Chapter 4 Mabel #2
I shrug and toss the rope across the room again. “It’s not like you’d have to do the planning, though. You can hire someone.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“What do you think?” I turn to look at Levi. “You’re the groom. Do you have a preference?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. I’d do it anywhere. I’d do it right here, right now. I just want to marry her. North Carolina. Scotland. LA. Makes no difference to me.”
I smile. “That’s a good answer.”
“He’s no help,” Sav says with mock irritation before blowing her fiancé a kiss. “There are pros and cons to all of them. Doing it in LA would be so much easier, but—”
“But then she’d feel obligated to invite everyone she knows,” Levi cuts in, and Sav flares her eyes.
“But then there’s that.”
“Never thought THE Sav Loveless would have so many friends,” I tease.
Sav smirks. “Upside of sobriety is that I’m not going to take a swing at someone or fuck their boyfriend while on a bender. Downside is that I’m now more approachable and passably kind.”
“I hope I’m alive when they make your biopic.” Brynn throws herself onto the couch and drops her wet head into Sav’s lap. “It’s going to be so messy.”
“You weren’t supposed to hear that.” Sav laughs and shoves Brynn’s shoulder. “Get off. Your hair is soaked.”
Brynn sits up with a loud, dramatic sigh.
“You forget I used to sneak-read every article I could find about you.”
“I didn’t forget,” Sav says, shooting a glare at Levi. “I just choose not to think about it.”
Levi shrugs. “Trust me. I’d have stopped it if I’d known.”
I laugh. They’re lucky Brynn is a good kid. If she wanted to break a rule or ten, they’d never know. She’s too smart, and if she ever decides to use those smarts for the wrong things, Sav and Levi are going to be so fucked.
“How’s the pool?” I ask, looking from Brynn to Red and back. “You weren’t there very long.”
“Unwanted guests,” Red says.
Sav shoots from her seat and heads straight for the hotel phone. “I’ll call hotel security.” Savannah puts up with the paparazzi hounding her, but when they bother Brynn, she goes all snarly momma bear.
“Not paparazzi,” Brynn says. “Worse. Caveat boys.”
“Oh.” Sav exhales, and I watch as she transitions out of fight mode and slinks back into her usual, laid-back self. Sharp as razor blades to smooth as water. “Well, that is unfortunate.”
“I left once Ezra and Crue decided to have a cannonball contest.”
“Smart,” I say with a nod.
“Actually, Boss, this is great. You can meet with Aurora now.” Sav plops back onto the couch and grabs her cell phone from the side table. “I’ll text her. Go hose off and get dressed.”
Brynn groans. “Sav, do I have to?”
“Brynnlee.” Levi’s tone bucks argument. “Your courses start in a week. You can’t put this off.”
“I hate new people,” she grouses.
Sav and I share a glance as we both force down the instinct to laugh, then I throw my arm over Brynn’s shoulder, ignoring her wet hair.
“Aurora is pretty cool, Boss. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“You talked to her? What’s she like?”
An image of Aurora fills my head, and my stomach does another little flip. I catch my eyebrows just before they slant downward.
What’s she like?
Every word that comes to mind seems inadequate for some reason.
Like no matter what I say, it will fall short, and that makes me uncomfortable.
Nervous in a way that mirrors guilt. But I shouldn’t feel guilty.
Aurora is attractive; there’s no denying that.
A lot of people are attractive. My whole band is attractive.
My bandmates’ partners are attractive. I am literally surrounded by attractive people all the time.
It’s just a fact, and there’s nothing wrong with objectively acknowledging a fact.
I’ve done nothing wrong.
“Mabes.” Brynn’s voice pulls me from my thoughts as her hand waves in front of my face. “Earth to Mabel.”
“Yeah?” I force a smile, ignoring Sav’s eyes. I don’t want to see any assumptions in them.
“I asked what Aurora was like.”
“She’s...” I shrug. “She’s interesting.”
