Chapter 54
Chapter fifty-four
Cole · Now
Thriller – Fall Out Boy
The scent of sizzling fajitas fills my kitchen as Axel shoves through the front door.
Hendrix has gone all out for her first dinner.
I told her we could just order in. It’s not like the rest of us bother cooking. Can’t remember the last time anyone stepped foot in a kitchen at one of our weekly dinners.
It stopped being about the food a long time ago.
Now, it’s just another excuse to cram into someone’s flat and hang out. Between studio time, movie nights, and dinners, we’re together more than we’re not.
Co-dependent? Yeah, probably.
Changing any time soon? Fuck no.
Pretty hard to separate when you’re this deep into doing life together.
“For you.” Axel pushes two tequila bottles into my hands before he plucks a spoon from the open drawer and dips it into the home-made salsa. His eyes widen as he presses it to his tongue. “Fucking hell fire. This is the shit. If you don’t wife Rix up asap, I’m gonna slide in and do it myself.”
He reaches for the pot again.
“Don’t double dip, you twat.” I shove him out the way. “God knows where your mouth has been.”
He snorts and grabs a Corona from the ice bucket. “Nowhere, unfortunately.”
“And why is that?” I hike a brow, a smirk lifting the corner of my mouth. “I can’t remember the last time you went this long without a shag.”
“No reason. Just not feeling it.”
“Hmm.”
He keeps his expression blank as he looks at me. “What?”
“Nothing.” I shake my head, chuckling under my breath. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with the pretty red head currently staying across the hall, would it?”
He snatches up a tea towel and flicks my bicep with it. “No. Riley and I are friends, thank you very much.”
“If you say so.”
Pretty sure Axel has never had a friend outside of us that he hasn’t ended up banging.
“I say so.” He whistles as his beer cap sails into the bin.
“Why are you here anyway?”
“Bored. I was supposed to be on terror duty, but Theo took them to the dance studio.”
A tutting sound comes from the doorway.
Axel spins to the intrusion, grinning wide when Noah steps into my place.
She props a hand on her hip, arching a brow. “Are you lot still calling my babies terrors?”
“Always.” Axel bounds across the room and drapes his arm over her shoulders. “Hey, Mumma. Didn’t know you were back.”
“Just a flying visit. I wanted to see my babies before we head to Italy next week.” She grins up at him.
Dressed in all black, tattoos covering her neck and hands, fire-red hair twisted into some kind of half-up do, she looks every bit the metal guitarist she is.
“Figured I’d stop in and say hello while I wait for them to get back," she says.
“You staying for dinner?” I ask her.
“Tempting.” She sniffs the air, lips twisting in amusement. “But I don’t trust you guys to cook after Saint gave me food poisoning when I was four weeks post-partum. Never did forgive him for that.”
Axel clicks his tongue. “I warned you.”
“You did, and I should’ve listened.” She bumps Axel’s shoulder, laughing as she shrugs him off.
She saunters through the space like she owns it. She always does when she’s around. Even though she and Carter never tried to make a romantic relationship work between them, she’s been a part of this family since the day she rocked up with that pregnancy test and threw all our lives into disarray.
Doesn’t matter that she has her own family in her band In Stasis, she’ll always be one of us.
She nudges me out the way and peers into the fajita pan. “That actually looks edible. There’s no way you guys cooked this.”
“Rude,” I say.
Not that she’s wrong. Fuck knows I can’t cook for shit.
Hendrix trusting me to watch her dinner while she’s gone to pick up a blender for the margaritas might be the biggest mistake she’s ever made—including dumping me. She’ll be lucky if she’s not serving charred chicken later.
Noah only hums as she plucks a piece of chicken from the pan.
I grab her shoulders and guide her out the kitchen while she chews.
“No more eating the food.” I spear Axel with a look as he tries to slip past me. “Rixie will murder me. She’s already on edge about this whole dinner thing. I don’t need you lot fucking it up for her.”
Noah jeers. “I knew you didn’t cook it.”
I blob my tongue at her and push her into the lounge.
A creak cuts through the air as the front door swings open.
I crane my neck as Hendrix stumbles over a loose shoelace, before freezing in the doorway, blender dangling from her fingertips.
She blinks, her gaze darting between me and Noah.
Her mouth pops open but she slams it shut.
Noah tenses, her voice low as she whispers, “what is happening right now?”
I watch Hendrix for a long moment. “I have no idea.”
“Your girl the jealous type?”
“I don’t think so.” She never was before. I release my hands anyway and hold them open in the air. “But maybe move away just in case?”
Noah inches forward.
