“Hey, I need to tell you something, too.” As much as I’d rather just scoop her up and tuck her in, because the signs of exhaustion show all over her face the later it gets, I need to say this. I owe her that.
“Talk.” She yawns, covering her mouth, eyes watering. “Sorry. Early morning. Long day.”
“I’ll make this quick so you can get some rest.” I haul in a breath and dive in. “You know Jimmi and I have been friends a long time, right?”
“Since high school.” She nods, coughing a little.
“Yeah, since high school.” I slide down off the edge of the tub until I’m on the floor, bare back pressed against the side. “Well, there was one night when we were, uh, more than friends.”
I let that sink in before meeting her eyes. She’s gone still, a small frown gathering on her face.
“The two of you—”
“It was one night,” I cut in. “I was on her tour for some dates last summer. We got drunk, and I barely remember it. It meant nothing.”
Better revise that.
“Well, it meant nothing to me, but Jimmi, she . . . it meant something to her.”
“You never thought to tell me this before?” she asks quietly, studying the dark paint on her toenails that’s started chipping.
“I didn’t think it was important.” I shrug. “It happened before you and I were even together, and I thought she’d gotten over it.”
“But she hasn’t?” she comes back right away. “What happened?”
“Couple of weeks ago she came by my place because I was supposed to be working on a song for her. She could see I was, um, missing you.”
No need to detail how I was basically off the grid and living under my piano because Kai wouldn’t talk to me. A man’s gotta maintain some self-respect.
“That’s when she showed me the pictures of you and Dub on Instagram. Started building a case that we should give it another go since you had moved on with him.”
“I don’t even manage that account, Rhys. Malcolm wanted me to have a presence on social media. One of his interns posted all that stuff. She took a ton of pictures in a few days and just spread them out over several posts.”
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter.” It really doesn’t right now. I need to get this out. “I told her I didn’t believe that, and that you and I . . . well, there was still an us.”
“As much as I fought it,” she says, eyes softening a little. “There was always still an us.”
“Glad we can agree on that.” I bite the inside of my jaw before continuing. “I went upstairs to grab a quick shower, and she snuck in behind me.”
“In the shower?” Kai’s eyes go wide. “She was in your shower? Were you naked? Was she? What happened?”
The questions fly past my head, and I try to field them as they come.
“Yeah, in my shower where I was naked and so was she.”
“And what happened?” Kai demands.
“Nothing.”
Give her all of it, my conscience screams at me.
“Okay, something small happened,” I say. “I pushed her away immediately, though.”
“You mean like how I pushed Dub away immediately?”
“I don’t appreciate the parallel, but yeah. Like that.”
“She just kissed you?”
“Um, no, she actually didn’t.” I hesitate before giving a mental what the hell and coming out with it. “She grabbed my dick.”
All is quiet for a moment, and I’m not sure she heard me.
“Pep, I said she—”
“No,” she cuts me off, wrapping her fingers around my cock through my jeans. “She grabbed my dick, and if she does it again, she’s gonna get herself slapped. You should convey that to her.”
This is so damn hot. It shouldn’t be, but yeah.
“I’ll make sure to tell her.” I barely breathe lest she take her hands away from my very happy place.
“Seriously, Rhys.” Kai scoots away, taking my stiffie with her, sitting back against the wall, displeasure in her frown. “Not cool.”
“So maybe we’ll call it even since she thought we weren’t together just like Dub did.” I consider her across the small space. “But you’ll tell him, right?”
“Right.”
“I’m just glad this tour is almost over. I understand you working with him on Luke’s tour. It’s Luke’s right to choose who he wants on his team, but you won’t be working with Dub for your project, right?”
She’s quiet and avoiding my eyes.
“Kai, right?”
“I don’t know.” She straightens her legs out in front of her, leaning forward. “Once Dub knows we’re together it won’t be a problem. I think it’ll be okay, Rhys.”
“No, it won’t.” I give an adamant shake of my head. “He still wants you. I’m not cool with you working together beyond the tour.”
“He’s the best in the business. We’ve already started brainstorming stuff for my videos.”
“Then un-storm. There are other choreographers out there.”
“Jimmie went further than Dub did today, and I’m not asking you not to work with her again. For that matter, did I ever ask you not to work with Petra?”
“That’s the thing. You could. At any moment you could say ‘Hey, Rhys, could you please not work with the girls you’ve fucked,’ and I wouldn’t.”
“But I trust you, so I don’t need to do that.”
“Don’t make this a trust issue. It’s not.”