I turned to leave but stopped as Kash continued to speak. “But Ducky?” I turned and listened closely. “Don’t say anything about this to anyone else. This stays between us. You don’t tell Carmen, and you sure as fuck don’t tell Motley. They got enough to deal with.”
“Understood.”
I tried to hightail it out of there before Kash or Ducky could see me, but something pulled me back. I turned to see Kash with his hand firmly wrapped around my arm. From the way he was looking at me, I could tell he wasn’t sure if I had heard their conversation. “What’re you doing?” he asked cooly.
I forced a fake smile and spun my drumsticks. “Oh, Carmen sent me to find Ducky. Something about her guitar—I don’t know, but I saw you two talking, so I figured now wasn’t a good time.” I hoped he believed me. “Everything okay?”
Kash’s head dipped forward, and I could tell he was stressing. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Let’s just get back to rehearsal. I want to go over that closing song again.” He proceeded to walk past me, and I felt the pressure as it clung to his back. He didn’t deserve this.
Fuck Guy. And fuck Xavier.
After rehearsalI decided to stick behind to talk to Kash. He had been in a gloomy mood for the rest of rehearsal, and everyone could tell something was off. Carmen and Ducky had left to go back to the motel, and it was just me and him. Kash placed his guitar in its case and remained silent as he cleaned up. Without even looking in my direction, he grabbed the case’s handle and took off.
“Kash,” I called after him, but he ignored me. So, I followed him to the storage room and waited until he had put his case up in the back where it belonged. “Hey.” I propped myself against the wall. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Apparently,” he teased. It was nice to see him not so damn moody.
I cleared my throat as he stood in front of me and waited. “I–I heard everything Ducky said. All of it.”
I waited for him to respond, but Kash only smiled with his hands in his pockets. “I know.”
“You do?”
Kash nodded. “You’re not as quiet as you think, Motley. Never have been.” Well, that was an upsetting relief. “Listen.” He sighed. “You have nothing to worry about, okay? These cops? They’re just fucking with us. There’s nothing to tie us to what happened.” Something about the way he worded that sentence didn’t seem right, as if he was hiding something. But what?
God, I hope you’re telling me the truth and not just blowing smoke up my ass.
“Hey.” Kash stepped forward and yanked me close by the front of my jeans. “I told you, I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you.” He smiled. “I got you, drummer boy.”
“Promise?” He nodded. In spite of my reservations, I smiled and believed him. “Good. Now, is Twila expecting you just yet?” Kash shook his head, and my smile grew.
He kissed me gently before whispering against my lips. “I got some time to spare for my loverboy.”
Kash and I kissed, and as much as I wanted to enjoy the moment, I felt a little guilty. Especially after hearing how Twila had been feeling. “Kash,” I moaned into him. He kissed me harder, which only made the situation that much more difficult. “Hey,” I reluctantly pulled back. “Wait.” I grabbed his hands that were now wrapped around my waist.
Kash raised a brow. “Since when do you want to wait?”
Fucking tease.
“No.” I laughed. “I just…are you sure you want to do this? I mean, I don’t want you to go back to the motel and have Twila upset with you for not being in the mood. Again.” I think everything I said really took him back. “I just…I feel guilty. She really is a great person, and she really loves you. What’s going to happen if—whenshe finds out about us?”
Kash surprisingly smiled. “Is that really what you want to talk about right now? Twila will be fine. I told you, she’ll understand. But if you’re so interested in making sure she’s taken care of, then why don’tyoutake care of her?” His pointer finger booped my nose.
My mouth nearly dropped at his blatant comment. “I’m not going to fuck your girlfriend, Kash.”
“No? Not even if it means we can be together, out in the open, and take care of her all at the same time? I mean, think about it. No one would be left out.”
I had to stop and really process his question. Was he actually inviting me to have a threesome with him and Twila? I mean, I wasn’t exactly turned off by the idea. But it was such an out of the blue thing to even think about. I wouldn’t just be having sex with Kash, but Twila too. And she would see me and Kash having sex. Was I really okay with that?
“I-I think that’s a bit of a complex question.” I honestly didn’t know what to say. “Besides, it’s not really up to me, is it?”
Kash leaned forward and licked my face from my chin to my nose. “I didn’t hear you say no,” he whispered.
No…you didn’t. But you didn’t hear me say yes either.
NINE
KASH
