AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why does this dude have such a hard-on for where you are?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly come back home, you know? Then I stopped answering his texts because someone swiped my phone.” Lauren bowed up off the mattress as she sucked in her already pretty flat stomach to zip her pants.
“Wait. Home?”
“Yeah.” She hopped off the bunk. “We live together.”
Chapter Eight
So she hadn’t exactly meant to blurt that out first thing. Lauren wasn’t sure what she should have led with, but not that.
Probably “he’s just my overprotective best friend” rather than something that made West’s nostrils flare and his eyes narrow.
“You live with him? As in share a bed with him?”
“What? I share his guest bed in that I use it when—” She broke off and fished through her pockets for some of her hair pins. Her hair was at maximum crazy stage from not combing it out with anything but her fingers last night. “I think you mean his actual bed, like the one he sleeps in.”
“Yes, Lauren, pretty sure that’s what I mean.”
No more cute nicknames now, that was for sure. She’d liked him calling her Lo now and then. Another casualty of her selective truth-telling.
Time to stop being vague and lay it all on the line. Including her damn project, which she’d practically forgotten all about in her pursuit of pleasures of the flesh.
Flesh that was still achy from being so close to his talented mouth. Damn Ethan. She’d kick him for tongue-blocking her if she didn’t appreciate his worrying about her.
It was totally unnecessary, but it was sweet.
“He’s my best friend. That’s it.”
West locked his jaw and didn’t look at her. This was all her fault. She’d put that doubt on his face by wanting to pretend she didn’t have a life back home. Hey, she could just run off with a rockstar and pretend to be a real groupie, right? One without cares or obligations.
It was also her fault that Ethan was talking louder than she’d ever heard him before outside the bus. He was probably about two seconds away from getting into fisticuffs with Mal.
She rubbed at her cheeks, remembering her heavy makeup. “Is there cold cream in the vanity in the bathroom? I can’t let him see me like this. He’ll think that—”
“What? That you were in here with me having a good time? Isn’t that what we were doing?” He tipped up her chin and brushed his finger over her lower lip. “You said he’s your best friend. My gut tells me to trust you. So why do you care how he sees you or what he thinks may have happened?”
“He’s my best friend,” she said again as the raging continued outside. “He took me in when my parents kicked me out.”
“Why would they kick you out?”
“It’s a long story, and it has a lot to do with why I’m here. Why he’s here. I already made him worry because I got swept up in all of this.” She flapped a hand around them. “In you.”
West stepped back and crossed his arms. “If I’m dragging you down, you’re free to—”
“Don’t,” she said miserably, bowing her head. “Don’t ruin the one perfect night of my life with harsh words just because you think I’m a lying skank.”
“A virgin skank? How does that work?”
But she was on a roll now. “I’m not. Okay, maybe I didn’t tell you everything at first, but can you blame me? You’re you, and I’m me. We’re so different, but you actually seemed like you liked me.”
“Not liked,” he said quietly, shutting his eyes. “Like.”
She gripped his hand, squeezing it. “Let me just go wash my face and I’ll deal with him. If you can tell him I’ll be right out—”
“Lauren, dammit, will you come out here? I know you’re on that bus and this thug won’t let me in.”
West took her hand and led her to the front of the bus. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
