Page 101 of Dirty Like Dylan

“I bet he’d say the same about you. You know, he looks at you so much, it’s pretty nauseating.” I wondered if she actually knew how much he looked at her.

She laughed. “Trust me, he’s not always this attentive. He gets pretty sucked up into his music sometimes. But I don’t mind. I get pretty obsessive about my work too. It balances out.”

“You understand each other. That’s good.”

“How about you?” She raised an eyebrow at me, studying me, and I squirmed a bit. I couldn’t imagine being cross-examined by this girl; she’d probably just throw kittens at you until you surrendered to the sweetness. “You still sticking to that story that there’s nothing going on between you and Dylan… and Ashley?”

I sipped my wine, stalling. “Maybe?”

“You sure you wanna lie to me like that?” She blinked her big blue-green eyes at me, and I felt instantly shitty. It was like lying to Bambi. Or a Care Bear.

“I guess I’d hate to lie to you…”

She laughed, triumphant. “So tell me, then. Is it Dylan? Or Ashley? Or…?”

“It’s both.”

“Ah. So the rumors are true.”

“What rumors…?”

“The ones about Dylan and Ashley liking to… well… hook up with the same girl,” she said, rather diplomatically. “I kind of wondered if it was bullshit. Or maybe like it happened one time and the guys just won’t let it drop?”

“It’s not bullshit.”

“So what are they like?” She blushed again, immediately. “I mean, not in bed. Just in general.”

“They’re great,” I said awkwardly, because I was kinda shitty at opening up about personal stuff. Even with someone as nice as Katie. “And they’re ridiculous in bed.” I took one look at her sweet, slightly embarrassed but definitely non-judgmental expression, and decided to go on. “Like… have you ever been with a guy who was just miles and miles of solid, thick muscle and silky skin and he’d hold you down and say the dirtiest shit to you you’d ever heard and have his way with you until you couldn’t walk, and all you wanted was more?”

A slow smirk spread across Katie’s face, and she threw a glance at her husband.

“Right,” I said. “So… multiply that. You know, by two.”

“Wow. How do you walk?”

I shrugged, grinning. “Not sure, actually. I have been feeling a little wobbly…”

“No doubt.” Katie sipped her wine, considering. Her expression grew pensive, serious, as she narrowed her eyes at me. Then she told me, “I’m gonna ask you something a very wise woman asked me when I was falling in love.”

Oh, God. “Okay…”

“Are they good to you?”

“Yeah,” I said, without having to think about it. “They are.”

Huh. I hadn’t really asked myself that question, though. Which was fucked up, right?

But, yes. They were good to me.

So far.

“Look, I don’t know you very well. Yet.” Katie smiled at me. “And I don’t know where you’re headed with these guys or how long you plan to stick around. But either way, I want you to know you’re always welcome here.”

“Thanks, Katie.”

“Jesse gave me this studio, but I’m gradually paying for it. It may take me a lot of shows, but I’ll get it paid off. I want to pay my own way. It’s important to me.”

“I totally respect that.”

---