Page 396 of Rock Me All Night
"Truth hurts sometimes." Tom laughs. "He broke his hands too many times. Lost a lot of dexterity. Guess you'll have to ask Meg if he's back up to full strength. From the sound of things, I'm guessing he's pretty damn nimble."
"You really listen to them fucking?"
"Don't want to. Especially the last few weeks. Think he's doing it to torture me. She acts all shy, but the second he starts touching her, she's DTF anytime, any place. You should have seen him when he was single. Girls go apeshit for those pretty blue eyes of his." Tom shakes his head. "The way he tells it, he was hanging out in some girl's dorm room and he heard this guy killing it on acoustic guitar a few doors down. Not playing fuckingWonderwallto get in a girl's pants, but playing this crazy Carlos Santana level shit."
"And that was Drew?"
"Bingo. Usually, when I tell the story, I throw in a threesome and a fight over the girl." Tom smiles. "Gotta keep people's interest up."
"Who is having the threesome?"
"Miles and Drew, of course."
I cringe. Not a mental image I need.
Tom laughs. "Don't worry. Pretty sure Drew is incapable of sharing."
"Please stop."
"But you're cute when your cheeks match your hair." He brushes a stray hair behind my ear.
And there it is. My heartbeat picks up. Heat spreads from my cheek to my chest to just below my belly. Tom is touching me. I need him touching me more. I need him touching me all the time.
I clear my throat. We're friends. I can do that. With the help of a distraction. "Miles found Drew. Then?"
"You sure you don't want to hear me speculate a bit more about Drew's sex life?"
"Positive."
Tom smiles, soaking in my discomfort. "I have a few more things to add. Really graphic details."
"Please don't."
He smiles but shifts back to his story. "Miles called me from a show. Drew was in this band. Dangerous Noise. And he told me to get the fuck up to the bay. He knew we'd be a million times better than Dangerous Noise or than any of the half-assed bands I was in at the moment."
"Is Drew really that good?"
"Yeah. Gives him lots of latitude to make my life difficult."
My brother, the diva. I can see it. He's always been really insistent about doing things his way or not at all. "Is he ever more trouble than he's worth?"
"Occasionally. In the pre-Kara days, all the time. Don't have to tell you that he's uptight."
I nod. Uptight is a Denton family tradition.
"Mostly, he just... he doesn't know what it's like to go without. Pete and I..." His expression hardens.
I'm not sure what he's going through, what he's thinking, but I have to do something to comfort him. I offer my hand.
He takes it without looking and squeezes. "Haven't gone hungry in a long time, and I'm not keen on remembering how much it fucking sucks. Fame isn't forever. Gotta capitalize on it now." He looks at me. "You want to call me a sellout too?"
"Depends on whether you were shilling for Coke or Pepsi."
He laughs. "I like you, kid."
I pull my hand away. "I like you too." Too much. But that isn't what we're doing. "It's been a while since I've had a guy friend. I've mostly avoided being alone with guys since my ex."
"That would make it hard to get laid."
