Page 24 of Phantom Faceoff
Micky chuckles and throws his bag down by his desk. “That wolf knows more about hangovers than any college student known to man.”
“When you’ve got three musicians crammed into a camper van, you learn to deal with the post-show booze fest,” Tessa quips.
Ah, yes. Band Manager Tess. Don’t ask me how she managed to fall into the roll of babysitting an indie punk band playing dive bars around the country, but she’s made it her personal mission to “keep them on the right track.”
It’s fitting, I suppose. She gives off major Mama Bear vibes.
“Well thank you for saving me from a day of living in a bathroom full of jocks with no aim.”
Tessa laughs and taps her phone on her thigh. “I needed a break from Haven and the boys anyway.” She says it lightly, but there’s an obvious tension in her smile. “What I need now is for my favorite boy to get his ass over here and give me a hug.”
She opens her arms wide and smacks me in the face accidentally on purpose, and the next thing I know, the three of us are huddled on the bed as a full blown tangle of limbs. Micky and Tessa’s arms are around each other, but both of their legs are a mix of on top of and under mine.
“I missed your face,” she says. “What are the chances we can convince Parker to drive up?”
The smile on Micky’s face falls, and he lays his head on her shoulder. “He can’t. Coach Taylor is riding him hard.”
From what I’ve gleamed sharing a room with him, the boyfriend is on the football team over at Tennessee U, and their coach is a total hard-ass.
“I’m sorry, sweets,” Tessa says, resting her cheek on the top of Micky’s head. “Do you want to road trip down to him?”
He groans, and I pinch his thigh just to earn a swat. “No. I don’t want to bother him.” He grumbles and presses his face into her neck like a child.
“We could have a party?” I suggest. “Like get some of the guys together and play Truth or Dare or some shit. Could plan it for a day he could make it up this weekend?”
“At the end of the week, he’s too tired to make that long of a drive. It’s fine. We’ve each planned a trip when our breaks hit. I’m just mopey.”
“That you are,” Tessa says, patting his shoulder. “But Zandy is right. We should have a good, old-fashioned, high school-level maturity party.”
Micky snorts and ducks out of Tess’ hold, moving to a free spot beside her on the bed. “Hale just wants to get a certain someone buzzed and in his bed.”
I know he means Julian, but Malachi’s face is what pops up in my mind. The way he looked at me all soft and gentle—such a juxtaposition to his usual jagged edges.
I’m just curious because he’s definitely off limits.
Tessa’s smile turns devious, and I know it’s going to be a long couple of days keeping her from giving me away.
I don’t even know why I found the “Daddy” thing appealing. Julian said it, and for some reason it got stuck in my head like abad record. Which made me think of record shop, which brought my thoughts all the way back around to Malachi.
He kinda seemed into it. But I was honestly too shit-faced for my memory to be reliable. Every little indication that he maybe doesn’t hate my guts could be entirely in my head.
That doesn’t mean I won’t be asking Julian over, or subtly suggesting he drag Malachi along.
Not at all.
Chapter Eight
Malachi
ShouldI be getting my insight on this whole Daddy kink thing from fanfiction? Probably not. But am I starting to get the appeal after nearly twenty-five chapters of KiriBaku fucking like bunnies?
Judging by how flushed my body feels, I’m going with yes.
“Ooh what are we reading?”
I peer over my shoulder at Julian with his big ass grin as he scans my screen. The excitement sobers slightly into a more genuine smile.
“Doing some research?” he asks, flopping his arms over my shoulders and draping himself across my back.
