Van comes to have a seat at our table and it ends whatever moment we were having. I feel a little let down that my time with her is being cut short, but in the back of my mind, I know it’s for the best. Luna is the strongest drug I’ve ever been addicted to, and it’s probably prudent that I start slowly weaning myself off her.
“Did you talk to Wesley about the afterparty on Monday?” he asks her.
She nods and says something, but I can’t pay attention, because her hand is still on my leg and it’s traveling up my thigh, getting closer and closer to my aching dick. Her hand skims across it and she lightly squeezes, making me adjust myself in the booth. Van glances at me with a confused expression, but he returns his gaze to her as she’s talking.
She’s good at the showmanship thing. She’s keeping up with the conversation and he doesn’t even notice the way her arm seems to be moving slowly up and down my dick. He sits across from us and proceeds to talk with Luna for a good 20 minutes. When he leaves, I’m ready to bend her ass over this table, but she turns to me and says, “My place?”
I’m wound so tight that it would take this bar full of people to stop me from going home with her. I chastise myself as I stand up and follow her out of the bar, my eyes on her ass the whole way.
I’m at work the next day when my phone rings. I answer it quickly as I keep my attention on the paperwork in front of me. “Daniel Smith,” I answer.
“Hey, Uncle Dan. What’s up?” my niece asks over the phone.
“Hey, Mack. I’m just working. Is something wrong?” In all my life, my niece has never called me on her own. This has to be an emergency, right?
“Nothing’s wrong. I was just calling because I have my practice with Luna here in a few minutes and I was wondering if you’d like to come check it out.”
“Oh,” I say, pulling my attention away from the papers. “Watch you practice?”
“Mom suggested that since you bought me the guitar and paid for the lessons that you might want to see your money being put to good use. But you don’t have to if you’re too busy.”
“Oh, no, I’m not too busy,” I reply, checking the time on my watch.
“Okay, great. I’ll see you at the store soon.”
“Sure. Bye, Mack.”
I drop my phone onto my desk and try focusing on my paperwork, but my mind is instantly on Luna. I wasn’t planning on seeing her today—wanting to start putting a little distance between us, but how can I say no to Mack? My niece has never called me or asked me for anything before. I can’t tell her no the first time she does. Plus, I do need to pay Luna for taking time out of her busy schedule to teach Mack. I guess the only thing I can do is go and support my niece and her dreams. Imagine the story she’ll tell when Luna gets famous. She’ll be able to tell everyone that her first guitar teacher was Luna from The Wonder Kings before they hit it big.
I force myself to focus on paperwork until I have everything finished, then push away from my desk to make the drive across town. When I get there, Luna and Mack are already in the back of the store. They both have their guitars in hand and they’re hooked up to the amps. Someone else is running the register and there are a few customers walking around. I walk closer to the back, but not all the way. I don’t want to distract them from their lesson.
I watch Luna as she works with Mack. She shows her something on the guitar and watches as Mack repeats it. She stops and corrects her when she doesn’t do it exactly right and compliments her when she does well. She’s calm and patient and an all-around good teacher. Watching the two of them together makes my stomach tighten and my heart race. Seeing Luna in her element only makes this craving take hold that much stronger. I don’t know how the hell I’m ever going to get away from her.
Luna looks up and sees me watching, then smiles and tells Mack she’ll be right back before getting up and walking over to me. She crosses her arms over her chest and smiles as she comes to a stop in front of me. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
I nod toward Mack. “She invited me to crash the lesson. And I realized I hadn’t paid you for the lessons yet, so . . .” I reach into my jacket pocket and pull out a check, handing it over.
She takes it, looks down at it, and folds it in half, sliding it into her back pocket. “Thank you. She’s doing really well, huh?”
I nod as I watch her play—she’s concentrating so hard on plucking the right strings. “She has a good teacher,” I reply with a grin.
Her smile widens and she rolls her eyes as her cheeks flush. “Are you doing anything later?”
I shrug, unsure of how to answer, knowing I need to stick to my guns and stay away from her before I end up with my heart broken.
“We have band practice tonight and Wesley will be there. He needs to take some pictures of us for the label meeting. I could really use a buffer.” She bats her long, dark lashes and smiles sweetly.
I want to say no. Actually, I want to say yes, but doing that would be no different than me pulling my heart out of my chest and throwing it on the floor and asking her to stomp on it.
“Please?” she asks again in her sweet voice.
I laugh and shake my head. “How could I say no to that?”
Her smile is full-blown now. “Thank you. We’ll finish up here in a few minutes, then you and I can head over.” She goes back to Mack to finish up their hour. I take a seat on a stool at a nearby amp station, watching as the lesson continues. My mind is a total mess though. I guess I should wait until Monday to find out if the band is getting signed before I overthink myself to death. If they don’t get signed, then she won’t be leaving and there will be nothing standing in our way. A few more days can’t make that big of a difference, can it? I sit and watch as they finish up practice and Luna says goodbye to Mack as she heads out of the store. Luna walks up to me slowly. Her arms come out, circling around me. “Are you ready to be my pretend boyfriend again?”
I hug her tightly and look down at her. “I can think of no better way to spend my evening.” I lean my head down, quickly pressing my lips to hers. “I think we’re getting in some good practice. Hell, I bet everyone would say we’re actually together.”
She giggles. “Well, that isn’t a bad thing, right?”
“You don’t see me arguing. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Five
Luna
I know I’m not supposed to let myself fall for him, but he’s perfect in every possible way. He’s a great guy who treats me well, plus he has a stable job. He doesn’t try to control me or have a fit because I’m in a band with a bunch of guys. He isn’t insecure, a drug addict, or an alcoholic. For the first time in my life, I actually picked the right guy and here we are, about to have so many miles between us. I could always give up my lifelong dream to be with him, but I won’t allow myself to ruin this for the band. We’ve worked so hard to get here and they deserve it as much as I do. I’ve been telling myself since day one to pull away, but every time I see him, I get so excited and happy that he’s around that I can’t even think of pushing him away. I know one thing for sure: I’m falling for him faster than I thought possible.