Brand New Sky

by Heidi Hutchinson

  In order to make any of that happen, though, she would need her butt to stop spasming and behave like a good butt.

  “My butt has betrayed me,” she said, staring blankly at the four obnoxiously perfect men walking towards them.

  Sway chuckled.

  “Don't laugh at my misfortune,” she warned in a low voice, as if the rock stars could hear her.

  “If you want me to stop laughing, you're going to have to stop saying funny things,” Sway responded with a grin. “C'mon, I'll walk you to your door and then you can go hide.”

  She turned hopeful eyes to him. “Really?”

  His grin softened. “Yeah, really.”

  “Can I pretend like I don't speak English?” she asked, still riding that hopeful wave.

  “No.” He chuckled again. “Just trust me, okay?”

  She sucked in a breath. Coming from anyone else, that would sound like a set up for future betrayal. From Sway? Not as much.

  “Okay.”

  He stared at her for a second, his eyes soft. He knew what she had just given him. She could see it.

  Very carefully she exited the vehicle, the strain in her posterior really showing her what being a hundred was going to feel like.

  Sway gave a low wave to his friends on his way around the car to take her side. He asked silently if it was okay that he touch her and she dipped her head, knowing she would never make it up the steps without some sort of support. His arm encircled her waist very gingerly, his hand pressing firmly and surely on her hip, taking her weight against his side. It happened so flawlessly and without the awkwardness that she expected to arise from sudden human contact, that she melted against the heat of him. Why was he so warm? Was it leftover from his shower at the gym? Or was he just a really warm person?

  “Hey, guys,” he greeted the band when they'd stopped in a semi-circle surrounding them. “Let me get Ryan to her door and situated, and I'll be right back.”

  Lead singer Luke's piercing blue eyes narrowed. “Is everything okay?”

  Sway smiled. “Yep. She just has a bit of a muscle strain.” He tugged her towards her door.

  This was weird, Ryan thought, trying to figure out the best way to handle this. Sure, she wanted to hide. That actually went without saying, but it would be impolite and Sway had been so great with her, she didn't want to have to foist some lame explanation duty on him. She was a grown ass woman as Tawny had so eloquently pointed out. And she had manners, as rusty as they were.

  She engaged her most genuine smile, the one she reserved for people she liked, and swept through eye contact with all of them. She didn't miss their expressions all shift in unison. From carefully cautious to curious delight.

  “I hurt my butt,” she said, taking Sway off guard. His arm tightened around her and she was positive he stifled a snort. So maybe her manners weren't the best.

  The dark-haired one with the green eyes grinned. “Is it Sway's fault?”

  “Blake,” the curly-haired one reprimanded, hitting Blake with the back of his hand in the chest.

  Blake's grin widened and he slid his hands in the pockets of his jeans, not taking his eyes off Ryan. She must have been smiling or blushing or a combination of the two, because when her eyes flicked to who she knew was the drummer, Mike, he was smiling back at her.

  “No, it's not Sway's fault. But he's helping me out with it.” Ryan felt another squeeze against her hip.

  “I bet he is,” Blake said impishly.

  “Shut up, ass hat,” Sway muttered, but he sounded more amused than pissed off.

  Luke stepped forward, offering his hand. “I'm Luke Casey,” he introduced cordially. “This is Harrison (curly-haired cutie), Blake, and Mike. We all work with Sway.” He said this last part with an eye flash to Sway.

  “She knows what we do,” Sway said and all four rockers visibly relaxed. “She's Tawny's neighbor, so I'm sure she's heard all about us.”

  Luke's eyes flicked back and forth between Sway and Ryan and she distinctly recognized pity there. So everyone thought Sway's reputation was awful. Interesting.

  “Only the good parts,” she said, using her arm that was closest to Sway to slide it around his middle in return. Up until that point she had basically let it hang in between them, a barrier of sorts. Not now, now she was committed. To what, though, she hadn't a clue. To him? To making it known that his past didn't matter? He was her friend, this was a declaration.

