Page 42 of Beyond the Stix

Connor is still hunched over, not moving. And for a second, his lack of movement worries me.

“Connor,” I whisper, reaching out to touch his sweat-slick back.

“Yeah?” He turns his head, and a single look into his beautiful green eyes tells me there’s nothing to worry about. The blissed-out expression on Connor’s face has me smiling. I want to kiss the shit out of him, but being caught with our dicks out won’t be good for either of us.

“Get dressed before we get caught.” I toss his pants to him.

The soft smile drops from his face as he quickly turns and pick up his pants and puts them on. He doesn’t say anything else as he snags his t-shirt and puts it on. Not once does he look at me. By the tenseness of his jawline, I must have said or did something to piss him off.

“What’s wrong now?” I ask, approaching him slowly.

“Nothing,” he clips. Yeah, he’s pissed.

“Connor—”

“I’m tired. I’m heading to bed.” With that parting shot, he rushes out of the room.

I stand there, my pants on but unzipped, shirtless, staring at Connor’s retreating back. Should I go after him and demand to know what’s up his ass? No. I shake that thought. Let him sleep it off. We have tomorrow to talk.

A vibration echoes in the silent room. I know that sound. Checking my pants pocket, I pull out my cell. It’s not mine.

It’s Connor’s phone.

I walk to the light switch panel and slide my finger upward. The light brightens and I can see the location of the cell.

As I retrieve the phone off the floor, several notifications pop up. Without having the password, I can’t open the message app. However, I can see who’s texting Connor.

“Fucking Jessup.”

As much as I want to confront Connor on why he’s talking to that bastard, I have to handle this situation in a more delicate manner. I’m still waiting on Lee to dig up more dirt on this guy. No one is that clean—no one.

Besides, I don’t want to break what trust I have with Connor by shoving his phone at him and demanding why he’s talking to his uncle. If anything, I want him to come to me.

But that doesn’t happen. For the next three days, he avoids me at every step. Anytime I approach him, he has one excuse or another to not talk to me. Between the band recordingthe last few songs for the album and practicing downstairs for the upcoming concert at Rocktoberfest, Connor is always unavailable.

Since he wasn’t talking to me, I gave him back his phone. At this point, Jessup’s text messages are the least of my worries. I want to know what the hell I did to piss Connor off so much that he’s ignoring me.

Well too fucking bad. Now that we’re getting on the bus for Black Rock, he can’t avoid me and will have to explain himself.

Once the team and Dante make sure the mansion is securely locked up, we climb onto the bus, but I don’t see Connor or the other band members.

“What’s going on between you and Connor?” Tobias asks as he takes a seat next to me. He too glances around the open area, then returns his scrutinizing eyes back to me.

I could make up some bullshit, and say there’s nothing, but my friend knows me too well and will spot the lie a mile away.

I blow out a breath, rake a hand through my hair before meeting Tobias’s stare and utter so only he can hear me, “I slept with Connor.”

He doesn’t even twitch.Crap. He knows.“I know.”

I furrow my brows. “How?”

“Know what?” Dante asks as they take the empty seat next to Pen.

Tobias lifts a hand, ignoring Dante’s question, and oh hell, there’s more.

“One. He told Danny. Two. You two were gone for way too long down in the sound room the first night we arrived. And three…” he pauses, giving the moment such a dramatic effect that Dante leans forward like there’s some juicy gossip to be had. Though, it’s preparing me for the worst. “We heard you.”

“How? It’s supposed to be sound proof. There’s no fucking way…” I don’t finish the sentence, and my attention shifts to a smiling Pen.