Chapter 10
FLINT
“Flint, are you hanging with us just to avoid more wedding talk?” Cole sat before me in the tiny patch of gritty sand on the stony beach, attempting to make something that resembled a sandcastle for Charlotte. She was farther down the shoreline in front of Slip and Maddy’s house with a bucket in hand, exploring the rocks with Ava, Tia, and Josh.
Lewis, on his hands and knees, patted and smoothed the pebbly mounds Cole had made, trying to make them look like towers. Slip lay beside me, sun baking on the stones. Yeah, this is no Californian Beach. But being here on Bowen Island was nice for a change. The private stretch of the shoreline may have been small, but the water was crystal clear. I could handle mountains and trees and being on an island for a few days. Over the past seven months of our hiatus, the four of us hadn’t had many opportunities to hang out together and just do nothing. We hadn’t sat in the same room and played music as a band.
That sucked.
But chilling was good. This was what I needed.
Bowen Island had turned on the sunshine and warmth for the Fourth of July weekend. We may not have been in the States, but we were here to celebrate .
I leaned back on my beach towel, closed my eyes behind my sunglasses, and turned my face toward the sun. The bright rays warmed my cheeks and heated my skin. The gentle ocean waves teasing the shoreline soothed my racing mind.
“I’m not avoiding wedding talk...I justneeded to get out of the house.” Who was I kidding? Yes, I needed a break. Since I’d proposed three months ago, Sutton had gone wedding mad. Tying the knot was exciting, and I looked forward to our big day, but now every conversation focused on the occasion. It was doing my head in. We’d hired Quill to take care of the details. It should have been stress free. But it wasn’t. So while Sutton and Maddy were at the market, I’d jumped at the chance to spend time with the guys. “And yes. I needed a breather. Our wedding isn’t until May, but Sutton wants everything done now.”
Slip play-punched me in the arm. “Makes getting married in Vegas on the spur-of-the-moment sound better by the day, doesn’t it?”
“Fuck yeah.” I couldn’t argue. He and Maddy may have had the right idea. “You should see my house. Half the living room has turned into a shrine to all things wedding.” Fabric swatches, piles of magazines, and pictures had taken over every surface. Sutton had even bought a carry-on bag full of magazines and folders on this trip to show Maddy.
“What did you expect?” Slip ripped off his shirt, then shaded his sunglass-covered eyes with his arm . I smirked and shook my head. His physique certainly hadn’t suffered during his time off. He was more buff than ever. He could give Cole a run for his money in the abs department. But then...so could I. Slip peered at me from underneath his arm. “Sutton’s been itching to marry you since you moved in together. She’s just excited.”
“I am too.” I drove my hands into the gritty sand and let the tiny stones fall through my fingers. Sutton used to calm the chaos in my mind—now she was causing it. “But I don’t care about picking colors, decorations, and flower arrangements. It’s more her day than mine. I’m happy to wear what I’m told to, rock up at the set time, and be done with it.”
“You can’t do that.” Lewis cut out windows in the stony towers with a stick. “It’s your fucking wedding, man. You’re only planning on doing this once, so suck it up. Be involved. It’ll make her happy.”
My head wobbled into some form of a nod. “Yeah, I know. It may kill me, but she’s worth it.”
Just thinking about Sutton brought a smile to my face. I’d promised her the wedding of her dreams, so I had to ensure she got that. Rather than dwelling on tasks that didn’t interest me, I’d suck it up, make the process fun, and be infected by her contagious excitement. I’d do whatever she needed me to do. Easy, right?
Fuck! I hope so.
“Sutton is more than worth it.” Cole slammed another bucket of gravelly sand next to his ever-growing castle. It was now two-foot square and getting bigger. “I don’t think we’d be sitting here if it wasn’t for her.”
“She’s helped us through a lot. She’s stuck around, and I don’t plan on letting her go.” A small grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. Sutton had gotten under my skin since the day I’d met her. Now she was tattooed on my soul. I was hers. And I wasn’t afraid to admit that. “Anyone who puts up with my shit is a keeper.”
“We all put up with your shit.” Chuckling, Slip rolled onto his side and propped his head on his hand. “That’s what we do and will always do. But enough about weddings. What else have you been up to?”
