“I think I can handle it. From the time I was fourteen or fifteen, I played with mostly guys. And the places I played...I’m glad my parents kept up with my vaccinations,” I said.
Eli’s brow shot up. “Fourteen or fifteen? Shit, where were your parents, girl?”
“Oh, I lied. I got real good at it, livin’ a double life. As soon as we moved to Baltimore, I sought out the live music scene, usually tellin’ my parents I was with my wonderful new school friends.” I shimmered my hands to emphasize how wonderful my fictional friends had been.
Santi growled beside me. “You could’ve gotten hurt.”
Eli hit his hand on the table, making spoons jump and water slosh. “When I think about all the trouble Santiago got into when he was that age...makes me glad I didn’t have a daughter. I would have been even more of a maniac than I was. Don’t think you’d have ever left the house if you were my kid.”
While he meant well, I hated that attitude. Sure, Santiago could be out running the streets, but god forbid he’d been born with a vagina. I did see where Santi had gotten his protective nature from, though.
“I can’t believe you never told us you were a drummer,” Murray said.
“I used to practice on the drum kit in your garage every day during the summers,” I admitted.
Mo slapped his forehead. “Holy shit, how did I never see that? Or hear that?”
“People expect me to be a certain way, even people who know me well, so they don’t look for the signs of bein’ wrong, you know? My mama never noticed I didn’t bring any of my wonderful friends around, or that I came home smellin’ like smoke with beer spilled all over my shoes. And y’all never wondered why I was often in the garage when you came out to practice.”
Murray chuckled to himself. “I just assumed you were into Santi over there.”
My heart kicked up a notch. Maybe Murray had seen more than I’d thought.
“Couldn’t be further from the truth,” Santi rumbled. Why he just told a bald-faced lie, I had no idea. It couldn’t have possibly been to save me from embarrassment. Unless he’d done a complete turnaround in the last five years, my feelings had never been important to him.
Tossing my hair behind my shoulder, I gave Murray a practiced wink. “Oh no, sugar, my affection was all for you.”
He winked back. “Breaks my heart I missed my chance, sweetheart.”
Luckily, the conversation moved onto the creepy guy who kept sending Mo his toenail clippings, which was far more interesting than my lackluster love life. I felt Santi’s eyes on me again and again, and he made sure to keep his big ol’ bicep pressed against mine until we got up from the table.
After helping Alicia clean up dinner, I found all the guys in the garage with Eli, tinkering around on the instruments he kept out there. He had a couple guitars and a drum kit, which Santi sat behind, lightly tapping out a beat.
He looked good back there. Powerful, with his wide shoulders and corded muscles. It was unfair how attractive I found him. I swear he’d been molded from the clay of my dirtiest desires. Then again, maybe knowing him in my formative years had created those desires. Santiago was the foundation I’d built my ideal man on. At least his looks. His rotten heart he could keep.
His eyes caught mine, and his lips twitched into a half smile. “Want to sit here?”
“I’ll watch. Show me what you got,” I said.
He raised a dark eyebrow. “What do you want me to play? I’m rusty, so have mercy.”
“Like you had mercy on me?” I asked.
His lips pursed while he looked at me for a long moment. “You’re nicer than me, Maeve.”
I snorted a laugh. “Oh, am I?” I wasn’t. I held a grudge like nobody else and could be really bitchy if caught at the wrong time. “Do you know any Hole?”
Murray strummed the opening chords to “Doll Parts,” bringing a smile out of me. I pumped my first in the air, and he kept playing.
As he played, Santi joined in, and he was more than decent. The tempo was slower for this song, so he got off pretty easy, but I liked watching him.
Or them. I liked watching Murray and Santi play together.
We stayed out there for another hour or so, and I ended up behind the kit, playing some Metallica with Eli. Alicia came out and recorded us together, telling me she’d send it to me so I could post it on my social media if I wanted.
Another thing that was beginning to stress me out: social media. Becoming a public figure. Reading the comment section. I’d had a small YouTube channel since high school, sharing videos of myself drumming, but the numbers of my subscribers had been steadily climbing since it was announced I’d be touring with Unrequited, which made me incredibly nervous.
I pushed that aside for now, focusing on my boys and the music we were making.