Page 73 of Knot Their Opening Act

We dissolve into exhausted giggles, and after I pull myself out of her glorious folds and draw her back and ass up against me, I whisper, “I will never deserve this. But I will always serve you alone, Jez.”

* * *

It’s 9:17 a.m. when I check the time on my phone again. Jez stretches beside me like a little cat before realizing she has no clothes on. But it seems like a passing shock because she turns around, sits up on her knees, and smiles down at me.

“It’s still way too fucking early, but I should get back to my room and get cleaned up.” She digs around inside the sheets for Holden’s t-shirt and her shorts, pulls it all back on, then stands as I prop myself up, elbow on the pillow. Only then does a blush of pink cheeks hint at the awkwardness of a morning after. Or in our case, a few hours after.

“What’re you guys doing before soundcheck today?”

Before I open my dried-out mouth, I swallow and feel down the sides of my neck. Swelling has gone down. Maybe in our activities in the wee hours my body decided that it was done tormenting me. I test my voice out with a slight cough, but it feels surprisingly okay.

“I need to hit the gym at some point. Been too many days. Probably lunch somewhere nearby. Do you and your band fancy joining us?”

She runs a hand through her wild hair and blinks a few times. “Ugh, my contacts are stuck to my eyeballs. God, I need to get some coconut water in me. Ugh. Anyhow, I can’t today. A meeting with Ferny and Ash, and then some promo work. Tonight Viv’s coming to the show at last, she and her pack. But thank you. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Ah, that’s great. Excited?”

“I am. It feels like months since I’ve seen her. And she just got discharged from the hospital.”

I raise a brow.

“Tough pregnancy. All fine but she’s got pregnancy sickness really bad.”

I nod. I don’t have that many good friends who’ve had pups, but the few I do have spent anxious months anxiously watching their Omegas through the ordeal. I’ve only just shared one flash of time with this amazing woman, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t wondered how she would do carrying our pups.

God. How has it all changed so quickly? The fear of losing it even quicker gnaws at me. I force a wide smile.

“I’ll put on my best performance for the great and mysterious Viv, tonight.”

Jez giggles. “Be sure to. And if you can, come around to our dressing room after your soundcheck so she can say hi.”

“Anything, Jesamine.”

I know she goes by Jez professionally, but Jesamine is too beautiful a name to pass up whenever I can sneak it in.

She smiles and her tired eyes blink a few more times at me, but that big gorgeous grin is enough to keep me floating through a shower, catch-up with the other guys, coffee down in the hotel breakfast room because my stomach can’t handle much more, and all the way to the email I open while scrolling idly through my inbox.

From: Tristan West

Subject: Jez

I see you all have kissed and made up. Does she know you used that private message I sent you and against her on that show? Bet she hated that. Control freak. Can’t believe she’s even agreed to open for the band she loved more than anything before that debacle. “They broke my heart. Hope I get the chance to break theirs someday.” She was hard fucking work, mate. Good luck with that. Anyhow, I’ll be playing your tunes all night tonight to get the crowd ready for your gig here tomorrow in Bristol. Always been a fan.

-T.

I swipe closed my mail app the second the words flash up in my brain, and return to the conversation Thomas, Nico, and Holden are excitedly having with Ash and Steve. I rush back to the present, to our show tonight, to our responsibilities, and our job.

And if my heart beats a bit wonkier, a bit fearful, a bit on the edge of feeling utterly, utterly crushed, I do my best to stuff it far down. I lift my orange juice glass as Holden says, “You need to hear it, Kai. Let’s get to a hire studio for a few hours before tonight. We can run it by you and see if it’s something we can work into tonight’s set. It would set her heart on fuckingfire, mate.”

I nod numbly, and wonder if that would help or hurt whatever is really going on.

An hour later we’re set up in the small practice space that Ash and Steve hired for two hours before soundcheck. We can always use the time to polish things up, but they’ve been banging on about a tune they started working on with Jez last night. And I do remember hearing them play and sing, but I’d forgotten til they mentioned it. I’d taken some medicine for the swollen throat before falling asleep, and once Jez woke me—well, everything else fell away from my mind by that point.

“So if it’s not got a name, what’re we calling it?” I ask, as I stomp my pedal tuner off and do some quick scales. Nico sets a hand-scrawled lyric sheet on the music stand before me.

“I just finished fleshing these out in the hotel bar. We’ll come up with a name later. Right now let’s just get you familiar with the main gist.”

The boys start playing and Holden’s back on drums, singing the main melody, which is a hooky octave slide, and then the verses are different enough that they lead you to think you’re about to hear a different kind of song—and honestly, I love it. It’s quirky, it’s mid-tempo, and could do with a really good jangly guitar.

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