She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a moment, and the room fell silent apart from Jonathan’s car noises as he flitted about the room.
I opened my mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the sounds of moans and breathy screams floating down the hallway. My eyes gaped open, and Katie stifled a laugh. Luca might have been the worst, but he did have impeccable timing.
“Is that…” Cash paused. “Is that what Ithinkit is?”
Dallas hid his face in his hands, and Jax seethed.
Derek shook his head in disgust. “I’m going to have to move now.”
Jonathan covered his face with his hands. “It sounds like that lady is hurt.” He ran into Liv’s arms.
“No, buddy,” Jax reassured him. “Uncle Luca and the lady are just playing a game. You know how sometimes when we all have tickle fights, we get a little loud?”
Jonathan appeared to consider this. “Yeah.”
Liv forced a smile. “That’s all they’re doing. They’re just playing.”
Satisfied with this answer, Jonathan pried himself from Liv’s embrace and went back to playing on the floor with his cars as Luca and Brandi with an i’s screams escalated.
It took everything in me not to storm to the bathroom and drag Luca out by his ears, but I knew we had to play it cool so as not to draw even more attention to them and upset the kids.
The noise was enough to cause Chloe to fret, so Derek took her back to Liv and sprinted down the hall, beating on the bathroom door. “Knock it off, you two!”
“So.” Cash cleared his throat as Derek returned to the table. “Any thoughts on when Midnight in Dallas may want to get back in the studio?”
“I’m ready.” Dallas leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I’ve been working on some new beats I think you guys are going to like. I’ve been dying to get back in the studio.”
Jax nodded. “We should start doing some writing. I’d like to take the rest of August off with the kids, but we could start writing the first week of September. Maybe get some studio time in October?”
Derek spoke up. “Actually, I have some stuff already scheduled this fall.”
“What?” Dallas asked incredulously.
“Well, you know how much I love photography. I finally decided I wanted to learn more about it.” Derek shifted uncomfortably in his chair as all eyes focused on him. “I’m going to be spending some time with Antoni’s uncle in New York. He was a photographer forVoguefor like fifty years. He’s agreed to take me under his wing and teach me some stuff.”
“Antoni’s told me about his uncle before,” Cash said. “That’ll be great for you.”
“Seriously?” Dallas huffed out a breath. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“I didn’t know for sure that it was going to work out until a couple of days ago,” Derek explained. “I just bought my plane ticket this morning.”
“How long are you going to be gone?” Dallas fired back.
“All of September and October and most of November,” Derek answered. “I’ll come back the week before Thanksgiving.”
Dallas looked like he’d been slapped. “Are you kidding me right now?”
The screams down the hall returned, and Brandi with an i was sounding more like a wounded seagull.
Chloe whimpered, and Liv attempted to console her by rubbing her back, shooting laser beams of death down the hall with her eyes.
“Dal, hold up a second. Let’s—” Jax tried to speak but Dallas cut him off.
“No,” Dallas said flatly. “Photography is your hobby. The band is yourjob, and this band doesn’t work withoutallof us.”
Derek flinched, and the mama bear in me wanted to hug him and tell Dallas to calm the fuck down.
Cash kept his tone even. “I don’t think it would hurt for you guys to wait a little longer.”
