Page 124 of Time Out

He tugged his bass guitar over his head and moved straight back toward the band’s room.

We stayed while she chatted with the rest of the band, Stella declaring she needed a drink before she took off, so she headed to the bar, tucking her drumsticks into the back of her cutoff denim shorts.

Once Maggie and Ruth and I were alone again, I slipped my hands to the sides of her neck and kissed her. “You were a sight to behold.”

“I don’t remember a single second of it. I was so scared. What’d you think?”

“I was pretty proud of my sister,” Ruth said. “And that Mason boy taught me how to dance.”

“He did! I saw that. Did you have fun? He looked like a good teacher.”

Ruth shuffled on her feet and blushed to the tips of her ears. “He was. Very nice.”

“Cute, too, huh?”

“Maggie,” I warned her.

Mason Yeets was probably the biggest playboy on our team. Action followed him night after night. He was not the guy to help Ruth get a crush on.

“What? He is.”

“I don’t know,” Ruth said. “But I did have fun with him.”

“Good.” Maggie squeezed her. “I’m glad. Let’s go get some water in me, help me change out of this dress and then we’ll head home. Where you, Davis, will tell me absolutely everything that happened.”

Hell, by the time we got home, she could probably watch it trending on TikTok.

Chapter 38

Maggie

I couldn’t believe what Davis told me. I couldn’t believe I’d missed it all.

I was still living on the high of coming off that stage, the thrill of people singing along with me and the extreme excitement the band and Brianna and Belle showered on me afterward, I was having a hard time imagining everything Davis told me happened.

Stepping out of the bathroom after a quick shower, my face was clean of my makeup, and my hair was wrapped in a towel. My bones were tired and my body felt like I could either crash for two days or run a half-marathon. It was such a different feeling than I had experienced after singing at church or karaoke, but hell, the entire night had been so different.

Never had I stood in front of a crowd of people, singing other people’s songs while they danced and jumped and screamed along with me.

What would it be like if it was my own music?

Davis had stayed in the living room, checking his phone while I hauled off for a shower after he finished telling me about Dawson’s arrest. We had so much more to discuss, so I tugged on a pair of sweat shorts, grabbed one of his T-shirts from his freshly folded laundry on his dresser and tugged it on. My hair could stay in the towel until it dried more.

I found him in the kitchen, gripping both handles of the refrigerator in his hands and staring but seeing absolutely nothing inside.

I pressed my hands between his shoulders. “You okay?”

The doors slammed close. “I’m pissed at Dawson for acting like this at this point in the year. I’m more pissed off at his sister and how she continues to get under his skin. I’m worried as hell this will be suspensions and we cannot lose him right now, and I’m so damn proud of you I don’t know whether to throw a celebration party for you or head down to the police station to see what’s going on.”

“So, not a lot on your mind.” I went for teasing, hoping to break through the seriousness tightening his muscles.

“Yeah.” He chuckled and swept his lips over mine. “Nothing on my mind at all.”

His hands went to my waist, and he lifted me, set me on the island’s countertop, and I gasped as the cold marble seeped into the backs of my thighs.

I ran my hands through his hair. “It’ll be okay. The team will come together to help Dawson. Your coach will figure out what to do if he can’t play, and you’ll continue filling in the gap for him. And as far as a party goes, let’s wait until my first album comes out.”

Davis’s hands ran up my sides, around to my back, and up to the backs of my shoulders. His hands were warm. Strong. Heat flared along my skin in their wake, making me squirm.

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