Chapter Eight
River
It was completely humiliating to spill my guts in front of Kit. Aside from the tequila, I’d lost count of how many beers I’d had the previous night, but I remembered three buckets full…on an empty stomach. I sucked down the bottle of water as I tried to sort out what the fuck had happened.
Arlo’s ex-girlfriend had called him while we had a good vibe going on a new song about being alone. I’d been excited about going with Kit to the Cultural Center venue to get a look around and maybe have a meal, the six of us. I just wanted to spend time with the guy.
I knew Kit was straight. He gave off that vibe, loud and clear, but there was something about him that had me craving his attention and praise. I had no idea what it was, but I couldn’t get enough of him.
Arlo’s phone had rung just as we were working out the second verse of the new song, choosing to go back to the chorus after we got the verses and the runs for the guitar break worked out.
Arlo hurried back to his room while the rest of us continued working. Ten minutes later, he came back into the living room, and he was shaking like a leaf.
“Dude, what’s wrong? Somebody die?” Goldie’s tone was flippant. True, Goldie and Arlo were closer than Arlo and me, so maybe it was an inside joke?
I continued to strum the chords that would later comprise the melody for the song while JD worked out a bass line. Arlo said something before he dropped onto the floor and rolled to his back. Goldie went into the kitchen and returned with four glasses on a tray, along with a bottle of tequila.
“Hey, what about me?” Hardy asked.
“We don’t have a gig tonight. Let’s smoke,” Goldie said as he stared at our resident stoner, Hardy.
“No, guys, come on. Let’s not. We’re going out to the Cultural Center with Kit to look around, so let’s not smoke. Have a drink, and then we’ll go. I need to let him know we’re ready,” I said.
Arlo crawled over and raised himself to the couch to sit, bowing forward to prop his elbows on his knees before he braced his head in his hands.
“Brittany’s pregnant, and her dad’s coming after my balls and all my money.
She wants ten grand a month for child support, or her dad’s going to call the cops and turn me in.
She might have been underage when I knocked her up, or so she says. ”
“Wait, how old is this girl? I thought she was in college.” JD quit strumming his Fender acoustic bass and rested it against the arm of the chair where he sat. I did the same.
My head began to spin, so I took the glass Goldie held out and let him give me a shot of tequila, sure I’d hate myself in the morning. I knocked it back immediately.
“This calls for a huge blunt. I talked to one of the bellhops, who says he’s got a hookup. I’ll be back.” Hardy rushed out the door before anyone could stop him.
“Call the cops for what?” I asked. I was probably the most na?ve guy on the planet, but I couldn’t figure out why the cops would care or have a say in the situation.
“Well, it depends on when she got pregnant. If she got pregnant the first time while she was underage, that’s a problem,” JD said.
Goldie went to his room and came back with his pipe, ready to go. “If we smoke this, we won’t give a shit about anything, and then Hardy’ll bring back some shitty weed to keep us going. Let’s drink to the new daddy—”
“Or the newest inmate,” JD added, laughing as he shook his head and held up his glass of tequila.
“You fuckers are so damn shortsighted. This will ruin us if word gets out that one of the members of Accidental Fire knocked up an underage girl. We’re fucked,” I shouted.
I threw down my empty glass, which shattered against the tiles before I stormed out.
I didn’t stop stomping until I reached the beach bar and ordered a bucket of beer, paying cash and walking down to the shoreline.
Did nobody else in the band appreciate the extremely rare opportunity we’d been given to make music by Sound Wave Studios? All the guys wanted to do was get high, get laid, and get into trouble. We were too old for that shit, and we owed our record label a hell of a lot more than that.
I drank two beers before Kit found me, and considering I hadn’t eaten anything all day and I’d had the shot of tequila, I was well on my way to being wasted.
He sat down in the sand with me, and we talked about what was bothering me.
Fucking hell, Arlo was just like Regal, knocking up women without a second thought.
Kit was quiet…until he wasn’t. “Fire him.”
I gasped. The thought of getting rid of Arlo had never entered my mind.
“I can’t do that, Kit. He’s my brother…well, half-brother.
Our dad is a fuck-up, and he goes back and forth about whether Arlo is really his son.
It’s done a fucking number on Arlo, so I can’t blame him completely for this.
The kid has looked for love anywhere he can get it. Hell, I have too.”
