And there I went again. I was constantly reminding myself that I couldn’t touch Pen and that she was off-limits.
I wouldn’t be having these thoughts if I had a girl on my lap like Cross and Kenton did. All I could do was keep drinking my beer and watch her as she joked around and laughed with everyone.
Suddenly Cross was standing with a girl draped around his side. “I’m not sure if you’ll still be here when I wake up tomorrow,” he grinned at her and then down at his girl.
“Probably not, but you’ll hear from me as soon as I know something.” Pen’s eyes darted to the woman who had attached herself to Cross. “Have fun… but be safe.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know,” he laughed, swatting the girl’s ass. “Good night, all.”
“Good night,” I mumbled.
“I think we’re going to head that way too,” Kenton stood, and his girl nearly fell to the floor.
“The same goes for you. You don’t need any complications right now.” Pen eyed the woman’s hand as she rubbed Kenton over his jean-clad dick. Was she afraid Pen was going to steal Ken right out from under her, or was she really that desperate?
That girl right there was why I wasn’t a fan of the groupies, and I knew the more successful we became, the worse they would get. It wasn’t me they wanted. No, they wanted to be able to say they slept with a rock star, or a singer, or whatever. We were just a notch on their bedposts the same way they were on ours.
Pen looked around the room, sipping her beer. It was at least her third or fourth, and she had to be feeling them by now. I had no idea how many I’d had. I just kept drinking and staring like a creep all night.
“I guess it’s just the two of us. Are you tired?” I asked, hoping she’d say yes and no in equal parts. I wanted to spend time with her, just the two of us, but I also knew no good would come of it. I’d only become more obsessed when what I really needed to do was get my mind off her.
Maybe if I screwed her once, she’d be out of my system, and then I could devote all of my time to my music instead of constantly thinking about her and her pink lips that she was constantly licking, making them all shiny and alluring.
Pen shook her head and looked at me. “Are you? I can sleep on the couch if you’re tired and watch some TV.” She looked to our TV that took up almost the entire wall. “What is it with men and their giant ass TVs?”
I shrugged. I mean, who wanted to watch something on a tiny little screen? “What’s with women and their huge ass purses?”
“My purse isn’t big,” she instantly defended hers. Since I’d known her, Pen had a different purse for each day.
“How many purses do you own?”
“I don’t know.” Her brows furrowed, and her nose scrunched up in the most adorable way. “Why?”
“Because I only have the one TV, and you probably have at least fifty purses if I had to guess.”
Her features fell, and then her whiskey-colored eyes narrowed on me. “How do you know?”
I held up my hands when her nostrils flared. Did she seriously think I had somehow been inside her place and looked? “I’m just guessing. Settle down.” I got up to get each of us another beer and grabbed the remote as I came back into the room. I sat down next to Pen, where I’d wanted to sit all night. “You’ve had a different purse with you every time you’ve come to our practices. I was seriously just guessing.”
She took the beer, not taking her eyes off me for a long minute. Finally, she nodded and then finished off her other beer.
“If you’re not tired, what do you say we watch a movie?” I nodded down the hall. “Trust me when I say we’ll want some sort of noise happening, and soon.”
Her nose scrunched up again. “I’m sorry you have to listen to that on the regular, or maybe you don’t because you have your own girl with you.” Her mouth formed an ‘O’, and then she covered her mouth with her hand. “Did I cockblock you tonight? If I did, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m right where I want to be. And normally, I don’t have to hear them because my room is on the other side of the house.”
“Oh,” Pen jumped up and then swayed a little on her feet. “Do you have a TV in your room? We can go in there to watch something.” She looked down the hall to the other bedrooms. “I don’t really want to hear them having sex. I feel like we’re not at that point in our relationship.”
I stood and ushered her toward my room. It probably wasn’t a good idea to have her in my space where I could obsess over her more than I already did, but it was too late now. “Is there a point in any relationship where you’re okay listening to someone having sex?”
Pen sat on my bed and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees as she took in my room. “I’m guessing Kenton’s mom didn’t clean your room?”
“Nope, it’s off-limits to her and everyone else. They all know to stay out of my space.”
“Oh, should I not be in here?” She made a move to get up, but I sat down beside her and pressed my hand to her leg. I instantly wondered how soft her skin was under those jeans.
“Stay. If I didn’t want you in here, I wouldn’t have offered you my bed.”
She pushed her hair over her shoulder, and I got hit with the smell of citrus. I couldn’t quite place if it was orange or something else. Whatever it was, I loved the smell, and I knew my bed would smell like her for days. The urge to bury my nose in her hair was strong, but I managed to keep myself under control.
“Is Netflix okay? We don’t have any of the movie channels or anything. Actually, we don’t even have cable since we’re usually busy practicing.” Or other things I didn’t mention to her. Sex was definitely a strong component of our lives, but she didn’t need to know about that.
“That’s fine with me. I don’t have anything but a few streaming services at my place either since I’m rarely home and rarely watch TV. Now my best friend, on the other hand, always has all the movie channels, so if I want to watch something, I do it with her.
“What’s her name?” I immediately chastised myself. I didn’t need to know this information. It only made us seem closer, which was something that couldn’t happen.
“Stella,” she pursed her lips. “She’s going through a divorce right now, and it’s hard on her.” Pen pulled out her phone and frowned. “I’m surprised she hasn’t called me yet tonight.”
“Maybe she figured you were busy,” I offered, hoping she wouldn’t start worrying about her friend.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She put her phone down. “I’ll call her in the morning on my way home and check in with her.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“I try,” she shrugged. “Do you have anything I could change into to sleep in?”
“Of course, I should have offered. I don’t normally…”
“Have girls in here with their clothes on?” Pen laughed, her brows raised. “I guess I’m the first.”
She was probably right. I couldn’t remember a time when any woman had been in here and not taken her clothes off.