Page 34 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

With a sigh, he got up and marched over to Ben’s room, hammering on the door as soon as he reached it.

“Okay, okay. Keep your hair on,” Ben shouted from inside. He tugged the door open, rubbing his head with a towel. The boxers he wore had been hastily pulled on. “What’s got you all antsy?”

“You got any whiskey?” Alex asked, walking past his brother. “And can you get dressed?”

Ben rolled his eyes. “If I’d known you’d come storming over, I’d have made sure to get my suit pressed.”

“You don’t own a suit.” Alex sat in the chair by the window.

“I do. Black one I got for Grandma King’s funeral. Tucked in the wardrobe somewhere.” Ben rummaged in his bag then held up a bottle of Lagavulin. “Will this do?”

“Perfect.”

Minutes later, Alex sipped on single malt, while Ben finished pulling on his clothes and slipped his feet into his trainers. “You want to tell me what’s got your knickers in a knot?”

“Just had a weird moment with Zoe.”

Ben picked up his glass and took a sip. “Good weird or bad weird?”

“Good weird.”

“She’s a nice girl. Prickly, but nice. So, what’s the problem?”

Alex tipped his head in Ben’s direction. “That she’s a nice girl. Even nicer when you get beneath the prickles. It’s her suit of armour. And I really didn’t intend to see beneath it. But now I have…”

“You slept with her?”

“No. Metaphorically, dickhead. I don’t want to like her, like her. Just like her.”

Ben grinned. “Did you use the word like enough times in that sentence?”

“Oh, fuck off. You know what I mean.”

“I do. But what I don’t get is why it’s a problem? Can’t you guys just roll with it? See what happens?”

“Says the king of not rolling with it. How are things with Chaya?”

Ben chugged the rest of the glass. “She joined a dating app, so don’t ask me. But we were talking about you.”

Alex dangled the glass between his fingers and looked out over the trees in front of the hotel. “We’ve got enough shit going on with this rollercoaster of the band taking off. The idea of a permanent relationship isn’t something I’m actively thinking about because I’ve never been able to make them work no matter how much I’d like to.” A thought occurred to him that it was a bit like Zoe with music. Something she desperately wanted to be a part of, but being deaf, she felt like she couldn’t. Although he was reasonably certain the woman could do pretty much anything she set her mind to. “I’d like to think I’d know when I meet the right person, but I’ve proven myself wrong repeatedly.”

“You’re being hard on yourself, mate.”

Alex shook his head. “I’m not.”

“You always took the weight of those break ups on yourself. But they weren’t about you.”

“Being with me as I am was definitely a part of it.”

“Lauren didn’t take the time to educate herself. Joshua wasn’t willing to put himself in your shoes because his dad was fine with him being bi. You’re a fucking smart guy. See that before I have to knock some sense into you.”

“Fair.” Intellectually he knew his brother made sense, but…

“Which reminds me,” Ben said. “Dad is back from the rigs in two days, and we won’t be home for most of it.”

Alex threw back the rest of the whiskey and poured himself another.

It had been a while since he’d gone on stage completely drunk. But he felt like today might be the day.

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