Kit wrapped me in his arms, and it felt good.
He whispered in my ear, “It’s okay to want to be loved, River.
People do shit that we don’t understand all the time, and we get hurt by their actions, which is what this sounds like.
I’m sorry you guys are going through this before you’ve really gotten off the ground. What can I do to help you?”
Hell yeah! My intoxicated mind knew exactly what the straight guy could do for me. I had him on his back in an instant and climbed on top of him, pressing my mouth to his. I ran my tongue over the seam between his lips, and when he opened his mouth, I was in heaven.
An instant later, I was rolled onto my back as Kit plundered my mouth, kissing me in a way I’d never been kissed in my life. I would never forget that kiss as long as I drew a breath.
The pounding of his heart was as hard as mine, and it seemed as if our heartbeats synced into a perfect rhythm. It was mind-blowing.
When we pulled apart, our gazes met and held for a long moment as I tried to figure out what to do next. Finally, Kit asked, “You wanna get something to eat?”
“Nope.” I sat up, seeing the server coming from the bar.
The guy stopped next to us. “Can I get you anything?”
“Another bucket, please.” I reached into the pocket of my shorts and pulled out Marshall’s business card. “Put it on his account.”
Kit and I both laughed.
Kit wanted to feed me, but I wasn’t hungry for food. We took the third bucket and went up to his room, drinking and talking about our lives as we sat on the balcony.
“I don’t date. I’ve tried, and it doesn’t work out for me,” he said before taking another sip of his beer, propping his feet up on the balcony railing.
I chuckled. “I’ve hooked up through an app, but it was only hand jobs and blowjobs. Well, I had anal once, but there were no repeat performances.”
“You ever been with a woman?” Kit stared at me across the little table where the bucket sat.
“No. I’ve known for a while that I’m into dick. I’ve had female friends, but I was never attracted to them physically. My dad’s pissed because I’m gay and Sky’s gay. He’ll probably be happy to find out Arlo’s straight, though I’m not sure how being a grandfather will strike him.”
I couldn’t hold the laugh at the idea of Regal Ashe with a grandbaby. My mother said he wasn’t very hands-on with me, so a grandchild? That was something I wanted to see.
“I can’t say I’m interested in having kids.
Society puts a lot of pressure on people to have kids, but that’s a lot of responsibility to shoulder.
I’m not sure I’m up for it.” I glanced toward the water, seeing the sun’s rays bouncing off the surface and casting a silver glow. It really was beautiful.
“You’re so young, River. I’d hold off on making those kinds of proclamations just yet.
As we get older, life throws situations at us that we couldn’t have fathomed when we were young.
My mom had to have a hysterectomy after I was born.
She used to tell me they were blessed to have me, though during my teen years, I doubt she truly felt that way all the time. With age comes wisdom.
“My pop says now that he was glad they only had me. He doesn’t think he could have handled having a daughter and worrying about her. I think maybe with time, you might change your mind about things.” Kit put his empty bottle in the bucket upside down and took a full one.
Kit stared out at the ocean as I’d been doing. “Do you think you’d like to have kids?”
He glanced over at me with a small smile. “Until about half an hour ago, I thought I’d find a nice girl and settle down soon, but now… Well, I’ve got some thinking to do.”
I tried to understand what he meant with his comment, but my brain was too alcohol addled to process things properly. “I better go.” I stood and stumbled, nearly going over the railing of his balcony.
Kit grabbed me by the back of my shorts and pulled me back into the chair. “I think for safety’s sake, you better crash here. You can share with me. The sofa doesn’t pull out.”
That was the last thing I remembered until the urge to hurl woke me, and I rushed into the bathroom. Kit came in with water, and there I was, leaning over the toilet. What a way to start the day.
I glanced down to see I was in my red briefs and nothing else. I had to wonder where my clothes ended up and whether anything had happened that I’d want to remember. I stood from the bathroom floor. “Where’re my clothes?”
Kit chuckled. “You jerked the bucket off the table when you decided you were going to the penthouse and spilled cold water all over both of us. Your shorts, my shorts, and your T-shirt were soaked, so I hung them on the balcony railing to dry. Let me get your stuff.”
He stepped onto the balcony and returned a minute later with my shorts and T-shirt. “They’re still a little damp, but they should get you to your penthouse without a problem.”