Page 24 of Dedicated
“You just plopped down next to me and said you’d wait with me until the medics got there. It was really sweet.”
“Don’t give him too much credit,” Evan interrupted, folding his arms over his chest. “He probably needed to sit down, and it was that or pass out.”
I shot him a bird. Evan had been furious with me for ditching out in the middle of the song, but he remained onstage, picking up a few beats after I’d left off, and the audience had fucking loved it. Loved that he soldiered on alone. Most of our music featured intricate harmonies and duets, so hearing Evan’s incredible range solo and stripped bare had been something special. That was my take, at least. When I climbed back onstage later, I’d discovered he was trembling.“It’s been so damn long since I’ve stood up here by myself, I got nervous,”he’d explained afterward. And then I’d felt bad, though I probably hadn’t apologized.
I introduced the two of them, and Maize asked what we were doing in town, so I explained how we came here to write all of our albums.
“No shit? Well, I live a couple miles outside of town. Have a drum circle that goes every Friday night if you’re interested. It’s pretty low-key, and I promise no one would spaz out too hard if you guys came.”
I cut a look over at Evan to suss out what he was thinking, because I was game. He was hard to read with strangers, but I thought I detected some interest in the way his eyes narrowed thoughtfully, so I nodded. “We could probably manage that.”
She rolled onto the balls of her feet, aiming another blinding smile in our direction. She seemed really sweet and down-to-earth, and I wished I could remember what the hell I’d spent fifteen minutes talking to her about in the pit in front of the stage while we waited for someone to come examine her. I wouldn’t put it past me to have been trying to get her number, considering how attractive she was.
She put her number in my phone, hit Send, then hung up and handed it back to me, saying, “My girlfriend comes up from Chattanooga every weekend, too, so you’ll get to meet her. Again. Have you to thank for that. She was one of the medics.”
“I’ve always been a good Cupid.” I gave her a wink as Evan grunted something under his breath, and then we pushed through the doors and into the blissful oven-like furor of hot Southern asphalt.
Chapter 19
“You know we actually have to produce while we’re here, right?” Evan said as we strolled through the parking lot. I scouted for cameras over the tops of cars and vans, skimming the few other people in the parking lot, but I hadn’t spotted a photographer yet.
“We will. I’ve got a couple of things I wrote down last night. Figured we could go over them this afternoon.”
Evan grunted and searched the parking lot, too. “Where is this fucker? I’m not about to wait all afternoon.”
“We won’t. If he’s not here, he’s not, and too bad.” I shrugged one shoulder, wondering when grocery delivery would reach these parts as the cart rattled noisily over the pavement.
Evan popped the hatch on his SUV and started shoving groceries in the back. I’d joined in when a prickle of awareness dusted over my shoulders and lifted the hairs on the back of my neck.
“He’s here. Don’t look,” I said, and wedged another grocery bag inside.
“I swear to God, you’d feel a damn ant looking at you from a mile away. It’s uncanny. Or maybe scary,” he muttered.
“So what’re we going to do? Should I put my arm around you? Should we make out?” We hadn’t really planned this out in advance, and now I was flailing over the logistics. Levi had said we needed to be convincing, and considering how Evan had been recoiling from even the mere suggestion of my touch, I wasn’t sure how we were going to get from that to a loving embrace. Damn, we really should have mapped this out beforehand.
Evan paused, one arm extended above him, his hand curled over the hatch door as he squinted his eyes at me scornfully. “We’re not making out in the parking lot.”
“Why not?”
“It’s total overkill.”
“Okay, how about holding hands? That’s easy.” I reached for his hand, and he batted me away. I cracked up at that, and at his stiff posture. I could tell he was calculating, too, trying to break this event down into logical steps. So in order to save some time, grief, and overthinking, I just went for it, leaning in against him, ready to plant one on his mouth. He did the same, tipping his head aside in time to avoid my mouth landing on his as he plastered a very chaste, very dry kiss on my cheek.
I groaned and reeled back to peer assessingly at him. Surely that didn’t qualify as boyfriend-worthy steam? It hardly even registered to my dick, and I had a hair trigger as far as erections were concerned. A hot, stiff wind could perk my interest on the right day. “What the fuck was that?”
“Affection? Contractual obligation? Let’s go.” Evan slammed the hatch door shut. I sent my gaze out over the parking lot and found the photographer,hercamera still aimed at us.
“That wasn’t affection. That was a kiss for someone you’re afraid might have a nasty infection.”
Evan’s arched his brows, a little smirk curling coyly up one side of his mouth. “Your point?”
“Oh fuck off. I get tested regularly.”
“That’s about the only thing you do regularly.” He might as well have stuck his tongue out at me. “I did what I was supposed to do.” He pushed off the hatch of the trunk, like he was ready to go, but I wasn’t done.
“That wasn’t a kiss. It was like a zombie taking stock of fresh meat, or a grandma giving a kiss to the grandkid she secretly can’t stand. A hello to the long-lost brother you never wanted. A—”
“It was a perfectly nice peck on the cheek. It got the point across, it fulfilled the mission, it was—”