“Ugh! Marty, can we go back now? This isn’t fun anymore. I’m so cold!” she complained to her friend. He laughed and directed them back to the hotel, wrapping her arm in his, letting her benefit from his body heat.
Mia invited him to stay before the game. Kickoff wasn’t for another couple hours and she didn’t want to be alone. Todd wouldn’t be there until right before game time. So she and Marty chatted while they waited for Todd to arrive, reminiscing about the time when the band first met.
Mia
Chicago, April 2000
Mia stood in her cube, her new place of work for who knows how long. Her orientation was over and now she waited for her boss who was running late. It could be worse, she thought, looking at the sea of dull gray cubicles before her. She could be working at some store, making minimum wage. At least here, she’d be making enough money to do things. What, she did not know yet. Go to shows. Go to the bar … something besides staying at home, writing in her journal.
She pulled out her chair and was about to sit down when her gaze connected with a tall man walking down the hall. His dark hair contrasted beautifully with his bright blue eyes. The smile he gave her was infectious and she couldn’t stop herself from returning the gesture. He stopped in front of her desk.
“So, you’re the new girl.”
Letting out a quick chuckle, she quipped back, “Yes. Mia Devereux. Is it that obvious?”
“Well, you look just like Bruce’s type,” he said. Bruce Derrick was her new boss and seemed like a nice enough guy during her interview. The guy with blue eyes looked up and frowned. “Bruce is coming down the hall. If you ever need anything, like a place to hide out, my name is Marc Kerr and my office is over there,” he said, gesturing to the office in the corner opposite her desk.
“Thanks, Marc.”
Later that morning, Marc invited her to lunch up in the cafeteria and it was there that he officially took her under his wing. He helped her deal with her boss—the pain in the ass. Her first impression of Bruce was completely off the mark. He was the most unhelpful man in the world, leaving her to fend for herself, with absolutely no training. If it wasn’t for Marc, she would have floundered and quit.
He quickly became a good friend. Every morning they got coffee together. Most days, they went to lunch together. Mia genuinely enjoyed his company. She didn’t have many friends in Chicago and the ones she had, she really didn’t go out with much.
So she was thankful one Friday over coffee when Marc asked her along to a party that night.
“Any special reason for the party?” Mia asked, before taking a nice sip of her coffee.
“It’s my brother’s birthday,” he said, stirring the half and half into his cup. “He’s turning twenty-two.”
“Uh, you realize everyone will be older than me,” she joked, rolling her eyes.
“Baby girl, at least you’re twenty-one.”
“Lucky me,” she said sarcastically.
“Don’t worry. You’ll have fun. I’ll stay by your side the entire time.”
Marc knew she was a little bit on the shy side and it meant a lot that he offered to stay with her. “Won’t that put a damper on scoring?”
He shook his head, rolling his eyes right back at her, and stood up. “Not at all. I think it’ll probably help my cause.”
She let out a puff of air before curbing the desire to full out laugh. Pushing out from the table, she stood next to him. “So, I’m kind of like your wingman for the night.”
With his coffee in one hand and his free hand on her back, he guided them out of the cafeteria. “Yeah, my wingman,” he said with a fond smile.
Marc neglected to tell Mia that he grew up along the Lake Michigan North Shore, in one of the richest towns in the country. He casually pointed out his massive childhood home as they drove on by and told her that the party was at one of his friend’s homes a few minutes down the road. Her mouth dropped open as he pulled up the brick driveway. She could see so much blue water! Absolutely stunning. The house wasn’t too shabby either. As Marc slowed to a stop, Mia stared at the beautiful three-story English manor home, letting the dreams of living in a place like this flood her mind.
They exited the car and made their way up the driveway to the front entrance. Just as they entered the house, a deep voice called out, “New girlfriend, Marc?”
Marc barked out a laugh and guided them to the man with the sexy voice. House size and location were no longer on her mind. No that’s because sexy voice man was dead sexy. Whoa!
