Page 58 of Rebel

When the door opens, we all sit up, and when she turns the corner, she stills and blinks. “Why do you all look like puppies waiting for their owner?”

“Woof,” Chase barks, making her grin.

Her eyebrow rises when she sees the bags and boxes covering every surface. “Did Santa stop by or some shit?”

“If Santa is a sexy as hell rock star,” Chase flirts as Trav chuckles.

“They are for you, our apology, and to help you feel more included.” He gestures around as I perk up.

“Our apology presents.” I nod. “And to welcome you to the band. They are just some things we thought you might want or need.”

“There is a whole department store in here,” she comments dryly.

“And we did it all in under two hours,” Chase tells her. “Impressive, right?”

“Or doesn’t bode well. I had a feeling you were speedy,” she retorts, heading inside.

“Two minutes in the van, baby?” he flirts. “You want in?”

“Baby, you couldn’t handle two minutes with me,” she replies, and he covers his heart, falling backwards.

“Try me. I’d die a happy man.” He licks his lips. “Trust me.”

She leans over him, and I watch his eyes widen at her closeness. “Trust you? Never,” she whispers with a grin as she grabs his drink and sips it, looking around. “Is this really all for me?”

“Yep.” I beam, unable to help myself. She looks around, and I wilt. “Uh, did we mess up?”

“No, no, it’s just . . .” She swallows as she eyes the presents and me. “I’ve never received a gift before.”

Chase scoffs. “Not ever?”

“No, we were poor growing up, so we just had a nice meal on birthdays or holidays and that just became a habit,” she admits softly.

Chase snaps his mouth shut as I share a look with Trav, who seems ready to head back out and buy the world for our girl, just so she never goes a day without a present again, but it’s Chase who surprises us.

“Then you can have one from us every day to make up for it,” he declares. “You’re a rock star now, pretty girl. Open your gifts.”

She just stands there, clearly overwhelmed, so I pick a small black box with a red ribbon—we had them all wrapped the same. “Here,” I offer. “This is from all three of us.”

She takes it and sits on the coffee table, looking between us as she undoes the bow, carefully folding and placing it aside before tugging off the lid of the box and setting that aside too. Chase sighs in annoyance because he likes to rip into his presents, but I glare at him, and he snaps his mouth shut.

She breathes slowly, staring at the gift, and I lift the chain now hanging around my neck to show her. “We all got one,” I tell her, “to show we are a united front, a family.”

She looks up at me, seeing the pendant on the chain around my neck, before looking at Chase, who unbuttons his shirt the entire way, making my eyes roll, and shows his hanging between his pecs. Trav lifts his and proudly lays it over his muscle tank before she looks back down and pulls it out.

Hanging from the long silver chain is a skull with a guitar through it, and engraved on the back is the word “family.”

Swallowing hard, she puts it back in the box. “Here, let me help you.” I move closer and unhook the clasp, moving her hair aside. I lay it low on her neck and fasten it. “There,” I murmur as she shivers, her hand covering the pendant.

“Here, this one next.” Chase throws a box at her, interrupting our moment, and I move away again as she catches it. She opens it and finds the bikini inside. One by one, we hand her the gifts. She’s obviously overwhelmed, but she gets into the spirit, grinning and laughing at our choices and guessing who picked what.

Surprisingly, she likes the ones Chase picked the most, as if he got her taste down to a T.

Boxes litter the entire room, as does bright red ribbon which covers nearly every surface, even us.

“It’s a shame to waste the ribbon.” Trav grins, wrapping it around his hands and tugging as he winks at Beck. “I can think of some uses.”

“So can I.” She grins and grabs a section as she saunters over to Chase, who leans back, watching her approach. His thighs are parted, and his shirt is still open, showing his chest. He pats his knee when she gets closer, his dark eyes needy.

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