asked him, handing him a muffin he was eying. “Besides chivalrously carry oversized gift baskets for the ladies, of course.”
“Well,” he said, “my job is—”
“He follows us around, making notes on his tablet,” Ash said lazily from his food coma on the floor. “Which guitar I’m playing, what coffee I’m drinking—”
“If you took a shit this morning…” Xander put in.
“Hey.” I smacked Xander’s hand away as he tried to grab a muffin. He was splayed out on the couch next to the table where I was laying out the food. “Don’t give him a hard time. It’s his job. And I’m sure he works harder than you do.” I wasn’t sure of that, but hey, it was fun giving Xander a hard time.
“Give the woman space,” Danica said, laughing. “You’re like wolves. You just had lunch anyway. I saw every single one of you inhale an entire pizza.”
“I did not,” Summer said from her perch at a high table where she was working on a laptop, half-listening to us.
“Except Summer,” Danica clarified.
“I inhaled an entire pizza plus a slice of Summer’s,” Xander groaned.
“I really hope you all plan to accomplish something in here besides gaining weight,” Danica ventured. She raised an eyebrow at me. “So Cary doesn’t end up regretting all this studio time he’s giving you.”
“Giving?” Xander said. “We earned this shit.”
I smacked his hand away as he reached for a muffin again. “Well, I’m sure he’s earned it,” I said, nodding at Isaac. “FYI, I brought these for the staff. You rock stars can get your own. But maybe after they’re done, you can have what’s left.”
Xander gave me an eye-roll and Ash, who’d finally dragged himself up off the floor, plucked the muffin out of Isaac’s hand. Isaac helped himself to another one.
“What’s that?” Ash said, as I pulled a small bag out of my purse.
“Well, I figured you guys probably weren’t supposed to smoke in here. So I got you some edibles.” I laid out the half-dozen packages of edibles I’d picked up for them at the weed dispensary.
“Whaaaat.” Ash picked one up. “Why is your best friend so cool?” he asked his wife.
“I dunno.” Danica shrugged. “Just is.”
“Those are chocolates, which you might want to stash in the fridge,” I said. “And there are gummies, too.”
Ash wrapped his hand around the back of my head and kissed me firmly on the forehead. “You’re a sweetheart, Taylor. Don’t let any asshole tell you different.”
Danica grinned at me.
Isaac leaned in to peruse the gummies. “So, you keep track of everything they do in here?” I asked him, wondering if maybe I should’ve thought the edibles thing through a little better.
“Yup. Cary needs to know all that shit,” he said through a mouthful. “You do not wanna be there if he asks you which guitar you played last Tuesday and you don’t remember.”
“Why? What does he do?” Summer asked, intrigued. “Does he flip out?”
“Cary doesn’t flip out,” Merritt put in, studying a packet of edibles.
“Yeah, he just gets really quiet on you,” Isaac said, “and you feel like the worst human who ever walked the planet.”
“Powerful,” Summer remarked, just as her man, Ronan, the Players’ head of security, walked in through the back door. “And how do you like working with him, Taylor?”
“Working with who?” Ronan said, as he leaned on the table where Summer was working.
“Cary,” Summer said, and after she gave Ronan a kiss, they both looked at me.
Xander looked at me, clearly awaiting the answer to that.
“Uh… He’s been very nice to me.”
Now everyone looked at me. Everyone.
Was that weird? Did I say it weird?
Did I say it like what I really meant was We had hot sex on his couch last night… after he ate me out in his studio?
“What?” I said, when they all kept staring at me. “How do you all like working with him?”
“We like working with him just fine,” Summer said diplomatically.
I glanced at Isaac. “He’s a great employer,” he said through a mouthful of muffin.
I glanced at Merritt. “The best,” she said, smirking.
“Uh-huh…” I said skeptically.
Ash gave me his charming rock star smile. “Tell him we’re on our best behavior in here, ’kay?” Then he patted me on the head, which he’d definitely never done before.
“Uh, okay.”
“Come on.” Danica hooked her arm through mine. “Now that you’ve seen where these superstars do nothing all day… let’s go for lunch and let them get to work.”
“What, we seriously can’t come?” her husband called after us as she led me toward