Page 173 of Verses

Maybe we liked having a few secrets…but, for our band to thrive, we probably needed all our shit out in the open. After all, I’d felt a thousand times lighter since telling Wolf the darkest moments in my history. I’d always been afraid that dredging it up would make it worse…but it hadn’t. Not a bit. Sharing it with the man I loved had somehow made it more bearable.

Grinning, I looked from the man I loved to the other men I cared about like brothers, my ex included. “Yeah, we’re back together. As you noted, Pedro, we had a little bit of a rough patch—but we’re together.” Under the table, I slid my hand into Wolf’s.

Now that we’d worked through all that shit, I never ever wanted to let this man go. With Wolf, I felt more protected and loved and cherished than I ever had in my entire life. That feeling of being safe and secure was something I’d probably been looking for my whole life and never found because I hadn’t known it was what I needed. But Wolf had provided that and far more, and I wouldn’t let him go.

I had no doubt we’d have bumpy roads ahead now and then, but we would figure it out. After making it through to the other side, we fought hard…and we deserved—yes,deserved—to be together. Now and always.

I knew it would take me a while to really feel totally deserving. It was something I would grapple with, but with Wolf by my side, I would make it through.

Pedro took another swig of his beer. “Cool. Thanks, guys. We want nothing but the best for you.” When he set the bottle down, he said, “I also know my pal Adrian’s got a girl interested in him too, so we might have to give him the third degree here real soon.”

Adrian’s cheeks were already turning pink, something I’d never seen from the guy before. “Man, she’s just texting me. We’re not dating or anything.”

“Yeah, but that’s the first step. Wait—did you saytextingorsexting?”

“You know what I said, man.”Oh.Adrian had a little more emotion in that statement than he would have if he hadn’t cared about this woman.Interesting.

“If she keeps texting, she really wants your big dick energy.”

Adrian sat up straight. “Shut the fuck up, Pedro. You’ve been dating somebody too.”

“Aw, hell, no. Me and Brittney…we’re Splitsville. Me and my man Kyle are playing the field, aren’t we, man.”

“Hell, yeah,” said my ex, holding up his beer bottle and clinking it against Pedro’s almost empty one.

“And I’m pretty fuckin’ sure that as we start playing live shows again, we’re going to have more pussy than we know what to do with.”

Of course, that was when our waitress came by to see if any of us needed refills. Pedro didn’t seem to notice but Adrian looked up at her instead. “Sorry.”

“No—you’re fine. I didn’t mean to interrupt your intimate conversation here.”

Pedro turned on his charm. “I think I need your number. Where you been all my life, sweet thing?”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“We won’t tell him. He’ll just wonder why you’ve started smiling so much.”

“Anyone need a refill?”

Grinning, Pedro held up his bottle. I could see that he had something else filthy to say, but he somehow managed to keep it to himself. When the waitress took the bottle from him, she actually smiled.

How the hell did our bassist manage to charm so many women with his crass mouth? That shit never would have worked on me.

When she left, I said, “You better give her an extra good tip, Pedro.”

“Oh, I’ll give her the tip—and then I’ll give her the whole fucking hog.”

I couldn’t actually see it, but I could tell Wolf flashed him aknock-it-offlook by the way Pedro put on a serious face. “Anyway, guys, let’s make a plan. Let’s decide how long we want to play at The Apothecary as the house band again. And do we want to advertise, putting out fliers all over town or do we just want to let word of mouth continue bringing customers in?”

Kyle asked, “How much would flyers cost? If we can keep them cheap, I don’t think it’d hurt.”

“Anybody want to check on that?”

I said, “I can. There are a couple of printing shops in Silver City. But we need to make a couple of cool pictures with us posing as a band.”

“We sure as shit do,” Pedro said. When the waitress dropped off his beer, he said, “Thanks, babe.”

Shedidn’tobject to the name he’d given her.

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