I was more than happy to change the subject. I scooped up another handful of gravelly sand and squashed it into a ball. “I’ve been gardening. Cleaning. Cooking. Going to occasional work meetings and events with these two idiots.” I jutted my chin toward Lewis and Cole. “...And I’ve been writing.” I carefully placed my ball of sand on top of Charlotte’s castle, but it collapsed. Yep, not sand. “I took your advice, Slip, and considered other projects. When Sutt and I were in New York a couple weeks ago, I met with Everhide. They’ve signed two new artists and asked me to write some songs. I’ve been in my studio, working on new material, but nothing has clicked. It doesn’t feel right. Music isn’t the same without you guys.”
I’d lost touch with my creative spark when Phil died, and I was terrified of that happening again. I respected everybody’s need for a rest after touring. I wasn’t an asshole. But this break was killing me. I craved to be back working on music with these three guys, my band. Patience wasn’t my forte. I’d give them time off until the end of the year as planned, but not a moment fucking longer. Otherwise, I’d be giving them an ultimatum, like they’d given me.
“I wish I had time for music.” Cole stuck a stick into the top of one of his sand mounds like a flagpole. “With Harper away on vacation with Sloane, I spend most of my days with the kids. By the time Ava and I get up and she goes to work, I feed the kids, dress them, play with them for a bit, then it’s time to repeat everything for lunch and dinner. It’s a full-time fucking job. I can’t wait for Harper to come home at the end of the summer. I need to get back behind my drums. It’s killing me. An hour playing here and there isn’t enough.”
“Maybe not, but you love playing dad. Don’t deny it.” Lewis patted and smoothed sand over another section of Cole’s castle.
“I won’t. But you, my friend...” Cole pointed a pebble-covered finger at Lewis. “Enjoy your freedom while you can. Parenting is exhausting. In eight months when your baby comes, you’ll know what I mean.” The biggest smile spread across Cole’s face as he glanced towards the kids, exploring some rocks. “But it’s the best job ever...next to drumming and playing with you guys.” An even bigger smile spread across his face when Ava waved at him and blew him a kiss. I chuckled, stoked their relationship had settled over the past couple of months.
Cole turned to me. “I’m glad you’re getting in the studio, though. If you write any good songs, let us know. We get first dibs, okay?”
“Always.” Our dibs rule used to be over girls—now it applied to songs. Music was much easier to deal with than women. “But you’ve nothing to worry about. You guys are the only option. So anytime you want to jam, let me know. I’m always down for that.” I yanked the rim of Slip’s baseball cap lower over his eyes. “That includes you.”
“Thanks.” He tapped my hand away. “But fuck off.”
I just laughed. So did he. “Never.”
“I’m glad you’re not moping around.” Slip sat upright and realigned his cap and sunglasses.
“God, no. I’m busy.” I’d made sure of it. I didn’t want to slip into bouts of depression again, or hit the bottle hard, or lose my connection with music. There was too much to live for. Thanks to these guys...and Sutton. “Since I can’t even seem to stop talking the wedding for very long, there is one important detail we need to discuss. We need to plan my bachelor party.”
“Leave that up to us.” Cole dusted the gravelly sand off his hands. “There is only one option, and that is Vegas. It will involve strip clubs, lots of tits, booze, and partying until dawn.”
Slip nodded as he threw us a sly grin. “I’m all for scantily clad women dancing on stage, but let me tell you, the shows Mads does for me are so much better. They’re freaking hot. I swear, I’m going to install a pole in every home we own. Last week, when Maddy put on music and gave me a lap dance... fuck! At strip joints, you have to behave. At home, you don’t. She was naked. And horny. And she went to town on my dick.” Grinning and wincing, he adjusted his crotch. “I swear I got friction burns from her tongue ring.”
“Ouch!” My dick flinched as the thought of pain erupted inside my head. “Is that worse than chafing?”
“Both suck.” He shrugged and winked at us. “But I’ll suffer for the pleasure.”
Lewis arched an eyebrow and hummed low and deep. “ Hmmm . I’m all for a bit of pleasure and pain.”
Cole picked up a handful of gritty sand and threw it at Lewis’s chest. “I do not need to hear about you and my sister’s kink fetish.”
