Thorned Heart (Cash Me Outside 2)

Seb’s eyes narrow at me. “Isn’t that your job?”

“I would do it, but I need a word with you.” I cock my brow at him.

“Fine.” He turns to Lemon. “You good?”

“I can manage my name. Go talk to your ... Dad?”

The entire band bursts out laughing. That’s going to be a fun ongoing joke that will die, oh probably never.

Seb walks over to me, but I drag him into the corner of the small waiting lounge so no one can hear us.

“This is your definition of not doing something stupid?” I hiss. “I guarantee sleeping with that ... boy would be the literal meaning of doing something stupid.”

“That’s not nice. You don’t even know Andrew.”

“Lemon.”

“Yeah, I’m not calling him that.”

“Where did you even meet him?”

“Uh ...” Seb rubs the back of his neck. “Strip club? Maybe?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Please don’t tell me you’re bringing a hooker to our vacation in Montana.”

“He’s not a hooker. He’s a stripper, and I’m not paying him to be here. He recognized me and fanboyed all over me.”

“Mm, fanboyed all over your lap, maybe.”

“Why is this a problem? Jasper and Greg are bringing randos.”

“Normally, I wouldn’t give a fuck who’s in your bed.” Lies. “But isn’t this the entire reason you’re in the tabloids right now with your dick out?”

“Oh yeah. That reminds me. Can we get him to sign, like, an NDA or something?”

Jesus H Christ.

“What are you doing, Seb? Really?”

“I’m spending my Christmas vacation with a guy who has the potential to be more than a hookup.”

I almost fall over. “Come again?”

Seb waggles his eyebrows. “That’s what he’ll be saying later.”

I wince. “What the fuck?”

“What?”

He really has no idea.

“You want more … than a hookup? Are you okay and should I be taking you to the hospital instead of on vacation?”

“Ha, ha.”

“No, seriously.”

Seb sighs, and I feel a pull of sympathy for him. “I don’t know, okay? I’m happy for Cash, but him getting together with Locke, and the photo thing … I’m sick of being used, you know? And, okay, yes, I’m sick of using people too. It goes both ways. I want something …” He glances over at Cash who’s sitting on his fiancé’s lap. “I want what they have.”

If I’d known a leaked dick pic would make him get to this point, I might have done it myself two years ago when my feelings for him started to change.

It had been weeks of him texting me to come help get rid of his one-night stands from his hotel room. Every time I’d do it, I’d feel … ick. There was something stirring in my gut. I told myself for months that it was because he was degrading my job, but deep down I knew it wasn’t. It was because I hated the thought of him with someone else.

“Do you really think Lemon is your future?” I ask.

“No, but Andrew could be. I’ve never actually tried before.”

Try with me, I want to scream.

I want to yell at him for being blind because the only reason Lemon is here is for a free vacation with a rock star.

He probably doesn’t even care to get to know Seb. He won’t be stage side, watching him play, watching his moods, and wanting to make him feel better when he’s going through shit.

But it’s better for Seb to learn that shit on his own.

“Okay, he can stay. But you have to give it a real shot. I will not bail you out the minute you realize you have nothing in common and he’s only here for one thing. You have to make him leave on your own.”

“I promise. I’m getting better at kicking them out.”

I cock my head. “Do I need to pull up the photo again of you sleeping because you forgot to kick someone out of your bed?”

“Fine. Touché. Whatever. It’s going to be different with Andrew.”

“Lemon,” I mutter as he walks off.

He definitely hears me though because he shakes his head.

Seb wants a relationship? I never thought I’d see the day. I didn’t even know relationship was in his vocabulary.

And now it’s here, I get to watch it all unfold because I’m too chickenshit to tell him how I feel. There’s too much at stake to offer myself as his relationship guinea pig. Which means, I have to continue to keep my mouth shut.

If seeing him hook up with someone was hard enough, I really don’t want to think about what watching him fall in love will do to me.

Chapter Four

Seb

We board the private plane, and Andrew immediately tries to climb into my lap. I wrap my long, guitar-playing fingers around his narrow hips and push him onto the seat next to me.

He pouts. “What, no mile-high club stuff?”

My dick gives a little twitch, but that’s about it. “It’s the law we all have to be in our seats for takeoff and landing.” I’m relieved when Andrew stops touching me to fasten his seatbelt.