15. Nick #2
“Yeah.” I hurried over to him and perched on his lap. He stiffened but didn’t make a move to push me off. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
He shrugged, his eyes still shrouded with hurt. “It’s fine.”
“It’s just…things have been really crazy and I wasn’t sure what this was and…”
He slung his arm over my shoulder and pulled me in for a one-armed hug. “It’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay. You’ve been so distant and squirrelly lately, I was worried about you.”
“I’m fine. Just getting used to dating someone who’s an adult who adults.”
“Translation?” Kai asked.
“Oh, I know this one.” River put up his hand like we were back in school. “He’s dating someone who has his shit together and has a really important job that he’s good at. Older, definitely hot, and rich as fuck. Am I right?”
“Nailed it.”
He winked. “And I’m gonna add that he’s fire in bed.”
“You know it.” I held up my hand for a phantom high-five.
He did the same and we mimed high-fiving.
“How rich?” Knox asked. “Are we talking millions, or…”
“Yes.” I grinned.
“Damn, Nicky,” Kai complimented. “Good for you.”
“Yeah, you get that bag.” Dash didn’t look up from his phone.
“I hate to be that guy, but maybe we should start rehearsal?” Blaze suggested.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked Gray softly as the rest of the guys agreed with Blaze.
“No.” He kissed my cheek. “But that thing when you were being followed, what was that? Are you really okay?”
“That was…a misunderstanding. Evan, that’s my boyfriend, his friend was checking up on me and I overreacted when I saw him because I didn’t recognize him until he got closer.”
“Are you sure that’s all it was?”
“I’m sure. And I’m sorry I scared you. Things have just been so insane lately. I’ve been staying with Evan in Seattle and—”
“You’re already living with him?” Gray exclaimed.
I shook my head. “No, no. I’ve just been crashing at his place since it’s easier than having to commute to see him.”
“You’re sure everything is okay?” Gray asked again.
I slid off his lap. “Yup. All’s good— Jesus !”
River burst out laughing as I stumbled back from Zane, who’d come up behind me and scared the ever-loving daylights out of me when I turned around.
Gray steadied me as Zane stuck his phone under my nose. “Is this your guy?”
I looked at the screen and the photo of Evan and Emily on it. “How the hell did you figure that out? I didn’t tell you anything about him.”
“You told Gray his name is Evan and said he lives in Seattle. Wasn’t hard to find him based on that.”
“The FBI or the CIA or whatever agency deals with spy stuff should have recruited you years ago. You’re one scary dude when you do that shit. You know that, right?”
He winked and graced me with a rare smile. “Just looking out for you, kiddo.”
“Thanks, babes.” I pecked a kiss against his cheek. “You okay? Your face is extra grumpy today.”
“Fine.” He shrugged and looked away. “Just dealing with an asshole at work.”
“Not this guy, I hope.” I poked Gray in the butt.
He jumped and let out a surprised squeal.
“Nah.” Zane whipped off his shirt. “A new guy.”
“What did he do?” I tugged off my hoodie.
Like Zane, I’d layered my workout gear under my street clothes so I didn’t have to bother changing before rehearsal.
“Exist.” Gray snapped his rolled-up shirt at Zane’s ass.
Zane didn’t flinch as it smacked him.
“Exist?” I asked when no one elaborated.
“Zane doesn’t like Rath but can’t give anyone a reason why,” Gray explained. “So he pretty much hates the guy for existing.”
“Rath?”
“His last name is Rathbone,” River said. “And since we love nicknames on the crew, he’s Rath.”
“Bone.” I snickered. “What’s his first name?”
“No clue. But it’s probably something stupid like Brett or Hayworth.” Zane laid his phone on a nearby table.
“But what’s the real reason you don’t like him?” I asked Zane.
“His face is stupid.”
Gray and I traded a look.
Zane wasn’t great at using his words, but he wasn’t as moody and angry as everyone assumed. He was guarded as fuck and didn’t trust anyone who hadn’t proven themselves to him. Once he did trust you, he would protect you with his life, no questions asked.
But, he was also one of the most stubborn people I’d ever met, and once he got an idea in his head, it was nearly impossible to change his mind.
If he’d decided he didn’t like this Rath guy, then one of two things would happen.
This guy would reveal himself to be whatever had triggered Zane’s instincts, or we’d find out the dude was harmless and hadn’t yet figured out that you didn’t touch murder kittens’ toe beans or try to give them belly rubs.
Either way, this guy was in for a rough go. I needed to get all the tea from Gray later.
River was staring at his phone and frowning. “You okay?” I asked. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” He put his phone on the table next to Zane’s. “Had a date tonight but she canceled.”