“You sure?” Chuckling, Lewis swept off the dirt and shrugged, unashamed of his bedroom escapades. “Tia’s taught me a lot of shit.”
“La. La. La.” Cole covered his ears with his hands. “Nope. Don’t want to know.”
Lewis leaned back on his hands and stretched out his legs. “Never took you to be so vanilla, Cole.”
“Fuck, I’m no missionary-all-the-time guy. But Ava and I don’t need toys, or ties, or tricky shit. My dick, hands, and tongue are more than satisfying. I can get Ava off in a hot minute, but I’m more into endurance and love fucking her for hours.”
“Gotta agree. Long sessions are the best.” Thinking about Sutton naked brought a dirty smile to my face. “Those nights, or days, when you just fuck each other senseless, are the best. You think you’re done, lying in bed, spent, exhausted, and you think your dick will never work again, but your girl gives you a sexy how-about-doing-it-again look, touches your balls or her tits, or flashes you her pussy, and you’re back in action.”
The guys sighed in unison and bobbed their heads. “Yep.”
I straightened my sunglasses and injected a touch of smugness into my tone. “Face it, we’re all pussy whipped, and we fucking love it.”
“I can’t believe I’d ever be saying that.” Lewis puffed air through his nose and grinned. He tilted his head to the side and glanced toward Tia playing with Ava and Josh on the water’s edge. “But yep...I do.”
A loud shriek cut through the air.
Laughing and giggling, Josh and Charlotte ran towards us, holding hands. With one big leap, they landed on top of the castle mounds, stomping and destroying them into ruins.
Cole slumped back on his haunches and mouthed, ‘ Fuck’ . All his hard work, gone in a couple of seconds. He pointed at the pile of sand. “Char, that was for you to play with.”
“I am playing. Josh and I are dinosaurs.” She stomped on another tower, giggling and roaring with each step. “Can you build another one?”
“Please, Cole?” Josh fell to his knees and demolished the last remains of the castle, pushing it flat with his forearms. “Can you make the next one bigger?”
“Nope.” Cole’s second of being pissed disappeared as he grabbed Josh around the waist, tackled him onto the ground, and tickled him. Over their laughter and wrestling, I couldn’t tell who was having more fun, Cole or Josh. Cole reached for Charlotte and dragged her into their play flight. “You’re both monsters. No more castles.” Cole leaped to his feet, brushed the pebbly sand off his arms, chest, and shorts, then held out his hands. “I’m going for a swim. Who’s coming?”
“Me.” Charlotte bounded off the castle remains and clutched Cole’s hand.
Josh scrambled to his feet and took hold of Cole’s other hand. “Yeah.”
It still did my head in how much Cole loved being a father. I loved he was happy. That Charlotte, Ava, and Josh gave him purpose and the love he deserved .
I’d leave them to enjoy their swim.
“On that note, I’d better go up to the house.” I eased to my feet. “Sutt will be back from shopping soon, and we’re cooking dinner.”
“You got it bad.” Lewis shook his head, grabbed the bucket, and filled it with pebbly sand, no doubt to rebuild the castle.
“No, man...I’ve got it good.” I picked up my towel and shook off the tiny stones. I slapped Slip on the shoulder. “It’s good to be here. This place is awesome.”
“Yeah.” Slip nodded. “It certainly is.”
I waved farewell to the girls still ambling along the beach. I looked forward to a quiet night, hanging out with everyone, and hopefully playing a few tunes. But as I walked inside the ground floor of the house and strolled along the hallway to my bedroom, noises made me falter. Sobs? Cries? I opened the door to my room and found Sutton curled into a ball on the bed. Tears streamed down her face. Her bundle of wedding magazines and folders were scattered across the navy quilt.
Change of plan.
My stomach flooded with nausea and hit the floor. I hated seeing her upset.
“Sutt?” I tossed my towel onto the chair, rushed to her side, and squatted. “Babe? What’s wrong? What’s happened ? ” I smoothed my hand over her soft hair, wiped her tears away with my thumb.
“There’s been a fire. Romans. It...it burned down. There’s nothing left. Not a thing. No one was hurt. But...we’ve lost our wedding venue.”
Shit. That wasn’t a part of our plans.
Fuck.
Now what the hell were we going to do?