I preened. “Thanks. They’re really tight this year. I’m excited for the Fall Festival tomorrow.”
“They’ll be ready.”
“Are you going to come?”
“Maybe.” He started the car. “I left a message for Devlin about the rehearsal space. I haven’t heard back from him,” he said, clearly changing the subject. I was happy to hear that he’d taken the initiative to do that. I had worried that he was going to put it off until I had to call Devlin myself and ask for another favor.
“Thanks for doing that,” I said. Before Leo backed up, he reached into the back seat to grab something. When he twisted back around, he handed me a Tupperware container along with napkins and plastic cutlery. “What’s all this?”
“Just some leftovers,” he explained. The tips of his ears were red.
I gasped in excitement. My stomach gurgled, and my mouth watered before the lid was even off. “You’re an angel.” I inhaled the aroma of what looked to be chicken, rice, and grilled veggies. It was incredible. “Would you judge me if I shoved my face in here and ate like a pig at a trough? Manners be damned.”
He grinned as he checked over his shoulder for oncoming cars. “I would expect nothing less.”
I awkwardly wrangled the container to balance it on my knees and dug in. He’d even cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. I moaned and shimmied my shoulders as the food went down. After I swallowed, I said, “This is amazing. Thank you.”
“No big deal. I noticed you didn’t bring food this morning, and based on how you ate at the Front Porch, I got the impression you don’t cook for yourself much. I had extras from cooking for Janice anyway.”
I winced as I swallowed a too big bite down. “You made this? You cook?” I asked, not hiding my surprise.
“I got into the habit while touring.” He shrugged his large shoulders. “The options for eating on the road are terrible. I needed to fuel myself and the guys, with how much energy we burned during the shows.” I remembered the videos of him. Sweat dripping down his neck and glistened his chest.
“It’s a high calorie burning activity,” I said robotically and shoved another bite in my mouth.
“It turned out I actually enjoyed the cooking. One of my favorite things was trying to figure out what local ingredients I could find and cook in the small kitchen of the tour bus. I got creative.” He shot a glance to read my reaction.
For my part, I had a piece of red pepper currently sticking out of my mouth and rice stuck to my lips.
He smiled as he turned back to watch the road. I chewed and swallowed like a normal human.
“Man of mystery, you are. You’d think one of your favorite things would have been all the Burnnies or the adoring fans or the fame and, I dunno, the money.”
He cleared his throat and tugged his hair with his free hand. “Burnnies are a myth.”
I pulled up my phone and read from Urban Dictionary. “‘Named for the band and an assumed play on Playboy Bunnies, The Burnouts’ groupies were notorious for dressing up scantily at their shows and creating an online sensation via their fan videos.’ Y’all had groupies.”
“Vander was always the draw. But we never cared about all that.”
“Listen, I’ve seen the thirst trap videos. You definitely had Burnnies. You had your own hashtags.”
“Is that right?” He flicked a look at me.
“I’ve said too much.” I shoved more food into my mouth to keep myself from divulging any more.
“Taking you back to the apartment?” he asked, still blushing and willing to change the subject.
I wiped my mouth and cleaned my mess. “Actually. Can you swing by Main Street? I hate to ask for anything else, but I don’t need to go home and eat first now.” Not that I had any food at the house. “I need to talk to a couple of people. You don’t have to stay. I’ll just walk home after.”
“It’ll be dark,” he said sternly.
I opened my mouth to argue that it was Green Valley, but he shot me a look reminiscent of his mother. “You can wait in the car, then,” I suggested.
“I planned on it.” He scoffed as though any other idea was laughable.
CHAPTER 14
LEO
