“Tomorrow,” I promise.
“Okay.” She pulls away and gives me a little shove toward my apartment. “Go to practice.”
I back away from her, heading home, then change my mind and take her face in my hands. “One more for the road,” I say before I kiss her, and she laughs.
“Get out of here,” she tells me, pushing me away again with a smile.
“To be continued,” I tell her, and finally force myself back to my place.
When I get back to my place I’m feeling extremely sexually frustrated and in desperate need of some alone time before band practice, but Lucas and Amanda are there hanging out.
“Hey guys,” I say to them, and start to head for the privacy of my bedroom.
“I thought you were hanging out with Gemma?” Amanda says before I make it there.
“I was, but I left. We have band practice.” I need to keep my story consistent.
Lucas looks confused. “Practice isn’t for another couple hours I thought?”
“I have stuff to do.”
Lucas and Amanda exchange a look. I continue heading for my bedroom.
“So what time is this thing tomorrow night?” I hear Amanda ask Lucas.
“Oh I don’t know, like seven we’ll head down there? I’ll have to ask Max.”
I pause in my room and leave the door cracked enough so I can hear their conversation. It sounds to me like they’re all making plans without me, which is rude.
“This Pete Crawford guy better be good. You know how I feel about open mic nights.” I hear Amanda say.
“He’s good, you’ll like him.” Lucas replies.
That’s when I shove my door open and barge back into the living room.
“I did not just hear you make plans to go see Pete Crawford tomorrow night, and I sure as hell did not just hear you say he’s good.”
“Jesus Christ, Spence,” Lucas says, startled by my sudden entrance.
“Seriously Lucas? You let Max talk you into this?”
“It’s not a big deal, Spence,” Lucas says placatingly. “He’s playing an open mic night and we made plans to go see him.”
“Oh so you’re all going? That’s fucking great. Were you going to tell me or just do this behind my back and hope I didn’t find out? Is this all some ploy to kick me out of the band and replace me with Pete fucking Crawford?” I fume.
“No, of course not,” Lucas says.
“Well I’m coming tomorrow,” I inform him. “And Gemma is coming with me.”
Lucas and Amanda exchange another look.
To hell with all of them.
I storm back into my room and slam my door behind me. I’m still feeling frustrated, but in a whole new way, for a whole new reason now.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gemma
Spence called me all worked up this morning basically demanding I accompany him to Pete Crawford’s open mic night tonight. I already knew all about it, of course, because Amanda ran right home and told me what happened.
“What’s the deal with him and this Pete Crawford guy?” Amanda asks me. “Why does he hate him so much?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t realize he did hate him this much.”
“All this drama is making this open mic night sound ten times more fun, at least. Maybe there will be a fight.”
“Amanda. I do not want there to be a fight tonight. Don’t even suggest it.”
“You just don’t want Spence’s pretty face to get messed up,” she says.
“No, I don’t.”
“What’s going on with you two, anyway?”
“I have no idea.” I sigh. “We still haven’t had sex.”
“You haven’t?” Amanda exclaims.
“No, it’s like he’s purposely avoiding it. It’s so weird. I’m beginning to think something is actually wrong with me. Like he knows it’s going to be bad.”
“Gemma, no,” Amanda admonishes. “I’m sure he wants to have sex with you. I mean, you’ve done other stuff, right?”
“Not really,” I say, embarrassed. “I mean, we’ve made out, but that’s it. He always stops things before they go any further.”
Amanda frowns. “Yeah, okay, that’s a little weird. Just, you know, because it’s Spence. He’s supposed to be this sex god. What kind of sex god doesn’t want to have sex?”
“I don’t know, but every possible reason I come up with is worst than the last.”
“Well, you don’t have to wait for him to make the first move, you know,” Amanda points out.
“I have. I’ve done everything short of yelling ‘have sex with me!’ in his face.”
“Maybe you should try that.”
I make a face at Amanda. “And what if he says no?”
“Then you need to straight up ask him what his deal is.”
“Ugh.” I groan. Nothing about this situation with Spence has been what I expected. At first I didn’t want anything to do with him because he reminded me too much of Boomer. The more I get to know him, the more it seems like my first impression of him was wrong. Him not wanting to have sex is making me self-conscious, though. I’m too scared to ask him outright what’s going on, even though I know it’s the easiest way to make sure I’m not getting myself into another Boomer situation. I’m just not sure I could handle it if it turns out I’ve been reading this whole thing wrong.
“You don’t have to let the guy be in charge all the time, Gems. You get a say in what happens between you and Spence, too.”
“I know that.” I sigh.
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” Amanda says.
“Me either.”
“Oh hey, I have some good news though!” Amanda says. “My company is opening up internship applications for the summer. Get your resume ready.”
“Internship?” I say, trying to hide my frown. “I thought you said there was going to be a permanent opening in your department?”
Amanda grimaces. “Yeah, sorry. I thought wrong. But the internship will be great! It will get your foot in the door and we know you’ll be so good they’ll offer you a full-time spot in the fall.”
“Fingers crossed,” I say, trying to sound excited.
