Page 6 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

She might never be ready for it.

And the people around needed to get used to the idea. Especially her mum.

Alex stepped into the room and finally handed her the mug of coffee. “Come, Zoe. It’ll be fun. And…” he leaned closer to her hearing aid. “You hear this okay?” he said, his voice low.

Zoe nodded. Lower tones, nearer her aids, meant she was most likely to hear him.

“I can deliver on our bet.”

Another reason she hadn’t wanted to go on tour.

The deal.

She thought back to the day of the album release when Willow had thrown them a party to celebrate. He’d slid into the chair next to her to encourage her to go talk to an attractive looking server. Dark hair, lean build.

They’d bickered. She’d told Alex to go flirt with him given Alex seemed to have no gender preferences and an exceptionally keen eye for an attractive human.

Alex had been adamant she should try.

She’d asked why she would want to do that. And Alex had called her out on not dating or hooking up. It had been hard enough finding a half-decent guy on a dating app before. Being introverted made walking up to a guy in a bar impossible. Add relying on sign language, lipreading, and transcription apps and it felt like it was more effort than it was worth.

When she’d tried to deflect, Alex had doubled down.

He’d made her a bet. A hundred quid he could hook her up before the end of the tour.

“Who said anything about a boyfriend? Hook ups. An amazing night of sex with a stranger. No strings attached,”he’d said.

“No. I don’t remember any bet.” She sipped on her coffee.

“Hotel. You and me. You all tongue-out-drooling over the Italian server. You thought I was suggesting some friends with benefits arrangement you called bleak.”

Zoe smirked. Even though she didn’t catch every word, she understood the gist of it. She had said that, although she hadn’t been as outraged as he’d assumed.

“Still don’t remember,” she said.

Alex pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow. “I told you I should be offended the idea of sex with me would be so horrific because I’d been told on numerous occasions I’m pretty good at it. And you told me my flirting needed work.”

“It did.”

“Ha,” Alex shouted, the force of his breath so strong it lifted the ends of her hair. “I knew you remembered.”

“Shit.”

“We’re doing it.”

“We’re not.”

“You promised. And I promised no beards because it makes lipreading hard, and no weirdos. Just come and have some fun, Zoe. Your best friend wants you there.”

“Urgh. Fine.”

“You’ve got an hour before we head to the tour buses at nine-thirty.”

An hour and a half later, Zoe stepped onto the tour bus with Alex, mentally running through everything she’d packed. Her alarm clock and the attached vibrating pebble she usually kept beneath her pillow. Being vibrated half to death was a unique way to wake up, but it was better than sleeping in because she’d missed an alarm she couldn’t hear. Her own pillow. Sensible sleeping attire given the proximity of the band while on the bus. Her laptop so she could work. More notebooks than she probably needed. A buffet of chargers and plugs for her gadgets, and spare batteries for her hearing aids.

On their left was a dinette style table for four people. Six at a push. Next to it was a long sofa. Everything was in shades of beige and brown. Wood and leather. With splashes of orange from bright cushions and curtains. The kitchenette was simple but stocked. A sink on one end, a kettle and a toaster on the other.

“This is fancier than I expected. But it also has a weird prom limo vibe with the blue LED beneath everything,” she said as they passed the downstairs bathroom to head up to the second floor.

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