Page 86 of Fractured Rhythm

Her cheeks flamed brighter. I was having way too much fun with this. I’d missed the playful banter we’d always had. It’d taken a while to come back, but it finally felt like no time had passed and that we were on the same page—with everything.

She didn’t say a word, just sucked in a breath and went back to her French toast, but I knew I had her. I’d give her five minutes before I went in for the kill. We had to burn off these calories in some way.

“Don’t touch me,”she said an hour later as she tied her sneakers.

“What?” I lifted my hands innocently, like I hadn’t just slipped them under her shirt to tease her warm skin when she’d turned to grab her shoes a minute ago.

“Don’t what me. We are going to be late and it’s all your fault.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining,” I said, tugging her into my arms and ignoring her gasp. “I heard a lot of oh god and yes, please.”

“Stop it. And don’t touch my hair. Oh god.” She paused and glared at me. “Not funny,” she scolded when I quirked my brow.

“I didn’t even say anything.”

“You didn’t have to,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Ugh, they’re going to tease us for being late. And in front of your parents. Jax will be relentless.”

I grabbed my phone and swiped it on.

“What are you doing?”

“Hold, please,” I said, sending a quick text and waiting for the reply.

“Done.”

“What did you do? Threaten to remove his balls?”

“Worse. I told him if he even hinted at what might have made us late, I would tell my mother that he was the one who drank her favorite bottle of tequila and replaced it with water.”

“How does she not know that already?” she asked.

“We promised to keep his secret. He felt bad after I told him it was a bottle she’d been saving for their twenty-fifth anniversary.”

She laughed. “Oh my god, I remember how pissed she was. Didn’t she ground you for a month?”

“All for one,” I started.

She laughed. “You are not a musketeer.”

“I bet I’d look killer in that hat.”

She shook her head and tugged me toward the door. “Did the guys leave already? I’m surprised Jax didn’t bang on our door before they left.”

“Jax said he was swinging by his parents’ for breakfast this morning and would meet us at my parents’. Tristan texted a while ago to ask if we wanted to take a car over with him and Charlie, but I told them we’d meet them there.”

They knew I wanted every spare minute I could get with Cassie before she had to head home. I hated that she couldn’t stay for the whole tour, but she had to go back to work, so I’d take whatever she would give me. We’d be back in the city in a week, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t miss her like hell.

I still had to figure out what we were going to do after this. New York City was a place I’d gone to hide or find myself—or find her—but we all lived in LA. Not that we couldn’t relocate if the guys wanted to, especially since Charlie was from the East Coast, but we hadn’t talked about it yet.

“What are you thinking about?” Cassie asked as we took the elevator down to the lobby.

Bud stood in front of us and had already called down to one of our drivers. I’d give anything to spend the day how Cassie originally wanted to, with breakfast at our favorite spot and a walk around town, but those days had disappeared a long time ago. They’d only become more scarce after Jamie died.

I shuddered remembering the early days after Jamie’s death. The paparazzi hounded us so badly that I could barely breathe without them shoving a camera or a cell phone in my face. LA had been horrific. It was one of the many reasons I’d escaped to New York.

But it was different here. They wanted to know because they knew us before we hit it big. It wasn’t as in your face, but it was still there.

“I wish we could walk around town and go to Polly’s,” I said, linking my fingers through hers.

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