by Heather Long
“Uh huh.”
“And he could have gotten better.”
“Uh huh.”
“And,” Bubba interrupted them, because the two were about to dive down into snarkland together. “Let’s talk schools?”
“Fine,” Frankie agreed, almost too quickly, before stealing a look at Archie, who wore the most pleased little smile. Fuck, I needed to go back and figure out why these dudes were an issue. “NYU is a yes for all of us, right?” She stole a look at Bubba. “Have you heard from them?”
“Conditionally,” he said. “But all of my admits are going to be conditional based on the program I get into. The auditions are for the specific musical colleges, so…they are a little pickier.” He shrugged. “I’ll go where you guys go, and if they don’t take it, I can just do general education and audition again the next year.”
A frown tightened her brow. “That doesn’t seem fair to you.”
“It’s totally fair to me, Angel. I’m with you guys. Who we’re with, not where we go. Besides…there’s still the contract. That might keep me busy.”
“Any word on that?” Archie asked with the same look he’d had at the cabin when Bubba’s music came up. Five bucks said he would diversify and invest in the music business any time now. Because Archie.
“Nope,” Bubba said, easily. “Frankie and I have two more songs to record, then I can send them the full demo. They wanted six or seven with a little different styling to check my range.”
“And when do we get to hear these?” I glanced at her. The fact that he got her to sing should probably make me jealous. Well, not should, maybe could. It didn’t though. The pink flush to her cheeks whenever it came up and the surprise she’d shown when we all applauded her singing at the cabin made me too fucking happy.
“When I’m not there to hear how terrible I am,” Frankie retorted, but then she made a face when Bubba pinched her. “Yeah, I know, I’m not terrible. It’s just…I am more impressed every day that you let me hear you sing, because that’s terrifying.”
He chuckled and reached over to snag her wine glass for her when she finished off that piece of pizza. “You made it easy. Hopefully, I can do the same for you.”
“You are,” she said with a sigh.
Coop quirked a brow, but I shook my head. This wasn’t our fight…yet. He nodded, and Archie just tipped his beer back to drain it. “So,” he said after setting the bottle down. “Let’s go down the schools we’re all in, who we’re waiting to hear from, and then pros and cons.”
She lit right up at that, and I bit back a smile. Did we know our girl? Yes, yes we did.
So for the next hour, we batted them back and forth. We had three schools total that we were all in. NYU was the one we circled back to time and again. But Frankie kept latching onto MIT. She wanted Archie and I to have that opportunity.
Don’t get me wrong, MIT was a killer school.
“If you say it’s not where but who…” Frankie scolded as she stood with her hands on her hips. We’d dragged out the white board from her room and it was leaning against the TV stand, and we had a list going in different colored markers. NYU was winning by a landslide. “I’m going to kick all of you out and sleep by myself.”
“I’ll just sneak in after you’re asleep,” Coop said without an ounce of irony or shame.
“The fuck you will,” Archie countered. “My date night.”
“And we’re making it up to you,” I pointed out. “You two deserve your night out, but not one where she’s stressing about this.”
“Fair point, so I’ll take the hit for us,” Bubba said with a slow smirk. “I’m sure I can keep her distracted.”
“Right.” I thumped him in the arm, and he flashed a grin at me. “I think it will depend on who gets there first.”
“Oh, I like those odds…” Archie leaned forward. “Where are we on the screaming orgasm chart?”
“Boys,” Frankie snapped, hands on her hips, but despite her stern tone, her lips kept twitching. “There’s plenty of room in there for all of us, thanks to someone. We were discussing schools?”
“We were,” I agreed. “But right now, NYU is in the lead. So let me ask you this…” Because I’d been thinking about it. “Do you need this internship if we go there? Or will your current scholarship cover it all?” Because she had the huge one from Mason’s. Mental math said the one I’d gotten would cover about eighty percent of mine. I could do the rest with loans that would mean I wouldn’t have to lean on Dad’s GI Bill benefits and leave it for the girls.
