He busts up laughing and I can’t believe he tricked me like that. Pretending to be annoyed, I get up and storm out of the room and into the kitchen. I’m just hungry but two can play this game.
I open the fridge door and start moving things around. I’m kind of in the mood for an omelet but I can’t make one to save my life. Most of the time I end up just throwing all the ingredients in the pan and making a scramble because my omelets always break and never come out right. I need one of those infomercial things that make the perfect omelet. Those things are awesome.
As I’m scavenging in the fridge, Flynn comes up behind me. Ignoring him, I start pulling ingredients out and putting them on the island. I find eggs, cheese, and veggies. My mouth is salivating, I’m that hungry. When I turn around, Flynn has already started chopping the vegetables. He’s also pulled out a pan and the cheese grater.
Keeping up my act, I silently grate the cheese and wait for him to say something. I’ve played this game way too many times in my life to count, and I’m never the one to talk first. I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon.
We continue moving around the kitchen in silence. Once all the ingredients are prepped, Flynn clears his throat and I look up at him. He starts smiling, which of course makes me start smiling, and now we look dumb standing in the middle of the kitchen not talking with big goofy grins.
Getting ready to break that promise to myself, I open my mouth but Flynn beats me to it and says, “So are you going to stop pretending like you’re mad at me and talk?”
Ugh! Was I that obvious?
Keeping up with the act, I reply, “What makes you think I’m not mad at you?”
He turns on the stove and throws some butter in the pan. I’m pretty sure I’ve died and gone to heaven. Not only is he dead sexy and can sing, but now he’s making me breakfast too? If this man makes me an omelet right now, I’ll marry him tomorrow.
Without turning away from what he’s doing, he says, “We can keep playing this game. I know you aren’t mad at me and you know you aren’t mad at me. Why don’t we just agree we both know what’s going on here. And you can grab some juice while I finish up our breakfast.”
Not sure how to even respond to that, I turn and do exactly what he says. I’m not sure what kind of juice he wants so I pour myself a glass of orange and put an empty cup at the breakfast bar for him with both the apple and orange juices sitting next to it. I sit down and wait for him to finish, which he does rather quickly, and I almost have a heart attack when he places an almost perfect omelet on the counter.
It’s a good thing I didn’t say anything out loud because I’m not ready for the whole marriage thing, but Flynn just became a contender.
The omelet is huge and I almost say something about it, but then he places two forks on the counter as well. Oddly, he’s moving through the kitchen with ease and having no trouble at all finding anything. Maybe the kitchen is set up the same way as his? I don’t know, but it’s weird.
He pours himself a glass of orange juice and then puts both juices away before sitting on the stool next to mine. I take a large gulp of my juice before picking up my fork and digging right in. When I break open the omelet, steam wafts up to my nose and it smells amazing. My stomach growls, which is a little embarrassing, but I take a bite of the most amazing omelet I’ve ever tasted.
I let out a moan and savor the amazing food that Flynn just made me. The cheese is melted perfectly and the eggs are incredibly fluffy, like little clouds. I don’t know what he seasoned the veggies with but there’s a party in my mouth and I’m so glad I was invited.
I’m not sure if it’s because Flynn made the omelet or if the food is just that good, but my mouth is having an orgasm. Are mouth orgasms a thing? They must be because I’m having one right now.
I pick up another piece of egg with my fork but Flynn still hasn’t taken a bite of the omelet. I look up at him and he’s staring right back at me. He swallows and zeroes in on my mouth before returning to my eyes.
“If that’s the noise you’re going to make every time I make you an omelet, I’m going to be over here every morning making you one.”
He reaches down and adjusts his pants and I can feel the heat travel up my neck. Oops. I guess that moan wasn’t very discreet.
“What do you mean, what noise?”
“You sounded like you just had the best orgasm in your life.”
“That’s because I’m pretty sure I just did. In my mouth, of course. You know how to satisfy a woman.”
He smirks at me and too late I realize what I just said. I’m going to need to learn how to get this word vomit problem in check. It’s almost like the entire part of my brain that thinks about what I say before I say it shuts off while I’m around Flynn. At some point he’s going to realize this, and I’m sure he will start to take full advantage of it. If he hasn’t already.
I open my mouth to backtrack but he beats me to it. “Trust me, that’s not the only way I know how to satisfy a woman. I’m willing to demonstrate for you.”
My face heats up even more and turns bright red. I would most definitely like that, but I can’t say that to him so I just sit there with my mouth hanging open. I can’t figure out anything to even follow that up with. Flynn gets up and starts putting things away and into the sink. It isn’t until he turns the faucet on and starts doing the dishes that I figure out what he meant. Of course my mind went straight to the gutter. Taking a quick peek over at me, Flynn’s face lights up knowing that the lightbulb finally went off in my head.
“I was referring to cleaning and doing the dishes but if you would rather I demonstrate whatever your dirty mind was coming up with, I’m sure that can be arranged too.”
Still coming up blank, I spew out a lie that we both know is untrue. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t thinking anything dirty at all. I honestly wasn’t sure what you were referring to, but now I know. You don’t know me if you thought my mind went straight to something naughty. I’m a good girl and I’m not like that at all.” I give him an exaggerated sweet smile and bat my lashes.
