“Oh,” he says, brows bunched together as he looks between us. Tysin has the nerve to chuckle under his breath, adjusting the strap of his guitar on his shoulder. He sticks his pick in his mouth like he has all the time in the world to wait on this conversation.
Meanwhile, not one person has brought up his name, suspecting he’s the person she was here to see. How did I get roped into this shit?
“I put in a good word for him with my best friend. He owes me,” Kyla jokes, plastering a fake smile on her face, clapping her hand on Ivy’s knee.
Madden drops it, taking a seat and hits the pedal on his drums, checking the sound. I tug on my microphone cord, giving it more length to move around. Ivy’s eyes blaze into me, her leg bouncing on the floor.
She reaches her hand up, tucking a long strand of her brown hair behind her ear. She’s dressed in a sexy cobalt-blue tank top and black denim shorts. Her toenails are painted a bright pink, which is a color I’ve never seen her wear before, but it’s sexy on her.
Kyla’s too busy trying to hide the fact she can’t take her eyes off Tysin as I mouth to Ivy, “friendly?” She bites her lip to cover up her laugh when I quirk my brow at her, earning me a shrug.
“I’ll make you my best friend later,” I mouth slowly, hoping she can make out what I’m saying.
This time she doesn’t try to hold back the grin from stretching across her face and fuck me if I don’t love seeing how happy the thought of us together makes her.
“Can’t wait,” she mouths back.
For the rest of our band practice, she sits, never taking her eyes off me, with her leg bouncing to the beat of the music and a smile on her face that makes me feel like there is nowhere else in the world she’d rather be.
Twenty-Three
Ivy
“I’ll take a panty ripper.” Brix winks, leaning over the bar reaching for my hand.
Since we got back from Myrtle Beach, we’ve been playing with fire. Where we were once careful about showing PDA and who could be around to see us, has since gone out the window.
Brix has never been one to give a shit what people say or think. Just like now, as his fingers wrap around mine, pressing a kiss against my skin. Goose bumps spread up my arms from his touch alone.
Even standing here, in a crowded bar, the look on his face and the way his lips feel on my skin, it’s like it’s only the two of us.
“Panty ripper, huh?” I quirk my brow, gazing at his mouth for a moment before staring him in the eyes. Reaching for the bottle of coconut rum, preparing to mix his drink, I question, “Isn’t that a little fruity for you?”
“I wasn’t talking about the drink, baby.”
When he winks at me, a shiver shoots down my body. Putting the bottle back, I reach into the cooler to grab a chilled glass and fill it with beer before sliding it across the counter to him.
“Is that a no?”
“That’s a wait until tonight.”
He bites down on his lip, dragging his lip ring into his mouth, and I imagine doing the very same thing.
“When is your break?”
“Break? I got here twenty minutes ago.”
“I think you’ve been working very hard.” He accentuates the word hard with a firm voice, eyes widening as he wags his brows suggestively.
“Hard, huh?”
“Mmmhm, very hard. You deserve a few minutes to relax.” He looks past me to Jayde and yells, “Jayde, it’s time my girl gets a break. She’s overworked right now, and it’s bullshit.”
“Shut up, Ward. Don’t you have music to play or some shit?”
She doesn’t look up from the drink she’s mixing to address him. I just laugh.