Page 39 of Chronicles of a Rockin' Mess

“Change is inevitable,” I point out.

“I know,” she whispers. We’re both silent for a long moment. And I don’t know if it’s the alcohol swirling in my brain, the look of adoration on her face, or my complete ideocracy, but I lean down and kiss her. She freezes for a split second, but I don’t stop. And then it’s like a switch is flipped because she responds with so much passion, I’m momentarily taken aback before regaining my composure and the control over the kiss. We war with one another for the upper hand in this battle of wills, tongues thrusting and caressing over one another’s, our hands in each other’s hair. Our bodies mold to the other, and I have to say, we fit so fucking perfectly, it’s like we were created just for this. I don’t know how long we kiss but a bottle breaking pulls us apart in an instant. I glance over, my hands still in Lark’s hair. Someone is leaning over picking up glass shards from the floor near a group of people. A few people laugh.

I turn and look back down at Lark. Her eyes are hazy with lust for a split second before they widen, and she steps back and away from my body.

“I-I…I’m s-sorry. I…don’t know what…I’m sorry, Lincoln,” she says before she runs off.

“Shit,” I curse under my breath, because I think I just fucked things up with Lark and also because that kiss was fucking hot as hell, but mostly because if I had any doubt I was in love with Lark before that is completely gone now. I am one hundred percent down the rabbit hole on this one.

Lark

I make the excuse that I drank too much and need to go sleep it off as I say goodbye to the band and my friends. Kade insists on taking me back to the hotel, saying something about it not being safe for me to stumble back there on my own. I lean my head on his shoulder as we walk the four blocks.

“What’s really going on?” he asks.

“Nothing,” I say, completely unconvincingly.

“Lark,” he scolds.

Of all my friends, I can’t tell Kade what just happened, he’d shit a brick. Correction, he’d shit a ton of bricks.

“I just needed to have some space. You know how it is on tour, cooped up with everyone for so long.”

“You sure?” he asks.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“You should hang out with Savannah tomorrow,” he says to me as we walk into the hotel and toward the elevator. A gaggle of teenage girls squeal and pounce on us before we can get inside. Kade is gracious and takes photos and signs shirts before a parent pulls them away from us. It makes the elevator ride that much quieter.

“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?” Kade asks when we reach my room.

“Yeah,” I say, trying not to look him in the eye.

Kade sighs. “I just hope Lincoln isn’t being too much of an ass.” My head pops up on that statement.

“N-no. He’s not,” I stumble over the words.

“OK, good, I guess,” he replies. “Goodnight, Lark.”

“Night, Kade,” I say to him and give him a hug before turning in for the night.

Chapter 20

To say the next day is awkward is the understatement of the century. Lincoln and I are both avoiding eye contact like the other is Medusa. We go about our business in a completely professional manner, so professional that Harry questions me.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks on a growl as he pulls me into a corner of the venue where we are playing next.

“Nothing,” I spit as I yank my arm from his grasp.

“Lark, I may be considered a goofball but I’m not blind, and I’m not an idiot,” he scolds as his gaze burns into mine.

I look down at my feet. I can’t tell Harry or Kade what happened. They would never forgive me for risking the whole reason I am here. I quickly scan lies in my head and blurt out the first one that seems plausible.

“I was pissed off that he was drinking last night and said some things I shouldn’t have.”

Harry’s eyebrows rise in surprise. “Really?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

---