Perfectly fine by me. The less I owed him, the better.
She chewed her lower lip, then considered the board.
“Did you find out where you were interning yet?” Coop asked. “Weren’t they supposed to email you today?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t get anything earlier,” Frankie mused. “I mean, I think it would more than cover the tuition, the books, and probably living expenses. But New York’s really pricey. And I don’t know about their rules for living on campus as freshmen.”
“That we will be working around,” Archie said. “Even if the four of us have to get a shared dorm, you just move in with us.”
“It’d be cozy,” Coop said with a slow grin. “But we can make it work. Though Archie on campus with just a room and a bunch of beds will be hilarious.”
“Yeah, fuck off. Grandpa has a place in the city, so we can always just crash there on weekends too. The point is, we have options, on campus or off. If it’s on, then you can save on housing expenses by staying with us.”
Frankie chuckled. “You guys have an answer for everything.”
Bubba leaned back on his hands. We’d all but finished the pizza. Ice cream would be the next thing I grabbed, but she wasn’t upset at all anymore. In fact, her mood was far more thoughtful and, dare I say, excited?
“If Rachel ends up at the same school, I need to room with her,” she said. “Even if I stay with you guys.”
“Right,” Coop said. “Because Rachel.”
Yeah, deal with that later.
“Where has she applied?” Archie asked, and though he didn’t quite grit his teeth, he did look like he’d swallowed a lemon.
“I’ll ask,” Frankie said after a beat. “She doesn’t talk about herself much.”
Oh boy. I knew that look. “You’ll sort it out, Baby Girl. But I think we’re all in agreement at the moment, it’s NYU?”
That was the question we’d been dancing around for the last three hours.
She chewed her lip again, her gaze going back to the whiteboard, and I split a look with the guys. Coop lifted his chin, but Bubba looked more thoughtful. Archie was plotting. There was no missing it, and I raised my brows at him. He mouthed “later,” and I nodded.
Sometimes, it was better for the four of us to settle something before we tackled it with her. She would always have the last word, unless we could persuade her to our way of thinking.
“New York City,” she said slowly.
“Manhattan,” Archie said. “Washington Square Park. Greenwich Village. We could go ice skating at Rockefeller Center at Christmas.”
“They get snow,” Coop threw in.
“Broadway,” Bubba added.
“Central Park,” I tossed up. “The point is, there’s options, Baby Girl. And it’s not here.”
There was the barest twinge in my gut over that. Mom didn’t like the idea of me going so far away, not that she’d tried to convince me to go to a local university. I knew she’d prefer it, but she wouldn’t ask me not to go. Which was good, I never wanted to have to choose between my mom and Frankie.
Ever.
But I would, if she made me.
Shoving that thought aside, I scratched at my jaw and waited.
Frankie let out a sigh. “Do we have any idea of what NYU’s colors are?” Laughter spilled over the room as she gave us a wry look. “And we should probably check out the colleges and the classes and make sure they really have what we
want.”
“Done,” Archie said as he rose and caught her hand. When he pulled her to him, I could see what was coming next. “And on that note…”
He swept her up and moved swiftly down the hall with her laughter pealing out behind him. The door slammed, and it was just me, Coop, and Bubba.
“Saw that coming,” Coop said with a tip of his beer. Her shriek of laughter climbed a beat, and I cracked up all over again. Fist out, Coop added, “Since he’s gonna be a couple of hours, rock, paper, scissors for who sneaks in there later?”
“That would be me,” I informed him with a salute from my bottle. “Calling the family meeting was my idea.”
“Fair enough,” Coop said. “I’ll just steal her in the morning when your crazy asses go running.”
“I was thinking about that,” Bubba said, stretching back to snag the game controllers and flip on the television.
“No,” Coop said.
“You don’t even know what he’s thinking,” I teased, but I had an idea and I wasn’t opposed.
