Page 38 of Broken Bridges

He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know.”

Blake and the guys broke apart and came over to join us.

Flint sucked in a deep breath and stuffed his hands in his front pockets. “Um, Lewis?” A distressed edge quivered through his voice. “You’ve done an amazing job for us in the studio so far. You’ve helped us finesse some tracks. You’re a great bassist, but...”

Lewis’s shoulders slumped. “But...I’m not what you’re looking for?”

What? My heart lurched. Oh, no. Were they dumping him? Here?

“That’s the thing...” Flint flicked back his hair. “We wanted someone who fit in well, who we connected with, and had the same vision as us—"

“But I thought I did.”

My gut sank. I didn’t miss the devastation in Lewis’s tone. No one could.

“No, bud...you’ve fucking exceeded our expectations.” Flint’s tone jumped an octave. “We’re only halfway through recording,but you’ve passed milestone one with flying colors. We’re still finding our feet, and getting to know one another, and have to work on our live performances. But we want to record your song and finish the album with you. We don’t want to risk someone else snapping you up. You’re too fucking good. So pack your bags. Come to LA. We want you on promo with us.”

“Holy shit.” Tears welled in his eyes. He swiped his hand down his face and shook the shock from his expression. “I thought you were firing me.”

“No, dude. We were just messing with you again.” Slip chuckled, slapping Lewis on the back. “So, how about it? Are you ready to move across the country once we finish recording?”

“You fuckers.” Lewis grinned, hooking his arm around Slip’s neck. “You mean it?”

“Sure do.” Cole nodded. “We still have milestones in place as a safety net. But don’t screw up because we don’t want to have to kick you to the curb.”

“I won’t.” He hugged the guys. “Oh my God. This is brilliant. I want this so bad. I don’t want to go back to my old job. So, thank you.”

“Congratulations.” I rubbed his arm, but fire blazed to life beneath my touch. Shit. I quickly withdrew my hand. “You earned it.”

He hesitated for less than a second, then drew me into his embrace and rocked me from side to side. “Argh. I’m moving to LA.”

“Awesome.” I closed my eyes, inhaled his sweet, sweaty scent, and clenched my teeth to ride out the pain in my leg. Being crushed against his chest was worth it. “You’ll love it.”

He stepped back, energy radiated off his entire body. His gaze jumped from Flint, to Cole, to Slip. “I won’t let you down. This is freaking incredible. Oh my gosh. You’ll have to give me some ideas on where to live. I’ll need to get an apartment near Flint’s place since that’s where we’ll spend most of our time, right?” He spoke so fast I struggled to keep up.

Flint chuckled as he scratched his cheek. “We can do that. My mom’s a rental property manager; she’ll help you find something.”

“Nah, that won’t be necessary.” Cole swatted the air. “You can stay with me for a while.”

“What?” The color drained from my face.

Cole threw me a what-the-hell glare before turning to Lewis. “I have a huge house. Tia won’t mind. You’ll be so busy with promo and hopefully the tour. You can find a place after that.”

Lewis rubbed the new stress lines that had formed on his brow. “Um...that’s kind of you, but—”

“No buts,” Cole cut him off. “The rental market is insane in LA. You’ll be lucky to find a dog kennel to live in. We can’t have that. Sutton has just moved in with Flint. You won’t want to be around them while they’re in their honeymoon phase. Slip’s sleeping in his guest house while his home is under full renovation. My place is perfect. We can go for days living there and probably not even see each other. Right, Tee?”

“Um...yeah.” Shit. A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck.

Live with Lewis?

Fuckity fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

“That settles it then.” Cole rubbed his hands together. “You’re staying with me and Tia.”

Lewis’s gaze locked onto mine. My heart thundered against my ribs. Oh, crap. The buzz between us hadn’t died. Cole had just added more fuel to the fire.

Lewis’s Adam’s apple lurched. “Looks like we’ll be housemates.”

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