CHAPTER NINE
MATTI
No sooner has the last room service cart delivering our breakfast buffet been rolled out of the cabin, than my crew shows up, Knox leading the way through the freshly vacated entry.
“I smell waffles,” he says, loud enough for Jason to hear, who wanders in last, dragging an extra-large suitcase along which I’m guessing isn’t his.
Outside of a proper greeting involving words and hugs between me and Kenley, everyone else mostly just grunts their hellos and heads straight for the food.
Hunger outweighs the need for conversation until we’ve cleared at least half of the buffet.
“Just to be clear,” Jason says as he’s serving himself up a third Belgium waffle, “we can do our own thing while we’re here? You don’t need us to do anything specific outside of showing up?”
I nod, taking in the sight of my bandmates and Kenley packed around the dining room table, all here on a moment’s notice just because I asked. “Your job is complete. By all means, do the dude ranch thing. Or don’t. Whatever floats your boat.”
“Oh, I’m doing the dude ranch thing,” he muses, turning his attention from me to Cass, who’s sitting directly across from him. “We can book a private trail ride. They’ll pack a picnic basket for us too if we want. I was reading about it on their website.”
Cass stops short of popping a strawberry in her mouth. “You’re serious. You want to go for a romantic ride on horseback complete with picnic?”
He grins. “At sunset. Somewhere with a view.”
For a second there, she’s practically glowing. Then, her suspicious side gets the better of her. Her smile falters. Her eyes narrow. “Why?”
Jason doesn’t take offense though. If anything, I think his grin is getting broader. “Because the most romantic thing we’ve done all year is make out inside the beer cooler where we shared our first kiss. I’d like to think we can do better.”
“Your first kiss was in a beer cooler?” Kenley interrupts, looking wholly invested in the current conversation while she holds a half-eaten biscuit two inches from her mouth, like she’s so enamored with Cass and Jason’s attempt at having a healthy relationship, she forgot she was even eating it.
“Yep,” Cass confirms, trying to sound unimpressed at the mention of it, but the smirk curling the corner of her mouth gives her away. “One of those big, walk-in coolers for the kegs. That’s where it happened.”
“Tell me,” Kenley goes on, using her biscuit to point at them both while she talks, “how does one wind up making out in one of those?”
“Yeah, let’s hear that story,” Knox adds, pushing away an empty plate and leaning back in his chair. “I’ve always wondered how that came about.”
“I have not wondered,” I add, reaching for my cup of coffee. “But I probably should have considering I’m the one who caught you two sneaking out of the beer cooler.”
Knox briefly stares at me before all eyes land on the pair. Waiting.
“You wanna tell it?” Cass asks, gesturing for Jason to go ahead. “You were kind of the driving force behind that beer cooler kiss.”
He snorts. “Sure. We’ll go with that.”
She gasps indignantly. Then smirks and noticeably, doesn’t utter even a single word to contradict him.
“So, House of Rock, two years ago.”
“Wait, House of Rock, as in the same House of Rock where Knox and I met?” Kenley’s eyes widen, both intrigued and delighted.
“One and the same,” Jason confirms.
“Huh. And it’s how Arizona met Winston. It’s like that place is lucky for love or something.”
Knox eyes her, grinning. “Cooking up some new story for a romance novel over there?”
She shrugs, trying to look coy. “Maybe.” Then she points at Jason. “Let’s see what sort of material I’m working with first.”
“As I was saying,” Jason chuckles, getting back to his story, “we’d just finished unloading and setting up the stage.
Everything was all ready for soundcheck.
At least, for me and Cass. Knox was still fussing with his guitars.
Light guys were still running around, and obviously, Matti wasn’t out there yet, though I don’t know what he was doing.
” He waves his hand like it doesn’t matter one way or the other.
“Anyway, Cass and I had been doing this dance for months, like we both knew things had shifted between us. For the first time in all the years we’d known each other, we were finally both single at the same time, but neither one of us had the balls to make a move. ”
Cass scoffs. Then rolls her eyes, as if conceding to his assessment of their shared cowardice.
“So, there we were,” Jason goes on, gaze locking in on his woman, the same fervent look in his eyes he always gets when they’re cast on her.
Provided they’re not in the middle of shouting at each other.
Though even that doesn’t always stop him.