“I don’t care if it involves dragging her out at oh dark hundred to go running with all of you. I’m opposed.”
“That’s just because you want to keep her in bed.”
Coop flipped me off. “You like to run in the morning. I can think of more energetic and satisfying ways to kick off her day and mine.”
“That,” Bubba said, shifting so he could sit on the sofa as he scrolled through our game options. First person shooter was probably where we were going.
A moan filtered through from the hallway, and Tiddles came trotting out, followed by Tory. The black cat had the most disgusted look on his face, but the white one just moseyed over and plopped in Coop’s lap. Crazy little cat didn’t go out of her way for any one of us except Coop. He just ran his hand over her back as the volume from down the hall climbed. The sharp, piercing cry had Coop checking his watch.
“Not bad, five minutes. Someone’s feeling motivated.”
I snickered and settled on the sofa as Call of Duty hit the screen. That would work. My cock was not thrilled with the audio presentation going on. Then again, he was just a bit jealous it wasn’t us making her scream. We’d make up for that later.
“He just likes being ahead on the board,” Bubba said with a grin. “Anyway, what I was going to say was we should start taking Frankie to the gym with us. You wanted to work on her punching.”
That I did. Punches. Kicks. Scratching asshole’s eyes out.
“Agreed.” Not that I had any intention of letting some jerk get that close to her again.
“Tomorrow?” Coop asked.
“Maybe,” I said. “She has work tomorrow.”
Bubba grunted. Yeah, none of us were fans of her schedule filling up again. The internship thing was out there, too.
Snagging the remote, Coop cranked up the sound on the game as she let out another laughing cry. Heh, I wasn’t the only one shifting in my seat.
“I want to take her to the studio tomorrow, too,” Bubba said. “Either of you have a problem with that?”
“Nope,” I told him. “But I’m showering with her in the morning.”
Coop swore, and I grinned.
“Shut up, ass. You just said you were going to wake her up. So get her all nice and dirty for me so I can clean her up in our shower.”
He rolled his eyes. “If I must…”
Then we laughed, even Bubba. The corner of his mouth quirked a little higher. I gave him two months.
Tops.
He wouldn’t hold out forever.
Then again…maybe he would.
I shrugged and focused on the game, because it was damn tempting to go use the bathroom in the hall to get myself off while I listened.
An hour later, they were at it again, and I left Coop and Bubba playing while I did just that.
It wasn’t anything close to the real thing, but fuck, it felt good to imagine it was her mouth on me making all those noises.
Archie apparently had something to prove tonight, and Baby Girl was all about it.
Time to up my game.
Chapter Six
Hands Down
Frankie
The studio was locked when we got there, but Ian had keys. At my raised brows, he grinned. “I told you, I made a deal with the owners. I’m tutoring kids on the piano and with the guitar, and they give me studio time.”
I loved the idea of him teaching. “I may have to come and watch that. I bet you’re an amazing teacher.”
“We’re about to find out, aren’t we?” he teased as he let us in, then locked us inside together. After entering the code on the security system, he rearmed it and then caught my hand as he led us down the hallway to the studio we’d used the last few times we’d been here.
I had my guitar this time, though, the one he’d gotten me for Christmas. I was also wearing one of my Torched shirts for inspiration. Ian had given it a grin when I changed after I got home from Mason’s. First day back, and it was like being a stranger in a strange land, even though I was intimately familiar with everything. I wasn’t sure what had really changed so much, but I felt one step to the right all day long.
“You’re quiet,” Ian murmured as he opened the studio door and flipped on the lights.
I shrugged.
“Hey.” He caught my arm as he set his case down and then curled his fingers over mine on the handle to my case. “If you’re too tired to do this, we don’t have to.”
Blowing out a breath, I gave him a smile and then slid an arm up to wrap around his neck. He shifted immediately, stepping into me, and the hand on my arm dropped to my ass. The weight sent a shiver through me, and I bit my lip before rising on my tip toes. It took no urging on my part for him to pull me into his kiss.
