Page 100 of Crash & Burn

Her perfect lips, her insane legs, her heart-stopping hips. I need her, and a part of me regrets stopping things between us in my truck.

I know it was the right thing to do, but she has the power to turn me into a mess of a man.

With the tour not starting until mid-October, we have the next three and a half months to prepare. With only a handful of shows and some PR stuff for the label, my schedule is wide open.

I plan on filling it with as much of Mia as possible.

Over the next week, I fall into my new routine. Working at Lenny’s during the week for most of the day shifts and band practice four nights a week. I don’t have time to sneak over to Mia’s until the following weekend, and I’m headed over there late, having just closed Lenny’s because Annie and Luke are fighting again, so I took her shift with Luke tonight.

Initially, Mia wanted to go to a movie, her love for movie theaters being a fun fact I recently learned about her. All week she was sending me texts teasing how it felt like we were going on a first date.

It was innocent and fun until I asked her if we could make-out in the back row.

But since I had to close tonight, we decided to recreate the movie theater feel at her apartment tonight instead.

As I walk up to her complex, I can’t ignore the nerves bubbling in my stomach. This is the first time Mia and I will be alone in her apartment since deciding being friends wasn’t enough.

In my mind, we’re together. I have no doubts.

In my mind, she is mine. My girlfriend. My better half.

But I know she is still “figuring things out.”

I’m just hoping she doesn’t change her mind about me being enough for her.

I know I’m not and I know I never will be.

To be honest, I know it is just a matter of time before she comes to her senses, so that is why I plan on taking every advantage of seeing her, spending time with her, being with her as much as I can, because I know it won’t lastno matter how much I want it to.

I knock on her door and I’m greeted with Mia’s freshly-washed face and her silky pajama set that barely covers the parts of her I am dying to have my hands on. She just got out of the shower, and I know because her usual scent of lavender and coconut is much more intense than usual.

I love it.

I can’t help but wonder which is her body wash and which is her body lotion.

And the fact this thought is going through my brain shows what this girl has done to me.

Even though Mia lives alone, and Mateo is probably asleep or out with his work friends—not to mention I am an adult who can do whatever the fuck I want—I still feel like I’m resorting back to my teenage years and sneaking into a girl’s house when her parents are sleeping.

There is this feeling of excitement of sneaking around with Mia, but there is also a lot of guilt that comes with it. Guilt over lying to Mateo but also that Mia is more than a dirty little secret.

I want to be hers more than I want her to be mine.I want everyone to know how fucking amazing that makes me feel, letting me forget for a second the piece of shit I am. I want her enough that I’ll do whatever she wants when it comes to telling everyone about us.

“Hi, raindrop,” she says as I walk into her place. Knowing it is just her and me, and our time together has an expiration date, I don’t waste any time. Pulling her into my arms, wrapping my arms around her waist, bending down to nuzzle my face in the crook of her neck and shoulder, I feel any negative emotion fade away, the guilt, the worry, and the anger that is always just below my skin. All tension evaporates, and having her in my arms is incredibly addicting.

Her hair is piled on the top of her head, exposing her neck, and I can’t help myself.

“Hi,” I say before my lips meet her neck, eliciting a hum from her that goes straight to my dick. The door has barely closed behind me, yet I already feel my body warm and my head go to last weekend in my truck when I was seconds away from flipping her over the center console and fucking her right there.

The way she runs her hands up my arms, wrapping around my neck, the way she runs her teeth over her bottom lip, I think she’s right there with me.

“I missed you,” she says.

“I missed you too,” I reply, settling my hands on her waist. “If I had known how hard it was going to be to find time to see you, I would have forced you to take a chance on me last summer.” The amount of time we spent together last year is astronomical compared to now. Last year, Mia was there for all the practices and shows, and everything in between. So many nights alone in a hotel roomwastedwhen I could have been sneaking into her room.

I snuck into her room that first night, and the scene was far more PG than the scenes I’m visualizing now, but I wouldn’t trade that night for the world because she opened herself up to me. It got us to where we are now.

Mia rises on her tiptoes to place her lips on mine. Her lips fit mine like they were made for me, and I don’t know how anyone else will ever compare.

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