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“Good plan.” She knew Rae slept like the dead once she hit the snoring stage but better not to risk it. And really, she didn’t care if Pike was bi, but she was damn curious now.
When she was perched on a stool in the kitchen with a bowl of fudge ice cream in front of her a few minute later, Pike hopped up to sit on the counter across from her. She lifted her brow in silent question.
He shrugged. “I’ve tried almost everything to be honest.”
“So, guys?”
He swallowed a bite of his ice cream. “No, not in the way you’re thinking. My best friend, Foster, and I used to live together, and there were rumors out there for a while that we were secretly in a relationship. Why else would two men who could afford their own places many times over choose to be roommates?” He shook his head. “Neither of us bothered to dispel the rumors because—well, fuck them. Being gay shouldn’t be a scandal. But even though we weren’t together like that, there was a relationship of sorts. We were single and kinky and shared women more often than not.”
Oakley tried to school her face into an impassive expression. “Oh?”
“Yeah, so to answer your question. Have I been naked in bed with a guy? Yes. Have I had sex with one? No. Not my deal.”
She took a second to absorb all of that and to get the images out of her head. “So is that why y’all lived together? The threesome thing?”
“Nah. That was just a side benefit. Foster and I became friends when we were in junior high. I met him when one of my mom’s boyfriends was doing work on Foster’s family mansion and brought me along to help. It was a weird match. Richie Rich hanging out with the punkass kid from the rough neighborhood. But we both had crap home situations. His parents were never around and mine was best avoided. So we clicked and ended up being each other’s family in a lot of ways, taking care of each other like brothers.” He smiled, a wistful touch to it. “And we take that bond seriously.
“When I got home from my first tour, I was a fucking mess. I’d found out my brother had been killed in a car accident, and my recreational substance use had turned into the dangerous kind. Dumb, grieving kid meets endless supply of drugs, booze, and women. It wasn’t pretty.” He gave her an uneasy look like he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about this stuff. “Foster saw how strung out I’d gotten, so he dragged me to his place and set me straight. I stayed for a few years after that because I didn’t trust myself to be alone and left to my own devices.”
Her stomach dipped. She’d seen addiction and the ugliness of it when she’d been in the business. One of the other girls in Pop Luck had gotten hooked on heroin after one little sample at a party. Insidious stuff. Last Oakley had heard, Collette was on her fourth stint in rehab. “And now?”
“I’m good. I got lucky and managed not to get hooked on anything except the chaos. Took a while to purge myself of that. But now I’m older. Smarter.” He nodded toward the living room. “Plus, Monty keeps me in line.”
She smirked. “I bet he does.”
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nbsp; He scooped another bite of ice cream and waggled his eyebrows. “So now that I’ve told you my sordid Behind the Music interview, what about you? Any girl-on-girl episodes in the life of Oakley Easton? Scandalous sexcapades?”
He was obviously teasing, but her lungs cinched anyway.
“Whoa, what’s that look for?” he asked, his smile dropping. “Some chick break your heart or something?”
“No, nothing like that.” She tapped her spoon on the side of her bowl. Shut up, Oakley. Just make up something and shut the fuck up. But her pep talk did no good. The words fell out of her anyway. “I kissed a girl a few times. But it was … for show.”
He tilted his head. “To impress a guy?”
Yes. Just say yes.
“Sort of.” Fuck. She stirred her ice cream into a soupy mess, fighting with herself on how much to tell him. Her past was something she never discussed, but annoyingly, Pike’s honesty about his own background and the open, nonjudgmental expression on his face were hard to lie to. He was like some damn truth serum. “I was on stage. It was a publicity stunt.”
His spoon paused halfway to his mouth. “A publicity—on stage?”
She gave him a grim smile. In for a penny. “Remember that thing you said about not telling other people’s secrets? Does that still hold true?”
His forehead creased. “Of course.”
“Would you believe me if I told you that once upon a time, I was doing exactly what you do? Touring, performing, living that life.”
Pike set his bowl aside, his focus completely on her. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Ever heard of a girl group called Pop Luck?”
His lips parted, his eyes widening. The expression would’ve been comical—GIF worthy—if not for the pit the whole conversation was causing in her stomach.
“Imagine me many years younger with blue pigtails and a schoolgirl skirt. I used the name Krissy Crow.”
A few long, tortuous seconds passed. Then it was as if the sun had dawned on his face.
