almost familiar and not at all unpleasant. I had no clue what triggered it, but I had a feeling I’d soon find it.
I don’t remember what we talked about for the ten minutes it took my bus to arrive, but even after I safely boarded my ride home, Loren refused to let me hang up.
“Okay,” I said after I entered my apartment forty minutes later and panned the camera around to show Loren that I was home. Like a smartass, I even showed him that the door was locked, and the windows were closed. Maybe it was me that didn’t want to end the call. “Thanks for the talk. Good night.”
Ignoring my rush to get him off the phone and my head back on track, he switched topics faster than a race car switched lanes. “You know Houston is going to make you quit that little job of yours, right?”
“What?” For some reason, my vagina reacted to that way before my head, heart, or any other part of me that made sense could catch up.
“Just a heads up.” Laughing, he ended the call, leaving me hanging.
I stood there, fuming with the phantom scent of burning wood in my nose to prove it, before storming to the bathroom and a hot shower.
What right did Houston have to think he could make me quit anything? Maybe Loren was just fucking with me, but in the morning, I would absolutely get to the bottom of it.
“How do you like your eggs?” Loren greeted me hours after our late-night video chat. I couldn’t even call it the next morning since it was after midnight when we talked. It was much too intimate for two strangers who didn’t even like each other.
I’d just finished storming into Bound’s kitchen, where I found Loren and Houston waiting but no Jericho. Where is he? I wanted to ask but understood why that wouldn’t be wise. Instead, I ignored Loren, who was busy cooking breakfast at the stove and pretending he hadn’t planted this seed in the first place.
“You’re making me quit Succulent?” I demanded of Houston.
He didn’t seem surprised that I’d come in with guns blazing, making my stomach pool with dread when he shot Loren an accusatory glare. Apparently, he already knew who spilled the beans.
“It wasn’t high on my list of things to do.”
That was all the answer he gave. Not hitting Houston was becoming a full-time job.
Loren turned from the stove, scooping a steaming helping of eggs onto an empty plate and pushing said plate toward me. He didn’t seem at all concerned by the storm brewing or the fact that I’d ratted him out. It irritated me how self-assured these guys could be. They were spoiled, entitled, and had more arrogance than the ocean had water. Just once, I’d like to get under their skin as easily as they got under mine.
“I’d ask why Loren would tip you off,” Houston drawled, “but I already know why.”
Unfortunately, Houston made no move to explain it to me. I was more than simply curious. I was obsessed. They hated me, unequivocally, but there was more to it. I’d never experienced hate-sex before, and it was quickly shooting to the top of my fantasies.
“Is there some reason you feel attached to that job to keep it while rehearsing and touring with us?” Houston asked instead.
“That’s not the point. I should be allowed to come to that decision myself.”
“Why haven’t you?”
“Because the tour isn’t for three months. I still need to support myself until then. I don’t even know when I’ll be paid for that.” The label had offered me an advance, one I wouldn’t receive until the tour began.
Sliding a manila folder that was already waiting on the counter, Houston gave me a pointed look when I simply looked from it to him. After a brief staring contest that I lost, I sighed and flipped it open.
Inside were forms requesting my financial and tax information and what looked like an offer to pay me for rehearsals. It was more than generous and completely unexpected. When I looked up, the question was obviously in my eyes because Houston answered before I could voice it.
“I need you focused and devoted from this point forward.” The unspoken “to them” was heavily implied.
“This is a lot of money.”
“I agree,” Loren chipped in. “Houston seems to think you’re worth it.”
I guess we were back to square one, where Loren insulted me at every turn. He was a far cry from the concerned friend