Feuds and Interludes (Rock ‘n’ Romance Legends #1)

Chapter 16

Sixteen

B oone

I was rushing out the front doors of the lodge as Shane was coming up the steps.

“We have a situation,” I said as I came to a halt before him. Then I got a look at his haunted face. “Wait, what happened? Shane?”

I put my hands on his face, not caring who saw us, and he closed his eyes.

He leaned into my hands. “I was coming to find you.”

“What do you need?” Because whatever he was going through, I would let him set the pace.

He took my hand and looked around. “Mind walking with me?”

I looked back at the doors. I was supposed to go eat with the twins. “Let me text Annie and Bran. Lead on.”

I pulled out my phone, hurriedly tapped in a few words, shoved my phone in my back pocket and took his hand. He didn’t speak as he led us down the steps, and instead of heading toward the studio, he hung a left and took us into the orchards. It had been a cool August so far up in the Pacific Northwest, and the ground was wet because it had been raining off and on all day. The water dripped from the trees around us as we walked and the quiet was peaceful.

I wanted to ask him a million questions but I knew he’d talk when he was ready. Holding his hand was already so exciting, I wanted to squeal and skip through the apple trees that weren’t quite ready to harvest but smelled so good, but I held it all in—along with my alarm over the grandparent situation.

“I’m sorry, I’m trying to figure out how to say all this.”

Oh . There was an “all this.” Fine. Whatever he needed, I was going to be there for him, because one thing I’d learned about Shane was that he really didn’t let folks in. I doubted he had anyone in his life besides his Pops. If he trusted me, I’d prove trustworthy.

“Whatever you need, Shane.”

He let out a huge exhale and pursed his lips, shaking his head. “First off, my band just quit.”

“ What?! ” My shouts interrupted the stillness and a couple of crows squawked and flew out of the trees near us. “That’s insane! How dare they! What the fuck? They’re nothing without you. What do they think?—”

“Hey,” he said, his lips split into a satisfied smile. “I’m surprisingly okay about it.”

I stopped walking and stared at him. “Really? Are you sure?”

He shrugged and tugged on my hand to keep us moving. “Yeah. I am. Somebody told me recently that I was better than my band.”

I ducked my head. “Wow. Yeah, I did say that. But it’s not like I meant to manifest this shit to happen!”

He laughed. He actually laughed! His world had just shifted violently and he was laughing.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You need to lie down or something?”

He shook his head. “Nah. I’m good. I need to regroup. I need to talk to Pops. I need to call my manager, the label, all kinds of other shit, but nah. I’m going to take today to walk through this orchard, holding your hand, and not even think about it.”

I stopped again. “You’re really not okay. Shane?—”

“I am. Honestly? I feel free. Lydia kind of instigated this whole thing, the talk with the band and shit, and now that they’re gone, it’s like a weight is gone. When Lydia asked me yesterday if I thought I’d grown, I think it set off a spiral where I’m like, nope. I’m stuck. These guys were hired guns, not true partners. I guess I finally realized why Pops stuck around with your grandpa and the other guys.”

“They made beautiful music together.” I smiled at him. Could it be that he was in the same space as me? “Shane? I wanted to ask you… You know that slide part Leland was talking about?” He nodded, a slight frown bending his brows. “I wondered if you would play it. On our album. And I wondered if you would sing the harmonies with me. Would you even consider it? I know it’s not your thing?—”

“Yes, Boone. I would love to.”

He pulled me close to him and rested his hands on my waist.

“Really? We’re not too…how did you say it, too much like candy?”

He squeezed my waist, letting his hands roam south a bit as he groaned. “I like it. I like the way you taste. I want candy.”

He slid his fingers under the waistband of my pants and I sucked in a breath as he crushed me against him.

“Never knew you had such a sweet tooth, Butler,” I whispered as he went to work on my neck. I clutched at his shoulders and gasped. “Maybe you need to watch that.”

“I’m watching my intake, I can pace myself, but I want more.”

“Fuck, it’s yours.” My phone vibrated in my pocket, clearing my head enough to remind me of why I’d been looking for him. “Shane, sweetie. It’s our grandparents.”

“What about them?” He kept kissing me like that, up my throat, along my jaw, behind my ear, and I could barely breathe.

“They’re here. Now . They got into Portland last night and they’re staying at a hotel. Together.”

He pulled back. “Together? Shit. That was fast.”

“Yes. And they want us to come into town and meet them tomorrow night for dinner before they come here and work out all the stuff for the show.”

Shane rubbed a hand over his mouth and thought for a minute, but he didn’t let go of me, thankfully.

“All right.” He barked out a laugh and, once more, I was ready to have him sit down. I wished I had smelling salts. His expression was so stunned, I worried he’d keel over any minute. Although, maybe I was projecting what I would be like in the same situation.

