Wicked Harmony

Chapter 23 | Dorian

Chapter 23

Dorian

I flop onto the sofa beside Micah and let out a pained groan.

He pauses in braiding his hair away from his face to grin at me. “What’s up, man? You finally get bored of hiding out in your room?”

I shoot him a flat look, although I’m not sure it translates now that I’m back in my shades.

“Had to find some time to nap, seeing as I’ve not been getting much sleep over the past few nights. Too much grunting and groaning from your bedroom, keeping me awake.”

His cheeks flush and he rubs the back of his neck like he’s embarrassed, although his grin doesn’t fade. “Shit. Sorry, man. I guess I’m getting even after all those years seeing your bare ass whenever I walked in the room or on the tour bus at the wrong time.”

I glance around, not wanting Sin to hear evidence of my checkered past. I won’t pretend like I’m a saint or anything, but I’d rather no one rubbed that in her face when she’s just found out that fate has lumped her with me as a mate.

We’ve already gotten off on the wrong foot and... fuck, I want her not to hate me for my past, since there’s nothing I can do about it now.

“I need to tell you something,” I say to Micah as dread pools in my gut.

I don’t really know how to tell him that the first person he’s ever shown attraction to in the time I’ve known him is also my fated mate.

He sits forward, clearly sensing the nerves sloshing around inside me. “Sure, man. What’s up?”

“It’s about Sin. She, er, walked in on me yesterday when I wasn’t wearing my glasses.”

“Shit.” He’s on his feet and across the room before I can stop him.

“She’s fine,” I call after him, jumping to my feet and stumbling after him. “This was yesterday, man. My eyes didn’t affect her.”

He pauses and blinks a bunch of times.

“She—”

“She’s your mate?”

Well, he certainly cottoned on faster than I did. I scan his features, searching for... I don’t know what. I just know I’d feel pretty conflicted if I’d just started dating someone and she turned out to be fated to someone else.

Not that I’ve ever thought about it before. Fated mates aren’t exactly common. Especially pairings between a monster like me and someone who’s mostly human, like Sin.

I expect Micah’s face to drop, or for him to be pissed. What I don’t expect, though, is for his face to break into a massive grin and for him to pull me into a tight hug.

“Fuck, man. I’m so happy for you.”

When Sin walks into the room a moment later, he instantly whoops and pulls her into a hug, too.

She gives him a bemused smile, and he presses a kiss to her temple. And I wait for the pang of possessiveness to hit, but it doesn’t come. If anything, I’m jealous of their closeness and ease with each other after so little time.

If this were a race, I’ve tied my own shoelaces together and now I’m scrambling to keep up .

Yeah, I’m a real dumbass.

I’ve dated in the past. Hell, as far as I know, I’m the only band member who has ever had a serious girlfriend. In my early twenties, back when I was an idiot who didn’t realize how this world could chew you up and spit you out, I was even engaged for a hot minute.

After Mila, my girlfriend of two years, fiancée of about three days, left me for an actor she met at one of our gigs, I swore off long-term relationships.

She didn’t even give me the courtesy of leaving the stadium we were performing in before she fucked him.

So that sucked.

But now I have a soul mate standing in front of me. And I don’t know where the fuck to go from here.

Years ago, I’d have known how to sweep her off her feet. With Mila, I took her to all the hottest parties and schmoozed and charmed the shit out of her. But maybe that was where I went wrong. It was all a performance. A distraction technique, so she didn’t notice the nerd underneath.

I have no clue what I can offer Sin. Especially when she has two proper boyfriendly types already. Micah has the soft and sweet thing down. He’s compassionate and understanding of all of her needs. And Cal’s protective as hell and a real fucking softie under the surface.

I just stand there as an awkward silence stretches. I feel like I’m thirteen again and haven’t worked out how to have a conversation with girls yet.

“Are you taking a couple of hours for a break?” Micah asks Sin.

“Sure. My magic’s fried from overuse and I don’t think I’d get much useful done for the rest of the day.” She runs a hand through her hair before glancing between the two of us. “Did Dorian—”

“Explain the whole mate situation? He did.” Micah grins like a proud papa. “I’m so happy for you both. Hey Dorian, how about you give Sin a ride on your hog?”

I blink and glance at Sin, whose eyes have widened as she bites her lip, fighting a laugh. My mouth opens and closes a bunch of times as I struggle to work out how to respond.

“What? You should really go for a spin on it, I bet you’d love it,” Micah continues.

There’s a second where we both stare at him as he blinks innocently. Sin meets my eyes and at the same moment, we both lose it. A cackle makes its way out of Sin’s mouth and I bust into a full belly laugh. Fuck, I wipe my eyes. For a guy who’s been alive longer than the rest of us have been alive combined, Micah is kind of innocent in a lot of ways. I’m pretty sure, he doesn’t have a dirty mind like the rest of us.

When Sin and I finally catch our breath, it hits me that this is the first genuine laugh we’ve shared. Hell, the amused grin she shoots me is probably the first genuine smile meant just for me.

I need more of them. I’ve decided that right now.

Yeah, yeah, I know I’ve given myself whiplash from my rapid attitude adjustment.

“I still don’t get what’s so funny,” Micah says, shrugging good-naturedly. “I was talking about your bike. You know, the one in the garage you haven’t ridden in about six months.”

“It’s not a hog,” I explain. Although, by the gleam in Micah’s eye, I think he might’ve known that already. “And I can’t ride it at the minute.”

