Demetri: Says the guy who never wears pants.
Jaymeson: And yet I send them to him every Christmas, he always follows with a nice picture of him burning them over a fire roasting marshmallows with a scarf around his naked body. Every year it’s the same—except for the pants.
Alec: And his tiny pee-pee.
Zane: F U
Me: As fun as this has been, I’ll see you guys tonight, be normal. Hell, what am I saying? Attempt not to scare other humans and for the love of God Zane, wear pants!
Zane: No promises.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket, got out of the Escalade, and glared at Drew. “Did you have to do that?”
“Oh, it was completely necessary.” Drew chuckled. “Now let’s go make some music and we can talk about this horrible T-shirt with its holes and how it’s not going to impress HN.”
“HN?” I repeated.
“Hot Nanny, keep up.” He shoved me, I shoved him. All in all a normal day, because when I’m with my kids I feel like an adult, but when I’m with my bandmates and friends? I literally lose maturity points and years off my life.
I would never admit how much I needed it.
Especially after the divorce.
And being alone.
I was suddenly even more thankful Linc and Dani got pregnant and came back here, forcing the whole crew to come back into town early.
It was just supposed to be Drew and Ty for a week.
But now it was the entire gang.
Yeah, if Penelope survived the kids and this, she could survive anything.
“What’s wrong with my shirt, though?” I lifted it and sniffed.
“If you have to sniff it to check, then you already know, bro.” Drew laughed, and all thoughts of Penelope were gone as we set up and started playing.
It soothed me in a way nothing could.
I let the music lock on.
Closed my eyes.
And sang.
Five hours of bliss went by, five hours where I felt like my soul had finally relaxed into my own body once again, making the pain a little less, making the loss of someone I’d always counted on—dissipate.
“Sounds good,” Drew said once we made it back to the house. His eyes weren’t even on me, but on the door, staring a hole through it like he was seconds away from barging in and getting down on one knee.
“Your car.” I jerked my head to the right. “See you at the barbecue, and try to stay away from my nanny, all right?”
He grinned, eying me up and down in that way that made me want to punch him in the face. Cocky bastard. “Ah, so now she’s your nanny?”
“My kids’,” I ground out while he choked on a laugh and started walking toward his waiting Range Rover.
“Tonight’s gonna be fun!” he called, getting in while I flipped him off.
Bad timing on my part since I heard a little voice exclaim, “Why’s Daddy showing his middle finger when he isn’t driving?” I winced. Bella just had to be standing in the doorway with Penny.
