Page 34 of Behind the Lights

He barely muttered, “Mmm hmm,” before his breathing slowed and his limp arms fell to the side.

“Luc, we need to clean up before we rip my happy trail off trying to unglue ourselves.” Gently, I tried to guide him down on the bed beside me. He never opened his eyes, but one of his arms came up to shield his face. After peeling off the condom and tossing it, I went to the restroom across the hallway and grabbed a damp washcloth. I cleaned us both off, tossed the rag aside and crawled back in bed with him. As I was trailing my fingertips across his torso he bolted upright.

“Shit, what time is it?” he asked in a panicked frenzy.

I got up and grabbed my cell out of my pants. “Ten fifteen. Why?”

“I um, I told my dad I wouldn’t be out late since we have to get up early tomorrow.” He rushed out of bed, hurriedly dressing.

“Okay, let me put some pants on and I’ll walk you out.” I crawled into a pair of jeans I found on the floor and walked him to the front door. He kissed me goodnight and pulled out of the driveway as my dad was arriving. I didn’t want to be rude and slam the door in his face, so I waited for him to come inside.

“Laundry day?” He smirked as he walked past me staring at my chest.

I looked down and spotted a hickey just above my right nipple.Fuck. I know I’m an adult, but shit. My cheeks heated, and I knew my face had turned red. “Um, something like that.”

“Right,” I heard him mumble before heading upstairs.

Chapter

Nine

The next day, I woke to Diamond and Stoli pounding on my bedroom door. “Wakey, wakey, sleepy head.” Stoli laughed from the other side.

“Fuck off,” I yelled, covering my face with a pillow as though that would make them go away.

He pounded harder. “Dude, get the fuck up. We need to talk. Band meeting downstairs in ten.” I heard matching footsteps descending the stairs.

I tossed on a pair of sweats and headed down as three sets of eyes turned my way and were glued to my chest.

“Nice hickey.” Mickey laughed, and Diamond joined him. But the look on Stoli’s face was one of disgusted disappointment.

“What?” I asked staring back at him while rubbing my hand across my chest. His eyes clocked my every move.What the fuck was wrong with him? It’s just a fucking hickey.

“We made coffee, grab a cup and take a seat,” he told me as he turned away.

When I came back in, he started the meeting without even looking at me. “Hey guys, we’ve got to make some changes. Brett and my mom are about to have a pup and he doesn’t have time to manage us anymore.”

“Oh shit, wait,” I bolted upstairs and grabbed the card Lucas gave me last night and brought it back down to him.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s a friend of Lucas’s dad’s who manages bands. His son goes to UDub with him and he’s bringing his kid into the business so they’re looking for a few more bands.” I returned to my spot on the couch, inhaling the aromatic nectar inside my coffee cup.

“How do we know this guy is any good?” Stoli asked, tossing the card on the coffee table. Mickey picked it up and he and Diamond checked it out.

“We don’t. But his website is on there, so we can check out what bands he manages and ask for a list of references for starters.” Between his attitude and my lack of caffeine my temper was rising.

“Sounds like a plan,” Diamond chimed in.

“Okay than on to item two,” Stoli continued, “We got asked to join in on a battle of the bands tour.”

The group excitedly yelled, “Hell yeah’s” and “right on’s.”

“Well, slow your roll, guys. I talked to Brett about it and he agreed it’s a great opportunity, but we’ll be low band on the docket of a dozen bands. We can’t afford hotel rooms so most nights we’ll have to sleep in our van and hope like hell the bands with rooms will let us use their bathrooms. Here’s the flyer.” He handed it to me first. “It doesn’t pay a lot, but it’s our foot in the door and we’re allowed to sell our demo CD’s and merch too.”

“Dude, this kicks off next weekend?” I said, passing it to Mickey.

“Yeah, means you’re gonna have to be away from your boy toy for a while. Think you can handle that?” His steely gaze met and held mine.

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