Chapter 28
Ari
I’m dead.
I had to have died and gone to the afterlife.
Nothing has ever felt so good, so right, as waking up with Erica in my arms after making her scream my name all night long.
I can hear my phone going off somewhere in the room and I know I need to crawl out of bed and answer it, but the thought of breaking the comfortable cocoon we have should be illegal.
“Make it stop,” my little siren grumbles into where she’s snuggled into my chest, and I can’t help but chuckle.
Tucking her in as I peel myself from her, I find my phone responsibly plugged in on the table. One of us must have done that on autopilot at some time in the night.
Sure enough, the guys are blowing up my phone. It’s time to get ready for today’s show. Groaning and making my way over to where Erica is still buried beneath the blankets, I lean on the bed next to her, pulling the blankets down enough to find her sweet face.
“Hey baby, I’ve gotta get ready to head to the venue. You take all the time you need and I can have a car come get you, or you can stay in and rest if you need to recover.” I barely keep myself from laughing when she lunges from under the covers to attack me for suggesting she not come to the show.
“I do not”—covers thrown—“need to recover from last night.” She swings her legs off the bed.
“I am not some precious princess”—jumps to her feet, stomping to show she means business—“that needs to be babied”—stomps to the bathroom—“just because you”—slams the bathroom door—“ROCKED MY WORLD ALL NIGHT!” she yells through the closed door and I pretend not to hear her snort laugh when she’s done.
Smiling, I shoot a text off to the guys to let them know that I’ll be there with Erica as soon as she’s ready. If she wants to be with me, there’s no way I go anywhere without her. We still have loads of time and the guys can hold down the fort until we make it.
I knock and holler through the bathroom door that I’m going to run to my room to get my stuff, swiping her room key off the table on my way out so I can get back in.
Hand in hand, we make our way out of the hotel and into the car that will take us to the venue.
This is the way I’ve always wished it could be.
Though, I wish we’d had time to shower together.
From now on, we share a room . . . hopefully.
My mind is racing with all thoughts of Erica.
She squeezes my hand as we sit in the back seat of the car, and offers me a dazzling smile when I turn to look at her.
“Where’d you go?” she asks sweetly, and it warms my heart that she’s not feeling insecure in my distraction.
Offering her an ornery smile, I reply, “Well for starters, I wish we’d had time to shower together.
” That adorable blush spreads across her face.
“And I’m hoping you’ll stay in my room with me from now on.
I just . . . I can’t imagine having to lie in a bed by myself now that I’ve shared one with you. ”
Her eyes sparkle and I really hope that’s a good sign. “I’ve been told I can be hard to live with.”
There’s no hesitation when I scoff. “You were never the problem.” Lifting her hand still wrapped in mine, I kiss her knuckles while maintaining eye contact.
“I steal all the blankets.” She tries to offer me another excuse.
“Still don’t care. Just think about it. You don’t have to answer now.”
I thought it would be easier to focus once I had Erica, but the distraction is only greater.
Now, I loathe every moment I have to spend away from her.
Even when she’s standing in her spot on the side of the stage, with her arm linked through the lady from LocTique’s arm.
Her wife on her opposite side. All of them smiling.
Erica, with that smile on her face while she watches me sing.
When the show is over, we’re bustled through to do the VIP experiences. I make it a point to lavish her in kisses, and maybe a few gropes, before I go handle meet and greets and pictures with about a hundred fans.
I take the couple with me. They wave and say their goodbyes to my girl, who I know is tired from being with people for an extended period of time. She curls right into her spot on her chair.
While I’ve recently found some of these VIP events to be tedious, I don’t have the same nagging feeling to get away from everyone. Sure, I’m antsy to get back to my girl, but it’s not an itchy, irritated feeling like it had become before her.