“All right?”

He nodded and smiled at me, using that hand to smooth back my hair. “Yeah. I can keep my hands off you for a dinner.”

I frowned. I hadn’t thought about that, the fact that our grandparents had no idea what we’d been up to. Maybe he wasn’t ready to tell them. “Oh. Sure, okay. Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Right about what? I just mean I’ll need to behave myself and not give into the desire to maul you for a few hours. Jesus, I really did a number on your neck?—”

“Forget about that. What…what should we tell them about us?”

It was his turn to frown, but then he had a playful smile on his face. “Well, definitely not how much I love that ball on your tongue.”

“Shane. I’m serious. Are you ready for other people to know about us? Especially our grandparents?”

He pulled me closer, and I started to shiver, maybe from the cold, but more likely from my fear that this was the end of any possibility of a partnership with Shane.

“Why, are you worried? You think Vera Jean will object?”

“God, no, Shane. She adores you.”

He smiled. “That’s nice. I’ve always admired her.”

He was acting so weird. So un-Shane-like.

“Shane! Focus. What are we doing?”

“I can tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not freaking out. It’s weird that I’m not freaking out, but I’m not. That goes for my band, and it goes for you. Us.” His smile fell. “But Boone? I’m kind of floating unmoored here. I hope…I hope this wasn’t just an experiment for you. I don’t fuck around with people. If you’re not serious?—”

“I’m serious as a goddamned heart attack, Shane. I’m still waiting for you to send me away, though.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” He rested his hands on my hips. “Why do you act so confident one minute, telling me what you want, what to do, and so damned skittish the next?”

I pulled away from him. I needed some space if I was going to admit some shit.

“You called me perfect. I’ve been called that before. Let’s just say perfect gets old real quick for a lot of people.”

He reached for my hand but I took a few steps away, over to one of the trees. I ran my fingers over the bark on the trunk and looked up at the perfectly shaped fruit. “Soon these apples will turn from this current shade of green to shiny red and yellow. They’ll be harvested, sent out to stores, and some choosy shopper will pluck them from a pile thinking they’re perfect, but once they get them home, they’ll start to see the imperfections and wish they would have picked another one.” I turned back to face him and took in his confused expression. “That doesn’t stop me from trying to be perfect er , but yeah, usually people decide real quick that they should have picked a better apple.”

“They were ignorant then. Nobody’s perfect. That’s a helluva weight to put on yourself, Boone.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “But is…Is that how little you think of me?” he asked after several beats.

My eyes flared. “What? No, Shane?—”

“You think I give a shit about how beautiful you are? How talented you are? I keep asking myself ‘how did I not see you?’ Because you are so much more than who you show the world. You let me see the real you, and that’s why you’re perfect in my eyes. You’re messy. You’re a mood swing waiting to happen. You are a brat. You’re bossy.”

I didn’t back up as he approached me, calling me on my bullshit. He ran a finger down my cheek and lifted my chin.

“If that’s your idea of perfect?—”

“You have a brilliant mind.” He pushed me up against the tree. “You are so thoughtful. You’re flexible, adaptable to situations I can barely stand, and you handle everything thrown at you with grace?—”

“Except diabetes. God, I need a smoke?—”

“You drive me crazy,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss me. “You’re so goddamned seductive I can barely think. You taste like heaven. You make me want to get all deep up inside you and never let go.”

I shuddered under his touch, under the brush of his lips against mine as he spoke.

“Fuck, Shane. What?—”

“I don’t care who knows, Boone. Do you?”

He pulled back just enough to stare into my eyes. I had a feeling he was just as nervous hearing my answer as he was to admit that.

“No. I told you. I’m honored you’d want to be with me. I continue to be gobsmacked by this development—you and me—but I’m honored.”

“There’s nothing honorable about the things I want to do to you,” he admitted in a husky voice.

“I think you made that clear with all the hickeys.”

He breathed a laugh before pressing his lips gently to mine. “Don’t break me, Boone. Please. If we do this…don’t break me.”

I put my hands on his face. “I would never. Shane?—”

He went all in with his tongue then, probably to keep me from answering him. I got the sense that the last admission was not one he’d been ready to make to me.

I needed to be so careful with this man.

He lifted my leg up to hook on his hip and he ground his hard cock against mine. God, I didn’t care if anyone was watching, I wanted him to fuck me right there. I wanted him to fuck away all the bad in my past as he thrust so deep inside me, like he’d promised to do. I wanted him to replace all of my painful memories of sex with new ones, good ones. He was the right man to do it.

I hadn’t given my heart or my body to anyone in a long time, and never like this. If he thought I could break him, he had no idea how thoroughly he could destroy me.