Page 94 of No Strings

Good song choice for us, I guess.

As she sings, I weave my way through the crowd. I step on to the stage as soon as it’s my part, “You know we don’t work…”

The crowd cheers. Morgan dances and jumps and twirls around while singing. I hold my hand out to her, and she does some sort of strut walk thing to me. “…I drive you crazy, you drive me out my mind. But, baby, we do one thing right...”

When her body is flush with mine, I hold her hand up and she twirls in her place. When she’s back facing me, her chest to mine, we both sing, “…I take it out on you, take it out on me too…”

She pulls away from me but doesn’t let go of my hand. Turning to face me, she puts the microphone to her mouth, and we finish the song, “…that’s why we fight…”

As the song fades, we’re both panting, and when she drops the microphone, leaping into my arms, I drop mine and wrap my hand around her holding her in place. Our lips crash together.

The tension has been building all day, then the song has put us both on edge. The crowd breaks out in a cheer. Slowly we pull apart, I lock my gaze to her and lower her back to the stage.

“Holy shit! Morgan and Rhys everyone!” The MC announces.

The crowd cheers again. And that seems to break Morgan out of whatever she was just feeling, because she turns on her heels, hops down, leaving me to watch after her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

MORGAN

Iget back to the table, take the beer from Beau’s hand, and down the remainder of it.

“Hey!” He protests, but I ignore him. I’m too flustered and too turned on. What the fuck was that? I eye Davis’s beer, I need something to cool me down. He notices and wordlessly offers it to me. I down it, and just as I put the beer bottle down, I feel Rhys approach. “Who knew you could sing?”

“Sing? They made me fucking horny.”

Rhys sidles up to my side, downing his own beer, “Princess.”

“Cowboy.” I try not look at him. But when I do, the moment our eyes connect, the world ceases to exist; it’s just the two of us.

“Oh my god.” Beau is quickly shut up by Davis.

That snaps me back to reality. We’re flirting with the rules; the rules I was insistent on. Tensions are high, and feelings are getting involved while rules are getting blurred.

“Right. Well, who wants another beer?” Davis asks.

“Beer sounds good,” I reply. “I’ll come with you.”

I don’t hesitate, turning on my heel and walking to the bar. I need space. I need fresh air. I need Ethan found, so I can go home to protect my heart.

Davis meets me at the bar. “So...”

“I don’t want to hear it.” I’m still leaving, that hasn’t changed, and Rhys is happy here. I know he doesn’t want to go back to our crappy town. So, I’m not risking opening up and getting hurt. For something that might not even be anything.

“He likes you” He says it so quietly, I don’t think I’m meant to hear him.

“It’s just sex.”

“Okay...”

And he drops it. We collect the beers and walk back to the table.

Beau and Rhys aren’t talking.

“What happened?” I ask, but I’m not sure I want the answer.

All I get from Rhys is, “Someone needs to learn to shut the fuck up.”