This has been the plan. I go and work at the same agency as Amanda and we take the company by storm. Lately I’ve been questioning if that’s what I really want. Hearing Amanda talk about work doesn’t make it sound very appealing. I get that it’s a job and it’s work and it shouldn’t be fun and games all the time, but I’m not interested.
I should be interested, because I have zero other prospects on my radar. If I don’t take this internship what am I going to do? Be a bartender for the rest of my life? That feels so pathetic. But I have no idea what else I’d do.
“Don’t worry, it will all work out,” Amanda says, before heading into her own bedroom.
Amanda, Lucas, Max and Sophie carpool to the bar where open mic night is, but Spence and I head over alone. He’s still miffed that Lucas and Max planned this outing without consulting him.
“What’s the deal with this Pete Crawford guy anyway?” I ask him on the ride over. “Why do you hate him so much?”
“Because he sucks,” Spence replies, matter-of-fact.
“Is he a better musician than you, is that it?” I know I’m poking the bear, but I can’t help it. It’s kind of amusing seeing how easily Spence gets worked up about this guy.
“He is definitely not a better musician than me and I’d better not hear those words come out of your mouth ever again, Gemma Kincaid.”
“Okay, okay,” I laugh. “I guess I’m about to find out anyway.”
Spence gives me a dirty look out of the corner of his eye.
When we get to the bar it’s crowded, but not as crowded as Kincaid’s gets when Losing Streak plays. We head up to the bar and Spence immediately insists I do a shot with him to calm his nerves. Once that’s done and we have drinks in hands, we head off to find the rest of our friends, one of us more begrudgin
gly than the other.
“Did you find out the deal with Spence and this guy?” Amanda asks when we find them.
I shake my head. “Nope, he won’t say.”
“He seems like he’s in a shitty mood tonight,” she says, jutting her chin toward where Spence is standing off to the side, brooding.
“He is in a shitty mood tonight. Which is I’m sure why he wasn’t actually invited.”
Amanda waggles her eyebrows at me. “I’ll bet I know how you could fix his mood.”
“Knock it off,” I say, rolling my eyes.
A few other people are up before Pete, so we all hang out drinking for awhile and listening to the music. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either.
Spence starts to cheer up a little after a couple more drinks.
“You want another one?” He asks when he sees my drink is empty.
“Yeah, sure,” I tell him, and he nods and heads up to the bar. I watch him go, and as he waits for the bartender I see a girl walk over to him.
She slides up beside him, way closer than she needs to be. To his credit, he scoots over to give her space, but she just moves closer to him again. Then she says something to him. I assume Spence must answer her, because she laughs. She has a drink in her hand, so I don’t even know why she’s standing at the bar. She holds it up to her mouth and grabs the straw between her teeth and looks up at Spence. He glances down at her and smiles, and I see how she reacts to his attention. And I don’t like it.
I can’t help but think he’s mine.
Even though he isn’t, not really. And probably won’t ever be.
The bartender finally gives Spence the drinks and Spence nods at the girl and walks away. The look of disappointment on her face gives me a sick sense of satisfaction.
“Here you go.” Spence hands me my drink.
“Thank you.”
“Pete’s up next,” he grumbles into his beer.
“Don’t be a grouch,” I tell him.
“I’m sorry,” he says, moving closer to me. “This isn’t a very good date.”
“Oh, is this a date?” I slide the hand not holding my drink around his waist.
“Do you want it to be a date?” he asks, his voice lowering an octave.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t quite meet the same standard as the last date we went on.”
Spence throws his head back, groaning, as he puts an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side.
“I really shot myself in the foot with that date, didn’t I? I’ll never be able to top it.”
“Stop being a grouch and maybe this date will end up better than you think,” I say to him, hoping it came across as seductive as I wanted it to.
Finally Pete Crawford takes the stage, and I stand on my tiptoes trying to get a good look. He isn’t bad looking. He has sort of a rugged thing going on, with messy brown hair and stubble on his jaw. I see the appeal, he is kind of hot.
Pete Crawford plays, and he’s actually pretty good. I don’t dare tell Spence this.
After his set is done we all clap politely, even Spence. Pete leaves the stage and makes his way over to Lucas and Max. I can feel Spence tense up beside me.
Pete says hello to everyone and then turns to Spence.
“Hey, Hurley. How are you?”
He’s perfectly polite. I’d been expecting outright hostility. Or for them to completely ignore each other.
“Pete.” Spence barely acknowledges him.
He turns to me next and holds out his hand. “Hi, I’m Pete.”
“Gemma,” I say, putting my hand in his.
“Nice to meet you, Gemma. Thanks for coming tonight. How do you know these guys?”
“Oh we’re neighbors,” I say, at the same time Spence says “She’s my girlfriend.”
Girlfriend? That isn’t a word I ever expected to hear from Spence’s mouth. I’m trying to stay cool, but I’m sure Pete can see how shocked I am. I glance over at Spence but he looks completely unfazed.
Pete Crawford, on the other hand, looks like he just won the lottery.
“Girlfriend, huh?” he says. “You’re really going down that road again?”
