“Can’t deny I love it when you shorten my name like that.” He chuckles under his breath with the way I bristle at his flirtiness. “And I’m not blowing smoke up your fine ass, it’s true.”
“You can say it all you like, I won’t believe you,” I say and immediately kick myself for the teasing tone in my voice. I shouldn’t encourage him.
“Does this look like I’m lying?” He opens his jacket and flannel to show his usual band T-shirt underneath. I barely give it a glance at first and have to do a double take. There, covering his sculpted chest, is the image that was only used during my first year of touring and was only available to my fan club.
Planting my hands on my hips, I face him with a no business expression on my face. “Darius Thompson, did you steal that from your little sister?”
He laughs, and the sound sends those stupid butterflies flapping in my stomach. “I’m an only child, Raina Lexington. We have that in common.”
Before I’m able to give him a response, the others exit the bus. “Burr, it’s cold out here,” Nash says with a hint of a whine in his voice. “Come warm me up, baby girl.”
I can’t help but laugh when he nuzzles his freezing nose into my neck and sniffs at my hair. “Get out of here,” I giggle, pushing him away. “You’re supposed to be keeping me warm, not the other way around.”
“I’ll keep you warm, sweetheart,” Darius yells out. “I already turned on the patio heaters for you and, as I said before, started a stack of wood for the fire.”
“Stop hitting on my woman,” Keaton growls, pointing his sticks at Darius.
“Yeah, man. It’s not cool. We’ll put up with it in the public eye for Raina’s image, but not here.” Blake wraps his arm around me.
Nash suddenly glances back and forth between me and Darius. “Hey! Why are you matchy-matchy? You should be doing that with me!”
“I’ll do my best to back off, but let her wear the beanie, it’ll keep her warmer.” Darius holds his hands up like he’s signaling for peace. “But you might want to prepare yourself for us having to perform for the camera. It would be suspicious if there wasn’t anything couple-like in our posts.”
“Remind me why we brought him along,” Nash whispers to me.
I give him a stern look and move to the circle of seats that are situated around a fire pit. We’re probably fucking nuts to try working out here, but honestly, I need the connection to something real in this world right now. Nothing better than nature to get the job done. Although, next time we should probably spend the time driving to some place a little warmer.
Darius sets up his phone on a tripod and uses mine on another one to get another angle. I can’t believe we’re doing this, my stomach cramps with nerves, but there’s also a slight thread of excitement there too.
“Alright, guys, let’s get this fire started,” Darius says, rubbing his hands together. “Then we need to get more wood ready to go. We’ll burn through a lot trying to keep the cutest one in our bunch warm.”
A grin pulls at my lips, and I quickly blow him a kiss, knowing we need to pretend like we’re a couple in some shots. It’s what I would’ve done if Nash was the one to say it.
“Okay, so who’s going to start it?” Blake asks, eyeing the fire pit like it might jump out at him. He notices me watching and gives a half smile. “I love how you forget I grew up with privilege. I’ve never had to start a fire myself.”
He’s right, I do forget. But it makes me think of Tristan and how he’d jump right in and start one up if he was here. I can’t begin to count the times he’d start one to keep me warm when we were kids. My parents were constantly gone doing “god’s work” as if that was an excuse to neglect their child.
Damn it. Where is that asshole?
As if reading my mind, Blake tucks me closer into his side and kisses my temple. “We’ll find him. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I know. But my gut is telling me something isn’t right. It’s not normal that we wouldn’t be able to find him. Not with our resources.” I rest my head on his shoulder, soaking up all the comfort and warmth he’s offering.
“Got it,” Keaton says, bending a knee and piling the wood exactly right before lighting the kindling on fire.
As we all huddle around the fire pit, I reach out to the flames, feeling the heat lick at my fingertips. With the patio heaters situated around us, it’s not that horrible out here. I move to a seat and settle in, smiling at Blake as he drapes a blanket over my lap. It reminds me of the time I listened to him play to the ocean at the beach house.
God, that feels like forever ago.
“Okay, let’s get going on that wood chopping show Raina wants from us, shall we?” Darius claps his hands together, directing the guys on his vision for the video.
My drummer stands and brushes his hands together to dislodge the remaining debris from starting the fire. Keaton seems to be more outdoorsy than I initially thought, but I’m digging the idea. His drumsticks in his back pocket and a Henleyhugging his muscles… all that’s missing is a flannel to complete a woodsman look.
Freaking yum.
Nash grins, rolling his shoulders in mock preparation. “Gonna get my lumberjack on,” he says, grabbing the axe with one hand and flexing the other.
Blake chuckles from beside me, leaning in to whisper. “Who knew chopping wood could turn into an episode ofHot Bandmates Gone Wild?”
