Fret (The Recoil Rock Series Book 4)

by K E Osborn

  Alex’s eyes open wide as she tries to hide her semi-shocked expression—she looks at me like a deer caught in the headlights. I take a deep breath, wondering how she can find someone being overly sexual that you haven’t even met yet, attractive. To me, it’s just perverted.

  “Wow! Okay, was not expecting that,” she murmurs once she’s recovered enough to talk.

  “Well, the question kinda didn’t leave room for anything else.”

  She scoffs and screws up her face. “Jaci found another way to answer.”

  “True. Is that what you were doing? Testing him?”

  “No, I was just being funny and testing you really.”

  “Testing me?”

  “Yeah, you’re not a pervert are you, Matt?” Alex’s lips turn up in a genuine smile.

  “No, generally not.” I chuckle. “I mean I can be kinky when needed, but a pervert… no.”

  “Good, I’m glad. Okay, what’s our next question?”

  I rub my chin. “Hmm… what about… what do you prefer? Cats or dogs? Make it a bit tamer this time?”

  Alex scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Fine, but you’re chicken shit. You know that, right?”

  “I wear the badge with pride,” I reply as I type into my cell.

  Me: Are you more dogs or cats?

  I hit send as Alex types it into her cell as well, and we sit back waiting.

  “You’re a dog guy right, Matt?”

  “Yeah, you?”

  “Yeah, I like the weird ones, like French bulldogs or those naked dogs—”

  “Chinese Crested… yes, I love that breed,” I say, and we both chuckle as the messages come in.

  Logan: Dog man all the way, the bigger, the better.

  Alex nods, and we look at my cell to see Jaci’s reply.

  Jacqueline: Oh, I just love cats. They’re so agile and calm, unlike dogs that are so chaotic and crazy.

  “Seems like Logan and Jaci are quite the opposite in all things, hey?” I ask.

  “Yeah, well, you wanted a prim and proper woman, and it seems like she’s ticking all those criteria right off the paper for you so far, Matt.”

  I give her a weak smile as I move my arm out, wrapping it around Alex’s shoulders and pulling her to me. I like having her by my side, and we continue through the night texting with random questions that make us laugh while comparing answers.

  We’ve been going for a few hours when a random message from Jaci makes me sit up taller and gasp a little.

  Jacqueline: So, I was wondering if maybe you would like to catch up on the weekend for a date?

  I glance to Alex as she reads the message and her face drops like she’s just as shocked by this as I am. Her eyes blink a little fast, and her breathing quickens, but just as quickly she smiles brightly like she’s trying to compose herself.

  “Go for it! You get along with her well, so why not meet up with her?”

  I let out a long breath as an idea comes to mind. “Hey, why don’t you ask Logan to go out on a date, and we can go at the same time to the same place. We can go together. Like, be there for each other for support?

  “What… like a double date?”

  “No, we’d be on our own dates. Separate tables. But knowing you’re there would make it easier.”

  She screws up her face. “I dunno, what if Logan says no?”

  “Only one way to find out,” I suggest.

  Alex winces but sends the message asking if Logan would like to go out for dinner on Saturday night, while I agree to meet up with Jaci.

  “This is going to be awesome, I can feel it. I’ll be right back, I’m just going to go and book a restaurant now,” I say standing up and walking away with my cell.

  Taking a deep breath, I wander over to the other side of her large apartment wondering what the hell I’m going to organize. I need it to be somewhere where I can be easily hidden, but the night can still be romantic for both Alex and me, and our plus ones. So I ring a restaurant that I know can cater to celebrities. It has an exclusive venue in downtown LA, and I make sure that the back room is reserved for two tables.

  I’m not going to tell Alex I’m doing that, though. I don’t want to scare her, but the problem is I know I can’t be in the middle of any packed out restaurant. I’m a rock star so I need to stay hidden, even if there will be security with us. I’m going to try and make it so the room looks romantic for Jaci. But to be honest, it’s more for my safety, and also so I can watch out for Alex. I don’t know Logan, and neither does Alex, so I want to keep an eye on her. After all, men online can be far more dangerous than women, right?

