Page 20 of I Need You Tonight
“Of course he is,” her short brunette friend said, sounding mildly irritated at what she perceived to be a dumb question. She glanced around the store, possibly checking to see if the rest of the band was here.
Finally getting over the shock of seeing me, they joined the end of the line, where Nicole and I were standing.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on tour?” the brunette asked.
“We have a few days off, so I came to visit a friend.” No point giving the full reason for why I was here.
“And then you’re back on tour?”
I nodded.
“Wow, it must be so cool being famous,” the blonde said, this time in a calmer voice.
“I wouldn’t know about that. I’m not exactly famous.”
All five girls looked at me like I was insane. I guess if being featured from time to time in tabloids made me famous, then yes, I was. But as the band’s drummer, I wasn’t as well known as Nolan and Jared. Whenever we were at fan events, their names were the ones most frequently yelled out.
“Well, that doesn’t matter,” the brunette said. “You’re still my favorite drummer when it comes to rock music. I just wish I was half as good as you.”
“You play?” I asked.
“Yup. I’ve been playing percussion in the school band since middle school, but I’ve only started playing on the drum kit like yours.”
I thought for a moment. “Is there a music store in town that has drums?”
“Sure, on the corner of Robertson Boulevard and Twenty-third Street.”
“Good. If it isn’t an issue for them, maybe I can show you a few things on their kit. I didn’t exactly bring mine down with me.”
Her eyes widened, and it looked like she could barely stop herself from jumping up and down, like a little kid on Christmas morning. “You’d be willing to do that?”
“Sure, why not?” That was how I’d gotten my start too. A guy at the music store showed me a few things on the drums and I was hooked. The least I could do was pay it forward. Plus it might not be a bad idea to appease the karma gods, because payback from all the pranks I’d pulled over the years was going to smart like a bitch. “Can you meet me there in, say”—I looked at the time on my phone—“an hour?”
“Okay,” she squeaked.
“Can we come too?” her friend asked.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Next,” the girl behind the counter called out. Nicole and I stepped up to it and placed our order.
“No maple walnut?” I asked Nicole after she’d finished ordering hers. She had gone for mango and strawberry.
“I was hoping for a lick of yours instead.” She winked at me, and my dick twitched at the sudden thought of where else I’d like her to lick.
Down, boy. “I think that can be arranged.”
Once Nicole had paid for our ice creams, we went outside to the playground nearby and sat on the grassy embankment under a tree. Several little kids were running around playing tag, their giggles and screams filling the warm air. Seeing them brought forth questions I’d been able to ignore until now. Ever since my family had locked me out of their life, I had managed to avoid thinking about them. But the kids made me wonder if I had nephews or nieces I didn’t know about. Were they as oblivious to my existence as I was to theirs?
That possibility was like a rusty nail in my gut. Just because I was too busy with my career to have kids didn’t mean I didn’t want any in my life. I loved spending time with Jared’s son. But since my family had turned their backs on me, the only kids I would have in my life were those of my bandmates.
“This is really good ice cream,” I said, pulling my thoughts away from the nieces and nephews I’d never get to meet and focusing instead on what I could enjoy now. “Is that where you got last night’s ice cream from?”
“Only the best will do when dealing with crappy-date blues. I bet if the owners expanded outside of Desert Springs, they’d be rich from all the broken hearts they could heal.” She ran the tip of her tongue across her mango ice cream.
And the urge to run the tip of my tongue along those sweet, glossy lips poked me in the ribs, edging me on. “So your heart is broken from those bad dates?”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
