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Frankie looks from me to Rone. “Wow, tension central. Should we all go outside or something? I like my eggs without a side of verbal abuse, thank you very much. Or a sticky counter; we need to eat here,” he says, laughing.
Evan shakes his head in annoyance and gives Frankie the stink eye, which he ignores. Navarone flips him off and Frank smirks.
Gunner chuckles into his coffee, his eyes glued to his phone. Evan groans, covering his ears with his hands, and muttering, “Too loud.”
“Don’t,” Rone and I both warn Frankie at the same time.
He holds his hands up in mock defeat.
“Just saying,” he says, stuffing his face with toast.
The front door opens and Austin stumbles in, swaying from left to right. He is wearing his sunglasses, and I’m off the barstool when I see his busted-up lip.
“Honey, what happened to you?” I ask.
He holds his hands up before taking a seat at the counter, leaning on me for support.
“I’m fine,” he sighs, removing his frames. The bruise is already starting to swell.
“Man, who punched you?” Gunner asks, while I walk over to the freezer.
Rone grabs a bag of peas and hands it to me. Our fingers skim, and the look in his eyes changes, like he can feel the electricity sparking between us as if we’re in some freaking Hallmark movie. The ones I’m secretly addicted to.
I press the frozen bag of peas against Austin’s cheekbone and he winces. “Fuck that’s cold.” He gives me a broken smile.
“Should I beat the living shit out of him?” Gunner asks, all hyped up, too excited for my taste. I give him a look he ignores while he stretches, and slips the phone between the waistband of his shorts.
Evan slaps Austin on the back, and he gives us all a small tight smile. “Last night got a little out of hand.”
Rone hands him a cup of coffee. “Here you go.”
Austin grabs it with his busted-up hands. “Thanks.” He takes a small sip holding the cup between his knees, tapping his fingers against his thighs. We all stare at him, waiting for him to tell us what happened.
“Well after you left,” he starts, tipping his chin to me, “I was throwing shots back with Axl before I started talking to Tori at the bar. And one thing led to another, which led to her hotel room. That in turn ended in me having the crap kicked out of me by her fiancé, who she’d failed to mention the whole time I was going down on her.”
“That fucking bitch,” I yell. “I’m going to blacklist her ass all over town.”
Rone smiles and I turn my gaze back to Austin.
“Don’t bother,” he mutters. “She is going out to New York to record a new album and marry the singer. And I punched his lights out, so I think we’re even.”
“I’m sorry, man,” Frankie says, taking a bite of his eggs.
“Yeah, me too. I had it bad for her.” Austin swallows hard, running a hand through his short hair. “You all know how I felt about her. Doesn’t matter that she was a manipulative—”
“You can say bitch,” Gunner chimes in, taking the last bite of his breakfast.
Austin grimaces. We all nod.
“I later wound up at the strip club where your friend Nina was dancing. She took care of me after her shift ended.”
I take my phone out of my back pocket and see the missed texts from Nina. I quickly shoot her one back telling her Austin is okay and made it home safe before placing the phone next to my mug.
“Want something to eat?” Rone asks.
“Yeah, sure.” Austin sighs, shrugging. “Fuck, I’m actually glad I’m leaving on tour with your punk-ass brother.” He clutches his ribs as he laughs.
“We’re all here for you,” Evan says, his bloodshot eyes kind.