Light blond hair set against his perfectly sculpted face with its perfect tan. His sky blue eyes sparkled in delight when they got closer.
“No. This is my friend and co-worker, Mia Devereux. Mia, this is one of my best friends, Tom Myers.”
Mia smiled shyly. Tom Myers was so freaking hot. “Hi,” she managed to squeak out because her mind was having a hard time multi-tasking. It just wanted to focus on the god in front of her.
“Mia, nice to meet you,” he said, offering her his hand with a smile.
She placed her hand in his and may have blushed when he wrapped his rough fingers around hers, teasing her knuckles with a soft sweep of his thumb before releasing her, sending waves of fiery current through her body.
“Is my brother here yet?” Marc asked Tom. She saw the slight shake of Tom’s head before he turned his attention to Marc. Had he been affected by that contact, too?
Tom shrugged his shoulders. “Anyone else?” Marc asked.
“Yeah. Marty and Todd are in the media room.”
“Come on,” Marc said, grabbing her hand. Tom tagged along, staying right by Mia’s side as Marc worked his way through the crowd to what she assumed was the media room. Along the far wall all she saw was one of the best views of Lake Michigan. To the right, a large television played American Pie. She loved that movie. Opposite the screen was a group of men seated on a large corner sofa.
Marc pulled her in front of the television and started introductions. She expected groans for blocking the movie, but the three men had their eyes locked on her, sizing her up, no doubt.
“Mia, I’ve known these guys my whole life. This is Todd,” Marc said, pointing to a tall blond with long, wavy hair, lounging on the large sofa. His face lit up when he smiled his greeting. "This is Marty,” Marc continued, gesturing to an even taller, tattooed-man with straight dark blonde hair. “And this here is the birthday boy. My younger brother, Clark.”
Clark rolled his eyes and then smiled at Mia. He had dark brown hair, almost black with blue eyes just like his brother. He wore black rimmed glasses, giving him the look of a scholar. He had a few days’ growth on his face. A scruffy scholar. He wasn’t as tall as his brother but he was definitely a few inches taller than Mia. Hell, there weren’t too many people shorter than her.
“Everyone, this is Mia.”
“Hi,” she said shyly.
Marty made some room on the sofa for her to sit down. “Come. Take a load off.”
“Can you keep her out of trouble while I go get us some drinks?” Marc asked as she sat down.
Mia had to laugh at that. Her? In trouble? “I promise to be a good girl.”
“Hey, Marc,” Todd called out. “The non-alcoholic drinks are in the fridge. You know, the chocolate milk and apple juice.”
“Who needs that?” Marc asked.
“The underage girl you brought with you,” Todd said, jerking his thumb at her. She stared at his thumb. Did he mean her?
Pfft, Mia thought. “I am not underage,” she informed them.
“Oh really?” Todd scoffed. “You don’t look a day over sixteen.”
“Oh my God! Seriously? I’m twenty-one. I’ll be twenty-two in July.”
“July what?” Todd asked, suddenly very interested.
“Twenty-second.”
“Me too! Though I’ll be twenty-six.”
“Awesome! Birthday twins!”
“I guess you can have a drink now,” he relented and then tu
rned to Marc. “Don’t worry, Marky Boy. We’ll keep the vultures away from this youngling.”
Mia rolled her eyes and she heard Marc’s chuckle as he walked away.
“So, youngling, how long have you been seeing Marc?” Todd asked before taking a swig of his beer.
Her eyes bugged out as she shook her head in the negative. “Oh, I’m not seeing Marc. We’re just friends.”
They all laughed at that, not believing her. “No. Seriously. Just friends.”
While she waited for Marc to return with her drink, Mia and the guys talked. It almost felt like an interrogation with all the questions they asked.
Her throat was dry from all the yammering she did and Mia really wished she had her drink. “Seriously, where the hell did Marc go? I’m thirsty.”
