One that, because of my previous disinterest in dating, had been left unexplored. Until now.
I hadn’t even looked twice at the mop of curls at the counter when I first joined Bree in line, as caught up in the texts Ihad going with Liem as I was, but at her muttered, “Ah shit,”I sent my last update to Liem with my ETA for Gulf Shores and frowned at her as I pocketed my phone.
“What?”
“The band is here,” she whispered, her eyes wide as she angled her head toward the front of the line.
My gaze shot to the register, and I descended into Lucifer’s familiar embrace.
The young employee I’d had a panic attack in front of was taking my ex-boyfriend’s drink order.
Austin was, per usual, backed up by his two bandmates. If those two disliked me before—and I was almost certain they did—there was no way their opinion of me had improved since I’d fled the cruise ship. Not that I actually gave a fuck about their opinions.
But that still didn’t make this less horrifying.
I glanced at Cher, weighing the chances that she’d agree to suffocate me with her hair bandana, right as she looped her arm with mine and gave me an encouraging squeeze, like the supportive queen she was.
Dismal odds, then.
“How’s my hair?” I bent down and whispered in her ear.
She gave my head a cursory glance. “Growing pretty fast and could probably use some product. Why?”
I blew out a breath. “I dunno. I’ve never done this before.”
Time soldiered on, unfortunately, as did the line. Austin and his friends remained oblivious to us as we creeped closer to the front.
“What did you do the first time you saw AJ after you, like…,” I trailed off, not having a clue how to finish that question.
Ace wasn’t exactly Bree’s ex-boyfriend, but even if he were, this situation didn’t quite compare to that one, and I sighedin realization that we were both out of our depth here. “Sorry. Never mind, Cher.”
A sharp pain—decidedly not one of lost love—jolted me, and I let out a mouselike squeak as I dropped Bree’s arm to clap my hands protectively over my nipples.
The witch and her sneak purple nurples.
“Was that distracting enough?” she inquired unapologetically as she looped our arms again, heedless of the fact that I was still covering my nipples, and tugged me forward in line. “’Cause here he is.”
“Cody.”
Satan take me.
I dropped my hands and looked up at Austin, hoping like hell—my new home—that the grimace didn’t show on my face. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do to hide the sudden rigidness in my posture, though. Or my smarting nipple.
“Hey, Aus.”
“Bree,” he said in a slightly more pleasant tone.
She waved like a dork. “Hey.”
Silence threatened to descend and make this even more awkward, but Bree, bless her, spoke up.
“What are you guys doing in Bay Springs? Do you have a show?”
“We do. And negotiations are already happening for the summer season at the casinos. We’re hoping to be the headliners this year,” he answered easily, his chest puffing out in pride as he did so. “And what about you?”
“I live here now,” Bree replied just as easily.
The weight of Austin’s gaze moved to me, and the floor seemed to tilt as a light bead of sweat broke out across my forehead.