Brynn frowns. “Interesting?”
“Yeah.” I shrug again. “Interesting. Nice. She’s nice.”
I almost want to laugh. Of all the words flying around in my head, interesting and nice are what I chose. They aren’t enough, but I don’t offer Brynn anything else. I bite my tongue, then stand from the couch.
“I’m heading back to my room. I’ll see you guys later.”
Sav doesn’t throw any questions at me, and that’s nerve-racking. She’s too good at reading me, and right now, I don’t want to be read.
“Be nice to your tutor, Boss.”
Brynn rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling, so with a wave to the room, I let myself out of the suite.
Then I run smack into Aurora.
The collision knocks us both off balance, her breath leaving her on an ooof.
My hands wrap around her biceps, and she grips my waist, her fingers sinking into the exposed skin where my corset doesn’t reach my skirt.
I feel heat radiate out from her touch, covering every inch of my body, and when her eyes pop open, she lets out a little gasp that I feel on my lips.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to...I didn’t see you...I should have been watching—”
“You’re good. I wasn’t watching where I was going either.”
I should let go of her, but I don’t, and she doesn’t let go of me either. She just stands there, hazel eyes bouncing between mine, mouth open just slightly, pink blush spreading from her cheeks to her neck to her collarbone.
“Did I hurt you?” she asks on a breathy whisper.
“You didn’t hurt me.” I brush my thumb over the soft, warm skin on her arm. “I don’t think you could if you tried.”
Her mouth curves into a small smile and her expression lights with humor as her nose does that cute little scrunch thing again.
“Are you saying I’m not intimidating?”
I shrug. “That might be what I’m saying.”
“I could be.” She narrows her eyes, lips twitching like she’s trying to keep her smile from widening. “If I wanted to be.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
We stay frozen like this, currents of something passing between us, the eye contact making my pulse speed up.
I’ve always been a sucker for eye contact, and it’s gotten me in too much trouble in the past. Then loud laughter sounds from beyond the door to Sav’s suite, and we break apart.
My arms drop to my sides as hers fold across her midsection, and she makes it a point to look at everything in the hallway except for me.
“Anyway. So. Um. Sav texted, so...”
“Right. You’re meeting Brynn.” I take a few steps backward so I’m no longer blocking her from the door. “She’s nervous, so take it easy on her.”
Aurora lets out a breath of laughter. “No worries there. I’m nervous, too.” She brings her eyes from the carpet to my face. “I don’t have much experience with kids.”
“Honestly, that’s probably a good thing. Boss isn’t like most kids.”
She glances at the suite door and nods, inhaling deeply through her nose before exhaling slowly, her pink lips forming a perfect little O.
“Any advice?”
“Just be yourself.” I smirk. “As long as you don’t want to be intimidating, you should be fine.”
Another tinkling laugh from her. Another stomach flip from me. Then she turns back to face me and locks her eyes with mine.
“Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
“Oh, I almost forgot.” She pulls a keycard from a pocket on her dress. “Here. I didn’t realize I had it until I was leaving to come here. Otherwise, I’d have found you sooner.”
I take the keycard, careful not to brush her fingers with mine.
“Thanks, Roar.”
She blushes. “My uncle is the only one who calls me that.”
“Do you not like it?”
“No, it’s not that. I just...Well, I guess it sounds different when you say it.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “Different good or different bad?”
She traps her lips between her teeth again before slowly rolling them free. Then her eyes flit shyly back to mine, and she gives me a small, almost playful smile.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
A smile of my own stretches across my face.
“Well, when you decide, let me know.” I take a few steps backward, down the hall toward my room. “And don’t worry about Brynn. I think you two will get along just fine.”
I take three more backward steps, holding her eye contact, and then I turn. When I reach my door, just before I step inside my new suite, I glance over my shoulder to find her watching me. On impulse, I wink, and as I shut the door behind me, I swear I hear that tinkling little laugh again.