“He may have been detained by my parents,” Clark offered.
“They’re here?” Marty asked, surprise transforming his face.
“Yeah, they said they may show up for a little bit though I haven’t seen them … yet.”
Mia looked up just as an upset Marc stalked into the room. “It looks like he ran into your parents,” Marty said quietly to Clark.
“Birthday boy, you’re being summoned. They are waiting in the kitchen,” Marc said, handing Mia her Jack and Coke and then he flopped down besides her, his head smacking the back of the sofa.
“That bad?” Clark asked his older brother.
“Is it ever good?” he replied.
Clark sighed heavily and begrudgingly pushed himself off the sofa. With a final look at Marc, he walked away.
Marc leaned into her, his head resting on her shoulder. He was quiet for a few moments before he whispered softly, “Would you be okay if I got completely trashed tonight?”
“Looking for a partner?”
“I’m not talking about alcohol …”
“How naïve do you think I am?”
He lightly kissed her cheek. “I don’t think you are but I didn’t know—”
“Don’t worry. You’re not corrupting me. That happened a long time ago,” Mia answered. It had been awhile since she’d last smoked pot. The summer between her junior and senior years at Michigan State. He nodded and sat up, pulling out a lighter and joint from his back pocket. He looked at her, his eyebrows quirked up in question. She replied with a smile.
Marty laughed. “I like her. She can stay.”
“Aww, thanks. Now I don’t feel like a stray cat anymore.”
“I love my strays,” Marc said right before lighting the joint. He surprised her when he handed it to her. “Ladies first.”
Mia took the joint between her thumb and index finger. It didn’t feel like over a year since she held a joint in her hand. More like yesterday.
“Ooh, what form!” Todd teased.
She laughingly shook her head before putting the joint between her lips. She breathed in deeply, letting the smoke fill her lungs, and held it in for as long as she could before exhaling. Ahh, she missed that. She handed it back to Marc who took a long hit before passing it along to Todd and Marty and then to Tom.
“There’s food here, right? Because I get so hungry when I’m high. Not like chips or cookies but the type of food that can cause a heart attack. Like an Italian beef or a pizza with every kind of meat on it.”
Tom handed her the joint after he was done. She debated for a moment about what to do. Another hit won hands down. She might regret it tomorrow but the fun she was having with these five guys more than made up for it.
Her last semester at school had been killer. She took a heavy load of classes trying to finish school early, not wanting to stay in East Lansing any longer than she had to. Her life during that time had been so focused on school. Not one party. After she graduated, her father sent her to France to visit her grandmother for a few weeks.
When she returned, Mia had been hell bent on finding a job as far away from her controlling father as possible. She yearned to be free.
So here she was, three months later. It had taken her longer than she thought to find a job and her own place. It may be a very small place, but it was all hers. She had met Marc who was an amazing friend. Yes, only a friend. The dark hair, light eye thing was not for her. Mia had thought about sex with him, of course. It had been over a year since she last was with someone, but each time she thought about it, she giggled.
“We have our first victim,” Marc stated, looking over at her and she couldn’t help but laugh even more. “What are you laughing at?”
“Having sex with you.”
All the guys roared with laughter. “Sex with me is not a laughing matter,” Marc said over the noise.
That just caused her to laugh even harder.
“Just for that, no sex for you ever!” he pouted.
“Fine,” she said, leaning over and kissing his cheek. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed. Mia just sat back and observed the friends. She didn’t say much, but they still included her by explaining stories and jokes, making it so she didn’t feel left out. She really liked these guys.
Clark eventually came back and was just a little upset that they all got high without him. Marc held up a new joint for his brother. “Join us!”
Tom scooted towards her to make room for Clark. She smiled shyly over at Tom as he rested his beer on his knee and tapped his fingers on the bottle. Her eyes were drawn to the repetitive action. His forearms caused her mouth to water with the way the slightest movement showed off the working muscles.
