, sure.” He rubbed the back of his neck and opened the door wider.

The room was a decent size, with a queen bed in the corner, one side pressed to the wall. A colorful quilt covered it as a pillow hung on the precipice of teetering off the edge of the mattress. Two windows adorned the wall across from where we stood. The shades were drawn, no doubt to block out the guests in the backyard. There wasn’t much on the walls, small pieces of art that looked like maybe Olivia created them. I’d heard she was a talented artist. If these were hers, she definitely was.

“Nice room,” I said.

“Thanks. You can have a seat on the bed or at the desk. Wherever you’re comfortable.”

Slater gravitated toward the bed, but instead of sitting down, he ran fingers along the quilt. “This is beautiful. Did you buy it?”

“My mom made it when Livy and I were little. It was tucked away in a closet. She only took it out when Livy or I were sick. When we moved here, I asked Livy if she’d mind if I kept it. She said only if I didn’t care if she kept Mom’s jewelry, which I didn’t. We didn’t have much growing up, but what we had meant a lot to us.”

He was killing me. Knife right to my heart.

I released Slater’s hand and sat on the bed, my hand coasting along the different squares. “Are these shirts?”

“She took the clothes we outgrew and saved the special ones to make into the quilt.”

There were all kinds of designs on it, each one different, but no less special. It made me think of the perfume bottles Hale and I still kept in one of the spare bedrooms. We’d donated most of our parents’ belongings, though some items we couldn’t part with. One was special to me.

“There’s a pillow in my closet,” I began quietly. “My mom wasn’t crafty, but I remember the vacations we used to take. This one trip to Disney World, Hale and I were young, probably preteens. We were in one of the shops. Hale went for a light-up sword while I gravitated toward a pillow with Pluto on it. There was a button you pushed to make it light up and play music. I can’t bear to put new batteries in it and hear the sound again, but I keep it. The music would be too much, even after these years without our parents.”

“You loved music even then,” Cody said.

Looking up, I saw he was closer than before, and Slater had sat beside me. Too lost in thought, I hadn’t realized they’d moved. Cody shimmered in front of me as tears pooled in my eyes. “Shit.” I brushed them away. “I didn’t mean to get sentimental.”

Cody sat on my other side and gave my forearm a gentle squeeze. “Losing a parent sucks.”

“Especially when you lose them at the same time.”

“We have that in common.”

“I wish we didn’t,” I said honestly. “I hate you had to experience it too.”

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