“Shit. I’m sorry. That sucks.”
He shrugged and stripped off his jeans, leaving him in a pair of tight capris. “It’s fine. I kinda figured she was going to. We made plans to meet up last week, but she stopped messaging me back a few days ago.”
“Did she at least want to reschedule or have a good reason?”
“Nope.” He smiled, but it wasn’t his usual buoyant one. “Last time I checked she’d left me on read. Just looked again and she unmatched me. Message received.”
“Seriously?” Gray asked. “How long had you been talking?”
“Only a few weeks. At least she didn’t stand me up. That’s way worse than being ghosted. I need to stop telling girls I strip.”
“Is that usually when things go sideways?” I asked.
River was one of the sweetest and happiest guys I’d ever met, even with his murder-kitten tendencies. He was also drop-dead gorgeous, loyal to a fault, and would happily give anyone the shirt off his back if they asked.
Even with all that going for him, he had the worst luck when it came to dating.
He wasn’t the best at understanding social cues, and that made having text conversations with people he didn’t know difficult.
He wasn’t the dumb jock people assumed he was and didn’t deserve to be constantly ghosted or stood up because people couldn’t look past the surface and see what an amazing person he was.
“Usually. It’s weird because some girls are super into it at first but then they seem to change their minds and suddenly it’s a problem. Or they do what this chick did and just go dark.”
“Anyone who can’t accept all of you isn’t worth your time,” Zane said in that soft voice he reserved for River.
“If she has a problem with your job, that’s on her.
Not you. You’ll find your person, but she obviously wasn’t it.
Better to learn that now and not after wasting time or energy on trying to build on something that isn’t there. ”
“Yeah. I know.” River smiled, this time a real one. “And it’s not like I’m not used to this. I’m fine.” He glanced at Blaze, who was glaring at us impatiently. “We’d better start before Daddy gets mad.”
“I heard that.”
“Sorry, Daddy.” River winked.
“I thought I was Daddy?” Gray punched him in the shoulder. “You cheating on me?”
“Only ’cause you cheated first and started banging your stepbro.” River punched him back.
“Yeah, I’m going to need all the story time on that.” I poked Gray in the side.
He pinned me with a flat look. “Only if you tell me yours.”
“Deal.”
“Are you done lollygagging?” Blaze griped.
“I’ll give you something to lollygag on.” River grabbed his own crotch.
Blaze opened his mouth like he was going to correct him, but just shook his head in defeat.
“Good one.” I held up my fist for River to bump.
“Whore,” Gray teased. “I thought I was gonna be your big bi experiment? Now you’re offering the goods to Blaze? You wound me.”
“You can have firsts.” River slung his arm over Gray’s shoulder. “Blaze can have sloppy seconds.”
“I’m honored,” Blaze drawled.
“As you should be.”
“Can we get star—”
“Okay, enough chatter,” River cut off Blaze with a grin. “Time to get to work.”
Blaze threw up his hands. “It’s like dealing with overgrown toddlers.”
“Don’t be mad, Daddy.” River blew him a kiss.
“I’m going to laugh my ass off if you end up having a mommy kink.” Kai came to stand next to River. “Ever give that a whirl?”
“Been there, done that.” River shrugged. “Not terrible but not my thing.”
“Hey, Nick.”
“Yeah?” I turned to Zane.
“You said you were going to show us that new combo and dismount you’ve been working on.” Zane pointed to the stage.
“Oh yeah.” I bounded over to the stage and jumped up on it. “It’s basically floater to ninja to shoulder-mount roll to floor splits, but with extra transitions so it looks like a drop combo.”
Gripping the pole in my hand, I pushed off the floor and jumped, starting the momentum I needed to get into my first spin.
“HOLY JEEPERS!”
The room exploded with laughter as I nearly flew right off the pole from the unexpected speed.
Most poles had two modes—static and spinning. In static mode, the pole stayed stationary and you spun around it, but in spin mode, it spun with you.
Last week the stage pole had gotten stuck in static mode, so that’s what I’d been expecting. Spinning poles were easier to work with, but they were a flying hazard if you tried to use them like a static one.
I managed to get my feet under me and stay upright as the pole twirled me around like a top, but it wasn’t pretty.
“Did you know it was on spin?” I asked the twins, my heart racing from adrenaline. That was one way to get the blood pumping.
“Maybe.” River bit his lip.
“Yes,” Zane answered at the same time.
“And you didn’t think to warn me that Biggs fixed it?” I tried to glare at them, but it was half assed. That had been funny as hell, and I’d have done the same thing to them if I’d thought of it.
“I did, but this way was far more amusing,” Zane deadpanned.
“Sorry not sorry.” River cackled.