Chapter 51
Chapter fifty-one
Cole · Now
Dear Maria (Count Me In) – All Time Low
Hendrix spins in the chair, my ball cap twisted backwards on her head, my hoodie hanging off her long frame, and the teeniest fucking black shorts I’ve ever seen clinging to her arse.
Turns out, when she isn’t trying to hide secret ink, she loves showing off those long, tattoo-sleeved legs of hers.
I shift on the couch and down my icy water in one. Not that it does anything to ease the heat swirling through my veins.
I close my eyes, only to snap them open as the reminder of all the ways Hendrix and I christened this room last night races through my mind.
I’d be more than happy to live in the memory, if not for the fact that everyone and their fucking nan is crammed into the live room right now.
I wrestle my gaze away from Hendrix’s legs and force myself to focus on Riley.
She sits cross-legged on the floor, rolling a squishy ball between her palms. Her nose wrinkles, lips twist, and eyes crease as Hendrix cranks the volume, sending a cracked, distorted lick vibrating through the speakers.
Any doubts I had about Riley being anything less than impartial disappear.
“I’m not feeling confident, right now,” Hendrix says. “That is not the reaction one would hope for.”
I grin. “Bet you wish we’d gone with Carter now.”
“Not even a little.” She smirks, but her gaze flickers to the door, eyes dimming.
Even though she hasn’t said anything, I know she’s reeling over the fact he practically ran out the room when we finished recording the songs this morning.
I know he’s just taking a minute to figure it out, but if he could move quicker, that would be great.
Riley shudders as a static riff vibrates the speakers.
Hendrix chuckles. “My ego is really taking a blow right now.”
“Who knew you were so needy, Rix.” Saint reaches out and tugs her hair.
She hisses and swats him away. “Piss off.”
He pinches her thigh. She scowls.
He tugs her hair again, and she launches herself off the swivel chair, tackling him sideways on the couch.
Saint hisses and pushes her towards me. “Fuck! She just fucking bit me. Cole, get your girl.”
Laughing, I reach for Hendrix’s hips and tug her onto my lap. “Behave, Rixie.”
“That’s what he gets for being a twat.” A shit eating grin splits her face.
Saint sneers. “How old are you right now?”
“Younger than you.” She whistles.
Axel gives me a look.
I just grin as Hendrix shuffles on my lap.
My body vibrates at the feel of her. Not sure anything gets better than this. Not sure how it could. I squeeze her hips when she shifts backward onto my stirring erection, halting her movement.
She swipes a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh.
Riley’s gaze stays fixed on the ball in her hand as the final riff rings around us.
Axel starts to say something but Hendrix shuts him up with a sharp shake of her head. He snaps his mouth shut and arches a brow. Hendrix ignores him, her fingers drumming on the back of my hand as she watches Riley.
Riley looks up then, her eyes creasing as she tilts her head. “I didn’t hate it.”
“Yes! High praise, indeed.” Hendrix claps her hands and jumps off my lap. She crosses the room and drops down next to Riley, mirroring her position on the floor. “You want a minute before we play Cole’s?”
Riley shakes her head. “No. I’m good.”
“Okay.” Hendrix tugs her phone out. “Now remember, Riles, I am your favourite person ever.”
I hike a brow, my pulse hammering at the grin she sends me.
“Pretty sure I’m Reebok’s favourite these days,” Axel says, sliding onto the couch next to me.
Hendrix smirks. “Keep dreaming, dude.”
“I’ll have you kno…”
She slams her thumb on her phone screen, eyebrows raised smugly as he’s drowned out by the same starting riff as before.
At the sound of my voice cutting through the music, her gaze collides with mine. She winks. And fuck if my whole universe doesn’t shift.
Any doubts I had about me and her figuring this out completely blow to shit in a quarter beat. She’s still that girl. Still my girl.
Riley bounces her knuckles off the floor. Nose twitching, she peeks at me for a half second, her mouth quirking on one side. “I like these lyrics more.”
“Nooo!” Hendrix groans and throws herself backwards on the floor. “Don’t say that.”
“Would you go as far as to say they’re superior, Riles?” I ask.
My lips curl smugly as Hendrix flips her middle finger in the air. “Fuck. You. Dude.”
“Later, Rixie.” I tut, smirking when she pops up on one elbow and peers at me. “We’re in public, dude.”
Saint scoffs. “As if that’s ever stopped you two.”
Hendrix falls back, choking on air as she slaps her hands over flaming cheeks.
Riley giggles, Saint claps a hand on my shoulder with a chuckle, and Axel slides onto the couch next to me, grinning wildly.
We haven’t exactly announced to the world that we’re… well, I’m not sure what we are, really—dating? hooking up? husband and wife in a year, if I’ve got anything to say about it—but we’re not hiding this thing, either.
Not sure I believe in fate, or all that spiritual shit, but I do know there isn’t a universe out there where I wasn’t meant to be hers.
