Page 56 of Hard Rock Muse

17

“It’s nice to meet you, Everly,” Gael told me before turning to Julian. “Although why you chose a dingy bar as the place to introduce everyone to your girlfriend, I have no idea. Shouldn’t you be trying to impress her with a fancy dinner out?” Gael grinned and nudged Julian to show he was kidding.

“I like the atmosphere,” I replied.

Jessie had roped me and Julian into getting Gael to Walt’s bar for his surprise party. If it had been anyone else, it might have been suspicious, but with me and Julian dating now, we had a good cover. Not to mention, Gael’s actual birthday wasn’t until next week.

“Julian’s kept pretty quiet about you,” Gael told me. “I keep bugging him to spill all the details but he won’t say a word.”

“Is this the part where you start bugging me?” I guessed wryly.

“You got it,” Gael winked. He pushed open the door to the bar. “In fact, why don’t you start with telling me why—”

“SURPRISE!”

Gael stopped in the doorway, mouth dropping in surprise. At least two dozen people were in the bar, all clapping and cheering. Jessie bounced over and threw her arms around her boyfriend.

“Happy birthday,” she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

He curled an arm around her waist.

“You got me!” he laughed. “You fucking got me.”

“Did you really have no idea?” Jessie asked, eyes sparkling.

“None.” Gael grinned. “I thought you were just planning steak and a blowj—”

Jessie smacked her hand across his mouth to stop him.

“You better not finish that sentence or I won’t give you your surprise gift,” she warned.

His eyes lit up. “There’s more surprises?”

“Let me show you.” Jessie took his arm to drag him away. “Thanks guys,” she told us. “I don’t know how else I would have gotten him here without suspecting anything.”

“No problem,” Julian said.

A crowd of people surged around Gael and Jessie as all the well-wishers wanted to tell him happy birthday.

With a hand on the small of my back, Julian guided me to a small table near the bar. Cerise and the man I knew to be Liam Knight, her guitarist and boyfriend, were already sitting there.

“Not going to greet the birthday boy?” Julian asked as we both took a seat. He put an arm around the back of my chair, not quite touching me, but still displaying a small sign of possessiveness. I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did.

“We already took Gael out for dinner,” Cerise said.

“We thought it would help keep the surprise a secret,” Liam added.

“I really don’t think he guessed at all,” I said. “He seemed really shocked.”

“My brother is a pretty straightforward person,” Cerise said. “I don’t think he’s the type to expect deception.” Cerise tilted her head at me. “It’s nice to see you again, Everly. How are things going?”

A little spike of panic went through me. We were behind on the song, and I knew it.

“We’re doing pretty well,” I said. “Making a lot of progress.”

“I don’t just mean work.” She nodded to me and Julian with a warm smile.

I looked to Julian, hesitant. I wasn't sure how much he had told his friends about me and him. We’d only just gotten back together.