I hold my hands up. “Sorry. I’ll save that talk for the guys.”
“Thank you. Got anything good to eat?” She purses her lips and checks out the food on the side table.
I requested more than what I’ve got, but that’ll be here a bit later. We’re early because it’s our first show and because Milo is like a worrying old woman.
She picks up a bag of giant milk chocolate buttons and opens it without asking—not that she needs to ask, but you know, be polite. But we’ve gotten way past the point where we need to ask. We’re at the point where we could very easily share orgasms under clothes.
The door bursts open, and Coop strolls through with Milo a few paces behind. They each have a beer in their hands.
I push the whiskey bottle behind my hair shit. “Fuck do you two want?”
Milo gives me the middle finger. “You seen the stage recently? I nearly came, bro, I swear!”
Texas fake gags and eats more chocolate.
“It looks good,” I agree. I’m playing this down because if I acknowledge just how big it is, I’ll be plagued with nerves, and I need to keep myself in control. This means too much to let anything ruin it. I need a clear head. I need to think of it as another supporting gig.
And I need to expel Tex from my mind.
“Maybe you shouldn’t eat those,” Tex says to Coop as he tips a handful of giant milk chocolate buttons into his palm.
Milo laughs. “Yeah, don’t want to puke everywhere.”
“Fuck off,” Coop growls.
“You fuck off.”
Tex and I share a look. They’re like an old married couple most of the time.
“Let him eat them. It’ll be funny,” I say, sticking my middle finger up.
“You can fuck off, too.”
“Someone take me to see the stage,” Tex demands.
She stands up, and I can’t help but let my eyes follow her.
Coop throws the pack of chocolate down. “I’ll take you.”
There’s definitely an innuendo in there, but she doesn’t bite.
Milo’s eyes are on me the entire time. He waits until they’ve left, and then he cocks his eyebrow.
“What?” I ask.
“You two have been pretty cosy recently.”
“We’re friends.”
“Mmhmm.”
Prick.
“If you have something to say, Milo…”
“Out of the two of us, I think you’re the one who should be talking. Last night, she was practically lying all over you, and today, you’re eye-fucking her. What’s going on?”
I bend over on the chair and cover my face with my hands. “Fuck.”
“How far has it gone?”
“Too far,” I reply, groaning.
“You’ve slept together?”
My head snaps up. His dark eyes are wide.
“No. Not quite that far. We’ve kissed a couple of times, and there was this thing.” I try so hard not to smile, but I can’t force the muscles around my mouth to stop lifting.
“What thing?”
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s just say, it was hot as hell. And it shouldn’t have happened.”
“I’m sorry. Have you lost your tiny mind?”
I laugh. “Yeah, I really think I have.”
“This isn’t a game, Kitt!” he snaps.
“Believe me, I know. Do you think, if I could help it, it would have happened? I don’t want to need her, Milo, and I’ve tried to stop. We kissed at her old man’s Christmas party, and since then, I haven’t been able to get her out of my head.”
“Jesus,” he breathes.
“I don’t know what’s going on between us. We don’t want to fuck things up with Mark. I swear to you, I won’t do anything to lose what we’ve got, man.”
He narrows his eyes and folds his arms over his chest. “You think that’s what I care about? You’re my brother, Kitt. I care if you and Tex are okay. You’ve never been cut up over a girl before. You like her.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You want to be exclusive?”
“Exclusive…” I say, testing the word. It used to leave a nasty taste on my tongue. Now, it conjures the picture of Texas in my head. “Oh, shit. I want that.”
Milo’s smug. He tilts his head and smirks. “Good luck, man.”
He’s the only one of us who’s been in a relationship, one that lasted longer than a couple of months anyway. Milo and Lexi were together for three years.
“Are you subtly trying to tell me relationships are shit?”
My question wipes the smile off his face.
“No, they’re not.” He doesn’t say more than that, but there are so many things left unsaid that I start to worry about him.
“Do you miss her?”
“We’ve been in contact.”
“Oh. And?”
He shrugs. “Two years have passed, Kitt. I thought I was over her.”
His admission isn’t a huge surprise. The way he’s been going through women though, I assumed he’d moved on.
“How is she?” I ask.