Jimmi looks up from the piano, elbows resting on the closed top, and holds a sheet of music up in the air.
“Found my song.” She glances away, chewing at her bottom lip, wet hair hanging around her shoulders and dampening her t-shirt. “Look about what happened up there, I—”
“Let’s just forget it, okay?” I grab the paper from her hands, giving it a quick once over. “Yeah, this is it. Let’s go.”
“I don’t want to forget it.” Jimmi plants her hands on the piano, meeting my eyes boldly. “I’ve told you that before. That night happened, and we can’t pretend it didn’t.”
“I didn’t say pretend.” I sit down on the piano bench, bracing myself for the conversation I was hoping to get out of one more time. “I said forget. There’s nothing there, Jimmi.”
“Your dick was hard.” Her smile holds some satisfaction. “I know when a guy wants me.”
“That’s right, I’m a guy.” I nod, a self-deprecating laugh escaping. “A swift wind gets me hard. It doesn’t mean anything. My heart’s nowhere near it.”
“Oh, and where is your heart?” She reaches in her jeans pocket and pulls out a small harmonica that she’s got no right touching. “Here?”
I stand, snatching the harmonica out of her hands, gripping it between my fingers.
“Keep your hands off my shit, Jim.”
“I read the inscription. I know it’s from Kai.”
“Oh, and she reads, too. Gold star for you.”
I glance at the harmonica Kai gave me for Christmas, just a few months ago. It feels like an eternity. I’d never even made love to her when she gave me this, but I was certain we’d be connected deeply and forever.
“She’s moved on, you know.” Jimmi takes my spot on the piano bench.
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” I slip the harmonica into my back pocket and start walking toward the door. “If you want that studio time, come on.”
“I take it you haven’t been on Kai’s Instagram lately, huh?” Jimmi asks from her spot behind my favorite piano.
“Did I look like I’ve been on Instagram?” I turn back to face her. “Kai doesn’t even have it.”
“Tell that to the quarter million people following her.”
“A quarter million . . . a quarter million followers?” I frown and freeze in my tracks. “In two months?”
“The world’s a big place with a lot of people. Doesn’t take long.” Jimmi rolls her eyes. “And I’m sure most of them are following her hoping she’ll post about you. Hoping she’ll post something about that disaster of a relationship you guys had.”
She unplugs my phone and walks it over to me.
“Check for yourself.”
“I don’t even have it on my phone.” I shake my head. “And I really don’t care what social media has to say about Kai and me.”
“Oh, so you don’t care that Dub is all over Kai’s Instagram?” Jimmi pulls out her phone, pressing a few keys and pulling up the app. “I guess you don’t want to see?”
I hate myself for this weakness I can’t hide from Jimmi. I hold my hand out for her phone, bracing my inner idiot not to flip about what I’m about to see.
Shit. It’s not working. That metronome of fury ticks in my head. Blood pounds in my ears and sweat sprouts out all over my freshly-showered body.
Dub and Kai at some carnival. A cream-colored beanie stark against her dark hair, tilted eyes bright and a red-tinted smile on her face.
Dub and Kai at a 7-Eleven drinking Slurpees with their crew of dancers, hamming it up and making faces.
A video of Dub and Kai at rehearsals, his hands at her waist, adjusting her execution of a move.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I can’t fake nonchalance. Rage pebbles under my skin, buckling my straight face. Jimmi watches me too closely not to see, but I can’t look away from this screen. I can’t give the phone back to her. This is the closest I’ve come to Kai in two months, and she’s with this motherfucker in every post.
“Like I said, moved on.” Jimmi takes her phone from my clenched hand, pushing her fingers up into my hair. “So there’s nothing holding us back, Rhys.”
I step back, jerking away from her touch.
“This not happening,” I gesture between her and me, “has nothing to do with Kai.”
Jimmi gives me a look that calls BS.
“I mean, yeah. There’s Kai.” I sit down on the bench, preferring to look at the phone flipping back and forth in my hands to looking at Jimmi. “But even if she weren’t in the picture, what happened between you and me was a mistake. I knew that the morning after. Hell, I knew it before it happened. But me plus Ketel One equals bad decisions.”
“It hurts that what was so special to me was a mistake to you.” Jimmi blinks at tears. “It wasn’t the first time I’d thought about it. I’ve been crushing on you since high school, Rhys.”
I blow out a weary breath.
“Jimmi, you’re great.” I look her straight in the eye. She deserves my frankness. “You know that. You know I think that, but I’m not the one for you.”