When Mia returns, she wraps her arms around my waist and slips her hands into the back pockets of my jeans. I return her embrace and place a kiss on top of her head.
“What did she say?”
Mia smiles. “She said you’re growing on her.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Slowly,” she adds, a teasing tone in her voice.
“Wow,” I grin. “That’s practically a standing ovation, coming from her.”
We gather our things and step out into the night air, our steps in sync as we begin the walk back towards the tour bus to meet up with the rest of the gang.
“I know that wasn’t easy,” Mia says, leaning into me and entwining her fingers with mine as we walk. “I didn’t mean to put any more pressure on you, especially with everything going on. So thank you, for being so great with them, and for doing it at all.”
“I’d do it all over again if it means I get to be with you,” I tell her sincerely.
We stop under a streetlight and her green eyes meet mine… illuminated, clear, and steady.
“You mean it?”
“Dead serious.”
She smiles, and I kiss her, slow and sure.
No performance.
No crowd.
Just us.
Chapter twenty-nine
"Adrenaline" - Simple Creatures
Mia
After the surprise visit from Macy and Makenna, we load up the tour bus and head to our next city. We have a few days between shows, so our group decided to make a detour and spend the day in Charleston before heading on to Miami. Sleep is still hard to come by, and I was enjoying the peace and quiet of the drive—until I’m jolted awake by Grayson pelting balled up socks at me.
“Rise and shine, rockstar girlfriend,” he grins, pulling the blanket off me like he has a death wish. “Get dressed, we’ve got a date.”
“Is it for your funeral?” I ask sweetly, grabbing the pillow from behind my head and aiming for his face.
He catches it mid-air. “You won’t find out if you don’t get up.”
“Details, please?” I ask as I rise from our bunk, beginning to rummage through my duffle for my makeup bag and a change of clothes.
“You. Me. The badass Jeep I rented. A bitchin’ playlist I made last night. And most importantly, an actual day off with no cameras, no screaming crowds, and no Jake up our asses all day. So what do you say, beautiful? You down?”
I nod, amused, as he flashes that boyish grin I love before leaving to go pick up the Jeep, his only instructions before taking off being to wear “something cute but not, like,someone might steal you away from mecute.”
I’d laughed, because by now I know that Grayson’s idea of a casual afternoon could go from “just lunch” to “let’s get matching tattoos” real quick.
Returning not even an hour later in what is, in fact, the coolest Jeep I’ve ever seen, he lifts me into the passenger seat as though I weigh nothing and lingers there, situating himself between my legs as they dangle off the edge. His fingers fumble with the hem of my denim skirt as he kisses me, slow and firm, like we have all day to make out in this car.
“I think I’ll just forget how to put myself in the car from now on,” I murmur against his lips as I wrap my legs around his waist, bringing him closer to me.
I feel his lips twitch into a smirk. “Guess I’ll just have to keep helping you then. For safety reasons, of course.”