“She was wearing this sexy leather corset in electric blue with tight black jeans and those crazy stilettos no one should be able to walk in let alone play the drums in, and I had that moment, you know,” he turns away from her to face me and Knox, “where you realize you’re going to lose your mind if you don’t make a fucking move and make her yours? ”
Knox smiles slyly, arm stretching out behind Kenley as she turns to meet his gaze. “I’m familiar.”
Her face flushes red in an instant.
“I’m pretty sure I have a memory of such a moment,” I agree.
“Well, that’s where I was that night.” Jason goes back to staring at Cass.
Her cheeks are filled with the same shade of pink Kenley’s still wearing on her face, and I can’t help wondering if this conversation would have triggered the same reaction in Ness.
Would it still make her blush, knowing I wanted her this way, this intensely, right from the start? That I still do now?
“I was all set to drag her off into some private corner and just lay it all out, totally confess my feelings and take a chance, but then – ” he holds up his finger, “Cass came sauntering over to where I was standing by the stage, busy trying to work up my nerve. And she said, ‘I think something bit me on the mouth. Do my lips look swollen to you?’”
“What?” I gape at Cass, shaking my head.
Meanwhile, Knox is working up to a roar with his laughter.
Jason just finishes his tale, every bit as smug as he started it. “And that’s when I took her hand and ran to the first place with a door I could find – in this case, the beer cooler - and kissed her.”
“What is wrong with you guys?” Cass demands, clearly appalled by our reactions. “I thought a freaking spider bit me and his reaction was to drag me off into an ice box to cram his tongue down my throat. I don’t know why you’re all acting like I somehow initiated that!”
“Because you totally did!” Knox says, still laughing at her.
“No, I didn’t!” she insists, cheeks turning crimson now, burning through the soft blush they were before.
“Yes, you did,” I counter back. “And you stole Nessa’s line to do it.
” I chuckle, still caught off guard hearing she used that line.
“That’s exactly how Ness coaxed me into kissing her when we were teenagers.
First, she claimed something bit her mouth, then she wanted me to check it out for swelling.
Next, she asked me to touch it to see if it felt puffy or hot.
And, well, I think we all know where things went from there. ”
Cass crosses her arms. Her nose twitches. Her mouth presses together tightly. “I didn’t realize you all knew that story.”
“It’s my story!” I laugh.
“I forgot where I heard it, okay? But fine,” she sighs, surrendering at last. She even smiles again by the time she’s looking at Jason. “I made a move on you first.”
He reaches across the table to take her hand. “Trust me, you only beat me to it by a minute or two.”
Talk of minutes draws my eyes to the time.
“Oh, shit.” I scramble up from my chair to get away from the table.
“I signed up for some introductory barn orientation thing. Vale texted me last night to tell me they were all going this morning and to get my name on the list.” I look around the table.
“I reserved three spots in case anyone else is interested?”
NESSA
“Everyone ready to head out?” Vale calls into the kitchen where most of us are still sucking down breakfast in some form or another.
“Just about.” I tap the side of the coffee maker as if that will somehow make it brew faster. I was late getting to it this morning and missed my chance at the first pot.
“Is that the only cup you’re going to use now? Like, the whole time we’re here. Every time you have coffee?” Roni remarks snidely from the fridge where she’s busy putting away the last of the bagel toppings she spread out on the table as her contribution to breakfast this morning.
I look at the mug in my right hand. It’s the perfect weight and size.
Sturdy enough to tackle mornings with you, but not too bulky to wear out its welcome in the palm of your hand.
Big enough to stop you from emptying it in one long sip of coffee, but not so big your coffee gets cold before you finish it.
And, to make it that much more enjoyable, it has the words ‘Yeehaw state of mind’ on it in big swirly letters, which makes it beyond cheesy and thus my new favorite coffee mug.
So, yes.
“I like this mug. Plus, it’s the only one that’s going to satisfy my caffeine needs in one serving,” I point out just as the coffee maker beeps signaling a job complete.
I didn’t brew a full pot this go-around.
Just enough for me and Tori. She always claims she doesn’t like coffee. Until she sees me with mine.
It took a few times before I recognized the pattern, but now I always plan ahead.
“There are plenty of other cups here you could use for that,” Roni points out.
I could argue with her, but instead, I just hold up the small, handwritten note I found in my gift bag last night, along with the perfect coffee cup.
The mugs here suck. ~ Matti