“And that is why we locked the bedrooms,” Killian said, and when I looked over my shoulder, he waved us over to join them.
I had to adjust myself before I went anywhere, and Viper groaned at the move.
“Seriously, Angel? You’re asking for me to bend you over this goddamn bar right here, right now.”
I trembled at the promise in those words, because I had no doubt he’d make good on it if I let him. But tonight wasn’t about us. It was about the band, and so with that in mind, I wrapped my hand around his wrist and tugged him along behind me toward the makeshift dance floor, Viper grumbling the whole way.
Killian grinned as we joined in the celebration. “Someone change the song to something less fuckable.”
“Hard” stopped abruptly, and as “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire began to play, the bartender brought out a tray full of drinks. Considering my head was already buzzing pretty damn good, I had no doubt we’d all remember maybe only half the night later.
Before any of us could take a sip, Slade said, “Wait, I wanna make a toast too.”
“Oh God, here we go,” Jagger said under his breath, but Slade heard him and went to punch him in the arm. It would’ve hurt if Slade hadn’t swayed on his feet and missed Jagger completely, stumbling into a nearby deck chair, half of his drink sloshing over his hand.
As he cursed and righted himself, the rest of us broke out into a peal of laughter until Viper brought his hand to his mouth and let out a loud whistle.
“How about I take this one, Slade,” Viper said. Slade responded with a shrug, licking the spilled alcohol off his hand, and then Viper lifted his drink. “To us, motherfuckers!”
“To us,” we all chanted. And as we guzzled down our drinks and the rest of the night turned fuzzy, a feeling of warmth spread through my chest at belonging to something bigger than myself. I’d known I was part of the band, but it hadn’t been until tonight that I felt truly, one hundred percent accepted.
Twenty-Nine
Halo
ONCE WE’D GOTTEN back to New York, MGA didn’t waste time calling us all together for a meeting. I still hadn’t unpacked, though I’d been home for a couple of days, and I had to rummage through the back of my closet for something decent to wear. Apparently we’d be meeting with Marshall Gellar, the head of MGA, and the last thing I needed to do was show up in a pair of ripped jeans from high school.
I settled on a light grey Henley shirt, sleeves pushed up, and managed to find some dark jeans that would suffice, and then I grabbed the jar of styling cream from my bag and headed to the bathroom. I ran it through the curly mess in an attempt to tame it a bit, which was never an easy feat. While we’d been in Miami, I’d taken to wearing it up, away from my face since it was so hot and humid, but for today I needed to make a little effort. Not to mention Viper liked when I wore it down, or at least I assumed he did, because he could never keep his hands out of my hair.
Once I was satisfied it was as good as it was gonna get, I took a step back and looked myself over in the mirror. Imogen had already given me hell about the way my skin had bronzed under the Miami sun, and I had to admit, it looked a lot better than the pale white I was accustomed to in New York winters. But the city had thawed out since we’d been gone, the days growing longer and warmer, and I wasn’t complaining.
As I wrapped my leather strap around my wrist, my cell buzzed on the counter, and I looked down to see Viper’s text.
Viper: Get your sexy ass in the car, Angel.
Grinning, I shot back a quick message and grabbed my wallet from the nightstand. The worries I’d had over whether this thing with Viper would fizzle out once we got back to the city had been unfounded, though I hadn’t seen him since we’d landed. He’d needed to check on his mom, I’d needed to visit with my family, and really, I’d seen him every day for over two months, so two days apart should’ve been a breeze.
Talk about fucking torture.
I missed him. Yeah, I missed Viper, and I practically ran out of my apartment and down the stairs to where he was waiting in the back seat of the car MGA had sent. But before I opened the door that led outside, I took in a deep breath. My stomach flipped at the thought of seeing the man I’d gone too long without. It almost felt like I had first-date jitters or something, which was crazy considering we wouldn’t exactly be alone on the ride to the record company’s offices.