Page 42 of Wild Stars

At that moment, my brother walks through the door, looking every bit like a rockstar on a bender.

His blond hair is a mess, sticking out in tufts, and the stain of lipstick on his white shirt isn’t hard to miss.

He’s also still wearing the same thing he wore yesterday, and Spike whistles.

“Walk of shame, ladies and gents,” Ines chirps with a laugh.

Richie’s gaze flashes to mine, and I don’t think twice about what I say next.

“Oh, and like you assholes have never stumbled in here still drunk from the night before?”I catch my brother’s gaze.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who slept in this morning,” he says with a grin.He nudges me with his elbow.“Looks like wherever you ended up wasn’t so bad.”

I roll my eyes as Ines barks in the background.

“I might’ve scored the comfiest pair of sweats on the planet, but that’s it,” I grumble with a sigh.

Richie rolls his eyes.

No way in hell am I telling him I woke up in Mateo Starr’s house to a bossy musician feeding me Goldilocks porridge.

Some things just don’t need to be shared.Especially if you want to preserve those memories.

And lord knows, I’ll be preserving the memory of sexy Batman with his hot star tattoos, drinking a coffee in his kitchen in my brain forever.

“Whatever, can we just not do this?I’m tired, my head is killing me, and I just want to get through this damn rehearsal.”Richie groans.

Ines and Spike sigh, clearly perturbed that they can’t push our buttons anymore.

I swear, if I hadn’t of known the guys throughout high school, I’d probably be a lot more pissed off at their shenanigans.

I make my way to stand beside my brother, grabbing my guitar.

He catches my gaze once more.

“Please tell me you didn’t wake up with your pants on,” I chide.

Richie lets out a tired laugh.

“I woke up handcuffed to my bed.Naked, and hungover as shit.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

“That why you’re late?Elvira Mistress of the Dark leave with the key?”

Richie slides his strap over his shoulder.“Shut up,” he says with a laugh, and I can’t help but smile.

And for the moment, I feel like that’s enough.

* * *

By the timeafternoon break rolls around, we’re all practically dying for some caffeine.While I would be happy enough with my coffee-not-coffee caramel cappuccino from the break room, Richie is dying for a damn venti with like three shots of espresso, and Penny and the others are more than happy to chime in.

Which is whyRichieshould be the one to be picking up this damn order, but I lost in rock, paper, scissors.Like always.

Though I guess, the walk isn’t bad for me, if only because for the first time all day, I feel like I can actually relax.

I slide my hands into my sweatpants pockets, thinking about the last twenty-four hours.Well, the last couple of days, really.

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