Lisa laughs, shaking her head at me as she says, “It’s nice to meet you, Quinn. And Kai and I are friends. We used to hook up, but that was more of a scratch-an-itch thing, so don’t worry. I’m not some jealous ex or whatever.”
Quinn looks from Lisa to me and then back to Lisa. “Nice to meet you too,” she says, barely reacting to the whole hook-up thing.
“Okay,” I say, blowing out a breath. “Yep, so...”
Lisa laughs. “Man, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous before. We’re good, Kai, don’t worry.”
I nod, feeling strangely relieved as Quinn pinches my side and says, “It’s not a big deal. I appreciate you just being honest with me.”
I drop a kiss to her lips, whispering, “Thank you.”
“So, now that’s figured out, what can I get you guys?” Lisa asks.
“Beer?” I suggest, and Quinn nods.
“Coming right up.”
After we get our drinks, we walk back to join the others. Flynn and Alana have now arrived and are deep in conversation with Dean, Sutton and the dude from Echo Forge. Jonah and Lacey are off to the side, doing their thing. Jonah has his arm around Lacey’s shoulders as she looks up at him, saying something I can’t hear, but which he can clearly read by watching her mouth.
“Are they a couple?” Quinn asks, also watching them.
“No, but they are very close.”
“They look it,” she says.
“They met in high school,” I tell her. “Lacey was always a bit of a loner, and I guess they kinda gravitated toward each other.”
“I think he’s in love with her,” Quinn says, still watching them. “The way he looks at her.”
“He reads her lips, babe,” I say, laughing. “I think that’s all it is.”
“Nope,” she replies, as Jonah smiles at something Lacey says before dropping a kiss to the top of her head.
“Such a romantic,” I tease, taking a sip of my beer before putting it on the table and pulling her into my arms. “You doing okay?”
Quinn nods. “Yeah, I’m good.”
I close the distance, kissing her as I murmur, “Way more than good.” I deepen the kiss, ignoring the catcalls from my friends.
“Dude,” Matt calls, laughing.
Quinn pulls back, an easy smile on her face as she says, “Seems you’re still a bit of a novelty with your friends.”
I roll my eyes, but I’m grinning. “I think it’s us that’s the novelty. My friends just like to give me shit about the fact I’m in a relationship when I always said that was never gonna happen.”
She smiles up at me, pushing up on her toes to brush her lips against mine. “I think all of your friends are really great,” she whispers.
“They’re your friends too, babe,” I tell her, just as my brother walks over.
“Bro,” he says, punching my shoulder.
Laughing, I let Quinn go briefly as I pull Miles into a hug. He’s so different these days. Now he has Daisy and the band back. More relaxed, happier, and it’s so good to see.
“So what’s the story with the Echo Forge guy?” I ask, tipping my chin in his direction. “Is he just here to watch, or is he going to play?”
Miles shrugs, all casual and shit, even though we both know Echo Forge is fucking huge and the fact their bass player is here at all is even bigger. “Dunno, see how he feels. He might come up at the end and smash a few songs out with us.”
I laugh, punching his shoulder this time as I say, “Look at you, all connected and shit, and still rolling like you’re some local band that no one’s ever heard of.”
