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He cut me off. “Because it's about her?”
I stayed stonily silent. It was about her, the girl who had been driving me crazy since the first time I had seen her. The one with the caramel hair who had just left us to talk with a smile lighting up her face. Without meaning to, my eyes went to the door she had just walked through.
“What the fuck are you doing, Dion?”
Shaking myself, I turned to my bandmate in shock. “What do you mean?”
He followed my eyes. “You know exactly what I mean, Dion, so stop with the crap. Hooking up with her again is going to cause you even more shit that you don't need. You have this whole thing with Isla hanging over you, and you get Lola involved again.”
My anger erupted. Jumping to my feet, I started to pace. “I've had the Isla shit hanging over my head for months, Tate. The kid isn't mine.”
“You knew that from the start, but at least be honest with yourself. You kind of wanted him to be, didn't you?”
I froze. “For a few seconds, maybe, when the date looked like he could be, but–” I admitted.
“If you are still in love with Isla,” he held up his hands one at a time, “or have any feelings still for Isla, then you have no right to be sniffing around Lola. She’s Louis' kid sister, for God's sake. The band needs him and you breaking his sister's heart isn't going to go down well.”
“I love Isla.”
Tate’s smooth, tan forehead creased into a frown.
“I love her like a sister, but I'm not in love with her. I care for her because she's been part of my life for a long time.” Ruffling up my hair with my fingers, I tried to find the right words. How could I explain it to him? “Isla is a massive part of Dionysus Rising.” Again, my eyes fell on the door. Dimly, I could hear the shower running, which meant that Lola couldn't hear what we were saying. “But I'm not in love with her. I don't think I ever was. Isla is my past, and Lola is my future.” I smiled ruefully. “If she will put up with my ass for that long, anyway.”
Across from me, Tate grinned. “Glad to hear it, brother.” Standing up, he clapped me on the shoulder. “I just needed to be sure.”
“Sure? Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Tate had been testing me. Seeing where Lola stood. Not for himself and maybe not even for Lola herself. But for the band. If I was messing Lola around, then Louis would leave. We would be without a drummer once again. And then there was the fact that Tate had gotten pretty close to Louis in the time he had been with us. Which was confusing all by itself, seeing as they were complete opposites.
“You going to go running back to Louis and tell him how fucked up about his sister I am?”
“Nope.” Settling himself back down on the sofa, Tate waited until I had taken my seat opposite him. “He knows that.” His eyes crinkled at the edges. “He doesn't like it much, so I think you are going to have to prove to him you mean what you say yourself.”
Yeah, I knew that and I knew it wouldn't be easy, but God, it would be worth it. People cared about Lola. In the tiny amount she had been around the band, they had adopted her fully as their little sister. It wasn't only Louis I would have to answer to if I fucked this up. Not that I would.
Lola was the kind of woman who only came around once in a lifetime. I’d lost her once, and I had no plan to repeat the agony and darkness I’d experienced for the last few months.
“And now about this song.”
“It's not for the public,” I repeated. Why couldn't he get it through his thick head? The song was private, it was…
“It's the best thing you've ever written, Dion, and we want it to be our first single release on this album.” Tate didn't let me answer him. Waving his hand in front of him, he grinned. “And just think of her reaction.” His eyes darted toward the door. “You wrote an epic love song about her man, that's pretty cool.”
LOLA
“I…” Pausing in the doorway, I surveyed the mess in front of me. Bits of paper were scattered all over the coffee table, half empty coffee cups sat on Elodie's cream carpet. Dion was scribbling something on a stack of papers as Tate strummed a guitar on his lap.
Neither man looked up, so I had a few seconds to take them both in. And they were both gorgeous, but it was on Dion that my eyes lingered. There was something mesmerising about the lines that crinkled up the corners of his eyes as he chewed on the end of the pen in his hand.
I was watching magic happen, and I had a front–row seat for it. They were working on a song, that much was clear, and they were so lost in it they didn't even know I was there.
“I think if…” Tate trailed off, leaning over to tap his fingers enthusiastically on the arm of the chair. Dion watched him do it, his head nodding in time with the beat that Tate was drumming out.
“Yeah, that would work.” He grinned, and it was like watching the sun come out from beneath clouds. He actually shone.
“Louis would have a better handle on it. And I know Jax has some ideas as well.” Tate's head slowly turned to me. “Hey, Lola.” Whistling between his teeth, he climbed to his feet. “You look good, going somewhere nice?” His melting brown eyes travelled down the length of my body and then back up, but there was nothing overly sexual about his gaze. He wasn't checking me out.
“Eyes back in your head, pervert.” Dion swiped the back of Tate’s head, and clambering to his feet, he did the exact opposite of what Tate had done. Holding me at arm’s length, he let his eyes travel down my body, burning a trail over my skin. Everywhere they lingered, I seemed to burn. Maybe it was because I'd been naked with Dion. He knew what was under my clothes. And he made sure that I remembered he knew.