He just stares straight at me and says, “Who are you trying to convince here?”
I hate that he knows me so well already, but I don’t tell him that. I don’t know why I’m so open about myself with Flynn, even when I’m trying not to be. He can read me like a book, yet I don’t know him at all. Our little game of twenty questions the other day helped me figure out the easy stuff, but I don’t know the real Flynn.
He comes walking over and I notice he has cleaned up and put away everything from our breakfast. I was caught up in my own head, and I hope he didn’t notice. He grabs my hand and pulls me up to a standing, and we wrap our arms around each other, just staring into each other’s eyes. I’m the luckiest girl in the world, and I don’t know how I found a guy as amazing as Flynn. He leans down and gives me a quick peck on my lips and when I try to deepen the kiss he pulls back from me.
Feeling a little confused and rejected, I release my arms and back away from him. He doesn’t let me get too far though and grabs my hands to pull me back to him.
Whispering in my ear, he says, “I saw that thought written all over your face. I’m not rejecting you in any way. I have band practice and I have to go back to my place to get my motorcycle.”
I’m lost in the feeling of Flynn’s arms around me and my voice comes out a little more breathy than normal. “Band practice?”
“Hudson and Jax are back from their family trip. Their parents’ house is about an hour outside of town so I need to take off. I would much rather stay here and hang out with you all day, though.”
I melt inside. I don’t want him to leave. Sounding needy and way more insecure than I want to, I say, “I could come with you. We could still hang out and I’d love to meet the guys in your band and watch you practice.”
He shakes his head and says, “That would be cool but the guys wouldn’t go for it. One of the first rules we ever made was
no girls during band practice. Jax doesn’t know how to keep it in his pants and after one too many drama sessions from crazy clingers, we decided to close our practices.”
“That makes sense. I’d still like to meet them, though.”
“I’ll talk to the guys but I can’t make any promises.”
He looks sincere as he says this, and I know he wouldn’t lie about something like that. If he didn’t want me there, he would have just said so. I can’t believe some girls get that crazy. I could never imagine flipping out because I was a one-night stand. Then again I’m not some insane groupie, and I’d never have sex with a guy I know isn’t in it for more than just one night. Real life isn’t like the romance novels I read. You can’t tame a bad boy and change them from their manwhoring ways.
I nod my head and say to him, “Okay. It’s their band too, so I get it.”
Flynn nods his head in agreement. “Good. Anyway, I better get going before I’m late.”
He leans down and kisses the tip of my nose. The front door opens and closes, leaving me in complete silence. There was nothing passionate behind that small kiss but I swoon nonetheless. I never knew a simple kiss on my nose could be the most amazing thing in the world.
I stand in the spot in a daze and shake my head to clear the fog. Another day by the pool sounds awesome so I head off toward my room to get ready. Do I want to make a new playlist? Something more upbeat and romantic?
Probably not.
Even though I have found Flynn, I don’t have a reason yet to call this anything other than the summer from hell. I go find my Kindle to get myself lost in another world for the day. Although I’m still uncertain where things are headed with Flynn and I, all of my book boyfriends will be there for me no matter what. Even in a book slump, heading to Rosemary Beach always helps. Abbi Glines sure does know how to write the perfect guy. If only real life consisted of guys like Rush, Grant, Woods, and Tripp.
A girl can dream.
Chapter 7
Flynn
After taking a quick shower at home, I hop on my bike and head toward Hudson and Jax’s house. It’s actually their parents’ house but during the summer, their parents are always traveling so they usually have the place to themselves. I’m so happy the guys are back from their annual family trip so we can finally get back to playing.
I can’t wait for the guys to hear the new song I wrote. It’s a little different from what we usually play but in a good way, more upbeat. We need to start getting serious about putting our EP together so we have something to start sending out to labels. Hey, maybe the new song could be our first single.
On the ride, I think about how sad Ashtyn got when I told her she couldn’t come to our practice. I might have to talk to the guys about changing that rule. I don’t want us to just start inviting randoms again but Ashtyn is different. She isn’t just some girl to me, and she’s nothing like Jax’s girls. She’s not the type to start drama, and I kind of like seeing her face all lit up while I’m playing.
I could tell that she was different that very first night when she was watching me play. I just wish I wasn’t getting so attached. There’s no way this ends well with us, especially when she finds out my secret.
I pull into their familiar driveway and everyone is already here. I’m guessing Jude is even antsier to get back to practice that I am. At least I get to play at the pub. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have anything like that. The guy is kind of quiet so I still don’t know him that well but he’s one hell of a bass player.
When Hudson wanted to bring him in as our fourth member, Jax and I were super reluctant to even let him audition for us. He’s only sixteen but when he played, he totally blew us away. The kid has some serious skill. He still seems to think he needs to prove himself but, for me at least, he proved himself that first day.
Heading around back, I go in through the basement door and all of the guys are sitting around waiting for me to show up. Not one to ever beat around the bush, Jax speaks up first. “Dude, I thought we were going to have to send out a search party. It’s about time you showed up.”