  I finish making the booking with no hassle and walk back over to Alex, plonking down onto the sofa as she looks up at me nervously. “All booked in for seven. Shall we tell them?” I ask, and she nods like she’s nervous. It’s a sight seldom seen with Alex.

  “Sure.”

  We type out a message to Jaci and Logan telling them of the location and time, and they both message back letting us know they’ll be there.

  “We should go together, arrive early and make sure we have an action plan if anything goes wrong,” I suggest.

  “This is crazy, right. Won’t they know that we know each other?” Alex asks.

  “Only if we make it obvious, which we won’t. We’ll just be like any other diners in there. It’ll be sweet, you’ll see.”

  Alex suddenly looks scared. “Oh my God, what if he wants to leave the restaurant and go somewhere else? What if it works really well and he wants to like… kiss me or something?”

  I let out a small laugh. “He’d be a fool to not want to kiss you. But just take it as it comes, and don’t worry. Just be your usual sassy self, and he’ll love you.”

  “Are you gonna kiss, Jaci?” she asks with a hint of something in her eyes, I’m not sure what it is.

  “I don’t know, I’ll see how the flow of the evening goes, but I won’t hold back if the vibe is there. Take the wings and soar or whatever the saying is.”

  Alex chews on her bottom lip. “Maybe I’m not ready for all this. I mean it’s only been three years.”

  Grabbing her hands, I look in her giant doe eyes, that warmth is flooding back through me as I stare at her and she sinks into the sofa. “Look, I know you’re scared. This is a big thing for you. But you’re strong, you’re brave, and you’re beautiful, you deserve to be loved and to love someone in return. Putting yourself out there Alex is a good thing, and I’m gonna be with you every step. If he’s getting weird or you feel uncomfortable, you come over to my table. I don’t even care if my date is going amazing, you come and join us, okay?”

  “Thanks, Matt…” she sighs, “… you’re being really cool about all of this. Not sure I’d have the guts to do this on my own.”

  “We’ll both find love, I’m sure of it. I can feel it, Alex.”

  “Okay, but for the rest of the night I’m in charge of the remote.” She yanks the controller from beside me on the sofa, flicks it to Netflix, and starts playing The Walking Dead.

  Chuckling, I pull her legs over mine as we sit cuddling on the sofa. Being with her is effortless and uncomplicated, and I hope I can have this with Jaci when we finally meet. That I can fall into the same sort of relaxed friendship. That Jaci accepts me for who I am, and perhaps with a bit of luck, she won’t even recognize who I am. But with knowing a lot about music, that’s probably highly unlikely.

  Relaxing into the sofa, I enjoy my time with Alex as she chuckles at the guy slicing and dicing the zombies. I like her just the way she is. I hope that Logan isn’t a tool. I’ll have to watch him to make sure he doesn’t hurt her. My thoughts start to blur as I close my eyes just for a moment. Having Alex in my arms and the calm of the moment, even with the zombie noises, I’m utterly in my element as everything starts to fade away.

  A shrill chiming disturbs me as my neck kinks to the side, the pain jolting me awake. Alex jumps up, still half-asleep, as she looks around her apartment like she’s in shock. Then sh
e looks to me like she’s amazed I’m still here.

  “Shit, we fell asleep.”

  Rolling my neck from side to side, I yawn. “Yeah, sorry. I had every intention of going home. I only closed my eyes for a moment and then bam your alarm is waking me up.”

  Her breaths come in little short, sharp bursts like she’s a bit freaked out. So I reach around and grab her hand while frowning at her. “Hey, you okay?”

  She nods her head, turns to me and her face softens. “Yeah, it’s just… I never trust anyone to stay over. I hardly let people into my apartment let alone sleeping over...”

  I nod and sigh. “Sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, but I swear you can trust me, Alex.”

  “No. I know. It’s just… I fell asleep, with you here… that’s… just… weird.” It’s like she’s trying to comprehend something that she can’t quite understand. “That’s never happened since…” she screws up her face, “… like if anyone were here I’d never be relaxed enough to fall asleep.”

