Running Scared (Running Hearts Book 2)

by Saffron Blu

  Will was a huge part of my life, and I guess hearing something like that could cause Sam to feel differently about me, although going by that kiss we’d just shared, it didn’t change anything.

  I cleared my throat and was speaking before I even thought through my words. “Are you okay with what I told you? Like does it bother you that I’ve been in love with a guy? That I’ve been with a guy?”

  Sam shifted under my arm, so I could look into her eyes, which I appreciated because I wasn’t certain I could really be sure about what she would say if I couldn’t see her emotions while she spoke. “Matt, we all have past lovers, and gender doesn’t matter. The fact that they’ve owned a part of your heart is what matters.” I felt a little lighter at the honesty I saw in her eyes. “I’m falling for you, and yes, I worry that you can’t feel the same about me. Not because I’m female and Will is male but because I’m concerned he may still own that part of your heart.”

  I was elated when she said she was falling for me, but the rest of her words were like a sucker punch to the gut. Unsure how to respond, I merely stared at her in silence, which obviously wasn’t the response she was hoping for when she turned back to the ocean with a sigh.

  “It’s okay. I could tell by the way you spoke about him that there was still something there, and I understand. It doesn’t change what’s between us, and it’s not like we can be anything serious, anyway. You’re not going to be staying here forever. It’s got to end someday and all the better if it’s going to be easier for you.”

  Easier for me? I couldn’t believe she thought it would be easier for me. “I may still have some confusion…” The glare she threw my way had me changing my choice of words quickly, “… no, feelings I may still have for Will, but that doesn’t make one iota of difference to how I feel about you. I’m falling hard and fast, and it won’t be easy for me to leave, not by a long shot. So, don’t you dare—”

  Sam closed the space between us and crushed her mouth against mine, effectively cutting off my words. Her hands sank into my hair and tugged as she dominated the kiss. I loved it when she took control and got all demanding. I’d noticed it was something she didn’t do too often, so I ran with it whenever she felt confident enough to do it.

  I groaned into her mouth as her tongue tangled with mine, my hands gripping at her hips to keep myself from grinding my quickly hardening cock against her.

  She broke the kiss—far too soon for my liking—and took some ragged breaths. “We should really take this somewhere else before we get arrested.”

  A quick glance around, and I found myself agreeing. There was a woman a few feet to our left, hurriedly directing her kids away from us while giving us a dirty look over her shoulder. “Yep. You’re right. Let’s go home!”

  When I said home, I meant Aimee’s family’s house. It was strange living with Aimee’s parents and kids when I didn’t even know the woman. I’d offered to pay for a hotel that Sam could share with me, but she’d insisted the Jonas’s had welcomed her into their home, and she couldn’t throw that back in their face just because I was there. I completely understood this fact, even if it did mean we had to be extra quiet in the bedroom.

  By the time we made it back to the house, we both knew now wasn’t the time to carry on from where we’d left things at the beach since it was mid-afternoon, and the house was full of people. So, I suggested we head out for dinner and a movie. Sam agreed that it was a great idea, and she rushed off to ‘beautify’ herself as she called it. If you asked me, she was talking stupid because she always looked beautiful from what I’d seen, whether she was dressed to the nines or had her face free of makeup and her long dark brown locks scraped back into a messy bun.

  I spotted Dan sitting on the sofa, his head bent over an iPad. As I got closer, I could see he was flicking through photos of his mom.

  “Hey, little guy,” I said as I approached, knowing he was too engrossed in his task to have noticed me.

  His head snapped up. “Hi,” he offered before quickly dropping his face back down to the iPad. He wasn’t fast enough for me not to notice the wetness in his eyes.

  “What are you doing there? Is that your mom?” I asked, knowing full well it was but wanting to toggle him his privacy if he wanted it.

  Dan tilted his iPad toward me so I had a clearer view of the pictures and nodded his head. “I was just looking at photos. I wish she were home.”

