Blessed Tragedy(10)

“Nah, I figured Jon might kick my ass if I went that far. But don't worry; they'll do ya proud by the time I'm done with them.” He winked at me and I knew he was sincere. Mark understood how difficult it was for me to put them in a place where they might be judged by our closed-minded family.

“I think Mark's right,” Matt chimed in, taking a long draw off his beer. “With a little fairy dust, there's hope for you four yet.” I wasn't sure who should be more offended; my brother who'd essentially just been outed or myself and my band mates for the thought that we didn't have 'hope' without help from my brother.

“You're an ass, you know that Matt?” While I was genuinely upset, every male in the basement laughed at the lack of conviction in my voice.

“Whatever you say, Moo.”

Oh hell no! I'm going to be forced to kill my brother the night before my mom's wake.

“Moo?” Jon and Travis asked in unison. Colton sat down next to me, holding me in place on the couch.

“I told you your brothers have loose lips when they drink,” Colton said. He pulled my upper body down so I was lying across his lap. I wanted to get up and kick Matt's ass but Colton's lap was just too comfortable for me to leave.

“I told you not to call me that in front of anyone, Matthew Edmund.” I glared at the men standing around the pool table giggling like little girls by this point. “And you two, forget you ever f*cking heard that. I swear I'll throw you under the bus, literally, if this follows me to Wichita.”

While they said I could count on them to never bring it up again, the glint in their eyes told me my life was going to be a living hell.

“Okay,” Travis agreed, “but if it's not going with, that means it's fair game while we're here. Where in the hell did 'Moo' come from?”

“I might have had a fascination with cows when I was four. Yes, I've dealt with their shit for almost twenty years. It's a little old at this point but I can't shake it.”

“Fascination my ass.” I glared at Mike for getting in the middle of this. He was usually the one who acted like a wallflower in any social situation. Why was he suddenly Mr. Talkative? “She was obsessed. If she saw a cow while we were driving, she'd yell to it hoping it would look her way. One time, she begged Dad to pull over so she could go and say hello to a cow that was near the fence. And if she saw anything with cows on it in the store, she had to have it. I'm pretty sure the boxes are still upstairs. Want me to grab them so you can decorate the bus?”

“Fuck you, Michael. Don't you have something you could be doing?” The words were there but there was still no emotion in them. The only reason I was fighting sleep was fear for what they would talk about once I passed out.

It didn't take long before the need to sleep won the fight with my paranoia. I'd deal with the ramifications later. And if there was one thing I knew, it was I'd be sure to hear about what I missed. Possibly for the rest of my life.



“Come on, sleeping beauty. Let's get you into your bed,” Colton whispered. I cracked my eyes open just far enough to see where I was; still in the basement. Two concerned big brothers were watching the exchange between me and Colton a little more closely than I was comfortable with.

“Where's Trav and Jon?” The game of pool had disbanded and we were alone with Matt and Mike. Of course, the one brother I wouldn't have to worry about reading too much into the closeness had made himself scarce.

“They're outside with Mark.” I cocked an eyebrow at the thought of my gay brother in the hot tub with my two very attractive band mates. “They'll be fine. Let's go.”

Before my foot hit the first step, my brothers scooped me up and pulled me back into the rec room. I turned around to see them standing shoulder to shoulder in front of me.

“So, uh...” Mike having trouble finding the words when he wanted to speak was worth noting. Mom always said he was as quiet as he was because he only said what needed to be said when it needed to be said.

“What he's trying to say,” Matt said, taking control of the conversation and slapping Mike in the chest, “is you were pretty good out there. You obviously love what you're doing and it's pretty evident that Jon, Travis and Colton care about you. So, we're sorry for giving you such a hard time for so long.”

There were no tears this time. I'm not sure if that's because I was getting used to hearing kind words from my family or if I had hit the point where there simply were no more tears to shed. I wrapped one arm around each brother and pulled them in tight. “Thanks,” I whispered before releasing them.

Colton and I plodded up the two sets of stairs and into my bedroom. “You know they'll have your balls if you sleep with me tonight, right?” Sleeping under the same roof as Colton and still having an empty bed was going to be a special level of torture, but nothing compared to the wrath of four angry Neumann men.

“What do you want, Rain?” I realized in those few words just how well Colton knew me. It had nothing to do with his question and everything to do with how he addressed me. When we were around my family, I was Maddie but here in my room, when it was just us, I was Rain.

I bit my lower lip, debating whether to tell him the truth or not. The look in his eyes begged me to ask him to stay. He didn't want to sleep alone either.

“I don't want you to go but I don't want to explain your untimely death to five thousand fans on Sunday night either.”

“We can deal with them in the morning. If you want me here tonight, that's where I'll be.”

“Thank you.” I took the hot pink down comforter off the bed and pulled back the sheet. Colton crawled in behind me and pulled me against his chest.

As I drifted to sleep, his lips pressed against my bare shoulder. I knew I should object but I liked it. It was such a simple act, but it was a step in a direction we'd both decided we weren't going to go. That didn't upset me as much as I thought it would.





Chapter Six



I woke up the next morning to Colton gently rubbing my back. A full night of sleep didn't change my feelings that something was different between us. I inhaled sharply at the tingling I felt as his fingers grazed along my side.

“You okay?” His voice was tender, his breath warm against my skin.

“Yeah, I'm good,” I sighed. Despite everything I knew I was going to be dealing with in the next two days, I did feel good. It felt waking up in the arms of my best friend, knowing that he was willing to give up time off in order to be with me. “We should go find Jon and Trav.”

“They're having coffee with your brothers, they're fine.” Colton wrapped his arm around me again, not in any hurry to face the day. He pulled back the arm that had been under my neck and brushed the hair away from my face. “And I smoothed things over with your brothers and your dad. I think they understand.”

“What did you tell them?” Somehow I didn't believe they'd think it was completely normal for two adults to sleep in the same bed without anything happening. If roles had been reversed, I knew I wouldn't believe it.

“Relax. I told them that you didn't want to be alone last night and I stayed with you.” He kissed my shoulder again and I nestled myself deeper into his chest. “You just lost your mom. You had your entire world flipped on end yesterday. It'd be a lot for anyone to take in, even a badass like you.”

I wasn't fully convinced no one would say anything but he was right and he had been honest. I didn't want to be alone. If there were questions, we could answer them without having to worry about matching our stories because nothing happened. And if push came to shove, I knew we could count on Jon to corroborate our story. He wasn't one to turn down any chance he got to give Colton a hard time about not screwing me.

I rolled over so I could look at Colton as we lay in each other's arms. This morning his eyes were a crystalline blue, the kind that seemed to almost glow with purity. I wasn't sure if I'd never noticed that before or if I'd worked to push their beauty to the back of my mind.

Right or wrong, I couldn't resist the urge to run my fingers through the coarse hair on his chest. There was just enough there to play with without feeling like I was touching a bearskin rug. I felt his breath hitch as my hand traveled up his sternum.

“Thank you,” I whispered. Even if I'd wanted to, I'm not sure I was capable of breaking my gaze from his. We both knew this was a turning point and I prayed it wasn't only that way because of my weakened emotional state. “What time is it?”

“It's still early, almost eight.” The same voice I'd listened to every morning and every night was low and soft causing me to take a deep breath. If we weren't in my parents' house and if I wasn't still battling my feelings, I knew we would have been all over one another.