  I squeeze her hand and look into her eyes. “Thanks. It’s good to know you’re comfortable enough around me. Well, enough to let your guard down anyway. That means a lot, Alex.”

  “Don’t worry I’m just as surprised as you are. But you’re right, I am comfortable around you. It’s nice to finally be at ease around someone.”

  Alex looks back at me as I stare at her, her dark eyes glistening like she wants to say something more but is holding back. She swallows hard as my chest tightens and she takes a deep breath and looks away. “Breakfast burrito?” she asks, breaking the tension and I chuckle.

  “Yeah, for sure. I’ll help.”

  “Cool, but we gotta be quick. I have to be at the gallery in about forty minutes.”

  “Right, so you get the eggs, I’ll get the bacon, and I’ll show you how rock stars can cook.”

  She laughs jumping off the sofa and rushing off to the kitchen. I freaking love this apartment. It’s so… so… Alex. She fusses about in the fridge for a beat then pulls out bacon, eggs, cheese, tortillas, avocado and some barbecue sauce. I smile and nod knowing she likes the same things as me.

  We make our breakfast, and I’m constantly teasing her with the tongs. She laughs as she chops the avocados and scrambles the eggs, while I cook the bacon. Once it’s all done, I wrap the burritos while Alex dresses for work. Seeing as there’s nowhere for her to get dressed, as in an actual bedroom, she’s doing it next to her bed.

  “Don’t look, okay?”

  I smirk and look down at the table keeping my eyes on the burritos. “I promise. I won’t look up. Eyes… firmly on the burritos.”

  She chuckles, and I hear her messing about getting changed, and apparently now being a man is all I can think about. And the thought of a woman changing merely a few feet away from me is really intoxicating. Everything in me is telling me to be the friend I’m supposed to be and keep my eyes averted, but the man in me is making it extremely hard to keep that promise, and I can’t help myself as I chance a quick glance to see her back facing me.

  Alex is wearing a skirt, but her back is completely bare as she pulls her bra over her shoulders. The mere sight of her bare back, which is covered with a vibrant watercolor peacock sitting under a Japanese cherry blossom tree, is intoxicating. The colors are bright and alive, but the peacock is looking down next to its tail where three single feathers sit on the ground on their own. It’s beautiful, and a complete work of art, taking up the entire right side of her back. It takes my breath away as I study it, thinking it can only be a representation of her and the three feathers are her parents and her gran. It’s such a colorful, happy piece, yet it holds so much sadness. Suddenly, her hands come up across her back to clip her bra, and that movement shocks me back to reality.

  It surprises me that I’m staring at her, when I said I most definitely would not, so I spin around and grab a hand towel to wipe my hands. I attempt to calm down my breathing from seeing her so raw.

  She’s utterly beautiful.

  I always thought tattoos on women were off-putting and ugly. It’s why it is one of my ten rules—no tattoos—but I can see now that if it’s done right, they can be meaningful and beautiful. A true work of art. I hope one day I can talk to her about hers and see if she has any others. But thinking about the rest of Alex’s body, and being a little sex deprived at the moment, is starting to awaken more of the man in me, so I subtly rearrange my crotch and clear my throat. “These are ready when you are, Alex,” I call out, purposely not looking at her, I don’t want to be caught looking or with a damn boner.

  She steps up beside me and giggles. “It’s okay, you can look now. Sorry, I’m all dressed. I’m starving, though. So burrito me, baby,” she says, slapping my ass.

  I chuckle while shaking my head and handing her the plate. “Yes, ma’am.” She sits down at the table, while I take the seat next to her. We quickly eat our breakfast burritos, and I try not to look overly guilty.

  We eat in a relatively calm, quiet manner that’s somehow comfortable to sit in. It’s simple to just be with her, nothing is forced. It feels okay to spend hours talking or to sit in a comfortable silence, or fall asleep cuddling on a sofa because we’re so in tune with each other.

  We’ve finished, and I can see even though neither of us wants to go, she has a job to get to where my brother is her boss, and I need to get going as well.

