G is with them. She should’ve flown. Vance offered to pick her up in the helicopter. I should go and pick her up next time. This concert was a bad idea.”
“It’s a great idea,” she assures him. “She’s fine. Text her. I bet she’s going to call you out for being so hovery.”
“Hovery is not a word,” he corrects her. “But you’re right. She’s going to give me shit about this.”
“You Aldridges are something,” she complains, rolling her eyes. “You whine about each other, but I swear you are not different at all.”
He punches me out of nowhere and says, “I am nothing like this asshole.”
“Behave,” I order. “You’re in town in the middle of the festival.”
He rolls his eyes, “Ugh, I’m embarrassing you. See, you get fucking embarrassed about everything.”
“I don’t.”
“Of course, you do,” he insists. “You’re telling me that we can have any conversation, and you’d be cool with it.”
“Nothing you say will embarrass me,” I challenge him.
“Okay, that’s respectable.” He turns to look at Leyla and asks, “How’s your sex life, Leyla?”
“Keep me out of this,” she says, turning a slight shade of red.
“Sex is natural, right, Pierce?”
I nod.
“Since I don’t have steady relationships, I don’t do a lot of kinky shit,” he continues. “Anal play could be in my top favorites, but it’s hard to convince a chick I just met to do it.”
“We’re not discussing my sex life,” I warn him.
“Because you’re embarrassed,” he confirms.
“No, because that’s—”
“Taboo?” he asks. “Unnatural? Huh, you’re telling me you’ve never had anal sex before? Try anal play. It’s fucking amazing when they are blowing you.”
“I didn’t say any of that.”
He steps toward a booth and grabs some beads, pays the woman, and says. “Use this. Leyla can stick them in and pull them out when she blows you. You don’t need lube.”
Flustered, I tell him, “Are you a savage? You always need lube when you’re having anal sex—even anal play.”
“No,” he insists, and by now the entire town is around us, watching and listening to his nonsense. “You’re wrong, my dude. I feel like I need to give you a sex-ed class. No wonder you have trouble in the bedroom.”
Sophia and Henry arrive at that moment. She looks at us and asks, “Everything okay?”
Beacon turns to her with a severe face. “Do you use lube when you use anal beads?”
Henry’s face turns crimson red, and fuck if I don’t want to take a picture of him. I’m sure mine was just as bad as his though. I better not mock him for this one.
Sophia’s eyes open wide. “What?”
Beacon offers her the beads he carries. “Touch them. They are smooth. Why would you need lube?”
I’m about to run away because the entire town is around us. Please kill me now. Reason number one hundred why I’m thankful I didn’t grow up with this kid. I would be in jail for pushing my baby brother out of the window.
Oops! It was an accident. He was driving me fucking crazy.
Sophia grabs Leyla and says, “Leave these men to their nonsense.”
“Where are you going?” Henry calls after them, scared of Beacon and the audience gathered around us.
“To buy smooth anal beads. Where else?” she answers.
Beacon and I laugh.
“Fine. Henry is the one with bigger issues than you,” Beac confirms and then looks at Henry. “Are you and hottie finally together?”
Our oldest brother nods and grins like a little kid who finally got his wish.
“Well, it is about time,” I say.
“When is your time?” Beacon asks and shrugs. “Just saying, little red is perfect for the big bad wolf.”
“It’s too complicated.”
Before he speaks, his bandmates approach us. This time, there’s a woman with them. She looks short among them, but she’s about five-ten. Her hair is all shades of purple. She has a few tattoos on her arms—mostly musical notes and scribbles. Beacon runs to her and picks her up, twirling her around. His face brightens. The sun just came up; everything is well again.
“I’m assuming that’s G,” I tell Henry.
He nods. G, short for Grace, is a famous cello player. He and Sophia are big fans of hers. I haven’t seen her before, though.
“She looks different from her usual long black dress and dark hair,” he states, “but it’s definitely her.”
“Does he know he’s in love with her?”
Henry grins. “No, but we will use this to get to him. I’m fucking tired of being his target.”
We shake hands. “This is going to be fun.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Leyla
The Lodge and the Bed & Breakfast at Happy