  “I bet you do. Does looking at the photos help?”

  His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “It doesn’t stop me from being sad.” His dark brown eyes locked on mine. “Do you miss your mummy?”

  A small smile played on my lips at his innocent question. “Sometimes I do. I also miss my bandmates, who are like brothers and sisters to me when we aren’t together. Do you know what I do when I want to feel close to them at times when I can’t call them?”

  He flashed me a smile and nodded eagerly.

  “I go outside and take in my surroundings. I feel the ground under my feet and stare at the sky. And then I remind myself that the people I’m missing are on this planet, too. Whether they are in a different time zone or not, they’ll also have the ground underneath them and the sky high above them.”

  A ping came from the iPad, and Dan focused his attention back on it. I couldn’t help but also drop my eyes to it to see what had gotten him so excited. It was a text message.

  Mummy: Hey Dan. I’m sorry I’m late with today’s photo. I had to wait for the nurse to leave. I hope your mom doesn’t kill me for sending you these when she wakes up.

  There was another ping and an image popped on the screen of Aimee. She didn’t look any different than when we’d seen her a couple of days ago—wires and tubes all over the place. I suddenly wondered whether Dom had really thought his actions through. Should he be sending a kid photographs of his mom in this condition?

  Dan laughed and started tapping out a reply on the screen.

  Dan: Thanks Dom. Your braiding is getting better.

  I chuckled as I looked back at the image and the crude braid in Aimee’s hair. Dan lifted his eyes to mine, and with a mischievous grin, he started typing more.

  Dan: Matt is laughing at it but he didn’t see yesterday’s try.

  A reply popped up.

  Mummy: I may have a little sister, but she would’ve punched me if I ever went near her hair, so I haven’t had much practice.

  “That’s true. Kat wouldn’t let any of us touch her hair when we were kids. Why is Dom braiding your mom’s hair?”

  “It was messy, and she’s always complaining at us if we don’t brush our hair. Someone needed to do it for her. And Dom really is getting better.”

  I shook my head, unable to imagine Dom brushing and braiding someone’s hair. I could tell by the image that he was obviously only doing the bits he could get to around her face, but it was doing a good job of keeping it off her face and away from the wires and tubes, no matter how messy the braid looked.

  Heels on the tiled floors sounded behind us, and I turned to find Sam walking toward me. My breath hitched at the sight of her. She looked stunning. Her black jeans were skin-tight and hugging her curves, and the sheer leopard print top she was wearing showed off her lacy bra, not leaving a lot to the imagination. Her hair was hanging loose over her shoulders, and I just wanted to fist my hands in it and pull her lips to mine.

  “You look real pretty, Sammy,” Dan said, beating me to the compliment.

  Sam’s face brightened as she winked at Dan. “Thanks, little man.”

  I stood and walked over to her, twirling a strand of hair around my finger and flicking my eyes between her lips and eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” I pressed my lips to hers in a soft kiss and smiled as she relaxed into me.

  “Ew. That’s gross,” Dan called out, reminding me he was still in the room with us, and Sam, if her startled jump into my arms was anything to go by.

  Chapter Nineteen

  SAM

  The image of Matt star
ing at me like I was some gorgeous supermodel he wanted to devour was playing in my mind right up until we made it to the bar I’d decided to take him to. Aimee had brought me to Out ‘n’ Proud once before we left for our trip to America, and the food was delicious. I knew the minute Matt asked where we should go, it was the right place. Although now, standing outside it and thinking back on our earlier conversation on the beach, I was worried about bringing him to a gay bar. What if he thought I had ulterior motives?

  Matt wrapped his fingers around mine as we stepped up to the entrance, and the bouncer gave us a nod and waved us in. It was late afternoon, so there wasn’t anyone on the stage, but there were plenty of customers eating meals in the booths and tables around the edges of the dance floor.

  We chose an empty table in the middle of the room, and a waiter stopped beside us within seconds of our bottoms hitting the seats.

