this instance; it might have been years, but it didn’t matter because they fell right back into their old way of living around each other.
“No, I don’t think you’re stupid. I mean you love him, right?” Five stated it as a question, but the expression he gave her told her that he knew she did. But was she ready to just come out and tell Five? Before she could respond he shrugged. “I’ve never been in love, or in a meaningful relationship for that matter, but I can assume I’d be upset if that shit was happening.” He tilted his chin toward the door. “You know she’s Randolph’s kid?” At her confused look he continued. “He’s a roadie that started with the band six months ago.”
“She seems kind of old to be hanging with her dad on his job. What is she, twenty?”
“Something like that.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure actually. But I heard some of the guys talking when he first started and brought her along. I guess she has nowhere else to go. No family, no money. So, she came along.”
“She helps out with the band?”
He shook his head. “Nah, but Randy pays her way out of his cut. Jacks and Beats have a soft spot for that shit. I would have said no.” He shrugged again.
Tanner wasn’t about to ask why he would have said no. Maybe because she hadn’t given Five the time of day? Or maybe she had? Shit, maybe she had been with the whole band? Ugh, visual picture right then and there. “The past is the past, right?”
When Five didn’t respond right away she turned and looked at him.
He was messing with his bottom lip. He must have felt her gaze because he looked up at her and dropped his hand. “What?”
She shook her head and refrained from rolling her eyes. “Nothing.”
“Hey, you wanna go get something pierced?”
She turned a shocked expression on him, she was sure. “What?” Oh, she had heard him, but her imagination ran wild on all the things he was probably thinking about getting pierced—if he didn’t already have holes in those body parts. Instinctively she touched her earlobes, which were the only body part she had pierced. “I don’t think I need any more than these.”
He wrinkled his nose when he looked at her ears. “Really? When did you get those, when you were like five, right?”
She nodded. Tanner had wanted her ears pierced so badly, but she hadn’t known it would require them using a needle and gun to do it. Well, a “gun” was stretching it, but her five-year-old mind had seen it as some kind of deadly weapon.
“Okay, you’re totally getting something pierced then. I’d say it’s about time.” He stood and stretched.
“I’m not getting anything pierced, Marcus.” His named slipped from her on its own.
He looked at her and knitted his brows. “Damn, I haven’t heard that name in fuckin’ years.” He ran his fingers over his jaw, and she actually heard the day old stubble make a scratching noise under his nails. He suddenly grinned. “You know how I got the nickname Five?”
She held up her hand to stop him from going any further. “Yeah, Jacks told me, and I don’t want to hear it again, believe me.”
He started chuckling and looked up at the ceiling, as if reminiscing. “Yeah, those were good times.”
She could only imagine how much Jacks had sanitized the story for her benefit. She was no prude by any means, but no way did she want to hear all the nasty details of Marcus screwing five women at once.
“Come on, show a little support.”
“I am not getting anything pierced. I will go with you, but that doesn’t mean I need to get any new holes put in my body.”
He started chuckling. “Whatever. We will see.” And with that cryptic response he winked and headed out of the bedroom.
She sat there for a few minutes, picturing herself actually going into the shop with the intent to get something pierced. Of course she knew she’d be too much of a wimp to actually go through with it, but she imagined what it would be like to get a small piercing in her belly button.
And then her thoughts were brought out of her mindless wandering when she heard Laura giggle.
She didn’t think Five’s sudden shift in conversation was accidental, and that had her smiling. Tanner moved off of the bed and headed out of the room. Beats still had his headphones on