“So, baby girl,” Axel says.
Hendrix pushes up on her elbows. “What?”
“What’s the plan?” Axel asks, resting his head on my shoulder. “You two finish the album, we record the album, then what? Are you hanging around here a while longer?”
She chews her bottom lip, the ball catching between her teeth.
“Maybe.” She lifts a shoulder. Her eyes flick my way, the corner of her mouth twitches, and then she faces Axel and Saint. “Might flip between here and Chesterton for a bit, if that’s okay with you guys?”
Yes.
“But what about your commitments?” Axel asks.
“I do indeed have some I’ll have to follow through on.” A smirk curves her lips. “But, I happen to know these four dudes who might be open to me renting their mixing desk when I’m in London.”
“That can be arranged.” Axel nods, his expression mirroring hers. “And when you’ve done with all that?”
“Dunno.” She hums, thoughtfully. Gold glints around her pupils and sparks flicker through me. “It’s been a while since I’ve chased dreams, maybe that’s a good place to start.”
“And where are those dreams taking you?” I ask.
She nails me with a look. “Guess we’ll find out when we get there.”
We…
My heart skips a fucking beat.
“You gonna chase dreams with me, Rixie?”
The most beautiful grin I’ve ever seen flashes over her face “If you’re up for having me along for the ride.”
Scrap what I said about a year.
Six months at most until she’s mine forever.
Hendrix and Saint lounge on my couch, guitars in their laps, playlist shuffling the most out-of-pocket songs they can find.
Saint trills the strings of his Fender. Hendrix thumbs her Pacifica. Barbie Girl spills through the amps they stole from the studio.
Smoke curls in the air, thick and sweet, from the joint hanging lazily between Hendrix’s plump lips.
I pop the cap off my beer and kick my legs up on the coffee table. There’s no way I’m joining their jam session. Sure, I can play a pretty melody, but keeping up with those two when they’re locked in? Not a chance.
I’m happy to just revel in my girl and my best friend finding their groove again.
The song changes. Hendrix doesn’t miss a beat, her hands shifting easily on the neck as she follows the new melody.
I grin.
Even well on her way to stoned, she’s a master of the instrument in her hands. Her eyes flutter closed and she pulls in a slow drag before Saint snatches the joint from her.
She pouts.
He sticks it between his teeth as she reaches for it. “Sharing is caring.”
“I’ll share something with you,” she mumbles.
“Aw, did you hear that, Cole?” Saint smirks, hiking a brow as he looks my way. “Your girl wants to share.”
Hendrix scowls. “That’s not—”
Saint tuts. “I’m a married man, bestie. Teddy’s the only woman for me.”
“She’s the only woman who can handle you, you mean.” She smirks. “Where is she anyway? I thought Wednesdays were date nights for you two?”
Saint blows out a long stream of smoke, his gaze dipping to the strings as he switches chords. I thumb the rim of my beer bottle. Saint doesn’t need his eyes on the guitar to know what he’s playing.
“She’s gone to visit her ’rents.” He flicks the embers onto the floor.
Hendrix nods, her fingers still moving over the strings as she stares off into the distance.
I’ve no idea if Saint’s filled her in on the gritty details of Theo and her family since Hendrix came back. But she’s always read him better than most, even better than me some days.
Her silence isn’t unsure. It’s how they communicate—how they always have. They talk without words, while the rest of the world screams around them. They’re two halves of a whole, siblings in everything but blood.
Saint clears his throat and snags Hendrix's phone from the coffee table. He tilts his head side to side, clicking his tongue for a second, before punching his thumb over the screen.
“Oh four oh four. Really?” A smug grin curls his lips as the phone flickers to life in his hands. “God, you’re a sappy one, Rix.”
My chest heats. It’s the date of our anniversary. The day she claimed me as hers. She’s been carrying us around in the palm of her hand all this time.
I try to catch her gaze but she ducks her head and angles it toward Saint instead.
“Bet yours is eight, three, three, three, nine,” she mumbles.
“Damn right it is.” He presses his thumb into the screen and Shaggy blares through my flat. “Teddy is the key to unlock all things, Saint. You should know that by now, bestie.”
Hendrix snorts, grabbing the joint from his mouth. “Unlucky lady.”
“Don’t be so rude.” He props his guitar against the arm of the couch. Hendrix lifts hers as he drapes his legs over her lap. “If anyone’s unlucky, it’s Cole having to put up with your prickly arse all over again.”
Luckiest guy in the fucking world, he means.
Hendrix readjusts the guitar, settling it on Saint's calves. “I’m telling Theo you said that.”
“Please do.” He grins. “I like when she gets all teacher on me, she pulls out the ruler and everything.”
I gag. “Fucking gross.”
“No need to be jealous,” he tells me, wagging a brow. “I’m sure Rix will spank you too if you ask.”
Hendrix shakes her head, a laugh exploding from her when she looks my way. “Not my kink, dude. Sorry to disappoint.”