The first brush was gentle, but he didn’t linger there long before he curved his fingers against my ass and lifted. I locked my thighs to his hips and leaned into the kiss as his tongue swept inside to stake his claim. My whole body hummed just from that contact. The feel of him squeezing my ass just ramped my temperature and my pulse.
I bit down on his lower lip, a gentle sting, and then I was against the wall as he devoured my mouth and ground his hips into mine. There were too many clothes to get the right amount of friction, but it still felt good and my nipples stabbed at my bra. Sweat dampened the back of my neck, and I half hooked my fingers into his shirt to tug, but he caught my wrists and then they were pinned above my head as he coaxed my mouth wider, and all I could do was squirm in what little room he allowed me.
Shock and no small amount of awe danced through me with every lick of his tongue or roll of his hips. The weight of his chest crushing my breasts just made me ache for more. I longed to touch him, but any tug on my wrists only tightened his grip, and that in turn sent more liquid heat coursing through my system.
When he kissed a path from my mouth to my jaw, then to my throat, I whimpered. An honest-to-god whimper escaped, and I wanted to be embarrassed by the sound.
“Need me to fix something, Angel?” he teased before his lips closed on my earlobe. The soft stroke of his tongue seemed to go straight to my pussy, and I arched my back, but I was thoroughly trapped. I couldn’t move much at all.
It was delicious.
“Yes,” I complained on a breathy moan. “I want more.”
But we were kind of in the studio.
“Do you?” he whispered right against my ear, and his breath sent shivers cascading through me.
“Yes.”
His lips curved where they rested, and with his free hand, he rubbed a soothing motion along my side. Each time he came close to my breast, I half-expected him to cup it or shove my shirt up. But he didn’t, and the near-misses tore another whimper from my throat. Another kiss just behind my ear, and then he bit down over my pulse point and held still until I quit squirming.
My heart thundered in my ears, and I swore I could hear the rushing of my blood through my system. Heat soaked through me, and m
y pussy clenched around emptiness. I swore if he told me to beg, I probably would.
“Ian,” I whimpered again when he still didn’t move. “Please.”
“No,” he told me against my skin before he sucked another kiss to where he’d been biting. The intensity and sharpness pulled my blurred focus from need to something more.
“No?”
Lifting his head, he smiled at me, the gentleness in his eyes and the firmness of his mouth a direct contrast to his denial. “No. I like you squirming and needy. I like that you’re so desperate, you want to beg.” He licked his lips slowly, and I tracked the motion of his tongue, damn near mesmerized. “You want to beg, don’t you, Angel?”
Fuck. Me.
“Yes,” I said, even as heat stained my face and sent a flush from my toes to my scalp.
Another kiss. This one infinitely gentler, and he let go of my wrists. “Keep them there,” he ordered before he trailed his fingers down, and the soothing strokes along my side seemed determined to bring my racing pulse back under control. I didn’t argue, I kept my arms up, even if my shoulders were beginning to burn. They could stay up there for the rest of my life if he kept touching me.
A touch of his nose to mine. Then he slanted his mouth across my lips, and his breath teased me as he whispered, “I want you to use all of this frustration and need on the song we’re going to record.” A gentle nip. “And if you’re a good girl, Angel, I’ll give you everything you want and more when we’re done.”
My heart plummeted and my stomach bottomed out as the anxiety hit, but the desire burning inside of me turned almost molten. “You’re mean,” I complained, and he chuckled. Two seconds later, I was down and facing the wall, with my hands there and his body pressed up against me. Dammit, now I couldn’t even see him.
“I’m mean?”
“Yes,” I told him, half-turning my head, only to have him card his fingers through my hair and fist it. The hot weight of him was delicious where he leaned into me, and I swore he was going to burn right through my clothes.
“Do you remember what I said about you being a good girl?” A bite to my neglected earlobe this time, and I full-body shuddered.