AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dale is Crave’s manager, and he certainly enjoys pulling all the strings for them. He’s what got this whole Derek and Serena thing happening in the first place. Which is partly why I’m not a fan of him. Plus, I’ve heard Aiden bitch about him on more than one occasion.
He turns toward me. “What did you think?”
I smile, surprised that he wants my opinion. “I thought they sounded good. Seemed like they had a similar sound to you guys.”
“Not too similar, right?” Brent asks.
“No,” I tell him. Derek is watching me, and I wonder if he’s also thinking that we were more preoccupied with each other than the band that was playing. He mentioned checking them out on YouTube and Spotify to be sure he was giving the guys a good review. I smile at the memory.
“Are you all riding with us?” Aiden asks, gesturing between Emma and me.
“Is that an option?” I ask.
“Wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t. Besides, we have the Audi we rented, and it’ll seat enough. Back seat might be a little crammed, but I think you can manage.”
“Shotgun,” Brent calls.
“Great, that leaves me in the back with the girls,” Derek says, pretending to be annoyed.
“Nah, man, I was going to ask you to drive,” Brent says. “We need to talk about some of those new tracks you sent over. I wanna get your thoughts on some of the beats I laid down before we left LA.”
“Cool,” Derek says.
Brent managed to burst my bubble as soon as it formed. I was really looking forward to being crammed in the back seat with Derek. No such luck now.
“You and me, hanging out in the back seat like old times,” Aiden teases, splashing water at me.
I kick my feet in their direction, hitting all three of them with water.
Derek lunges forward and grabs my foot, then pulls me toward him. “You’re gonna pay for that.”
My stomach flips because I know how I’d like to pay for it. But that isn’t happening out here in the ocean with Aiden and Brent watching us. Derek drags me to him and lets his fingertips graze my breast under the water. My nipples harden instantly at the touch. His hand drops lower as he pretends to attempt to dunk me, and I fake fight him off. Fingertips brush my sex, and I have to bite my tongue to keep from dropping my head back into the water and moaning with pleasure. Without warning, he dunks my head back and I get a mouthful of sea water. I come up coughing to find that everyone, but Emma is laughing at me.
“You good?” she asks, swimming over to me.
“Yeah,” I cough out.
Derek comes over and puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me toward him. “Are you okay, Aud? Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you choke.” Under the water, his hand is brushing across my hips, from one to the other, before he releases me.
“I’m okay, just wasn’t expecting it. I turn toward him; his back is to everyone, and he winks at me. It dawns on me that he did that on purpose so that he could throw them all off. I swim closer to Emma again.
Aiden and Brent start talking with Derek about tonight and the two songs they’re going to perform.
“You guys haven’t figured that out yet?” I ask. “What were you doing all morning? I thought you were rehearsing and not helping Emma and I?”
“Relax, Aud,” my brother says. “I’ll help tomorrow and get my room all packed up, okay? It’ll be fine.”
I shake my head. “Okay. Well, I’m gonna swim in. I’ve gotta get ready for tonight.”
Emma follows me, and we make our way back to shore. No words are spoken as we make it back. It’s not until our feet hit the sand that she says, “Was he touching you under that water?”
I smirk. “Think it was noticeable?”
“Nah, Ace isn’t watching you two for that. However, I think Brent may know a thing or two.”
“He squashed that riding in the back thing real quick.”
Emma laughs. “He did. But he could have legitimate reasons for it. Don’t get paranoid yet.”
