Chapter 17 Jane
Jane
While Keeley slips out after breakfast…in bed…to check in with Wade about the masters situation, I step onto the balcony and FaceTime Riker.
He grins as he picks up the video. “How’s it going? You look happy.”
I roll my eyes but feel my cheeks heating. “I think I am.”
Riker’s face lights up in the biggest of grins. “Fuck yeah you are. I knew it!”
I groan. “Are you going to be this obnoxious for the rest of our lives?”
He laughs. “It must be serious if you’re talking the rest of your lives.”
Heat flushes my cheeks. “You know what I mean.”
“I don’t, exactly. Now, I don’t want any details because I think of you both as sisters so it’s creepy as fuck, but are you good?”
I nod. “I’m more than good.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You are way too excited about this, Emma Woodhouse,” I say. More and more, it feels like I brought the correct book on this trip.
He grins again. “You don’t know the half of it.” I suspect this isn’t the first time he’s meddled.
“Was there ever really going to be a retreat?” I demand.
He raises up a hand in surrender. “Yes, okay! When I got the call that Jared’s wife was going into labor, I decided this was a perfect opportunity to, I don’t know, push you in the right direction.
But for the record, I’m also responsible for getting Valerie and Caleb together last summer. Or at least, a tiny bit.”
I roll my eyes, because of course he is. “Sure you did.” Those two are meant for each other, and I don’t think any external influence could have kept them apart…or pushed them together.
But he’s not deterred. “I maaaaaay have called the hotel we stayed at before the reunion concert and asked for adjoining rooms for our lead singers. Thank god I never got any details, but you can’t tell me that didn’t nudge things along.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re incorrigible.”
“But you love me!”
“Despite my better judgment,” I say. “So how was the show, anyways?”
He shrugs. “It was playing with Lime Velvet. I have fun with those guys, but I still always feel like the little kid who is tagging along with the grown-ups. Did you know they all have kids now? Lake and his husband have the twins, and even Paulino and his fiancée had a baby last year. It’s weird to see everyone settling down. ”
I nod. “I get that. Nora is getting married and I still don’t know how I feel about it.”
“That’s still so wild to me,” he says, as if I didn’t have a full-on panic with him about it after I first got the news. “She’s like…what, nineteen?”
I sigh. “She’s twenty. I’ve been wanting to make sure she’s okay, but I don’t know if she wants to hear from me. She didn’t even tell me about the engagement or ask me to be in the wedding. That was all Mom.”
Riker groans. “I’m sorry, that fucking sucks. Have you tried calling her at all? Maybe she’s nervous about your reaction and waiting for you to reach out?”
I blink, because I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. “Oh my gosh, you’re right. I sent flowers, but I should probably at least try to text her too.”
He nods. “You should. So…”
“Yeah?”
“You taking Keeley as your plus-one?”
I blink at him, shocked by the suggestion. Even just the thought makes my heart race. In a different world, maybe…“Riker, we just got together last night. I’m not going to ask her to do that. And besides…”
His face grows solemn. “You can’t take her as your date to a Mercer family function. It would be a bloodbath.”
I nod. “Or they just wouldn’t acknowledge her. Either way, it’d be terrible.”
“God. I’m so fucking sorry your family is a mess. I wish you had more support from them.”
“Right back at you,” I say, because while Riker may not have the religious trauma, his home life was no less complicated. I think it’s why we’ve bonded so much. We both needed family at the same time, so family we became. “At least we always have each other.”
“Fuck yeah we do.” He laughs. “Did you know Caleb and Valerie came to my show last night and tried to embarrass the hell out of me? Like proud parents and everything. They sat with MK and made a sign and shouted my name a hundred times.”
I raise a brow. “Mary Kate was there?” Mary Kate Hampton is the Buzzword reporter who has been following the Glitter Bats since we first went viral. She’s my age, and she and Riker have carried on an obvious flirtation for the past decade.
It’s supercute, actually.
Riker raises his brows. “I can hear you thinking it, but there’s nothing going on there.”
“That’s a lot of protesting for someone who wasn’t asked an actual question.”
He flips me off. “You’re impossible. Just because you’re all coupled up now doesn’t mean I have to be. I’ve known for years I’m destined to be the fifth wheel in this band. It’s almost a relief now that it’s finally happening.”
“Whatever you say,” I say.
“I mean it!” he says.
“Okay. I should go, though. Keeley and I have a spa day planned.”
He grins. “Let me guess: facials, couples’ massages, followed by…more couples’ massages?”
I gape at him. “You said you wanted no details! You’re being gross.”
“I’m not being gross. I just want to make sure you’re having a good time. If that means finally banging it out multiple times with the girl you’ve been in love with for more than ten years, more power to you. Honestly, I’m in awe of your manifestation skills.”
My eyebrows raise. “This conversation is getting weird.”
“Go get some!” he calls, like he’s across the room. I just laugh and hang up.
When I step back into the suite, Keeley is already back, sitting cross-legged on the sofa while sipping a fresh cup of coffee. She raises the other one for me.
“Got you another cup,” she says.
“Bless you,” I say, walking over to her and eagerly taking a sip. “It’s chilly out there.”
“I was wondering where you disappeared off to,” she says.
I chuckle. “Riker is taking full credit for whatever is going on here.”
Her jaw falls open. “You told him about us?”
And…oh. I guess I didn’t even hesitate. “Not exactly, but I didn’t really have to?
It’s like he knew, somehow…” I trail off at the look of shock on her face.
“Is that okay? I know I said we should keep things quiet, but I assumed the band is an exception. But I’m really sorry, I should have asked you first, and—”
She shuts me up with a hand over mine on my coffee cup. Carefully, I set the mug down and lock my gaze onto hers. Keeley is smiling, so wide and brilliant that I couldn’t look away if I tried. “Jane, I love that you told someone about this. That makes it feel…real, you know.”
I nod, chest warming. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve been so afraid that once we get back to LA, it’s not going to feel like this is actually happening, but I want it to.”
“Me too,” she says, leaning in for a kiss.
I press my lips to hers, and she tastes like the faintest hint of coffee, and it somehow turns me on even more.
Before I can stop myself, I’m moaning into the kiss, pressing up against her, desperate to get back to where we were last night.
Maybe it’s time to make good on my promise to go down on her.
I want to know how all of her skin tastes.
She laughs into the kiss, pulling back. “God, Jane, you have no idea how much I want you right now, but we need to leave soon if we’re going to make it for our reservation. We’re booked for most of the day.”
I pout. “But I can think of ways to relax right here.”
She chuckles, then nudges me to turn around.
Confused, I follow her lead, but then I soften as she tugs my sweater off my shoulders and those long, capable fingers dig into the knots in my muscles.
“We can do plenty of that after we get mud wraps,” she kisses my neck, “manicures and pedicures,” she kisses lower, “facials,” she presses one to my cheek, “and a two-hour long aromatherapy and massage session for two, followed by champagne, chocolates, and an uninterrupted hour to enjoy them together.”
I sigh as she continues to trail kisses down my spine. “Who knew you were such a romantic?” I murmur.
She hums gently, whispering into my skin. “I can be romantic as fuck, but only for you.”