The meatballs lodged in my throat and my heart soared like a ten-yard field goal punt flying through the sky.
With one look at her, I believed that coming to Ikea was a magical experience for her only made better because I’d been there. “If this is how you feel about Ikea, I can’t wait to take you to a Target.”
Soda spurted from her mouth and she covered it laughing. “If you take me to a Target, I might just have to marry you.” She wiped up the mess on the table and shoved the dirty napkins under her plate on the tray.
I trapped the words I wanted to say: ‘let’s do it.’ It had taken almost a year for Alice and me to agree to move in together, and another six months before I’d felt it was appropriate to start thinking about rings.
Knowing Bay wouldn’t be in my bed tomorrow felt wrong, the kind of wrong I’d pretended hadn’t been there and that I’d been able to cover since the last time I’d fallen asleep with her in my arms.
We had today. What happened tomorrow was still for us to figure out.
After sliding our trays into the food cemetery, a couple more heads turned in our direction. My hackles rose.
The place had gotten progressively more crowded. Her nervousness had faded, but the glances were getting closer together. With so many people around, autograph and selfie hunters could overwhelm us quickly. I’d told her I’d keep her safe and I intended to keep my promise. I’d sent a message to Gwen while Bay stopped off at the bathroom.
When she returned, I slipped her hat out of her pocket and tugged it down onto her head, over her eyes.
She grinned and shoved it up.
I slid her sunglasses on.
I didn’t want her day spoiled by being recognized. I also didn’t want to find out how the heart-racing, cornered feelings would rear their heads when Bay was involved.
We needed to leave now.
More people gathered closer to the doors. I’d told her I’d keep her safe today. My muscles tightened as the cell phones were whipped out.
Taking her hand, I guided her out through the automatic doors. A car idled outside the entrance. “Where to next?”
21
Keyton
After heading back to my apartment to recover from the Swedish meatball sedation, we’d stopped in the games room in the building. I beat her at pool and she kicked my ass at air hockey. Far too quickly, it was time to go to our only scheduled event for the day.
We sat in a studio wildly different than any I’d been in with her before. The room wasn’t cramped. It wasn’t dank. The equipment, furniture, even the walls didn’t feel like they’d been in the same place for sixty years.
Everything was clean and sleek. Shiny and pristine. A curved desk was covered in electronics and computers.
Our ergonomic rolling chairs were soft. There wasn’t a single crack in the plastic or leather.
Holden had dropped by before disappearing again. Bay fiddled with the electronics on the computer monitors. Huge speakers sat on top of the soundboard and I had no doubt they could blow out my ear drums if they were cranked all the way up.
None of it made sense to me, but she tested them out on a short melody she’d sung when we first arrived. Her voice in a stadium filled with thousands or even on a stage in front of a crowd of hundreds didn’t compare to her singing for me. Just the two of us, effortless notes with a sweet and smooth cadence. It brought me back to those days laying on her bed back in Greenwood or our time together in LA.
The desire to have more of this time hit me like a craving. I needed more hours in a day.
“And if I slide this up—” She touched the board, and her voice came out like Alvin and the Chipmunks on speed.
“Is this the sound you’re going for on your new album?”
She laughed. “Fans would definitely be shocked.”
The door to our left opened. In the doorway, a male silhouette froze, unsure.
“Spencer!” Bay threw her arms around the neck of the guy she’d run off with within seconds of seeing me back in California, and who had stolen my seat during my dinner with her before rushing away.
The bristling jealousy wanted to break free. It wanted to rage and roar at him to get his damn hands off her. But I pulled those feelings apart.
Bay and I had spent the whole day together. We’d talked, laughed, kissed, and had mind-blowing sex on multiple surfaces in my apartment. It had been a jam-packed day. Not once had she felt like she wanted to be anywhere else. He wasn’t a threat.
I dismantled the warships cruising through my chest and took a deep breath.
“You remember Keyton from the summer after graduation.” She walked him over to me. He had light brown hair, longish on top and short on the sides. He wasn’t scrawny, but not bulky like most of the guys I hung out with. He fit the rocker musician profile, complete with a defined jaw and cheek bones flirting with the edge of feminine. He probably cleaned up with the ladies after his shows.
Sticking out my hand, I relaxed my muscles to make sure I didn’t power-trip power-grip his hand. Slipping into destroy mode would put a damper on the great day we’d had. He was Bay’s friend, and those were in short supply.
His eyes widened and he pumped my hand twice before letting go. “Yeah, I remember. The football player.” He looked between us. “I didn’t know you two still kept in touch.”
Bay didn’t clarify and neither did I. Part of me wanted to crow there was a lot he didn’t know about her life, but for all I knew, he knew a hell of a lot more than me.
Stepping back and giving them their space, I sat on the couch along the back wall.
“How’s it been on the road?” Bay sat on the couch right beside me, our legs pressed against one another.
Another win added to the keeping calm column.
Spencer flopped into one of the rolling chairs, digging his heels in to drag it closer. “Exhausting. Absolute chaos. A grind beyond all grinds.” His face split into a huge grin. “It’s been the best time of my life. A hell of a lot better than working at the twenty-four hour gym I was at during the two years I cut my demo.”
“And now you’re ready to do the whole album?” She glowed, pitched all the way forward with her hands trapped between her legs like she couldn’t trust them if she didn’t keep them contained. It was the excitement she’d talked about over ice cream. Not nervous or worried, but excited to talk shop with a friend.
“Trying to. I was shocked as hell when you offered to have me come down here.” He stared at her like he still wasn’t sure what he was doing here.
“After I watched the cover I mentioned to you, I watched a few more, and you sang one you want to put on your next album.” She sounded impressed.
“Been checking up on me?” He teased.
I kept repeating in my head that their easy banter and joking wasn’t a threat. Because it wasn’t. Also, what was there to threaten? Bay and I had spent a total of twenty-four hours together in the past six years. I couldn’t exactly grab a flag and plant it in her vagina, claiming it for me.
“It’s what friends do, right?” She leaned against me and dropped her hand to my leg, reassuring without even realizing what she was doing. After the ease and happiness of our day, it didn’t feel like we’d seen each other for less than forty-eight hours since our lives had collided once again. Being with her made it feel like the six years apart had only been a few hours, like I’d woken that morning in her apartment, kissed her, and gone off to meet my fate and held her tight after getting the news of my career derailment.