Lick (Stage Dive, #1)(48)

“Course they are. Here, I’ll put them together.” He turned me to face him, rearing back when my chopping knife accidentally waved at him. His hands fastened onto my hips and he lifted me up onto the kitchen island. “Keep me company.”

“Sure thing.”

From the fridge he took a beer for him and a soda for me, since I was still avoiding alcohol. Tyler and Mal’s voices drifted through from the lounge room.

“We working again tomorrow?” Tyler called out.

“Sorry, man. We gotta head back to LA,” said David, washing his hands at the sink. He had great hands, long, strong fingers. “Give me a couple of days to sort shit out down there then we’ll be up again.”

Tyler stuck his head around the corner, giving me a wave. “Sounds good. The new stuff is coming together well. Bringing Ben and Jimmy back with you next time?”

David’s brow wrinkled, his eyes not so happy. “Yeah, I’ll see what they’re up to.”

“Cool. Pammy’s outside, so I gotta run. It’s date night.”

“Have fun.” I waved back.

Tyler grinned. “Always do.”

Chuckling quietly, Mal ambled in. “Date night, seriously … what the f*ck is that about? Old people are the weirdest. Dude, you can’t put broccoli on pizza.”

“Yeah, you can.” David kept busy, scattering peppers around the little trees of broccoli.

“No,” said Mal. “That’s just not right.”

“Shut up. Ev wants broccoli on the pizza, then that’s what she gets.”

Ice-cold lovely sweet soda slid down my throat, feeling all sorts of good. “Don’t stress, Mal. Vegetables are your friend.”

“You lie, child bride.” His mouth stretched wide in disgust and he retrieved a bottle of juice from the fridge. “Never mind. I’ll just pick it off.”

“No, you’re going out,” said David. “Me and Ev are having date night too.”

“What? You’re f*cking kidding me. Where am I supposed to go?”

David just shrugged and scattered pepperoni atop his steadily growing creations.

“Oh, come on. Evvie, you’ll stand up for me, won’t you?” Mal gave me the most pitiful face in all of existence. It was sadness blended with misery with a touch of forlorn on top. He even bent over and laid his head on my knee. “If I stay in town they’ll know we’re here.”

“You’ve got your car,” said David.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Mal complained. “Don’t let him throw me out into the wild. I’ll get eaten by f*cking bears or something.”

“I’m not sure they have bears around here,” I said.

“Cut the shit, Mal,” said David. “And get your head off my wife’s leg.”

With a growl, Mal straightened. “Your wife is my friend. She’s not going to let you do this to me!”

“That so?” David looked at me and his face fell. “Fuck, baby. No. You cannot be falling for this shit. It’s only one night.”

I winced. “Maybe we could go up to our room. Or he could just stay downstairs or something.”

David shoved his hands through his hair. The bruise on his poor cheek, I needed to kiss it better. His forehead did that James Dean wrinkling thing as he studied his friend. “Jesus. Stop making that pathetic face at her. Have some dignity.”

He cuffed the back of Mal’s head, making his long blonde hair fly in his face. Skipping back, Mal retreated beyond the line of fire. “Alright, I’ll stay downstairs. I’ll even eat your shitty broccoli pizza.”

“David.” I grabbed his T-shirt and tugged him toward me. And he came, abandoning his pursuit of Mal.

“This is supposed to be our time,” he said.

“I know. It will be.”

“Yes!” hissed Mal, getting gone while he was ahead. “I’ll be downstairs. Yell when dinner’s ready.”

“He’s got a girl in every city,” said David, scowling after him. “No way was he sleeping in his car. You’ve been played.”

“Maybe. But I would have worried about him.” I tucked his dark hair behind his ears then trailed my hands down to the back of his neck, drawing him closer. The studs in his ears were all small, silver. A skull, an “x” and a super tiny winking diamond. I hadn’t noticed it before.

He pressed his earlobe between his thumb and a finger, blocking my view.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“I was just looking at your earrings. Do they mean anything special?”

“Nope.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Why were you frowning earlier?” He picked up a handful of mushrooms and started adding them to the pizzas. “You’re doing it again now.”

Crap. I kicked my heels, turned all the excuses over inside my head. I had no idea how he’d react to my knowing the things Lauren had told me. What would he think if I asked about them? Starting a fight did not appeal. But lying didn’t either. Withholding was lying, deep down where it mattered. I knew that.

“I talked to my friend Lauren today.”

“Mmhmm.”

I pushed my hands down between my legs and squeezed them tight, delaying. “She’s a really big fan.”