Page 15 of Crash & Burn

“Hey, Mateo,” the blond guy behind the bar says. He’s handsome with a chiseled jaw and wide smile that feels inviting and genuine. He reminds me of a golden retriever.

“Hi, Luke. No Annie tonight?” my brother asks.

The man next to Luke lets out a bark of a laugh—deep and gruff. He’s dressed in a blackT-shirt with tattoos covering the visible skin on his arms and hands, and he has his dark hair pulled back into a loose bun on the crown on his head.

“Yeah, Luke. Tell Mateo where Annie is,” Tattooed Guy says as he slaps Luke on the back.

“Shut up, Emmett,” Luke says, but there isn’t much strength behind the words. He gives Tattooed Guy—or Emmett, apparently—a shove, but Emmett doesn’t even budge. “Annie and I had a little spat about a guy getting a little too friendly with her last weekend. I intervened and told the guy to back off, but she didn’t like that.”

Theo, Silas, Emmett, and even Mateo are trying to hide their smirks as Luke continues. He lets out a sigh, before adding, “So now, she doesn’t want to work shifts with me because she thinks that I think she can’t handle herself.”

“And that’s why I’m here on a Sunday night instead of between my girlfriend’s thighs.”

“Emmett,” Mateo says sharply through clenched teeth, and I don’t have to look at him to know he’s trying to communicate to Emmett with his eyes thatI’mhere.

My cheeks heat at Emmett’s comment, and I feel like my eyes are about to pop out of my head. I’m not a prude by any means. I pride myself for being sex-positive and not having hang-ups about sex, even though it’s been years since sex has even come to the forefront of my mind, but I can’t help but feel a little flustered.

Lucky for me, I’m not someone who shows my emotions on my face, but I’m sure everyone can see the redness blooming on my chest with the tank top I’m wearing.

“Oh, sorry,” Emmett says, not sounding sorry at all. “Didn’t know you brought a guest.”

Mateo just shakes his head before introducing me as his little sister to Luke and Emmett. He explains that I’ll be taking pictures for them during their Midwest shows.

“Nice to meet you,” Luke says with that swoon-worthy smile as he reaches his hand out to me, and the blush on my chest deepens.

What is it about this bar and men that seem to be written for the female gaze?

Luke’s fingers wrap around my hand, and a spark of pain shoots up my wrist. With all the craziness of the day, I totally forgot my hand is still a little sore from last night.

“Sorry,” I say quickly before letting go of his hand. “I hurt my hand last night.”

“Yeah,” Silas chimes in. “Rocky here punched a guy in the face,” he tells Emmett and Luke. He turns to me before adding, “You still owe us that story.”

All six guys’ eyes are on me, and I suddenly feel like I’m two feet tall. “Um . . . yeah. So . . .” Words are completely escaping me, and then I mentally slap myself in my face for, once again, turning into this shy girl who doesn’t know how to hold a conversation.

Before I show my internal self-loathing on my face and embarrass myself even more, Mateo chimes in and fills Luke, Emmett, Theo, and Silas in on what happened. With the attention on him, I make a break for the corner of the bar with the restroom sign.

Once the bathroom door shuts behind me, I lock the door and rest my back against it. I lean my head back and close my eyes as I take what feels like my first deep breath since my run this morning.

The day went much better than I thought it would. Focusing on taking pictures helped me keep my mind occupied, and I forgot how fun it is to lose yourself in the moments around you. I’ve always loved photography because I love finding the stillness in the chaos, capturing natural moments of someone doing what they love.

I didn’t truly fall in love with photography until I started taking pictures of Nico. When he played guitar, he had this look of bliss on his face that I rarely ever got to see. His features were soft, his eyes were focused, and the demons that invaded his mind were nowhere to be found.

I thought picking up a camera would be hard, but Mateo was right. I do love photography, and today helped me remember that.

The pictures I took weren’t my best, but it felt like riding a bike. After the first few shots, I felt like I had never stopped. It will take me a little bit to find the right angles and lighting for each of the guys, but I captured a few good shots today.

My brother is easy because I’ve been taking photos of him forever, so that won’t be an issue. He’s used to being in the spotlight as the lead singer of Cross My Heart, and his confidence always shows when he’s in his element—someone who radiates confidence like him makes for an easy subject. That confidence is something we used to have in common, and seeing how good it looked on him today, I realize that I want mine back.

Just like Mateo, it also helps that Theo and Silas are so photogenic. As I continue going to their practices and eventually their shows, I’ll get the hang of how to use that to my advantage.

Eddie, on the other hand, I figured out right away.

My skin heats at the thought of Eddie’s pictureson my camera. I couldn’t stop looking at them after I took them. I barely even noticed him and my brother talking in the warehouse before we came over here because I couldn’t focus on anything but what was conveyed in each photo of him.

There’s something about the photos of Eddie that were seamless. No matter the expression, gesture, timing, or lighting, every shot of him told a story and drew mein.

I could feel his love for the music and his attachment to his sound. I could see the pride of being part of the band.And I could almost hear his voice in the music that was playing.

---