“Alright then. Sleep well, love.”
“Sleep well, Sapphire,” he replies dreamily.
There it is again. He called me that.
Sapphire.
Fuck me, I like it.
What kind of alternate universe is this, McKenna?
Still smiling, I pull the earbuds out and plop them back into their case, then toss the phone beside my pillow. I don’t hang up.
My eyelids grow heavy, the whirlwind of thoughts becomes nothing but background noise. I fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter thirty
Tom
We’re back in the studio, picking up where we left off yesterday. Same beat looping. Same tea in my mug.
“Come on, that sounds only audible to dogs.”
Calvin is fully focused on the screen. “You’re just old, McKenna. Ears are the first to go.”
Calvin is a couple of years older than me, and I’m positive he’s ruining his ears all the time by not using earplugs in loud environments. Plus, I definitely wasn’t deaf last night.
That final broken moan? It still echoes in the back of my skull.
I take a sip of rooibos; perfect temperature, warm and soft on my throat, which still feels a little raw from moaning through my orgasm.
Calvin keeps fiddling with the track. I put my earphones back on to listen for the change.
I click my fingers and point at the screen.
“Yeah, right there. Pull that back a notch.”
He lifts one ear of his headphones, about to say something, when his phone buzzes on the desk. He looks at it and frowns.
“It’s Jay.”
Great. Just what this day needed.
I nod. “Let’s see what brother dear has to say.”
Calvin waits a bit, then answers.
“Yo, Jay! Your little brother’s right here with me.” Calvin flips his voice 180 degrees to something feigned. “He showed up yesterday, and I swear, I’ve never met someone who wanted to go back to rehab so badly. Seriously, I think he met some cute girl there.”
I shove Calvin’s shoulder. His arm shoots forward, wrecking the track we’ve been working.
“Fucking wanker,” Calvin laughs, desperately clicking undo. “Now we have to start from zero!”
His eyes spark like we’re still two teens messing around.
He hands me the phone. “Here, Jay wants a word.”
I hesitate. I already know where this is headed.
