Page 23 of When We Fell Again
I yawned, the events of the night before and that morning starting to kick in. But I didn’t want to go back to my room, wake Levi, and have to explain to him what had gone on.
“You should get some sleep,” said Lex. We’ve got to travel to Reading later. It’s a good thing you’ve got a day off and don’t have to be on stage in the evening.”
Additional recovery time was a good thing, but for now, I was dead on my feet. And my brain clearly wasn’t in any fit state either, as the next words came out of my mouth without any thought behind them.
“Lex, can I stay with you tonight?”
She swallowed hard. I could sense her role as tour manager tussled with her role as my ex. It was as if she were combing her brain for excuses why it wasn’t a good idea. Hopefully, the right side would win out—for me anyway.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Jordan.”
Her response dashed my hopes.
“Please?” I begged. “All I want to do is sleep. Nothing more.”
There was a pause before she answered. “Okay. We have to check out at midday anyway, so you’ll have to be gone by then.”
All the strength practically sagged out of me at her agreement. “Thank you. I really do appreciate it.”
Without another word, Lex walked over to the lift and I followed her. We got in and went to the fourth floor, one floor above the room I shared with Levi. She pressed the key card to the sensor and opened the door. Lex’s room was not dissimilar to mine and Levi’s, although hers held a king-sized bed instead of two generous singles. Now I understood her reticence to let me stay.
“You mind if I use the bathroom?”
She shook her head. Fuck, I wished she’d say something.
I shut the door behind me and did what I needed to. Studying my reflection in the mirror, the paleness of my skin shouldn’t have shocked me, but it did. I needed sleep, badly. Stealing some of Lex’s toothpaste, I squirted some on my finger and used it as a makeshift toothbrush. At least my mouth no longer resembled the bottom of a hamster cage.
When I went back into the main room, I noticed Lex had changed into a pair of tight yoga pants and a fitted t-shirt that clung to her tits.
Fuck.
Despite everything, my cock still stirred at the sight of her.
“Did you find everything you needed?” she asked, her tone unreadable as she wound her long hair into a ponytail.
“Yup. Thanks.” Shrugging off my jacket, I pulled my own t-shirt over my head, catching Lex looking at me. She blinked and sucked in her bottom lip before turning abruptly and dashing into the bathroom.
That said more than any words.
I kicked off my boots and socks, unbuttoned my jeans, and added them to the pile of my clothes on the chair. For a moment, I debated adding my boxers but didn’t want to scare Lex. Honestly, I had no thoughts of anything except sleep. The bed looked inviting, and I slid under the covers, the cotton cool on my skin. And before Lex could come back, I was already asleep.
CHAPTER10
Alexis
By the timeI came out of the bathroom, Jordan was snoring quietly. I’d deliberately taken my time removing my makeup, brushing my hair again, and restyling it into a messy bun, then cleaning my teeth.
The emotions that went with having Jordan Bowie in my bed again swirled around my over-active brain.
Practicality meant that waking Levi up this early in the morning would have been the wrong thing to do. Wouldn’t it? As life-long friends who had shared many a house, it wouldn’t have been totally out of the ordinary.
But my mind kept coming back to the words Jordan had said before he went to see the nurse. We hadn’t discussed it any further and that scared me. What if I started falling for him again and it came to nothing? It might have been different if we weren’t in the tour bubble. I couldn’t risk losing my heart a second time.
Rubbing a hand over my face, I grabbed my phone out of my bag and plugged it in to charge. The screen flickered back into life, and I stared at the screen, watching as the messages popped up.
One from Claudia, asking how things were going, but then a string from Levi. Initially, they started off asking politely if I knew where Jordan was and ended up being expletive-laden missives accusing me of keeping secrets. Glancing over at Jordan’s sleeping form, I knew I couldn’t keep this from his best friend.
Alexis: He’s with me.
