“What about our lunch?” Kenton asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Right, right,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s go outside and wait for it to arrive. We can eat out there. It’s nice outside, and you boys need your vitamin D.”
“I think you need some vitamin D,” Kenton chuckled, following behind Pen. I slapped him on the back of the head and narrowed my eyes at him.
“Don’t think I didn’t hear you back there,” Pen called out. “And you’re not wrong. I do need some D, but first, I need to find the right man for the job.”
My steps faltered for a moment. I was the right man for her, even if she didn’t realize it. At least not yet. But I wasn’t going to push her. I was going to let Pen figure it out on her own, or at least hope she did.
Kenton ran up on Pen and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Can I apply for the job?”
Laughing, Pen pushed him away. “In your dreams, Kenny Boy. Find someone your own age.”
Pen mentioned age a lot, and it made me wonder if that was what she really was concerned about. Did she think she was too old for me? Because I didn’t care how old she was, which was something she had yet to divulge.
By the time we got to the front of Titan Records, our lunch was sitting at the front desk waiting for us. Pen stopped in front of the bags and spoke to one of the receptionists.
“We’re going to be outside having lunch, and we are not to be disturbed.” She gave the poor woman a look that let her know there would be hell to pay if we were bothered.
“Damn, Pen. You’re one badass bitch when you want to be,” Cross hooted, taking the bags from her.
She raised a brow, giving Cross a pointed look. “You just wait until it’s turned on you.”
“Oh, that’s never going to happen. I’m always going to be on your good side.” Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew Cross had a wicked smile on his face. “I’m always a good boy. The best behaved out of all of us.”
I scoffed at his comment. None of us were out getting arrested on the daily, but we weren’t angels either.
Pen turned to walk backward with her golden-brown eyes narrowed at all of us. “I don’t believe that for a second. Now let’s sit down and eat, so my blood pressure can lower just a little bit.” She sat down at one of the tables and closed her eyes. I didn’t like not being able to see what she was thinking. It was almost like I willed her eyes to open when they popped open and landed on me. “Why didn’t you call or message me to let me know he was being difficult?”
“I didn’t think there was anything you could do about it.” I sat down across from her and watched as Cross unpacked our lunch. “I thought it was part of the process.”
“I had him play me the last one, and it sounded good. No, strike that. It was great, and Wallace had no right to keep asking for more from you, especially if they all sounded like that. I requested that Ernie work with you from now on.”
Cross stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. “Thanks.”
“You don’t need to thank me. It’s my job.” She opened her salad and looked up at us. “Besides today, how are you guys? I’m sorry I’ve been a little MIA this week, but I had to finish up a few other things before I’m officially your manager.”
“That’s badass,” Kenton hooted before he sat down at the table.
Pen reached across the table and patted his hand. “It really is. I can assure you I’ve been a manager before, just not with Titan.”
Pulling my lunch order in front of me, I cocked my head to the side as I took in her words. “So, you haven’t always been with Titan?”
Stabbing at her food, Pen nodded. “I was at a smaller company and realized they were never going to use me to my true potential. So essentially, I had to start over here and prove myself.”
“Well, it looks like you’ve done that and more. You know if you want to blow off some steam, you can come to the house they got for us and hang out with us by the pool.” Now that I thought about it, I realized it probably wasn’t just a nobody who got the house for us. “Did you have anything to do with getting us that house?”
The house was what we all dreamed our houses would be like when our band finally made it big. It was a mansion. We each pretty much had our own wing, there was a huge ass kitchen that was going to waste since none of us knew how to cook, and there was a sick ass pool with a whole grotto thing going on. Cross and Kenton were inviting over any woman they saw on the street, trying to recreate the Playboy mansion.
She chewed her food, nodding. “I may have had something to do with it. Do you like it?”
“Like it? We fucking love it. I want to buy it someday,” Kenton banged his hands on the table excitedly.
“And one day, you will. For now, keep dreaming about it when you have an asshole like Wallace giving you a hard time.”
“What’s his deal anyway?” I asked. Either Pen had blinders on where we were concerned, and we weren’t all that, or there was something else going on.
She looked off to the side as she drank from her water bottle. “Wallace was supposed to be on vacation for the next two weeks, but it was canceled. He was told that if he went on the vacation that he’d been planning for a year, he’d be fired.”
“Fuck, that’s harsh.” Cross flipped his phone end over end.
“But that’s not a good excuse to give us a hard time. Maybe if he wasn’t being an asshole, we’d finish recording early, and he could go on his vacation.” Greer huffed and then chomped down on his burger.
“There’s no good excuse as to why he was being an ass. That’s why he’s being replaced.” She hung her head, biting her lower lip. “I should have been there.”
“Hey,” I enveloped her tiny hand in mine, and our eyes met. “You were doing what you needed to, so you can take care of us like you’re doing now. Not everything can be easy. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
Pen’s phone pinged, and she looked down at the message.
“Hey, do you want to play hacky sack while they finish eating?” Cross asked the guys.
I looked down at my uneaten food, realizing I’d been too busy watching Penelope.
“Let’s go.” Kenton grabbed up their trash and threw it away in a nearby trashcan. I watched as they moved further away to play.
“I didn’t know people still played that. I was never any good at it. I was always lucky if I hit it once with my foot.” She looked at them playing and laughed. “Walker, why are you being so nice to me?”
Leaning forward on my elbows, I searched her golden eyes. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because I skipped out on you, and I’ve been putting distance between us since that night. I’m supposed to be the adult, and instead, I’ve acted like a child. I’m sorry.”
“First of all, we’re both adults here, and second, I understand the position you’re in. I actually have a friend back in Willow Bay who’s got the hots for his teacher. He’s trying everything in his power to hook up with her.”