  “Hi, welcome to Out ‘n’ Proud. Have you eaten here before?”

  Matt shook his head and said “No,” the same time I said “Yes.” The waiter flicked his eyes between the two of us, a smile playing on his lips.

  “Okay, then. I’ll give the newbie the whole spiel.” He gave us both a wink and went on, “We have our daily specials on the board over the bar.” He pointed them out blindly, but they weren’t hard to miss. “And here is the full menu. If you’re planning on hanging around for a while, Miss Alotta Bush will be opening the show in an hour. She’s hilarious and definitely worth sticking around for.”

  I flicked my eyes to Matt, giving him the option, but he shrugged.

  “I’m happy with whatever as long as I get to call you my date.” His wink caused a blush to travel over my cheeks and let my gaze drift away.

  “First date?” The waiter asked. “Make sure you share a tiramisu for dessert, it’s like a good luck charm for dates turning into long-term relationships,” he added without waiting for our answer to his previous question. His eyes traveled to someone over my shoulder, and his face lit up. “Speak of the devils, I was just talking about you two and how you went from first date to a long-term relationship, with just the bite of our tiramisu.”

  Two guys stopped beside us. The way the smaller, seemingly younger guy was tucked under the bigger guy’s arm made the fact that they were a couple unmistakable. “I told you Dane had an unhealthy obsession with you. Are you sure you haven’t hooked up before?” the bigger guy said playfully as Dane’s cheeks flamed bright enough for us to see in the dimly lit room.

  “Cole! Stop teasing him,” the younger guy elbowed Cole in the side and gave Dane an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Dane. Ignore him, he’s just…”

  Dane shook his head. “It’s fine, Scotty. I did have a pretty obvious crush on you when you first got together, so he’s not wrong.”

  Watching the friendly camaraderie between these guys made me wish I could find a group of friends like this. It was currently just Aimee and me, and as much as I adored her, it would be nice to bring people into our fold.

  Scotty turned his attention to Matt and me. “Shit, I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to hijack your waiter.” He turned back to Dane. “Get back to work, you slacker.” Scotty frowned and then glanced back at Matt, this time looking at him a little harder.

  My heart leaped into my throat as I saw the recognition in his eyes. I didn’t want things to change between us, but I knew realistically the minute someone recognized him and word got out, the relaxed time we’d had since landing in Australia would be no more as no matter where we went, he’d most probably get followed by fans and the media.

  “Are you who I think you are?” he asked. “You are!”

  Matt nodded and offered him his hand. “Matt Dalcin, nice to meet you.”

  Scotty looked at their joined hands and took a deep breath obviously trying to calm himself down and stop from having a fan-freak-out moment.

  “From the band you don’t stop listening to?” Cole asked, looking at Matt with wide eyes.

  Scotty didn’t acknowledge Cole’s question but just kept on shaking Matt’s hand and staring. Cole took in Scotty’s reaction and quickly disentangled him from Matt.

  “Come on, Scotty, let’s get these two back to their date. It doesn’t even look like they’ve ordered yet,” he said as he guided him to an empty table across the other side of the room. When they were only a few steps away, he threw us an apologetic look over his shoulder and mouthed ‘I’m sorry.’

  I turned my attention to Dane, who was giving Matt the stink eye. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it. I’m one of your biggest fans.” He glanced over his shoulder at Scotty. I followed his gaze with mine and could clearly see the shell-shocked look still plastered on Scotty’s face. “Okay, maybe not quite as big as Scotty, but still…”

  Matt chuckled. The relaxed smile he was wearing eased my earlier worries about him being recognized, and I felt my lips turn up. “Honestly, you’d be surprised how many people don’t recognize me unless I’m with the rest of the band. Saxon is another story… he gets recognized no matter what.”

  “Does that not make you a little bit jealous?” Dane asked.