  Not that any of the witnesses would understand that.

  But Sway did.

  “She needs to put some ice on her hurt,” Sway said, tossing his keys at Luke, who caught them one handed. “You guys can go wait inside Tawny's house and I'll be right back.” He resumed their trajectory to her house.

  Harrison bounded up the steps and opened her screen door for them. “Anything else I can do to help?” he asked.

  “Thanks, bud,” Sway replied. “I think we got it.”

  Harrison nodded and then smiled sweetly at Ryan. “It was great to meet you. I hope you recover soon.”

  She couldn't stop the silly grin that she gave him. “Thanks,” she said, meaning it.

  Once inside the house, Sway deposited her carefully on her couch and went to let Clive out of his crate. “I'll let this guy out right after I set you up with some ice and a banana.”

  “No bananas,” she said, trying to arrange the cushions in such a way that when Sway returned, he wouldn't have to do much more work around her rear end. “I'm allergic. There's potassium tablets in the medicine cabinet.”

  “Okay,” Sway said, charging through the house.

  Clive came over to inspect her, licking her face and reminding her that she would need to shower her workout off. She reached up to touch her hair and attempted to smooth down the crazy she felt there.

  “Oh no,” she said out loud.

  “What?” Sway asked, quickly walking back to her, his eyes scanning her body for any sign of distress. Finding none, he turned his questioning eyes on hers.

  She swallowed. “Nothing,” she lied. So she had met Double Blind Study while in her workout clothes, her DARE t-shirt still sweaty and the parts that had dried were actually a little stiff. She was the probably the grossest she had ever been.

  Ever.

  Oh well, there was nothing she could do about it now.

  “Ryan,” Sway called her eyes back to his since they had drifted into to sightless territory. “What's wrong?”

  She raised her eyebrows and gave a half-hearted shrug. “I look awful. I just met a major rock band. Nothing about these things can be changed now.”

  Sway studied her, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “You got over it pretty fast.”

  “It's in my nature.”

  They stared at each other silently for a few seconds.

  Sway gave her a lopsided smile. “I like you,” he declared, then spun around and resumed his quest for ice.

  Ryan liked him too. A lot. She'd be smart to walk away from this. She liked him too much to be just friends and she suspected that he knew that. Was it a choice to get swept away, or did things just happen? Could someone have a rational thought while the sweeping was happening? Because it felt slippery and dangerous and her footing couldn't be trusted, and there was Sway... holding out an arm to help keep her balance. Even though he was the one who caused the landslide in the first place with his stormy blue eyes and his wild man hair and his too-big-for-his-face smile.

  Yeah, she liked him.

  But right now, she really wanted to be alone to hold her butt. And hope and pray that she was inconspicuous enough that the rock stars wouldn't talk about her at all. They would just forget her entire existence.

  Not Sway, though.

  Mostly she just wanted him to herself.

  Chapter 8

  The Heart

  “What is that smell?!” Carl hollered from somewhere down below.

  Sway cracked one eye open, then changed his mind and squeezed it shut again.

  “W
ho's yelling?” Blake groaned from the bunk across the aisle.

  “Oh my God!” Carl yelled, a crash following shortly after.

  The buxom brunette sprawled on top of Sway wiggled closer to him, trying to bury her face deeper into his bare chest. He pushed her hair out of her face and peered down at her.

  “Sasha,” he coaxed, trying to rouse her.

  “This is bullshit,” Carl yelled again, more crashing. “The bus is an abomination!”

  “Sasha,” Sway tried again but she was really out. He tried to be gentle as he rolled her over and against the wall of the bunk. She pulled the covers up around her face and turned away from him, her sleep undisturbed.

  Sway slid out of the bunk and grabbed his jeans from the floor, yanking them on but not bothering to button them. Damn, his head hurt. Recovering from a breakup was hard work. But he couldn't leave the media disappointed. They all wanted to see the clichéd rock and roll drama play out in front of him.

