Page 39 of His Surrender
“I’d prefer for you to get in with me,” he said.
“If I got in that tub with you, we would never get out of it.”
“Doesn’t sound bad to me.”
I smirked. “It is when that’s the last thing you need right now.” I faced away from him. “Hop in. I promise I’ll behave.”
A raspy laugh reached my ears before I heard the rustling of clothing followed by the movement of water as he stepped into the tub.
“You can look now.”
I turned back around and regretted it. He looked too damn sexy sitting in that bathtub, his bare chest sticking out of the water. Remi didn’t have a lot of muscle. His build was lean and on the smaller side, but he had nice definition in his arms and shoulders.
“You can always change your mind and join me,” he said, running a wet hand down his chest, leaving droplets of water on his pale skin. The damn tease.
I shook my head no, forcing my feet to cement to the floor. Fighting against my desires was new for me. I very rarely turned down sex, especially with someone I was interested in.
“Can you at least sit on the toilet or something instead of standing there watching me?” Remi asked, his eyes holding the same amusement as his voice. I did as he said, putting the seat down before sitting. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, a curve to his lips. “Mm. This really is nice. Thanks, Jay.”
“You’re welcome.”
Little did he know I was going off personal experience. There’d been a night when Andrew had gotten drunk and called me up, telling me to go to our usual hotel. When I’d gotten there, he had shoved me against the wall and given me hard, sloppy kisses.
“It’s all your fault,” Andrew growled, shoving me harder against the wall and gripping my neck. “If you weren’t so beautiful, I wouldn’t be like this.”
I had tried pushing him away, and it had only excited him further. He’d then thrown me on the bed and tugged down my pants before taking me hard and fast. I had never told him no, but fear had seized my heart the entire time. Fear and also grief. Because I had thought I loved Andrew at that time and couldn’t understand why he’d been so harsh.
Once Andrew had left the room, I had run a bath and sunk into the tub. Hoping the hot water would burn away the feeling of disgust he’d left on my skin.
“Jay?” Remi asked, his voice pulling me from the memory. I blinked and focused on him. “Are you okay? You zoned out for a second there.”
“I’m fine.” He didn’t look like he believed me. “I should go.” I stood to leave.
“What if I need your help scrubbing my back?” Remi asked in a playful tone. His eyes, though, remained uncertain. Concerned. “You should stay just in case.”
Even after the warnings about me being horrible for him, he still wanted me to stay. If I did, would we both be playing our roles? Him as the magnet and me as the heartbreak? We both needed to break the habit.
“Remember that poison apple?” I asked, meeting his gaze and trying my hardest not to check out his nakedness beneath the water. “You’re getting dangerously close to taking a bite.”
“Please stay?” Remi’s expression faltered. He looked so haunted right then. “I… I don’t want to be alone right now. I need a friend.”
A friend. I could be that much for him.
I recalled what I’d told Emery before. He had kept everything close to his chest, and it had made him angry at the world. When he said he felt like he was drowning, I had told him that he wasn’t in the middle of the ocean with no life raft—that if he needed me, I’d be that raft for him.
I’d do the same for Remi.
“When is your next gig?” I asked, sitting back down.
He relaxed with relief and grabbed the soap, lathering up. “Not sure.” Soap fell on his chest and trickled down his ribs, and I tightened my hand into a fist, fighting the urge to go over and touch him. “Mike, the guy I fill in for on piano, should be able to play with them again soon.”
He then told me that Mike had gone through chemo, which was why Remi had started playing in the band.
“You and the guy with the beard seem close,” I pointed out, remembering seeing them joking around with each other before they’d gone on stage.
“That’s Johnny,” Remi explained, running the soap over his forearms. “I’ve known him since I was a kid. He and my mom were childhood best friends, so I grew up with him hanging around. He’s like a second dad to me.”
“Does your mom ever come to your shows?”
