Page 88 of Nevermore
“I know.” I press a kiss to her temple. “But you have to getsomethingand like you said, we’re out now, let’s avoid another trip later.”
With a deep breath and hesitant nod, my girl straightens her spine and starts walking through Stitches—one of our regularhaunts because it has the best vintage punk and rock shit—in search of anything that will salvage this trip into town.
Maybe she’ll get new shitkickers.
It’s not what she needs but if that’s the only fucking thing Leo buys today, I’ll take it as a win.
“Whoa… You’re Lucky De la Grange aren’t you?”
Slowly turning from the rack I was about to reorganize by color and size, I arch a brow at what has to be some high school, maybe college aged kid, his brown eyes wide as saucers and bugging out from under his limp mohawk.
”Holy fuck, and that’s Leonor Poe! Baker. Yo, Baker!” His buddy, who is dressed in what I think is a kilt, starts yelling for their friend across the room. “Dude you were right!”
ApparentlyBakercomes over to us, practically drooling all over himself as he looks directly at Leo and blurts, “You are so fucking hot.”
She grins as she walks closer, abandoning the shelf of boots in favor of eyeing this kid’s pink polo and khaki shorts. Which has this Baker kid looking like he’s about to cream his shorts and run away at the same time. Especially when he looks between us and swallows hard.
“I mean, you are way hotter in real life. So hot.”
“Alright Baker, that’s enough. Roll your tongue back up into your head before it dries out.” I reach out and pat the young guy on the cheek. “Not to mention it’s rude as fuck, and Leo isn’t a fan of rude.”
His friend with the hawk nudges Baker, grinning like an idiot who just won the lottery. “I told you man. They are too together. See!”
Baker’s eyes drop just in time to see Leo slip her hand into mine, reminding me to be cool to these guys even if they think she’sso hot,then shoot back up to mine. “Dude, I am so not trying to get my ass kicked right now.”
”It’s fine,” I say with a smirk.
They better be thanking whoever it is they believe in because knowing I get to bend her over and fuck her brains out in the back of the beast as soon as we leave this store is the only thing keeping me level. This is nothing new, I’ve always been shitty to Leo’s fans, it’s basically a programmed response at this point. Unrequited love will do that, but the huge difference is the fact that I can actually claim Leonor now. And she happily claims me back.
”You are like, my hero man.” Kilt dude smiles at me before his cheeks go a little pink. “I’m a musician, too. I mean, I can’t play all the other shit like you do, but I’m a drummer and started drumming cause of you and The Ravens.”
I let go of my girl’s hand and shake the kid’s, opting to earn more brownie points so maybe we can finally give Pete the green light on some of the more intense stuff he’s into. Not that it takes much to convince Leo of anything sexual. At all, but Peter is…intense,and I know better than anyone that you have to work up to some of his proclivities. “That’s awesome man. What kind of kit do you use?”
He starts going on and on about his kit, which is pretty great for how young this dude is but I can’t seem to get into the conversation no matter how hard I try.
No, I’m too distracted watching my girl interact with two kids who think she’sso hot. I’m not jealous, not really, but I can’t take my eyes off of her. Leo looks so happy, smiling so goddamn bright as the two teenie boppers ask about her signature guitar she used when she’d play at our shows, gushing about the one time they saw us live and Leonor did a backflip off my bass drum.
Not once do they ask about where we’ve been, why we disappeared, or about our last show that almost killed us both. No, Baker, Kilt Boy, and Hawk go on and on about how muchthey love us, how much they love our music, and ask if we’re writing anything new or if we’ll play any shows soon.
Andthoseare the questions that have me holding my breath.
”We’re always writing, always playing. When The Ravens get back out there, you’ll know. You guys want some autographs?” Leonor asks with a smile, handling that entire situation with all the humble gratitude that she can, but I’m used to that.
For an angry little thing, Leonor was probably the best at dealing with our fans. Shockingly, even Norm had a short fuse when it came to watching them fall all over themselves to get to our girl but…
When.
Leo saidwhenwe get back out there.
Not if, not maybe. She didn’t make excuses or feed them some bullshit.
Leonor saidwhen we get back out there, implying more music and shows.
And it has my heart fucking soaring.
Which is exactly why I’m standing here signing every fucking thing they’re putting in our hands including their receipts from the store, and taking a couple selfies before I send them on their way.
“You wanna go have sex in the dressing room?”