  Besides, if he made himself look like a total douchwad then the fans would leave Alexa alone.

  Who would have thought that am amicable breakup between two adults could cause so many terrible and cruel rumors to surface? Their adoring public wanted an enemy, someone to blame for a supposed slight against them—which was a bizarre idea, since they had nothing to do with the relationship, good or bad. They still wanted their piece. And Sway would be damned if he let Alexa look like the bad guy.

  Also, Sasha was fun.

  And she was funny, which was a great bonus.

  “Why are you yelling?” he asked, rubbing the remaining sleep and alcohol out of his eyes.

  Carl, who had been filling a black trash bag with empty booze bottles, stopped and stood up straight. “You wanna explain this hell hole to me?”

  Sway sucked in a deep breath and itched the side of his neck as he looked around. It was pretty bad. Old food, dirty clothes, the overwhelmingly oppressive smell of rancid beer.

  He didn't have an explanation. So he shrugged.

  Carl ground his teeth together. “You know—” He shook his head and turned around. Then he spun again. “This is—” He put both hands on his hips and looked at the floor as if it would offer him some sort of consolation for what he had to put up with. “You guys suck.”

  Sway crossed his arms over his chest. “I'd agree with you there.”

  Carl looked up at him, the disappointment evident in his scowl. “Why, then?”

  Sway shrugged again. “We don't know any better?”

  Carl closed his eyes, trying to manage his rage. When he opened them, he started picking up trash again. “Egos that rival the pyramids. Frickin' rock stars.”

  ***

  “So let's talk about why you guys are here,” Sway said, sliding a coaster underneath Blake's soda can. Blake smirked at the action and arched one eyebrow at Harrison. Sway rolled his eyes. “Just because it's not my house doesn't mean I'm not going to treat it any differently.”

  Luke and Mike exchanged a look that Sway didn't miss. They never got it. He knew he was a slob on the road. The worst offender, truth be told.

  But home was different.

  If you didn't keep your home tidy, things could be misplaced.

  Or people.

  “I want to talk about the blonde you have living right next door,” Luke said, his lips curling on the ends.

  “And her butt,” Blake interjected.

  “We will not be discussing her butt,” Sway said, his secret smile totally giving him away. He took a seat on Tawny's large sectional. “What's the deal? Why are you here?”

  Luke looked around the room, the other three either looked to their laps or to the wall.

  “Would you believe us if we said we missed you?” Harrison ventured.

  “Creepy,” Sway said dryly. “And should I be expecting the girls to come bursting in any minute?”

  No answer.

  Well, shit.

  Sway dropped his head backwards to the sofa and looked to the ceiling while rubbing one hand over his face. “I'm really tired, guys.”

  “Why are you so tired?” Blake jumped right on that one.

  Sway looked at him sideways. “It's nothing even close to what you're thinking.”

  “What do you mean?” Mike asked, joining the conversation for the first time since Sway had come back from Ryan's.

  He'd left her propped up on the couch with the remote and ice. She'd promised she'd call if she needed anything. He'd even programmed his number in her phone so that she wouldn't have an excuse not to.

  “I'm out of town for two days and they send a search party,” he muttered to himself. “Just tell me already. Am I in trouble or something?”

  “You're not in trouble,” Luke said, chuckling under his breath.

  “It's your birthday tomorrow, moron,” Blake declared suddenly.

  Sway frowned up at the ceiling, but otherwise he didn't move. It was still March, wasn't it? No, he'd had lunch with Miles on the 31st, so March was over. That would make it April 11th today. Shit, tomorrow was his birthday.

  “Well how about that?” he asked no one in particular. He never made plans for his birthday. He learned that lesson a long time ago. His dad had explained that there came a time when people stopped making a big deal out of your birthday. That time was his eighth birthday.

  “Normally we'd let you ignore it. Since it seems to be the custom of your people,” Mike was saying and Sway lifted his head to look at him suspiciously. “But I may have mentioned it to Clarke.”

