Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(62)

I sighed. Asshole. “Donovan, this is my brother, Aaron. Aaron, this is the lead singer of The Drift. We wonder how he’s talented when he’s such an *, too. Don’t worry. Common reaction.”

Donovan gave me a disbelieving look and then shook Aaron’s hand. “What’s up, man?”

Aaron nodded at him, completely unfazed that he was meeting a celebrity. We were definitely related.

Then, Grant rounded the corner, and my eyes were only for him.

“Donovan, you near my girl again?” Grant asked.

He smirked. “Just meeting her brother.”

Grant staggered a half step, and then he quickly recovered. He continued to swagger down toward us. He had toweled off after the show and then thrown on his leather jacket. His hair was still damp from sweat.

In that moment, I didn’t care who was watching—not Donovan, not my brother, not anyone.

I rushed forward and threw my arms around Grant’s shoulders, knocking our bodies together as we collided. His arms wrapped around my waist and tightly tugged me against him. He breathed in my hair and sent shivers down my spine as he kissed my neck.

“I missed you so much,” I whispered.

“I missed you, too, Princess.”

And then, he kissed me.

It was like breathing again for the first time. This was what I had always been missing. That depressing ache in my chest lifted. All I could feel was a desperate longing for this moment to never end.

“Ahem,” my brother coughed into his hand.

“Sorry,” I murmured, reluctantly pulling back from Grant.

“Aaron, this is my boyfriend, Grant. Grant, my brother, Aaron.”

“Nice to meet you, man,” Grant said. He extended his hand toward Aaron, who was too polite not to shake it.

As soon as he dropped his hand, Aaron pointed his finger at Grant and narrowed his eyes. “I couldn’t figure it out before, but now, I remember how I know you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Grant asked hesitantly.

“You’re Grant McDermott?”

Grant questioningly glanced at me, but I shrugged. I didn’t know how Aaron could know Grant. This was the first I’d ever heard of it even though I’d never told Aaron who I was exactly dating.

“Yeah, this is Grant.”

Aaron shook his head in disgust. “Aribel, you have no idea what you’re getting into. You absolutely cannot date this guy.”

Who the f*ck did this guy think he was?

No one could f*cking tell Ari that she couldn’t date me. I didn’t care that he was her brother. He couldn’t f*cking dictate who she dated. And how the f*ck did he even know me? Sure, my name was somewhat known in Princeton but not outside of that. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Aaron,” Ari groaned.

“Oh, this is good,” Donovan muttered. “I’ll get the popcorn.”

I shoved Donovan out of the way and straight into Ridley and Trevor as they came out of the dressing room. “Get him out of here.”

Donovan opened his mouth to say something, but Ridley shook his head. “Not tonight, man. We still have a show.”

Ridley and Trevor half-dragged Donovan away from me, and I was thankful for that. I didn’t need a reason to unleash the pent-up fury.

“Come on, Aribel,” Aaron said, latching on to her arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” She yanked her arm out of his grasp. “I’m not leaving. I thought you’d be the reasonable one in the family.”

“Well, you clearly know nothing about this guy.”

“How do you know anything about me?” I finally asked.

He ignored my question and kept looking at Ari. “He’s scamming you. He will sleep with anyone who walks by.”

Aribel sighed heavily. “That’s just his reputation, Aaron.”

“People get reputations for a reason.”

“Sure they do,” I said. “I got it because I f*cked anyone who was hot, but that was before Ari.”

“Right,” he said disbelievingly.

He grabbed on to Ari again, and she leaned back toward me.

“Seriously, Aaron. Since when did you become so judgmental? You don’t even know Grant.”

“I don’t need to. I heard enough stories at Princeton to know what happened. He even admitted it.”

Oh. The pieces were falling into place.

Aaron must have gone to Princeton, and so he’d heard about me. He was a couple of years older than Ari. Maybe he was even my age. If he knew my reputation, then he was probably worried I’d f*ck up his little sister. Maybe he was right, but I did love her, so that changed things.

“Yeah. I’m not denying the kind of person I was. But I’m not that way with Ari. So, it doesn’t matter who I was.”

“It might not matter to you.”

“It shouldn’t matter to anyone,” Ari said. “Grant and I are together, and we’re happy.”

“How do you know he hasn’t slept with a million different girls on this stupid tour?”

“I don’t,” she answered. Then, she glanced up at me. “But I trust him. If he wanted to sleep with other people, then he wouldn’t be with me. He wouldn’t put up with my shit.”