Hendrix doesn’t move an inch, but a muscle in her cheek jumps.
I tilt my head. “Move away quicker, Noah.”
Noah grunts. “I’m trying to not make any fast movements.”
“Rixie.” I close the distance between Hendrix and me, and brush my knuckles along her cheek. “Are you okay, baby?”
Her gaze doesn’t stray from Noah who halts like a deer in headlights.
Maybe after ten years apart, my girl is the jealous type…
“Holy fuck!” Hendrix’s voice is pitched higher than I’ve ever known it. “You’re Noah Pierce.”
Noah nods slowly, her eyes wide as she stares at Hendrix. “That’s me.”
Hendrix tips her chin up and glares at me. “You've never told me you know Noah fucking Pierce.”
“Well, I…” I puff a breath. How do I explain the fact she’s the twins' mum without telling Hendrix about the twins? “It’s complicated?”
“Complicated?” she deadpans.
I shoot a look at Axel who just grimaces.
Fucking Carter.
“The thing is—”
A loud laugh escapes Hendrix.
She shoves the blender into my hands and bumps me out of the way with her hips. “This is the best day of my life.”
Wait, what?
“Huh?” Noah squeaks, lips twisting when Hendrix bounds towards her.
I shake my head, realisation washing over me. “You’re not jealous.”
Hendrix pauses and glances at me over her shoulder. “Why would I be jealous, dude?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Okay then.” Her brow knots. She scans my face before lifting a shoulder and turning back to Noah with a grin. “Hi. Omg. Huge huge fan.”
“The fuck is happening right now?” Axel asks.
“I think,” I watch Hendrix as she flails her arms wildly, her mouth loving a mile a minute. I’ve never seen her so animated, “Rixie is… Star struck.”
Noah grins. “I’m a huge fan of you, too.”
“You know who I am?” Hendrix huffs a laugh.
“The infamous Hendrix Moore? You’re kidding right.
Your work on Reckless Abandon's first two albums is fucking legendary. Everybody knows of you. The guys' never stop bragging about the girl who made them. I’ve been asking Carter for years if he could try and put me in touch with you. I’d love to work with you. ”
Hendrix shifts on her feet. “They talk about me?”
“All the freaking time.” Noah laughs. “If you ever decide to get back into songwriting for real, there will be a long line of artists waiting for you.”
Hendrix swallows hard, her eyes misting as she blinks fast.
“Just make sure In Stasis is at the top of that waitlist, yeah?” Noah winks. “I’m hella intrigued to see what you can do with us.”
Axel makes a noise as Hendrix and Noah talk quietly among themselves
“Anyone else feeling all kinds of unimportant right now?” he asks.
“Uh-uh.” I gape as Hendrix practically bounces to the coffee table and snatches up the notebook she left there this morning.
“Rock star, you got a pen?” she asks without looking at me. “I need Noah’s autograph.”
I point to the end of the lounge. “In the TV cabinet.”
I drop the blender on the kitchen counter before joining Axel on the couch. “She ever asked for your autograph?”
“Not once.” Axel chokes and throws his head back with a garbled groan.
The door swings open again.
I twist my head as Saint lounges in the doorway, his head cocked, stare locked on the two women. “Why is Rix shoving a sharpie in Noah’s hand?”
Axel groans again.
Saint hikes a brow when he looks at me.
I wave a hand in the air. “Rixie is a fan girl.”
“Noah too, apparently,” Axel says, blowing air into his cheeks. “Carter wasn’t lying when he said she’d try and steal her from us.”
I chuckle and shake my head as Noah holds a business card out to Hendrix. “Pretty sure we’ve lost her already.”
“Rix!” Axel shouts.
Hendrix spins on her heel and pushes the business card in her back pocket. “What?”
“You want my autograph, baby girl?” He peeks at her through one eye.
Her lips tug into a frown. “Why would I want your autograph?”
“Never mind then.” He whines, throws his head back, and slings an arm over his face.
Hendrix brow creases as her gaze dances over us. “Why are you all staring at me like that?”
“Baby,” I say, my lips curling into a grin. “You’re a fangirl.”
“Am not.” She frowns.
“You are, and it’s quite adorable, actually.”
“Speaking of fan girls…” Noah clears her throat and pins me with a look. She flicks the ring in the middle of her lip, blue eyes gleaming as she tilts her head to where Hendrix is showing off her autograph to Saint. “I need to go talk to Carter, there’s something we need to do.”
I flex my fingers, the air thickening in my throat. “Now?”
“Now.” She nods, a soft smile curling her lips.. “I think it’s time, don’t you?”
I grin. “Well past, Noah.”