Broken and Screwed 2 (BS #2)

Jesse started to chuckle.

“But only if you come to the feast that night.” Luke glanced at me. “And bring your girl.” From how he stressed that word, he was either fishing for information or he wanted to remind Jesse that he was taken. My eyes slid over his shoulders to Brielle. She was behind the counter again, trying to pour drinks for the band but the drummer kept poking her in the shoulder. She would swat at him, but he’d dance back two steps and when she went back to pouring, he’d poke her again. After a few more pokes, she set down the pitcher of beer and whipped around. Her fist was cocked and she punched him in the shoulder. Howling, he fell back, but he still couldn’t contain a wide smile. She rolled her eyes. When he poked her again, she went back to swatting at him. The rest of the guys ignored the commotion. But then Brielle glanced at us and her features tightened for a moment. Her eyes narrowed, but then she forced a friendly grin at me.

I lifted my hand in a friendly wave.

Luke caught the motion and twisted round to see who I was waving at. When he did, his shoulders stiffened and his hands clenched around the table in a death grip.

Jesse frowned as he saw the same reaction and gave me a questioning look. Luke was still turned away so I jerked my head in Brielle’s direction. Understanding flooded him and he jerked his shoulder towards the door. I knew what he meant so I started to stand as he spoke up, “Luke, I think we’re going to head out.”

The lead singer turned back and stood with us. His grey eyes had darkened, but the easygoing smile on his face never gave anything away. He patted Jesse on the shoulder. “It was nice seeing you. I’ll let you know about the picnic, though knowing how Braden works, we might just show up.”

Jesse shrugged. “Good entertainment for me if you do. My buddy’s girlfriend is something else. She wants everything to go how she wants, but if your band showed up, she couldn’t kick you out. Damn funny to watch.”

“And we’ll see you for the feast.” He nodded to me. “Your girl too.”

Jesse nudged me out the door with a hand in the small of my back. “See you then.” When the door closed behind us, I told him, “I don’t think they would mind if I didn’t go. I think he was only pushing that ‘your girl’ part so you’d stay away from his girl.”

Jesse frowned, but flashed me a grin as we got into his car. “Nah, he was trolling for information. He probably wanted to hit on you.”

I didn’t think he was right, but I let it go.

CHAPTER SEVEN

When he pulled the Ferrari back on the highway, he rolled the window down and asked, “Did I fall asleep in there?”

“Only for a little bit.” Screw it. I just asked, “So what’s their story? Do you go out there a lot?”

His eyes remained on the road as he mused, “Not sure about their story. I’ve gone a few other times. It’s interesting.”

“Why do you go out there?”

“To relax.” The corner of his mouth curved up. “They don’t give a shit who I am. Luke likes me because I had his back that night before I knew who he was. When he found out that I didn’t care who he was, he told me about The Shack and invited me out whenever I wanted. He sent me a text tonight saying they had a few more practices before they go on tour.”

“Yeah, they’re huge.” Did other people know he knew them? Or was I special?

Jesse answered both my questions without knowing it. “I shouldn’t have invited them to the picnic. Everyone would flip if they knew I knew them. I knew you wouldn’t care, but the other girls and Jamie?” He shook his head. “I’m going to have to text him that the picnic was canceled. I don’t want Jamie latching onto those guys, he’ll think he’s King Tut being on the basketball team and knowing those guys.”

So I wasn’t special. I was…easygoing? That didn’t feel any better. I couldn’t contain the annoyance anymore so I tried to divert it. “Are you going to tell me where you’ve been all week?”

“What?”

I bit out, “You fingered me in my room Sunday night and I don’t hear from you for four days. Then you take me to some hole-in-a-shack and fall asleep. What’s going on with you?”

He’d been exhausted before. He was furious now. The air sizzled from tension as he shot back, “Are you kidding me? We don’t have the type of relationship where we hold hands and have deep conversations on the phone. Now you want that? You told Cord you didn’t care that I hadn’t called you. Are you going back on that too?”

I felt slapped in the face, but I growled back, “I didn’t think I cared. I just need to know the rules here.”

“I didn’t think we had rules.”

“We did. We f**ked when we wanted to forget everything else, but that’s not what tonight was.”