“How come?” Sin asks. Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are bright with laughter. I’ve not seen this look on her face, and she looks damn beautiful. Sure, I thought she was attractive as soon as I first laid eyes on her. But I also thought she was a she-demon sent to earth after she chewed me out and messed with my emotions .

“Uh, Dorian?” She pokes me right in the nipple and I jerk back with a manly yelp.

“Hell, woman, keep those pointy fingers to yourself.”

She wiggles her hands at me, causing me to shield my nipples from her advances. “Why can’t you ride your bike?” The words are spoken slowly, like she’s spelling them out to me.

“The nearest garage is two towns over and the bike won’t make it that far. I keep meaning to get someone over to inspect her, but I haven’t found the time.”

“Mind if I take a look?” She asks brightly.

“Are you a mechanic too?” I ask.

She doesn’t answer. Then, before I can argue, she’s steering me out of the room toward the garage. I shoot Micah a glance over my shoulder and he gives me a grinning thumbs up.

“You think you can fix my bike?” I ask, still struggling to keep up.

I don’t know why, but it never occurred to me that Sin can fix things as well as make them. The prototype she’d put together was impressive shit, and she pulled that together in a couple of days.

“I can check it out.” She shrugs. “Might not be able to fix it, but I might be able to diagnose the problem and see what parts you need.”

“That’s better than I can do,” I admit. “It makes a weird rattle when I rev it. That’s all I know.”

“How often would you ride it normally?”

I shrug. “Whenever I need to get out of my head. The surrounding roads are perfect for it. They all seem to go on forever and the closer you get to the hills, the more bends there are.”

“I always wanted a bike, even though they were considered ‘foolish and a spit in the face of The Path’,” Sin says. “But Grizz’s didn’t exactly pay well, so I couldn’t ever afford one even after I left.”

We head inside the garage, which has sat dusty and unused for months now. Pulling the cover off my bike, I reveal my ‘hog’. It’s a Ducatti, cherry red and gleaming.

Sin lets out an impressed hum, and I feel a weird sense of pride warming my chest.

“How long have you had it?” she asks.

“It was my first bike. I got it with our first big paycheck after we got signed. Didn’t realize I was gonna need it so much when I bought it.”

Even as the words come out, I know how I sound and want to roll my eyes at myself. Poor little rockstar with too much fame and fortune and not enough time to kick back and ride the open road. Cry me a river.

Sin doesn’t pick me up on it, though. Instead, she gives one of my biceps a reassuring squeeze.

I’ve realized in spending a few hours with her, she’s a lot nicer than I originally thought.

“Do you plan on doing more riding once you’re done with the tour?”

“I guess.”

She raises her eyebrows, encouraging me to continue and I busy myself by folding the bike cover so I don’t have to look at her. “I can’t say I’ve thought that much about it. It all feels pretty pie in the sky and I’ll believe it when it happens. Until then, I’m not counting my chickens.”

“That was a lot of idioms.” She snorts her amusement before squatting down beside the bike. “Let’s see if we can fix her up for you, so you have something to do with your downtime. I can’t imagine it’s a good idea to just stop everything and have no plans. Not if you’re used to keeping busy.”

She’s probably right. That’s why I burn through our downtime normally. I wind up partying too much and sleeping too much and feeling like shit. Then I find a month has passed and nothing’s been done.

Sin inspects the bike again, circling it before glancing at me .

“Mind if we wheel her outside? It’s a nice day, and the lighting sucks in here. I’m gonna fetch my tools, too.”

She doesn’t wait for an answer, instead stabbing at the door opening button and striding out of the room. Leaving me gaping in her wake.

I pat my bike as I release the kickstand and wheel her out of the garage into the sunshine.

“Let’s see about getting you fixed up, girl.”

And see if I don’t make too big a fool of myself in the process.

A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER and Sin’s busy working away. The sun is bearing down, and she’s grease-stained and glowing with a sheen of sweat.

I hand over a bottle of water, and my chest tightens at her answering smile.

Fuck, she looks so good like this, lost in her element, although I have to keep prodding her to take breaks. My job is mostly to stand to the side and pass her things while she laughs at me for not knowing the names of her tools.

She’s identified the problem and has already taken my bike to bits and is now putting it back together again.

Apparently, it needs a new part that should be straightforward to fit and then should be good to go.

I didn’t know until today I had a thing for sweaty, competent women getting shit done. Maybe it’s just Sin, or maybe it’s the mate thing messing with my head. All I know is I keep having to turn away to disguise my body’s reaction to her.

It doesn’t help that she’s wearing skin tight leggings and a tank top. Although, I’m pretty sure I’d be adjusting my hard dick if she was dressed in a potato sack or those overalls she’s always wearing .

I’m trying to be better here, to get to know her and not be the same surface-level prick I am with every other woman. But I guess my body hasn’t gotten the memo just yet.

“I think we should call it for today,” Sin says, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and smearing grease over her lightly freckled skin.

I feel a stab of disappointment at her words, knowing that this was my shot at spending time together and I’m pretty sure I wasted it.

“Do you want to binge Alchemy Showdown with me until dinner?”

My heart soars and I can’t stop myself from grinning. Leaning closer until barely a foot separates us, I use my sleeve to clean the grease mark from her skin. Her breath stutters as I make contact, and I have to yank my hand back so she can’t see how it trembles.

Shit. If this is my reaction to just touching Sin after spending a single day in her company, this whole mate thing is gonna be a wild ride.