Chapter Twenty-Two #2
Matt found Gina out on the patio with Katie, Chloe, and Ava, keeping a watchful eye on the little ones who scampered after Chester on the lawn.
Nibbling on focaccia and eggplant, loose strands from the braid down her back blew in wisps around her face.
So fucking beautiful. He often wondered what he’d ever done to deserve to be loved by her, but regardless, she did, and he’d never take that gift for granted.
A hair caught on her lip. Leaning over from behind, Matt kissed her petal-soft skin and pushed it out of the way. “Sorry I was gone so long. You doing okay?”
“Yeah.” Gina smiled up at him. “We were enjoying the music.”
“You could hear it?” He sat beside her with a chuckle.
“The sound was muffled a bit, but yeah, for the most part.”
Tucking that pesky windblown curl behind her ear, Matt kissed her. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
It stopped him in his tracks every time she said it. Not in a dramatic movie-scene kind of way, but in a quiet, ordinary moment that felt like a soft punch to the heart. God help the fucker who did anything to try to take her away from him.
“I just got a text from Dillon,” Jesse announced from across the table. “He landed in Dublin.”
“I should call Linnea.” Bo pulled out his phone. “Get her to come over.”
“Don’t you think I already tried?” Putting her hand on top of his, Chloe stopped him. “She said she wants to be alone.”
“Jesus Christ, then do as she asked, and leave her be.” Taking a seat on the other side of Gina, Sloan set his gaze on the wife of their lead guitarist. “If it isn’t Dillon or Kodiak, it’s you breathing down her neck all the damn time.
How the fuck do you expect her to work through her grief and get on with her life doing that, huh? ”
“Chloe can’t help it.” Stroking her auburn hair, Taylor kissed the top of her head. “You know she’s just trying to help.”
“I know, but this is something Linnea has to do for herself,” he insisted, and looked at Chloe again. “By herself.”
“Not everyone’s like you, Sloan.”
He cocked his head, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “And how’s that, Chloe?”
“People need people.” Resolute, she did not waver. “But you act like you don’t need anyone.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Sloan’s teeth dragged over his lip, and slowly, a contemptuous smile appeared.
“Because I don’t.” Then, disregarding her, he turned his head toward Gina. “So, Trouble, I hear CJ’s been stirring up some shit.”
“CJ?” Ava asked as if she’d misheard, her startled gaze flicking across the table. “Jesus Christ, what now? I thought we were done with him.”
“Seems he’s taken up voyeurism.” Sloan popped the cap off his beer with a shrug. “And photography.”
Gina’s muscles grew tense beneath his fingers, the encounter with CJ apparently weighing on her more than she let on. The motherfucker would pay for this. And friend or not, Tony will too. Squeezing her waist, Matt brought her closer against his side and pressed a kiss on top of her head.
“He told me the pictures he had on his phone were nothing.” Tucked under his wing, Gina turned her gaze toward Ava with a shrug. “And if I didn’t believe him, I should ask you and Chloe. What the hell did he mean by that?”
It was Chloe who answered, “Let’s just say the media can be… unkind. And being involved with Matt makes you fair game.”
“They get off on drama,” Ava said, nodding. “Anything for clicks, you know?”
Staring at the evening sky, Sloan appeared to be somewhere else for a moment. He reached for his beer without looking, then, with a shake of his head, brought the bottle to his lips. “And CJ’s the one who feeds it to them.”
Betrayal discovered too late. And it was Sloan who’d been impacted by it the most.
Despite the hostility between them, Chloe reached for Sloan’s hand. He let her take it. “You’ll have to grow a thick skin, sweetie, and learn to ignore it. They’ll tear the two of you apart if you don’t.”
“Is that why you fired him?” Gina asked.
Brendan scoffed. “He told you that?”
“Yeah.”
“His contract was up.” Taylor rolled his eyes with a shimmy of his head, like the topic of CJ bored him, and knowing him, it did. “We paid him a generous bonus and opted not to renew it.”
“Well, he seemed quite bitter about it.”
“I’m sure he is,” Brendan said, pulling Katie onto his lap. “Venery is looking at a three-album deal with a major label, and as the band’s manager, that would’ve put a helluva lot of coin in his piggy bank.”
“He mentioned that.”
“Fucker made plenty off our backs.” Seething, Sloan drained his beer.
“What else did he have to say?” Brendan, apparently, wasn’t bored.
“Besides Matt’s sexual peccadilloes.” Glancing his way, Sloan muttered under his breath, “Heh, we know all about those.”
Dick.
“Nothing much.” Ignoring the remark, Gina shrugged. “You’ll be sorry. Blah, blah, blah.”
“You need to revoke CJ’s club membership,” Sloan snapped. With his jaw clenched, the veins in his neck twitched. “That’s our safe space, Bren, and if he can come in? Well, that’s the end of that.”
“The Red Door?” Gina asked, glancing up at him. “Is it really a sex club?”
“Sex-positive,” Chloe interjected, correcting her.
“It’s not at all like you’re probably imagining,” Katie said, offering Gina a reassuring smile. “You’ll see.”
“I will?”
“You’re coming to the party next month, aren’t you?” And Katie grinned.
Shit.
“What party?” Poking his side, Gina looked at Matt with sudden focus.
“I don’t know.” Matt took her hand and held it to his pec. “We, uh, haven’t talked about it yet.”
He imagined the delights they could explore together there, and a flush of warmth spread outward from his groin. What would he find when he turned his little bunny inside out?
“We opened the Red Door seven years ago. The club is my baby, my passion project,” Brendan proudly explained. “We hold an extra-special event to mark its anniversary every year—an open house, if you will.”
“Heh, that’s one way of putting it.” And Sloan swiped his tongue across his lip. “But if CJ’s there, I’m out, dude.”
“I can restrict his access,” Brendan offered. A conciliatory gesture. “He won’t be allowed up in VIP.”
“Or down in the pen?” Kit asked hopefully.
Brendan shook his head. “Enjoy your playtime in the club’s private areas.”
“The pen?” Gina repeated, hazel-green eyes widening.
“Is Kit’s peccadillo.” Sloan snickered, and picking up a loose strand of her hair, he twirled it around his finger. “The playpen is a clusterfuck. Picture a sea of writhing, oiled, naked bodies. Bassy boy here is into group activities. He doesn’t care to know who he’s fucking.”
Kit flipped him off. “And you do?”
“Touché.”
“Shut the hell up, Sloan.” Gina would never see the inside of the playpen if he had anything to say about it. “You’re gonna have my girl thinking we’re just a bunch of freaks.”
“But we are,” Sloan said with a smirk, then he rested his chin on Gina’s shoulder. “Wanna know what I think, Trouble? Be bold. Live epic. Life’s way too short to settle for ordinary.”
“So, when’s this party?” Gina asked, a slow smile building.
Glancing at him, Katie winked. “August twenty-sixth.”
“Perfect, I’m not scheduled to work that weekend.”
“Looks like we’re going then.”
Fuck me.
And Sloan grinned. “You’re welcome.”