  “Okay, well I better be off,” I say, standing up, grabbing both our plates and taking them to the sink.

  She stands, grabs her keys and bag and then walks with me to the door.

  “Thanks so much for a great night,” I say.

  “It was great, wasn’t it? Thanks for an equally wonderful morning.”

  I nod and lean in giving her a kiss on the cheek, as she drags her bottom lip in by her teeth. My chest constricts at the sight, and my breath is knocked from me momentarily while we walk out her door. She follows, closing it behind us, and we step down the three flights of stairs.

  “Can you keep an eye on Nate today seeing as I wasn’t home with him last night? Just make sure he’s doing okay?” I ask as we walk out of the building toward the cars.

  “Of course. I’ll let you know how he is when I get there, ‘cause no doubt he will be there already.”

  I lean in hugging her, and the warmth of Alex’s body as she presses against me feels like home. She feels safe. She fills me with calm. The feeling is… just warm.

  Letting her go, I walk Alex to her car and help her in. She smiles, and I close the door tapping on her window. She winks, and I turn walking away to my car and get in as she drives off past me. Sighing as she heads off, I can’t help but feel like this could be something of a new normal for us. And fuck if I don’t love the idea. But for now, I’m heading home to have a shower.

  The house smells like burnt toast as I walk in, and I look to the kitchen to see I’m correct in my assumption. The toaster is out and next to it lay two pieces of completely black toast. Chuckling to myself, I move to pick them up and throw them in the trash. Wondering why the hell Nate has enough energy to burn the toast, but not enough to put the craptastic toast in the trash. Maybe his head isn’t in the right place at the moment.

  Turning, I walk out of the kitchen and toward the stairs, bumping into the coffee table as I go. I grit my teeth wondering how much it will fuck up Whisper’s Fung Shui if I just move it back to its original position or even out of the damn way. Thinking better of it, I leave it where it is and continue up the stairs, the fichus hitting me on the face on the way up the wooden stairs and then flicking back into place behind me. I chuckle to myself thinking of Whisper and how he’s brought some life to this house, even if it’s just with the weird placement of our furniture. I really need to check in with him at some stage.

  I make it to my room when my cell goes off, so I move over to look at it under the light. It’s a text from Jaci. Smiling, I open and read the message.

  Jacqueline: Good Morning. I’
m looking forward to meeting you in person. I hope you slept well. You were the first thing I thought of when I woke up. Sorry if that’s being too forward…

  I have to admit, it does make me feel good that I’m having an impact on Jaci like this, so I smile. I like that she’s being so open with me too and reply right away.

  Me: I had a great night, stayed at a friend’s place. I’m really looking forward to meeting you too. I hope to make the night memorable, and that we get along well in person as well as over the internet.

  I conveniently leave out the fact that my friend’s place belongs to a woman. I think that would cause more trouble than it’s worth, to be honest.

  Jacqueline: I’m booking a hotel room for the night, seeing as I have to drive the two hours to LA for the date. Don’t read anything into that, but I will be in town for the next day too. If things go well we could catch up on Sunday as well.

  Smirking, I try to take her word on not reading into that, but the mention of a hotel room is not exactly innocent. But then again, for a woman like Jaci, I’m pretty sure that it is almost ninety-nine percent innocent, and totally just for the convenience factor and not for the kinky factor that my mind is taking me on.

  Me: Noted. And I won’t read into it. I’m a gentleman anyway. I don’t go in with expectations Jaci, especially nothing like that.

  Jacqueline: Great, well, I better get off to my day, have a good one. I’ll talk to you soon xoxo

  Me: Me too, have a good day xxx

  I hit send, but then almost instantly get another reply. “She can’t get enough of me,” I murmur to myself and then notice it’s from Alex. I chuckle at my cocky attitude, and read the message.

  Alex: Nate’s okay, his usual broody self. Got him some food from the bakery, and he’s drinking a coffee now. He seems even more down if that’s possible. Gonna try and work my magic to cheer him up today. Wish me luck!