Page 37 of Hard Rock Temptation

I swallowed heavily and willed the stiffness in my jeans to soften.

In an ideal world, I would lock the two of us away by ourselves to explore each other to our hearts content for weeks straight, with no outside forces to interrupt us.

My phone pinged with a notification. I groaned.

I wished I could lock the two of us away, but reality would always intrude.

I heaved myself off the door and padded over on socked feet to pick up my phone from the kitchen table.

‘when’s that podcast thing?’It was Zain texting.

‘tomorrow at 4’I wrote back.

‘don’t think I can make it’he wrote back.

‘It’s cool, finn and chris will be there’

I put my phone back down and went to the living room, but it soon pinged again with another message from Zain.

‘i see kay’s not home tonight’ he wrote.

I snorted, just imagining his accusing tone.

‘she was with me’I said. ‘she’s on her way back now’

‘no sleepover?’I could practically hear the snark.

‘no’

I thought that would be the end of it.

‘trouble in paradise already?’ Zain was teasing, but I knew there was a serious concern behind the words. I wanted to reassure him without going into details.

‘we’re taking it slow’ was all I said.

‘…’

Zain’s next message was simply a row of three dots. Then he typed.

‘you sure you’re dating kay and not a replica or clone or something? she doesn’t seem like the slow type’

‘i am finding it to be something of a challenge, yes’ I conceded. ‘but I don’t want to fuck things up’

Zain didn’t message back for a while, which worried me. When my phone finally pinged I braced myself.

‘you’re a good guy. and she’s a hell of a woman. if I have to trust kay with someone, i’m glad its you’

My heart lightened at his words. I had been worried about what the other band members might think about our relationship, but there had been few protests or criticisms. Instead, I felt… supported, was one way of putting it, I supposed. It felt like they only wanted what was best for us. It was the way my mom felt about me and Kay. The way that family only wanted what was best for one another.

That thought reminded me that I hadn’t heard from my mom in a few days, so I picked my phone back up to call her.

“Hey mom,” I said when she answered. “How are you feeling?”

“Hey honey.” My mom’s voice was warm, sounding stronger than usual. “What’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing’s wrong, why?” I asked, then started to panic. “Is something wrong with you? Are you okay?”

She chuckled. “No, I’m fine, calm down. I was just wondering because you usually never call so late.”