“Who shit in your Cheerios?” Austin chuckles as he struts into the kitchen and takes in myscowl.
“Fuck you,” I say through a mouthful offood.
“Oooh. Feisty.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Bring that energy topractice.”
I’m not amused, and though I realize he’s receiving the brunt of my frustrations merely because he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time, I can’t seem to care. I lift my middle finger, finish my cereal, and drop the bowl into the sink with a slam that surprisingly doesn’t break theceramic.
“Jeez, I’m only fucking with you. Don’t have to be a little bitch,” he grumbles, but I don’t glance back, stomping up the stairs and straight to my shower. My sour mood is a direct result of not starting my day with a dose of Jess. Our conversations grew to mean so much more than a simple interaction; I don’t want to start my day any otherway.
As I wash away the sweat from my body, worry pricks at my mind. I hope she’s not hurt. She’s surely not safe with Coy, though he’s more likely just hiding her from me. Either way, I need to know. I need to see her for myself, and I need to speak with her alone. She won’t answer with an audience, but I need to hear the truth from her lips. I dry off and change into clothes for the day before heading down to the practice studio a few minuteslate.
“So nice of you to show up.” Austin rolls his eyes at my approach. “Still in a bad mood? ’Cause that’ll make todayfun.”
“Bedo here yet?” I ask Trent, but I can feel Coy’s glare at myback.
“Nope,” Trent says with a wearystare.
“Good.” For the first time since Saturday my lips pull into a smile. I stomp over to the fridge, take out two bottles of craft beer and pop off the tops. “Thirsty.” I glance at Trent, hold out the bottle, and tip it sideways. The contents splash and splatter all over thefloor.
“What the hell is wrong with you? That’s a fucking waste of good beer!” Trentyells.
Austin’s brows rise. “Are youtripping?”
“What? Does this bother you?” I throw the bottle against the far wall and satisfaction fills my veins as it shatters into tiny fragments. Picking up the second bottle, I open my mouth and let the liquid pour down the front of my body. “How aboutnow?”
“Yeah, it fucking bothers me.” Trent shakes his head as if I’ve lost my goddamn mind. I probablyhave.
“Fucking hell.” Bedo rushes down the stairs and stops short when his gaze lands on the mess I’ve made. “What the hell happened? I was only gone for a fewdays!”
“Just having myself a morning snack.” I walk over to him and snatch the twenty-four ounces of freshly made super greens smoothie from his hand and toss the lid off the biodegradable cup. “This looks yummy.” I tilt it back and miss my mouth, spilling almost all of it down the front of my shirt. “Want some?” I hold it out to my bandmates’ stunnedfaces.
Bedo rips the cup from my hand and points at the stairs. “Go clean yourself up.Fuck, kid.And get your headstraight.”
“Whatever.” I act put off and strut out of the room. “Y’all aren’t anyfun.”
I jog up the stairs with a stupid smile on my face. It was almost too easy. We are, after all, creatures of habit, and there hasn’t been a day this month that Bedo hasn’t come downstairs with one of his healthy smoothies. The thrill of finally seeing Jess, in spite of how much she hurt me, brings a bounce to my step and I walk right past my door until I arrive at hers. I knock softly and try the handle but it’s locked. I tryagain.
“Hello?” I can hear the sleep in hervoice.
“It’sSean.”
“Go away, Sean. You can’t behere.”
“Please, just give me a minute. I want totalk.”
She opens the door, just a crack. Her lips part on an exhale and their perfect shape begs for my kiss. Her eyes widen and I can imagine I look crazy covered in greens. “Sean,what—?”
Amidst her confusion, I push the door open until I can slip inside. I turn and lock it, just in case, and as much as I only meant to come here to talk, I can’t help but allow my hands to feather along her bare arms and up to her jaw. She gasps. Those luscious lips part with desire, and it breaks what little is left of mycontrol.
My lips crash onto hers, not gently or soft, but in a demanding need to convey how much she makes me feel. How her hurt only forces me to be more vulnerable, and she didn’t push me away. She couldn’t. I’m lost toher.
Her mouth moves against mine, pushing our kiss deeper and harder until my back is against the door. Her hands dip under my shirt and shove the material out of the way but it sticks to myskin.
“What? Why?” She steps back, out of breath, and scrunches herforehead.
“This?” I pull at the ruined tee shirt. “A smoothie a day keeps the doctoraway.”
“Aren’t you supposed to drink it?” Her lips part and she shakes herhead.
