Page 82 of Yearn

I broke my gaze and stared down at my coffee. Uneasiness shifted inside at his confession. I thought of Adam’s mouth between my thighs and my screams as I came over and over from his rough touch. My cheeks heated and I cleared my throat. “I don’t want to hate you,” I whispered. “I’d like to move forward, too. I don’t want the group to break up over us.”

“Me either.” A tentative smile curved his lips. “Thank you. I promise I won’t fuck things up. Even if it’s hard, I’ll let you go. I want you to be happy.”

His words rang with truth. I found myself spilling out my news.

“I got a call back from that reality show,Dumped. I got the part.”

His face broke into a delighted expression. “Are you kidding me? That’s great, baby—I mean, that’s great! Holy crap, tell me everything.”

I told him what I knew, and blossomed under his enthusiasm and compliments. “When do you start filming?” he asked.

“Not sure. The location is at some rundown farm upstate. I’ll get all the details later in the week.”

“Amazing. You’re heading to tv land and Adam is heading to LA. Who knows what will happen next for all of us?” He leaned forward, locking his gaze on mine. “That’s why we can’t lose each other. I believe in you and want to be part of your success. And I’ll prove it day by day. I promise.”

His vow held an undertone of something more, but I was too overwhelmed to try and unpack his true intention. I wanted us to move forward, even though the sting was still new. I had my own secrets and knew it would devastate Max if he ever found out.

“I’m willing to try.”

“How about Friday night?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Adam’s performing with the band in the Village. Would be cool for all of us to go support him. I can show you this can all work for us.”

Uneasiness stirred. Was it too soon? I was fresh from Adam’s bed, and neither of us had talked about when we’d see each other again. But how much time did we have left to all be together? Max was right—I’d be away shooting the show, and Adam would be gone. Maybe this was a good time to cement the new dynamics between us. I thought about how it would feel to see Max with another girl, which would probably happen no matter how many vows of friendship he gave. The probe hurt, but didn’t wound. Of course, I wouldn’t like seeing him with anyone other than me, but it was more of a pride thing.

Better to test things now than later, so I could decide what I’d be able to handle.

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

Max grinned. “Thanks, Landon. You’re incredible. I’ll let Adam and the other guys know. You can call the girls.”

I wondered how Adam would respond after hearing Max and I were trying to be cool with each other. Would Adam be jealous? Did he even care? My body may have belonged to him last night, but we hadn’t given each other any promises, even though I’d shared things inside me that I’d never told anyone else.

We needed to have a serious talk. Figure out what we wanted to do. I didn’t like the idea of Adam believing I was sleeping with him to get revenge on Max, and we’d never cleared any of it up.

I’d talk to Adam before Friday and tell him everything.

Chapter Forty

Adam

Listen to Pour Some Sugar on Me

by Def Leppard

Dripping sweat, ramped up on adrenalin from a successful set, I fist bumped the guys in congratulations and headed to change. My head buzzed from the music and satisfaction pumped through my veins. It was all coming together. I still didn’t love being the lead singer, with all the attention attached to the role, but the dynamics between us had strengthened, and we were completely in sync. My lyrics took on another level in Unison’s capable hands and I loved being able to offer my music in the way I imagined.

I just hadn’t seen myself as the one delivering it.

I needed to make peace with my role and lean in rather than fight it. Sure, the ridiculous attention from women who wanted to sleep with an up-and-coming musician would be a turn on to most, but not me. Those women wouldn’t have given me a scrapof attention before, and I wasn’t into sleeping with groupies like everyone believed.

Which was a damn shame, since the only woman I wanted had once again screwed me over.

I cursed as I headed to the bathroom and stripped my shirt off and gave myself a half assed wash. Cupping water, I spilled it over my head, slicking my hair back and retying it in a low ponytail. When I’d sang the lyrics of the song Landon inspired, I searched for her in the crowd. Silvery white blonde hair caught the light like a halo, and my gaze connected with stunning blue eyes filled with an emotion that tore at my heart with greedy fingers, squeezing tight.

Until I saw her standing next to Max.

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