“This is a lovely conversation,” Texas mutters sarcastically. “I think I’m going to go back to bed before you start discussing different ways to beat me up.”
“No, we’re done,” I say a little too quickly.
Mark will be up soon, and I want some time with her where any flirting won’t result in my nuts being squashed.
Texas smiles up at me and nods, and I can see Milo smirking.
Don’t look directly at him.
“So, are you going guy-watching in Poland, Tex?”
Her eyes instantly flick to mine before returning to Milo.
If she answers yes to this question…
“Um…”
“Um?” Milo prompts.
“Oh, for fuck sake! Milo knows, Tex.” I turn to him. “You can stop being a dick anytime you want.”
Laughing, he shrugs. “I might not want to.”
Of course not. That shit just comes naturally to him.
“Knows what?” Tex asks cautiously, still trying to hide something I’ve just told her is out in the open with Milo.
I tilt my head and say, “Come on.”
Sighing, she leans on the table, closer to Milo. “How?”
“I could tell something was up with Romeo over there, so I made him tell me a while ago. You two are going to be in so much trouble if Mark finds out before we get home.”
Tex lets her forearms drop to the table. “Well, it’s a good thing he won’t be finding out then, isn’t it?”
Milo holds his hands up. “Hey, it won’t be from me, but do you really think he won’t? How are you going to hide it on the bus? I can feel the sexual frustration from here, so it’s only a matter of time before your dad does, too. Hell, Coop senses it, and he usually only notices women who want him.”
Milo has a point. The deeper Tex and I get, the more obvious it’s going to be. I can barely take my eyes off her, and sooner or later, Mark will figure out why. Then, I’ll be dead, and Texas will be in a convent. She’d probably go, too. I’m not sure if she’s quite worked out that she doesn’t need to do everything her dad says anymore.
“We’ll be fine, and now, we have you,” I say, smirking.
If he’s going to be on my case about it twenty-four/seven, then I’m going to get something out of it.
He barks out a laugh. “If you think I’m going to be your lookout, you’re fucking mental. I’m not giving Mark a reason to kill me, too. I’ll keep your secret, but that’s it.”
Rolling my eyes as I make Tex’s coffee, I reply, “I never asked that.”
“Then, what are you asking, man?”
“If we make an I’m-going-to-rip-your-clothes-off face, let us know?” Tex interjects. “Is that right, rock star?”
I give her a look, not a ripping-off-clothes one. But she’s hit the nail on the head. I feel the want every time I see her, and it’s not going to be long before everyone else does, too.
Milo chuckles. “All right, but it’d be easier if you just didn’t look at each other.”
Do I look at her like that all the time? I can’t not.
Either Mark is seriously stupid, or he trusts me too much to think I would ever go there. Either way, I’m a dead man walking.
“Impossible. Just look at this,” Tex says sarcastically, pointing to her The Walking Dead T-shirt and black pyjama trousers covered in silver skulls.
Yeah, she’s a geek through and through, but there’s nothing she can’t make look sexy.
“Come on, baby, you know zombies do it for me,” Milo says, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Really, man? Right in front of me?”
Texas and Milo laugh, and I realise she’s going to be siding with him to torture me. So much for us being a team.
“I like a jealous Kitt,” Milo mutters not so quietly to Tex.
“Yeah, me, too,” she agrees.
“I’m seconds from putting salt in your coffees, guys,” I pipe up, stirring the drinks too hard.
“Well, I certainly look forward to watching you two navigate a secret relationship five meters from the person you want to keep it from and then having it blow up in your faces.”
Texas shoves Milo’s arm. “You’re a horrible friend, Milo.”
“You’d do the same for me, Texy.”
“I’m so going to hell,” I groan.
TEXAS
THURSDAY, MAY 28
GDA?SK, POLAND
Since the Czech Republic, something has changed with Kitt. He’s irritable and withdrawn, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed. It’s not like him. Where has my cocky rock star gone?
His mood is beginning to get on my nerves. I understand the pressure of the tour and our unique situation aren’t exactly a laugh a minute, but he should be trying to make the most of it.
We’re not checking into a hotel tonight because we’ll be leaving in the early hours, so we’re camping on the bus, and I’m starting to wish I could go diva and demand a suite somewhere.
Kitt is sitting near the front of the bus with his head in a notebook. He’s not said a word to anyone for hours, and it’s making me want to throw something at him.