Page 71 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

“I never stopped thinking about you, Noelle.”

At his words, one of the fissures in my heart healed. “Did you get it one drunken night out with the boys?”

“Naw, I never told them about it. Had it done in Ireland during one of our brief breaks between albums, tours, and promo. Just wrote a song one night, went out for a pint, and saw the neon lights of the open shop. The Claddagh is such a popular tattoo in Ireland, the artist could’ve done it in his sleep.”

“He obviously didn’t.” My fingers moved up to his belly, and I drew circles around his navel. “It’s really beautiful.”

“The initials beneath it are even more beautiful.”

“Did you make them squiggles like that so you could get away with claiming they were just a random pattern instead of an ex’s initials.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “You know. For those other women.”

“Never been anyone but you.” He grabbed my hand and placed it over his steady heartbeat.

“Same.” Snuggling against his warm body, I kissed the scruff on his chin. “Do you really need to get clean clothes or was this a sneaky Irish trick to get me alone in the tour bus.”

“Did I need to trick ya?”

“No, I...”

The unmistakable hissing sound of the door release had us clutching at each other.

Conor whispered, “Do you think we have to go to In-N-Out again?”

I giggled against his arm. “Shh. Maybe it’s Quinton checking on something.”

Voices and clattering noises immediately corrected my assumption.

Conor put a finger to his lips and clambered over my body, placing his bare feet on the floor of the bus. He bunched his shorts in his hand and crept toward the stairs.

If we were going down, we would go down together. I followed him on tiptoes, leaning over his crouched over form, resting my chin on his shoulder.

Then Ashley’s voice carried through the bus as clearly as if she were on stage. “I don’t know who sent me those pictures, Tomo, but I’m ready to fight fire with fire. Nobody fucks with Ashley Bennett.”

Chapter 18

CONOR

Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph. I nearly dropped to my knees. Of all the people who had to sneak onto this bus while Noelle and I were upstairs nackerball naked, it had to be Ashley Fucking Bennett.

Noelle had dug her fingernails in my back, and while that got me horny while we were fucking, it hurt like hell right now. Then she made matters worse by pinching my arm.

Was that supposed to be her way of verifying if I heard everything Ashley said? I cranked my head over my shoulder and nodded.

Noelle breathed into my ear, “How did she get the key to release the hydraulic button?”

We were trapped in the top deck starkers while Ashley and Tomo had a leisurely conversation downstairs and that’s what concerned her?

I ran my finger across my neck to get her to stop whispering. Noises carried in these buses.

She pressed a hand over her mouth as if she didn’t trust herself.

My nose started tingling with a sneeze, and I pinched my nostrils. The sneeze came anyway, sounding more like a honk, but luckily someone shut the doors to the bus at the same time, drowning out my snort. Noelle punched me in the back anyway.

Tomo said, “Those pictures aren’t gonna do much damage now that the narrative has changed. Who could blame you for getting a little something on the side while your popstar boyfriend is cheating on you?”

“Well, I don’t want it to look like I moved on that fast. I want to revel in it a little longer. Soak in the sympathy.”

Someone smacked something. Both Noelle and I jerked, and she almost slid off my back. I reached around and grabbed her—right between the legs.