Page 64 of Beautiful Unity

“I’ve missed you, Darce. Now, introduce me to your guys.”

Grabbing her hand, I turned and faced them all. Bubba had walked over to Slade, and the two were deep in conversation, but Thane and Simon stood awkwardly next to Grayson, Maddox, and Brooks.

“Maddox, this is my best friend and sister wife, but not that type of sister wife, just that we’re both on the ‘why choose one dick when you can have more’ wagon type of sister wife.”

Maddox blinked, and Lennox barked out a laugh. “Good gravy, I’ve missed you.”

“Ah, so that’s where you got that phrase from,” Maddox said, finding his footing. He reached out his hand. “Maddox King. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for being a friend to my girl and helping her when she needed it.”

“Oh, of course. Darcie is the best. She was a friend to me when I needed one. We both found each other.” She turned to me, tears gathering in her eyes. We hugged again, both so thankful for the other. Why were adult friendships so hard for girls? When you found a good one, you held on with everything you had.

Wiping our eyes, I motioned to Grayson and Brooks. “And this is Grayson and Brooks. They’re the other two that live with Waylon. So, I’m unsure if you know them already or not.”

“Hey!” Lennox waved. “I’ve seen you both around the shop or town, but I don’t think we were ever officially introduced. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You, too. You have a great voice. I really enjoyed your set,” Grayson flirted, taking her hand and kissing it.

“Thanks.” Lennox blushed. I wasn’t even mad about it. That man had game and it just naturally came out. I’d be more worried if she didn’t blush.

Slade, on the other hand, did not appreciate it. He stalked over and wrapped his arm around Lennox, pulled her back to his front, and draped his arms over her. She rolled her eyes but didn’t push him away.

“This overbearing man is Slade,” she said. “His twin brother, Zane, is the sweet one.” Thane chuckled and shook my guys’ hands.

“You can all me Thane. Nice to officially meet you all.”

“He’s not that nice,” Slade grumbled, kissing her face.

“And I’m Simon. Previous best friend, upgraded to boyfriend for both of our rock stars.”

Slade looked up, smiling softly at Simon and reaching out a hand for him to join their huddle. Lennox did the same for Thane, making Slade grumble about his brother being too close. With one guy draped over her and the other two on her sides, I stared wistfully at my bestie.

“Why don’t you guys do that to me?” I grumbled, crossing my arms and glaring at my four.

They chuckled, but no one moved, making my pout deepen. Maddox reached for me, drawing me into his arms and kissing my cheek. “Because we’re still new to this, and when we’re all this close to you, the only thing we want to do is fuck you senseless, so we’re holding back so you can have time with your friend.”

Lord have mercy!

My cheeks turned crimson, and my clit throbbed as slickness gathered between my legs. “Right. That.”

Lennox chuckled, giving me a knowing look. “So, now what?” I asked, thinking about dipping and taking Maddox up on his offer. Lennox would understand.

“I’ll introduce you to Penny, Rafe, and Cooper, and we can listen to the band back here until I need to go on. I’m singing two songs with Jett tonight. You’ll meet Aspen and the others later.”

“Right. My competition. Let’s do this so she knows I’m the real bestie.” I extracted Lennox from Slade, wrapping my arm in hers. She led me through the VIP tent to an area backstage where a redhead and two guys stood. When they saw us, the redhead smiled and waved.

“Oh my goodness, you must be Darcie.” The redhead, who I assumed was Penny, hugged me and wrapped me in her vanilla and sugar cookie embrace. I wanted to hate her, but her hugs were really nice, and she smelled like a freaking cookie! You try to hate that. It’s impossible.

“Um, yeah. That’s me,” I mumbled, suddenly feeling dumb for being envious of this girl.

Penny introduced us to two of her guys, Cooper and Rafe, and I introduced her to mine. She explained that Cooper’s stepbrother, Aspen, was the guitar player for Shadows of Mayhem.

Our three groups joined together, and I marveled at our relationships. I loved that in our little pocket of the world, we’d all overcome preconceived notions about love and redefined it for ourselves.

“So wait, your name is Cooper Aspen and your stepbrother is Aspen Cooper? That’s so cool!” Grayson exclaimed. He’d instantly befriended Cooper, and had also hit it off with Simon and Thane, but kept his distance from Simon after Slade gave him a death stare for allowing Simon to touch his hair.

Cooper regaled us with his exploits as an Olympic jump roper, which led to an intense discussion on rope with Brooks and training. I’d grown bored midway through and had tuned into Penny and Bubba’s conversation about being a redhead. Which somehow jumped to Penny’s best friend, Poppy, who was also a redhead and singer.

“Is there some secret club for gingers I don’t know about?” I teased. Dead silence. Wait…was there? Shit. “Okay, um…” Bubba broke first, cracking a smile and bellowing out a laugh. “You turd.”

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