Most of the time I’d been thinking about her lips, but I wasn’t about to tell her that yet. And there was definitely a yet because if I had my way, and she agreed, I’d get to feel those lips tomorrow night.
I sighed and tossed my phone onto the couch beside me as Van and Lexi came into my parents’ living room. Yes, I was texting this woman from my parents’ house.
We’d had dinner, steak, and roasted potatoes with garlic green beans that Mom made for the entire group. Not only were Mom and Dad there as well as Mack, Daltrey, Van, Daisy, and me, but we’d added Lawson and Lexi. It was a decent-sized group and pretty soon we were going to outgrow the table in the kitchen. There was always the island for overflow, I supposed.
“What’s that look?” Van asked as he dropped into the chair nearest me and pulled Lexi onto his lap. She didn’t look the most comfortable with the idea at first but quickly relaxed into him. If everyone came out here, the seats would need to double up anyway.
I dropped my phone into my lap as if I hadn’t been obsessively checking to see if Jurnie had sent another Snap and glanced up at him. “Probably the same one you have.” Being identical, that was an easy out.
Van scrunched up his face. “Doubtful.”
“What look then?” I asked, sitting up straighter.
“I don’t know… It was—”
“Longing,” Lexi offered.
She wasn’t wrong. That was what I’d been feeling, but that didn’t mean I wanted it written all over my fucking face.
“And what would I be longing for?”
She shrugged, but Van snorted. “Pussy.”
Lexi gasped and slapped his shoulder. “Van.”
“Your mother can hear you,” Dad called from the kitchen, making me laugh.
Having a bunch of boys meant she heard a lot of shit, but Dad always tried to correct us. Being twenty-three or even Mack’s twenty-seven didn’t mean we got away with being vulgar where my mother was concerned.
Honestly, if Daisy, Lexi, and Mom hadn’t been within earshot, Dad wouldn’t have said anything.
“Sorry,” Van called back to the kitchen.
Still, I furrowed my brows. “And why would I be longing for that?”
“Because as far as I know, you haven’t gotten any in a while, which is crazy with all of those very willing women at every show.”
“Yeah.” Lexi cut in, but she didn’t sound all that happy. There was a hard edge in her voice. “It’s a real shame you’ve missed out on all of those women.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at my brother.
This being his first honest relationship meant he was going to make some missteps. But Lexi was awesome and he’d fix it. He’d better fix it.
“Baby…” He ran a hand down her arm. “I was talking about him. Not me. I have no interest.”
“Better not,” she muttered.
Shaking my head, I remembered something Indie Cinderstone had told him. Indie had grown up going on the road with her dad, Vince, founding member of Kissing Cinder, and now she was with Cross Rhodes, drummer of Courting Chaos. She was well-versed in how hard relationships on the road were.
She’d told Van to never give Lexi a reason to worry. Once a woman had a reason to worry, they’d worry, and eventually they’d probably figure out that they didn’t want to think about what might be happening on the road. The only outcome to that was to end the relationship because once a woman started to worry in this situation, it’d become an obsession.
Looked like that was some sage advice right there.
“What are we talking about?” Daltrey joined us, dropping onto the other end of the couch.
“Bonham’s longing,” Van answered before I could. All of a sudden, the rest of my siblings joined us.
Lawson sat in the other chair with Daisy on his lap, much the way Van and Lexi were sitting. Mack found his place on the step in front of the fireplace. My guess was that Mom and Dad were in the kitchen enjoying a cup of coffee and snickering at the rest of them giving me a hard time. This was bullshit.
“Fuck you.” I pointed at my twin. “I’m not fucking longing for anything.” As an afterthought, I added, “That wasn’t meant for you, Lexi.”
“Well,” she said when I’d expected Van to start back up, “you were thinking about something.”
Yeah. I was. That auburn-haired girl with the deep green eyes from the bookstore whom I just couldn’t get out of my mind.
I let out an audible groan then decided to tell them the whole story. From meeting her to us texting. Maybe I didn’t give every detail, but I gave enough.
“That was really good of you,” Daisy spoke first. “As a fellow woman, I can attest that sometimes, you just need that other person there.”
“True that,” Lexi agreed.
“Not because we can’t take care of ourselves, but because some guys don’t take no for an answer.”
“Also true.”
“You’re going out tomorrow?” Daisy inquired. Damn. She was going to push for every detail. I nodded. “Where are you taking her?”
“You should take her back to the bookstore,” Lexi told me. “I’d love a lazy trip to the bookstore.”
“Oh, yes!” Daisy sat up straighter. The movement caused Lawson to hold tighter to her hips because she’d moved so fast that she’d almost fallen. It was as if she knew he’d catch her so she didn’t have to worry about it. “A bookstore date is the dream.”
“Let her buy all of the books she wants,” Lexi added. It was as if the women had forgotten that the rest of us were here. “Magical.”
“Agreed.”
Mack cleared his throat and mumbled, “Fucking hell.” I didn’t think he meant for all of us to hear it. Having another woman around for Daisy to bond with had a good side and a bad. Good being she had that another person similar to her best friend, Bri. Bri had been the only other girl Daisy had hung out with as a teenager. Otherwise, it had been us. Now she had Lexi, though I’d heard Bri was coming on tour with us when we went back.
“Hey, isn’t Bri coming for a visit when the tour starts back up?” I asked.
I could’ve been mistaken, but I thought I caught Mack sitting up straighter out of the corner of my eye.
“She is. Which is awesome. It’s been too long since we’ve been able to see each other.” Daisy glanced down with a sad look on her face. “She’s going to join us for a bit when we come back to Detroit. I told her she could stay the rest of the summer if she wants to. She could stay forever for all I care, but school starts at the end of August, I think.”
“She good with the traveling?” Daltrey asked Daisy.
“I think so. She said she has Daddy’s credit card, so there are no worries.”
Mack snorted then buried his face in the huge cup of coffee he’d brought with him.
Bri’s dad was ridiculously rich. He was in commercial real estate and it wasn’t contained to Detroit. He had a lot of business in New York and Los Angeles, among other places. Plus, her parents were divorced and he used that platinum credit card as a replacement for any actual fatherly involvement outside of brief visits.