Spence is silent. He won’t look at me or Pete.
“One girlfriend going to be enough for you this time? Or are you looking to steal someone else’s? I’m single, so unfortunately it won’t be mine again.”
“Shut the fuck up, Pete,” Spence growls.
I’ve never seen Spence so mad. I didn’t even know he could get mad. He’s usually charming and cheerful.
“What’s going on?” Max comes over just in time. The tension between Spence and Pete was becoming palpable.
“Just catching up,” Pete says. He’s staring daggers at Spence and Spence is still resolutely not looking at him.
Max starts a conversation with Pete, and I take the opportunity to grab Spence by the elbow and drag him away. Open mic night is over and music is pumping through the bar’s stereo system now. Amanda and Sophie are singing and dancing along with it while Lucas watches them, amused.
“Hey,” I say, tugging on Spence’s arm. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Spence says, but is body is tense under my hand and he won’t make eye contact with me.
A lot just happened very quickly, and I don’t even know where to begin unpacking it all. It all feels like a touchy subject, so I choose the one that’s less awkward for me and go with it.
“What was Pete talking about back there? Something about you stealing his girlfriend?”
“Forget everything he said,” Spence snaps. “We never should have come tonight.”
“Does the girlfriend stealing have something to do with why you hate each other?”
“Gemma, I really don’t want to talk about it. Can you just drop it, please?”
I want to press him more, to hear the entire story that Pete was alluding to, but Spence looks so upset I bite my tongue.
“Okay, well, what about the thing that you said?”
Spence’s brow furrows and he gets defensive. “What thing I said?”
It feels like my heart is beating in my throat. Did he mean to call me his girlfriend, or had it been a slip? This is the moment of truth, and I’m scared about what he’s going to say. “The way you introduced me to Pete.”
Spence’s expression softens. “Oh. That.” A shy smile appears on his face. “Sorry I sprung that on you. I didn’t want Pete hitting on you. Is it okay that I called you that?”
It feels like I should give more thought to this. A tiny part of my brain is saying I shouldn’t be getting involved with yet another playboy, thinking he’s going to be different. But a much louder part of my brain is thrilled beyond reason that the guy I like likes me, too.
“Yeah, it’s okay with me,” I say, and I can’t keep the silly grin off my face.
Spence lets out a whoosh of breath. “Thank god, I don’t think I could have handled it if you’d said no.” He pulls me into him and kisses me, all traces of his anger at Pete melting away the more we kiss.
He tastes like rum and ginger ale. The bar is warm and the back of his neck is a little sweaty and sticky. The way Spence kisses me is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. The novelty still hasn’t worn off, and every time his lips touch mine my whole body feels like it’s on fire, in the best possible way.
That annoying voice at the back of my mind is still pestering me, telling me I should press him more about the Pete Crawford story, but I ignore it.
I got the guy. He wants me. And my god, I want him so, so badly.
“Spence,” I say, pulling away from him. He chases me with his mouth but I dodge him. “Take me home.”
“What?” He looks down at me, concerned. “Are you okay?”
“I’m very okay,” I say, hooking my fingers into the front pockets of his jeans and pulling him toward me. I give him a meaningful look. “And I want you to take. Me. Home.”
“Oh,” he says, catching on. �
�Are you sure?”
I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him again, pulling on his lower lip with my teeth. “Positive.”
He grabs my face and kisses me again, hard, then pulls away and gives me a serious look, still with his hands on my face.
“Let’s go.”
We don’t say anything to the others. He takes my hand and leads me out of the bar.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Spence
Nervous excitement crackles between us. When we get inside the building it’s like a scene out of a movie—we can’t keep our hands off each other. I promised myself I would wait until Gemma was absolutely ready, and by some miracle, despite all the bullshit that happened tonight, she still wants me.
I’m not about to look that gift horse in the mouth.
We’re trying to kiss and get up the stairs, bouncing off the railings and walls and laughing like idiots. Finally I lift her up and carry her the rest of the way, kissing her neck as she wraps her legs around my waist and snakes her fingers around the back of my neck. I don’t put her down until we’re in her bedroom, the door closed and locked behind us.
She tugs at the hem of my shirt, trying to pull it over my head, which is comical since there’s no way she can reach that high. I help her out and pull it the rest of the way off. She pauses to look at me for a moment, and then she painstakingly slowly takes off her own shirt.
I step over to her, my mouth finding hers. My hands slide up her back, her skin turning to goosebumps under my fingers. I unhook her bra in one swift movement, sliding the straps down her shoulders, exploring with my hands. We’ve been here before, that day in my living room.
Thinking of that is almost enough to stop me. Almost.
This is it, the point of no return. God, I hope I don’t fuck this up. Pete Crawford came so close to ruining this entire thing for me tonight.
I start to move toward the bed, and she walks backwards, following my lead without releasing her mouth from mine. When the back of her legs hit the mattress she sits down and scoots backward. I follow, climbing onto the bed and hovering above her, leaning my mouth down to hers to kiss her deep and slow. One of her hands clutches at my waist while the other is on the back of my neck, pulling my mouth into hers.
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