Tap, tap, tap.
“Ugh,” Clark groaned, interrupting her fascinating about the workings of Tom’s arms. “How small do you think I am?” Clark continued as he attempted to sit down.
“I know a solution,” Tom said as he stood up and then pretended to sit on Mia’s lap. She giggled at that but his outstretched hand shut her up. She gave him her hand and he lifted her from the couch and then sat in her place before he brought her down on his lap.
Yep. All muscle, she thought as her bottom rested on his hard thighs.
The other guys were now busy talking music. She listened with one ear and with the other she listened to her heart pound. Tom’s arm encircled her waist, casually caressing her side.
“Are you trying to cop a feel?” she asked.
“Would you let me?” he countered, a sparkle in his eye.
“I just met you …”
“I’m a good guy.”
“Says you.”
He laughed at that but continued to caress her side, his strokes a little bolder. With each stroke of his thumb, he got closer and closer to her breast.
When he grazed the underside of her sensitive breast, Mia turned her head to regard him. “Do you want to cop a feel?” she asked quietly.
“I do.”
Mia didn’t know how to respond. A large part of her wanted him to touch her and then some. But she had a feeling that these five men would be in her life for a long time to come.
“How about we get to know each other first?”
“I’ll probably want to do more than cop a feel at that point.”
“I have a feeling I will too.”
Closing her eyes, Mia let the happy buzz float through her. She listened to Marty and Todd discussing new music coming out. Their musical tastes were similar to hers. Awesome.
“Do any of you play any instruments?” Mia asked, curious to see if their passion for talking about music bled over into actually playing it.
“I play guitar,” Marty answered. “Todd plays drums and Clark the bass. Do you play?”
“Yeah. I play the piano and I recently started teaching myself how to play the guitar. I also sing,” she added after the fact, her face heating in embarrassment.
“Tell me you write music, too,” Todd begged.
“Well … yeah,” she said, scratching at her forehead with her index finger. The three guys exchanged a pointed look and then she felt the weight of their gazes back on her.
“Next party,” Marty starte
d. “Bring your guitar.”
“I’m not very good yet.”
“No worries. I’ll teach you.”
“Sing!” Todd ordered.
“What?” she looked over at him.
“You said you sang. I want to hear what you can do.”
Mia listened to all the men, including Marc and Tom, cheering her on, wanting her to sing. She normally didn’t sing in front of people. Maybe it was the pot that put her at ease, she didn’t know, but she took a sip of her drink, trying to think of a song to showcase her voice. After a long debate, she decided on “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi. They should like that, she thought.
Closing her eyes, she began to sing, her foot tapping the beat she wanted. As she sang, she heard the song perfectly in her mind. About half way through, Marty, then Clark chimed in with backing vocals, and Todd tapped on his thighs to the beat. She finally opened her eyes at the end. The guys all looked at each other and she felt like maybe she had done a bad job.
“Mia, I love your voice. It’s smoky and so confident with a coarse edge to it,” Clark marveled.
“Really?” she said dumbly but she didn’t care. The look he had on his face and what he said had her smiling so wide it hurt.
“Clark’s right,” Marty joined in. “Beautiful. It’s earthy. Husky. But it can also be light and sweet.”
“Mia,” Todd said, pulling her attention to him. “You said you wrote songs …”
“I did say that.”
“Are they complete?”
“Well, it’s just me and my keyboard, so no, not entirely.”
“We should definitely get together to play,” Todd said, looking around at them all. “See what we can do as a unit.”
“This is getting me excited,” Mia said, the words spilling out of her mouth.
“Like between your legs?” Todd joked.
“Yeah,” she deadpanned.
Mia
New York City, Christmas Eve 2007
Mia smiled remembering that night over six years ago that gave her so much. A group of guys that quickly became her family; a support system that she hadn’t had in decades; and a career that still got her all excited between her legs.
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