“Eric has a new band?” Reagan asked as she made her way back toward the exit.
“Some punk/emo/goth hybrid thing he’s working on with Jon Mallory. They’re still in the planning stages mostly.”
“What about Sinners? Is he leaving?” Reagan asked. She couldn’t imagine Sinners without Eric Sticks in the band.
Trey shook his head. “Side project,” he said. “Sinners is still his main focus.”
Reagan descended the steps and waited at the bottom for Trey to join her. She followed him to the side of the bus where he opened a compartment underneath.
“I should have asked you which guitar you wanted to keep out,” he said as he rearranged some luggage so he could fit three of her guitars and one of her suitcases in the cramped space.
“They’re all awesome. I’m glad you chose so I didn’t have to.”
Once Reagan’s things were stored safely underneath the bus, Trey shut the hatch and then reached for her. He drew her against the length of his body and kissed her.
“Don’t pay attention to what the guys say,” he said, still thinking about how Brian had almost revealed Trey’s homosexual tendencies to Reagan on the bus with that wiener eater remark. He wasn’t ready for Reagan to know that about him. Wasn’t sure if he ever wanted her to know. Trey did feel uncomfortable about hiding it from her, but since men were no longer on his menu, there was no sense in complicating his new relationship with Reagan with all those skeletons in his closet. There was an entire army of skeletons in his closet. And a few sailors. “They joke around like that a lot.”
“I should hope so. They’re guys. I’m sure Exodus End does that a lot too.”
Trey laughed. “They’re a bit rowdier than we are.”
“Rowdier?”
“Yeah. Dare figured if you couldn’t handle the five of us, there’s no way you could handle the four of them.”
“Well, don’t take it easy on me.”
“Sinners BC was an entirely different animal,” Trey said. “We’ve mellowed over the past year.”
“Sinners BC?”
“Before chicks.”
“Well, don’t mellow for my sake,” Reagan said. Her hands slid down his back to squeeze his ass. “I happen to like you naughty. The naughtier, the better.”
Trey grinned and lowered his head to kiss her. He knew he liked this woman. Even though she claimed to like him naughty, if she had any idea how truly deviant he could be, he was sure she’d go running for the hills. He’d start her on naughty lite and see how she handled that first.
“Good, you guys are back,” Sed called from several yards behind the bus. He was carrying several brown paper sacks. Jace, who was walking beside him, smiled a greeting before noticing Reagan’s hands on Trey’s ass. He blushed and averted his gaze. Sed glanced at Reagan long enough to ascertain that she wasn’t Brian. “Brian’s here too, right? You didn’t leave him in Los Angeles, did you?”
“He’s on the bus torturing Eric with baby pictures,” Trey said.
Sed smiled. “I can’t wait to hold the little guy.”
“Jess said she wanted one,” Trey said and winked.
Sed’s blue eyes widened. “Jess wants a baby?” he asked breathlessly.
“She’s totally in love with Malcolm. Her biological clock is ticking at warp speed.”
“You’re fucking with me,” Sed said and scowled.
“She seemed to genuinely want a baby to me,” Reagan said.
Sed spared her a second glance. “We’re getting ready to leave. You need to get lost now.”
Her face fell.
“Fuckin’ Sed,” Trey grumbled. “She’s with me.”
“That’s obvious,” Sed said.
“And she’s staying with me,” Trey added.
“I’m Jace,” Jace said to Reagan and smiled warmly.
“Oh God. Cute!” Reagan exclaimed and released Trey to grab Jace in a face-to-bosom, double-armed embrace.
Jace’s various chains rattled as he tried to extricate himself from Reagan’s bear hug. She finally released him, took a second look at him, and hugged him again.
“Jace doesn’t like to be touched,” Trey tried to explain as he tugged on Reagan’s arm. “But I like it.”
“Oh, sorry,” Reagan said as she released Jace for good this time. “I didn’t mean to attack you like that. I’ve never seen you smile before.”
Jace blushed again and stared at his boots.
“So she’s staying on the bus?” Sed asked, sounding none-too-happy about the fact.
“Yeah, for the next two weeks,” Trey said.
“I’m Reagan. Exodus End just hired me to be their rhythm guitarist.”
Sed and Jace both stared at her as if she had sprouted wings and took flight to Crazyland.
“No shit?” Sed shoved his grocery sacks in Trey’s direction. “You can tell me all about it later. I need to call Jess.”
Trey managed to grab the sacks before Sed released them. Sed dug his phone out of his pocket as he stomped up the bus steps.
“He’s kind of a jerk,” Reagan said.
“Kind of?” Trey said.
“He’s different once you get to know him,” Jace said. “He’s like that with strangers. Doesn’t know who to trust.”
“True,” Trey agreed. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen him act like that. He must’ve thought you were a groupie.”
“That excuses him being a jerk?” Reagan asked, her eyebrows raised high above her grayish-blue eyes.
“You’ll have some groupies of your own soon. Then you’ll understand why it’s easier to be an asshole when they’re around.”
“So you’re an asshole to your groupies too?” Reagan asked.
Trey started backpedaling. “Well, no, I—”
“Trey just uses them for sex,” Jace said and headed up the stairs after Sed.
Trey was going to invest in four sturdy ball gags. One for each of the members of his big-mouthed band.
Reagan managed to stifle a laugh as she watched Trey try to come up with something to say after Jace dropped that bomb. She didn’t care that Trey had a long list of sexual conquests. One didn’t get as good in bed as he was without a lot a practice. It wasn’t as if she was clueless about what went on backstage. She had a few acquaintances in the business. No one as famous as Trey—well, until yesterday—but even small-time bands had plenty of women to keep them entertained.
“If you’re going to get upset every time one of your band members reveals one of your dirty little secrets, you’re going to go nuts.”
Trey raked a hand through his long bangs and held them out of his eye. “I’m not upset.”
“You don’t think I know these things already?”
His face fell. “What things?”
“That you’ve slept with a lot of women.”
He released his hair and it dropped to conceal one eye again. His typical devil-may-care expression replaced the worried one of just a moment before. “You’re not the jealous type?”
“If I was, I wouldn’t last as your girlfriend for three seconds. I see the way women look at you.”
“You do?”
“I can’t blame them.”
He grinned that sexy smile and even though it made her heart race, she couldn’t resist teasing him. “I want to take a pair of scissors to those bangs as much as they do.”
His sexy smile faded and he looked up at his bangs. “You don’t like my haircut?”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “It’s much too sexy. It makes me want to grab you and do naughty things with you.”
He laughed. “One of these days I’m going to get used to you fucking with me and quit falling for your taunts.”
She produced an exaggerated pout. “And ruin all my fun?”
The bus engine started and Trey took her hand. “Time to sequester ourselves in a small space with six or seven other people who like to fuck with me.”