  Clarke was Mike's girlfriend. Except that word didn't seem to really do justice to what they actually had. Mike and Clarke were not an ordinary couple. They were the kind of couple that seemed to exist outside of the confines of time and rules and the things that made sense. They loved on another plane.

  Clarke was also too sweet for her own good and usually made sure that the people in her life knew how important they were to her.

  Anyone else getting a wild hair about his birthday, and Sway would probably make a dirty joke and be done with it. But not with Clarke. He smiled softly and closed his eyes.

  “Of course.” He looked at Mike. “Is she coming here?”

  Mike grinned. “Yeah, that's where the girls are. Her flight lands in a couple of hours and then they're driving down in the morning.”

  “Why did you guys show up tonight?” Sway asked.

  Luke shrugged. “We wanted to make sure you were actually going to be here.” He rolled his eyes in good humor. “And we might have been a little bored.”

  “Well, you showed at the most perfect time,” Sway said, lurching to his feet. “By the way, have you guys eaten? I'm starved.” He walked into the kitchen.

  “When are you going to tell us about the girl?” Harrison asked. “Is it a thing? Do you guys have a thing?”

  Sway cracked a smile as he pulled the fridge door open. Hmm, vegetable stir-fry it was then.

  “Of course I have a thing. I have a fantastic thing. Though I stopped calling it a 'thing' sometime in grade school.” He pulled the veggies out of the fridge and onto the counter. “But to answer your question, no, we don't have a thing. We're just friends.”

  And he was more than happy with that. He'd take friendship with Ryan any day.

  Luke joined him in the kitchen, as Mike, Blake, and Harrison moved to take stools at the buffet.

  “At first she seemed a little shy,” Blake observed. “You know, until she started talking about her butt. When am I going to hear that story, by the way?”

  “When she wants to tell it,” Sway answered, getting out the wok and the oil. “And she seems shy, but she's not. She's just a very private person.”

  “What's the difference?” Blake asked.

  “I can see that,” Mike said and swiveled slightly in Blake's direction. “She's content with not being the center of attention. But she's not afraid of people.”

  “Who doesn't want to be the center of attention?” Blake asked, incredulous. “I ca
n't relate.”

  “She looks familiar,” Harrison said and Sway glanced in that direction to see the guitarist contemplating the tile on the counter.

  “She looks a little like Alexa,” Luke agreed and Sway's eyes cut to him.

  “She does not,” Sway argued.

  Luke nodded and tossed a slice of green pepper in his mouth. “Sure she does, blonde hair, brown eyes, petite frame. What is she? Five feet? Does she dance too?”

  “No.” Sway shook his head, in confusion. “I mean, I don't think so. I just met her.”

  Luke stopped chewing and eyed him thoughtfully. “You just met?”

  Sway went back to his task and shook his head again. “I've only been here a couple of days. We happened to hit it off. Ryan is great, you guys will really like her. She's weird and hilarious, she'll surprise you.”

  “Weird and hilarious,” Mike said with a soft laugh. “Like we need more of those.”

  ***

  Ryan stretched out her legs tentatively, then her toes. So far so good. Her bum was a little sore, but nothing like it was last night when she'd managed to crawl into her bed after she'd womaned up and showered. For the first time since moving into her house, she regretted having her bedroom upstairs.

  But the morning was starting out pretty great.

  She hobbled down the stairs, only a bit of stiffness on one side, made her coffee, tugged on her holey sweater, and opened the front door to the fresh spring morning.

  Clive, the world's greatest dog, did his business in the yard and Ryan eased her butt down to the top step.

  Even though she had been traveling at light speed over the past couple of days, she was feeling surprisingly... okay with that. The normal emotional draining that took place after meeting and talking to new people had yet to show up.

  “Good morning,” Sway said sitting down beside her with his own cup of coffee.

  Her smile was reflexive and probably too big as she turned her head to take him in.