We pull out of the docks, and we’re in Italy. The drive to Rome is going to take over five hours, so we’ve stocked the bus up, and we’re ready for the journey. I’m tired, but that’s touring. There have been so many late nights and early mornings, which I know will catch up with me eventually. I hope it doesn’t until we’re in England. When we’re home, I’ll sleep solidly for a day, I’m sure.
Kitt is opposite me at the table, and there’s so much sexual tension that I can feel it vibrating off us both. Dad is up front with the drivers. Will and Jimmy are sleeping off hangovers. That leaves me alone with Kitt, Cooper, and Milo. Usually, that’s fine, but right now, I’m tense and frustrated.
“All right,” Cooper snaps, looking between me and Kitt, “what the fuck is really going on with you two?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come off it, Tex. I can feel it.”
“You’re delusional, mate,” Kitt says, cracking open a beer. A beer at eleven in the morning.
“Am I? Fuck! Seriously, the sexual tension between you two is kinda turning me on. It’s more than a one time thing.”
I deadpan. “Coop, roadkill turns you on.”
Milo and Kitt laugh.
“She’s got a point, man. I think you just need to get laid. You’re imagining things,” Kitt adds.
“You haven’t had it in two days,” Milo says. “Do a girl tonight, and you’ll stop seeing everyone else getting it on.”
Cooper narrows his pretty baby blues, and I know he doesn’t believe us. He knows Kitt and I have been intimate but he thinks just one night. As caught up as he is in getting the full rock-star experience, he notices much more than we give him credit for.
“You’re right about the woman thing. But I’m right about those two,” he says to Milo. “They need to shag for a week and get it properly over with because every time I look at them, I get a hard-on.”
Kitt turns his nose up and slams his bottle down. “You did not just say that.”
Cooper rolls his eyes and smirks. “Calm down. I don’t want to bend you over, buddy.”
“Can we please drop it before my dad hears?” I snap.
Understanding crosses Cooper’s face, and he winks. “Got it. Your secret shagging stays with me.”
Kitt growls. “We are not shagging.”
Milo punches Cooper in the chest with the back of his hand. “Drop it, Coop. They said nothing is going on.”
I don’t know if Milo is aware of what’s happening or not, but I suspect he is. I’ve seen him and Kitt talking privately. If there’s one person Kitt can confide in, it is Milo.
“Fine,” Cooper growls, annoyed that we all shot him down. “I need a beer. Anyone else want one?”
“No, thanks. It’s not even afternoon yet,” I say, eyeing Kitt’s second beer.
He shrugs and takes a long gulp. I watch him drink, watch his Adam’s apple as he swallows.
How does he make drinking erotic?
I take a deep breath as my hormones step into overdrive. Turn away, Texas. You’re making it obvious.
If Cooper looks back now, his suspicions will be confirmed, but still, I can’t stop staring. What I feel for Kitt is strong. The pull I feel toward him is getting harder to ignore or fight. I want more than a hidden relationship. I want Dad to know now, so Kitt and I can be together properly.
Sighing, I look away just in time. Cooper throws the bottle top in the bin and joins us at the table.
“So, what have you guys been working on?” I ask, steering the conversation to a safe territory.
“Kitt’s got a few new things,” Milo says. “They’re a bit sappy though.”
“Fuck off, dickhead. We agreed we need some—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Milo says, cutting him off. “I didn’t say they weren’t epic.”
“Wait, why do you need romance-y songs?” I ask, my heart somersaulting in my chest.
They have a couple of songs like that, but ninety-nine percent are not. They have about a million songs that are either funny, silly, racy, and catchy but only two love songs. One of them is a firm wedding favourite. Both were written by Milo.
“We’ve got to grow, Tex,” Kitt says in a tone, letting me know he’s borrowed Milo’s words.
“Can I see?”
Kitt frowns, and his eyes flick to his sacred notepad that no one is allowed to touch. “It’s not ready.”
“So? That’s not stopped you before.”
“Well, it’s stopping me now. I’m new to this love-song shit, okay? Milo is forcing me to think outside the box, so until I’m happy with them, no one but Romeo gets to see.”
“If you’re forcing it, man, it won’t be good. Leave the love to Cupid over there, if you’re not comfortable,” Cooper says, tilting his head at Milo.
“I’m fine.”
“Embracing your inner Cupid?” I say, smirking.
Kitt glares and swigs his beer, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. So, naturally, we stay on it.
“I wonder whom his muse could be…” Cooper says.