Page 76 of Introvert

"I thought Taylor forbid parties after what happened last time," London said, giving him a significant look.

Santino's cheeks went red, and my brows raised, intrigued despite myself.He never seemed embarrassed about anything. At the last tour stop, someone literally pulled his pants down, giving the crowd a second's view of his boxer briefs, and what did Santino do? He laughed, struck a pose, pulled his pants up, andgot right back into the song we were playing. So yeah,I couldn't imagine what would make him blush like that.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Ah, it was nothing," he said. "Just a little misunderstanding."

London rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"No charges were filed."

Seeing my curious look, London explained, "On the last tour, this one decided to go full-on rockstar and invited a bunch of questionable characters to his room."

"They seemed nice," Santino mumbled.

"Theywere all scantily clad women and shifty-looking men who claimed to be part of the official HERS fan club."

"Hey, the other guys believed it too."

"Anyway, they partied until the wee hours of the morning, trashed the room, a guitar ended up through the ceiling, and now, the guys are banned from staying in that chain of hotels."

By the end, my jaw was slack. Santino caught my eye and shook his head.

"She made it sound worse than it was," he said.

"Hotels," London repeated. "Not just one.A whole chain."

"You sound like Taylor."

"Well."

"Well," he repeated, "that's inthe past. I've been a good boy since then, and she changed her mind. Also,today's special."

London sighed. "What's the occasion?"

"Essie's hitting the big 5-0."

"Oh, that is big."

He nodded then threw me a smile."So, you have to come because we're friends."

"I kind of had plans," I hedged.

They looked at me in surprise. "What plans?" London asked. "You didn'tsay anything to me."

"Or me," Santino said, pretending to pout.

This was one of the only nights we'd be in a hotel.The truth was I'd wanted to spend the night reading.But I wasn't sure either of them would understand my need to curl up under a blanket and lose myself in the pages. It made me wish Lottie was here.A book lover to the core, she'd know exactly how I felt.

Santino was called into the room for more pics, but before he left, he saluted us and said, "See you tonight."

Once he was gone, Londonshook her head. "He's always been like that."

"So sure of himself?" I said.

"Yeah."

"Wish I was like that."

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