  “Fuck, no. I like to have privacy now and then. Saxon doesn’t know what privacy is, the poor guy, and all because he’s the lead singer,” Matt said, shaking his head. Anyone could tell he was dead set on that, and I didn’t blame him one bit. Not being able to just pop out for a walk or grab something from the shops without being hounded by fans or press must really suck.

  “I see your point. Anyway,” Dane waved his hand, dismissing the subject. “Have you guys managed to figure out what you want to order, or do you need me to leave you for a minute?”

  I flicked my eyes to the painted specials above the bar, and my decision was easy. “Bacon cheeseburger with fries and onion rings for me, please.”

  Dane scribbled my order down on a piece of paper. “And to drink?”

  I noticed a happy hour sign along with the specials, and a quick glance at my watch told me I was good to order a happy hour cocktail. “I’ll take whatever vodka cocktail is the most popular.”

  “One Porn Star Martini coming up.”

  My eyes widened, but I didn’t question it or change my choice. Maybe a Porn Star Martini was exactly what I needed.

  “That sounds promising.” I slapped at his arm, and he laughed. “I’ll order the same.” Matt held the menu out for Dane to take. “Food and drink,” he clarified.

  “Good choice,” Dane offered as he scribbled down the order and picked up my menu. “I’ll be back with your drinks in a minute.”

  I watched him walk over to the register at the bar and key in our orders and couldn’t help but wonder what his life was like. Being a writer gave you weird moments like that. Something or someone would spark your interest, and your muse would start dropping little plot bunnies in front of you. I had a feeling there’d be a waiter working in a gay bar coming up in one of my stories very soon.

  “What are you thinking about?” Matt asked, his voice drawing my attention away from our waiter and story possibilities.

  I shook my head. “Nothing, just a story idea. Nothing that won’t save for a rainy day.” I offered him a smile and reached across the table for his hand.

  “Are you okay?” Matt asked me. My brow furrowed as I tried to work out why he was asking such a thing. “That was our first encounter with a freaked-out Running Hearts’ fan. You’re still sitting here, so I’m thinking it hasn’t scared you away?” His sentence ended on a high note, so it felt like a question rather than a statement, and I treated it as such.

  “It’d take more than a fan or two to scare me away.” And I meant that. Even an army of crazed fans wouldn’t scare me away from Matt. He was the most genuine guy I’d ever met, and I wanted to spend as much time with him as he’d allow.

  I knew our time was short since he’d inevitably have to go back to the US soon, and it wasn’t like I could follow him around like a lost puppy. Matt had a crazy life filled with gigs and fans,
and I was a writer who had just moved to Australia to try life down under. But I was going to make the most of what time we’d have.

  Chapter Twenty

  MATT

  Our meal was amazing, and Dane was right that the tiramisu was definitely a must-order. He was also right about the show too. Miss Alotta Bush was a fucking hoot, and I laughed from the second she stepped on the stage. Actually, I hadn’t really stopped. Sam and I cracked up several times about her on the walk home.

  The night air was cool but not too cold that I’d regretted not bringing a jacket with me. My arm rested on Sam’s shoulder as we walk, and I tucked her in against my side a little tighter, loving the feel of her curves against my hard lines. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

  “What was that for?” she asked. I couldn’t see the smile on her lips, but I heard it.

  “For being here with me. And treating me like a normal person. I don’t often get that luxury.” I was honest and open. It was something I’d planned to do with Sam knowing whatever we may be building here—be it a long-term and distance relationship or just a friendship—I wanted it to be built on honesty. It was what Sam deserved.

  Sam’s slender fingers squeezed at my waist. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else or with anyone but you, Matt.”

  My cellphone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket with my spare hand, immediately knowing if I didn’t, Sam would only demand I check it in case it was Dom calling about Aimee. Seeing the man in question’s name flashing across the screen, I answered immediately.

  It was a FaceTime call, and as soon as I caught a glimpse of the battered and bruised blonde on the screen, I held the phone at an angle so Sam could have a clear view of the screen too.