Because nothing was different. The guilt was still there, even if I was blinded by Brooklyn for a
few sparse moments.
Chapter Ten
Brooklyn
I was impressed, completely engrossed in all the fine details that the penthouse we were staying in had. In all my life, even living in such a popular city like New York, I had never stayed somewhere fancier than the Ramada. We were staying in a suite that literally went by the name The Penthouse—and it was magnificent.
There were several bedrooms—I think four—in our particular suite, one for each band member and then me. They gave me my own room. Kent and Rod, along with Reid’s bodyguards traveling on the other tour bus, got a less fancy suite, but they insisted I stay close to Reid so we could work together. Rod apparently told Carissa—who continued to text and ask for updates every other day—that Reid and I were making a little bit of headway; headway meaning nothing, really. So what, he described a spoon, and we had a decent conversation last night. None of that truly meant we were making any headway with actual songwriting, but hopefully, it was just a stepping stone we had to step on to get to the bigger stuff.
Jane had texted, and I gave her a brief update on Reid, leaving out all of the stuff from last night. For some reason, I felt like the conversation that Reid and I had was private. There was something about it that made me want to keep it under lock and key. Maybe it was the fact that he made my body do certain things with just a simple stare, or maybe it was because my heart ached slightly when he’d given a small piece of himself to me. I wasn’t sure. But the second I said it aloud, or recognized that I thought Reid wasn’t just some complete famous asshole who threw rude remarks my way, and that he was an actual person with real feelings who was struggling with something, it made it real. It meant I was beginning to care or get too invested, and I didn’t want to do that.
It was pointless to hide it from her, because we planned to meet up one night after one of the shows, because it just so happened that she’d be in the same city and state as us at the same time, ironically enough. So I knew it was only a matter of time before she’d see right through me. But for now, I was comfortable with denial. Deny, deny, deny. Reid King does NOT make my body melt.
I was still disturbed that Finn had slept with a groupie—who he parted ways with halfway to Dallas—on my favorite blanket. The housekeeping was doing the laundry right now, and I’d slipped them a crisp twenty to make sure they washed it twice in the hottest water possible. I still wasn’t sure I’d use it again, but it was always good to have a backup blanket on the bus. I rolled my eyes at the thought of sleeping on Reid’s floor again without a blanket as I stepped into the suite shower that was big enough to fit my entire apartment into.
Finn was pissed that he had to Clorox the bus when we got to the hotel. Jackson stayed behind to laugh at him the entire time and to take pictures. I guess it was funny that someone so successful and popular had to clean for once. It was like Reid was punishing him, and I found that hysterical, mainly because Finn was throwing a fit. He kept telling me that he was sorry, but I didn’t buy it. I could have sworn I heard him saying he was going to drag me into “the war,” but I had no idea what he was even talking about. Jackson only smashed his lips when Finn was going on and on about “the war,” so I’d have to be on my toes from here on out. Those two were like teenagers, constantly joking with one another and pulling stupid pranks. It was exhausting watching them.
The blissfully warm water from the shower coated my skin as I poured some type of fancy body wash into my hand. I truly couldn’t believe how big the shower was compared to my normal-sized shower. My mind instantly went to the gutter, thinking about how easy it would have been to have sex in there. I mean, you could lie down on the floor, in any position possible, without hitting your head or having that awkward this-isn’t-comfortable sex position that often happened in showers.
At least, for me it did.
Shower sex wasn’t fun when the shower was normal-sized. It was uncomfortable, and the last time I’d had it—with, nonetheless, a bar hook-up that was supposed to be a one-night-stand type of guy who turned into the next morning too—I’d slipped and smacked my head on the shower door while he continued to ram into me from behind. He obviously thought my groans from hitting my head were moans, so he only picked up his pace, thinking I was enjoying the sex.
Newsflash: I wasn’t.
After rinsing the soap from my face, basking in the rich vanilla scent, I finally peeled my eyes open.
And that was when I saw it.
Something long, black, and slimy was lying on the shower floor, just in the corner near the small bench seat. (That’s right, there was a long bench seat in the shower, too.)
“Agghh!” I let out the loudest, piercing scream I’d ever made as my eyes locked onto the snakelike creature in the corner of my shower.
I hurriedly pushed open the shower door, stepping out of the steamy shower as fast as I could. As soon as my foot hit the tiled floor, I ran to the bathroom door, unlocking it with a single thrust of my hand. When I yanked the door open, eager to get out, my foot slipped, and I yelled out again. But before I fell, calloused palms wrapped around my waist and I gasped. My hands wrapped around sturdy wrists as I snapped my head upward, staring directly into a face that made all the fear disappear out of my body. Reid’s amber eyes were sparking as his palms tightened on my naked, wet torso. My breath caught in my throat, water droplets cascading over my nose and onto the floor below us.
Reid’s strong jaw was tightened as he raked his gaze down my wet body. For a moment, I totally forgot about the snake in the corner of my shower. I only stared at the world’s hottest man as he took me in. Each lingering stare left a burning mark on my body, and what couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, felt like hours. I was pinned to my spot, not even trying to hide my bare breasts—or anything, for that matter. In fact, Jackson, or Finn, or even Rod, could have walked through the wide-open door of my temporary bedroom and seen me naked in Reid’s arms right inside the threshold of the steaming bathroom. Reid moved his gaze up to my face—his now reddened and splotchy. The steam from my shower was enclosing us both, both of our chests rising and falling, desperately trying to get a grasp on reality. I watched in awe as Reid’s tongue darted out to lick his lower lip, and I swore I was ready to give him anything and everything in that moment. His dark hair was messy on top, his tight white t-shirt clinging to every toned muscle on his upper body, his scorching eyes drinking me in like I was the richest of whiskies.
Then, his eyes went to my kidney scar, and reality fell on top of my head harder than the water from the shower. I gasped and broke him out of his trance. He quickly blinked his eyes and removed his hands from my slippery skin, remembering who I was and where we were. His distinct Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as his eyes roamed over to the shower, looking anywhere but at me. I snatched the white, fluffy towel from the nearby towel rack and quickly covered my body, embarrassment washing over me. What the hell has gotten into me?
Reid slowly walked over to the open door of the shower, and his head ticked to the side once he saw the black, unmoving snake in the corner of the shower. I peeked my head inside as he walked farther, the wet floor splashing with each step. He slowly bent down to the devil’s creature as I stood back, frazzled and still out of breath.
Reid picked the snake up, my eyes widening at the same time, and then he shook it.
The snake didn’t do anything, and I had never been so confused.
Reid glanced up at me, his eyebrows raised, and shook it again in my direction.
I gasped, but then I realized that the snake was totally not moving—or real.
It was a freaking rubber snake.
Now, the whole “I’m bringing Brooklyn into the war” statement from Finn earlier made sense.
I’d bet my kidney that Finn put that snake in here to scare me—and me betting my kidney was a serious matter, considering I only had one.
Reid slowly walked over to the shower door, the snake in his hand, about to step over the slippery tile an