“Nice to see you too, Jax. I was a little busy and lost track of time. So, how was Sydney?”
“Oh, you know, lots of surfing and babes. Best two weeks of my life. I was sad I had to leave them behind and return to your ugly faces.”
“Well, you’re just on a roll today, aren’t you? Please tell me you did something more exciting than that, Hudson.”
Jax’s younger brother has a little more brain activity going on and is our resident theater geek. I swear if he weren’t in the band with us, he’d run off to Hollywood and make some kickass movies. Luckily for us, he sticks around, because he rocks on the drums. We’re still amateur status but I can honestly say we’re pretty good. I’m not bragging or anything, just stating the truth.
We work our asses off and it shows by the following we already have. We might be a small local band but we’re meant for more and our day will come. Anytime anyone in our band starts to doubt us, I just turn on “Weightless” by All Time Low. It’s kind of become our anthem.
“I think you know me well enough by now, Flynn, to know I did more than that. I went surfing a bunch, but I also went to the Opera House. Jax wouldn’t know what culture was if it bit him the ass.”
We all laugh and Jax doesn’t even attempt to defend himself because we all know it’s true. His number one interest and priority in life is the band, closely followed by sex. Jax is a simple man and doesn’t need much to be happy but his number two priority gets him in trouble from time to time.
All these girls think they’ll be the one that he finally falls in love with. But his heart was taken and smashed a long time ago by someone else.
“I’m glad you guys had a good trip. I don’t know about you but I’m anxious to get playing again. I wrote a new song while you were gone. I don’t have any music to go along with it, just the lyrics. I’m gonna warn you, it’s a little different from what we usually play.”
I don’t wait for them to respond. I start singing and let the words take over me. Most of the songs I’ve written are dark, inspired by my past. This new song is 100% Ashtyn.
As I sing, I can picture her face, hear her laugh, and feel the happiness she gives me every time we’re together. I was lost in the darkness and when she came along, she lit up my life. Lost in myself and the song, I sing the final word and slowly pull back to the present.
The room is quiet and the guys haven’t said a word. I open my eyes and see Hudson with a big shit-eating grin on his face. Jax’s mouth is hanging open and he looks confused and in shock, while Jude just has a blank expression on his face. I can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“So what did you think?”
Hudson speaks up first. “So who is she and how the hell did she fix you?”
I don’t even try to hide the fact that Ashtyn inspired my latest song. “Her name’s Ashtyn. She just moved here.”
That causes Jax to jump up from the couch. “Holy shit! I never thought I’d see the day. I thought you were broken.”
“Why, Jax? Because I don’t sleep with anything that walks?”
“Dude, give me some credit. I only sleep with the hot ones. I do have standards.”
“Yeah, the one with the most STDs wins.”
“Yeah, gotta get ’em all,” Hudson pipes in.
That gets a chuckle out of both Hudson and Jude. I’m glad we can all share a laugh at Jax’s expense. He doesn’t find it so hilarious and turns to give them the death glare which causes full-blown laughter. Jax is a big guy, but scary would not be the word to describe him.
“Whatever, dude. That’s not even how the saying goes and I’m not stupid. I always wrap my shit.”
“So we’ve heard. ‘Wrap it before you tap it,’ as you always say. No one said you were stupid."
“Not stupid enough to get pussy whipped like you. You won’t ever find me with the same chick more than once.�
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“Yeah, maybe not ever again.”
“Whatever. Drop it dude. Let’s get back to the real reason why we’re here.”
One of these days Jax is going to have to deal with his past, but this isn’t the time. Not that I have room to talk because I haven’t dealt with mine and don’t have plans to anytime soon. Which brings me back to the present.
“Before I forget, any chance we want to amend the no-visitors-during-practice rule? Jax shouldn’t be allowed to bring any of his groupies around but it could be cool to bring Ashtyn here sometime.”
That gets a groan from Jax. “Fuckin’ whipped.”
Shockingly, Jude speaks up. “What about having a party? We can celebrate the guys’ return home and do a mini concert. Everybody wins.”
Although the kid never talks, I’ll admit he’s fucking smart. He just times everything he says to blow us away. Having a party would be the perfect chance for us to work on our performing skills and it would also give Ashtyn a chance to listen to our music. She said something about her best friend coming into town so the timing is good. I hope she’s ugly, though. I don’t want to deal with one-night stand drama between Jax and Ashtyn’s best friend. One of these days he’s going to learn you can’t just fuck around. I just hope it doesn’t come back on the band in any way.
“Okay, if we want a party then we better start practicing because I know you sound like shit, Jax. We all know you didn’t pick up your guitar while you were in Australia.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
“Dicking around trying to impress some girl doesn’t count. They don’t know any better and you don’t even have to sound good. All you have to do is pick up your guitar and play a couple of chords and the panties drop, am I right?”
“Hey, whatever it takes, man. It’s not my fault the ladies find me irresistible.”
I can’t even hold in my laugh. Jax is so fucking full of himself it’s kind of ridiculous. He acts like he’s already a rock star and girls fall for it all the time. I would feel sorry for the girls but if they’re dumb enough to fall for his shit then they deserve it.
Finding Flynn Page 5