Page 22 of Laying it Bare Backstage

In the living room, I pulled my cell from my purse, stood gazing out the side window in the direction of the beach and called my parents to chat. We talked for almost twenty minutes, but I conveniently left out about the three unpleasant incidents. However, I did tell them I was dating Teak and skirted around admitting I was living with him at the moment. They usually didn’t make unexpected trips to visit so I hoped I would get advance notice and that it would be after this shit was solved.

I had just settled onto the couch when the doorbell rang. Hopping from my seat, I walked over to the door and swung it open.

Ivy, dressed in a denim skirt and flowy light blue blouse, had a huge playful grin on her face. “Hey, Ho-bag. I see you’re already shacking up with the guy after only one day. I love it.” Stepping through the doorway, she pulled me into her arms and squeezed the life out of me.

Ascher strode in behind her and shot me a wink. His face lit up like a guy smitten.

“How do you put up with her?” I unwrapped myself from her anaconda hold.

“The heart wants what the heart wants.”

“Oh, enough of the sappy love song bit. Save that sappy shit for her lover boy, the song writer. You’re the one who keeps the crowd thumping to the beat. And I know what you keep pulsating for me. Tell it like it is; his dick wants what his dick wants.” She blew him a kiss.

“Oh my God. Seriously, Ivy.” Closing my eyes briefly, I shook my head. Although I really wasn’t surprised by her words. I actually expected something much raunchier to come out of her mouth.

“At least I tried to keep it PG.” Ascher shrugged.

“Where is that hot rock star anyway?” Ivy’s eyes scanned the living room and kitchen. “He better be treating you right. Or I’m ripping off his balls.”

“He’s in the shower. And there’s no need to go maiming his balls.”

“And on that note; I’m going to find something on the tv.” Ascher stopped in front of Ivy and gave her a tender kiss on the cheek, before continuing to the living room.

I smirked at the dopey look on her face. Yeah, she had a mouth like a sailor and could hold her own in a battle of the tongues, but she was just as lovesick as him.

“Let’s go sit out on the deck. He’s got a beautiful view.” Grabbing her hand in mine, I tugged her down the hallway and out the sliding doors.

Once outside, we headed over to the railing and rested our hands against the wood, peering out at the ocean.

“Wow, he does have a nice view. Not too close so he still has some privacy, but he can still enjoy the beach scene. I’m sure he can hear the waves at night too.” A strand of her black hair blew into her face and she shoved it away. “Is he treating you right?” She twisted to look at me, leaning her back against the rail.

I mirrored her stance. “He’s treating me better than alright.” My cheeks heated at the memory of his hands and mouth on me and then making love to me last night.

“Ooh, you are such a slut. By the way, red is such a pretty color on you. And I’m so damn proud of you.” Her expression grew serious. “And really surprised. It’s only been one day. I’m not judging. Not at all. But I think you know that. I’m just really astonished. So how did he manage that? Because I know he wouldn’t have done anything deceitful. His little trick yesterday morning was sweet. And so you know, I’m only a little ashamed of my part in that. I was ninety nine point nine percent sure I was not setting you up to get hurt. I know I don’t really know him, but I don’t have any suspicions where he’s concerned. He seems so genuine.” She placed her hand on my arm. “That’s how he did it, huh? Because I mean, you’d be stupid not to hit that but this is you we’re talking about. You’re not stupid, but you are gun shy.”

“Let’s just say once he managed to break down some of my walls just by being himself and I got out of my head; it wasn’t that difficult to get me out of my shorts.” The two of us erupted into a fit of giggles.

Once we sobered, Ivy snatched my hand and led me over to the loungers and we each sat down on one of them. I could almost feel the shadow of gloom descending.

She dragged her chair closer to mine. “Maybe I should have started with this so then I wouldn’t be dampening our day after all of those laughs. And instead we could have gotten it out of the way and then had our giggles, but you know I have to ask. I can’t ignore that I worry about my best friend. That’s why I helped hook you up with that sweet sexy amazing guy in there.” She gave me a small smile. “But how are you holding up with everything else? I don’t need a play by play about the new shit because I already got the details. I want to know how you are doing. I promise I won’t harp on it. I know that Teak will take care of you.”

I released a deep sigh. “In all honesty; I don’t know how I’m doing. The first two things were annoying and a little rattling. However, when it involves knowing where I live; that has me a bit freaked out. I don’t know if that psycho followed us home Friday night or what. And Teak isn’t ruling out Mick. Considering I know for a factheknows where I live.”

“Why would he be jealous? He’s the one who gave up a great thing. Although you are too good for him.” Then her eyes narrowed. “But he is an asshole so could just be trying to shake you up. And that’s only if all of the incidents aren’t connected. I would think he’d be too busy to have time to play these stupid games. Unless everyone else is finally realizing he’s a waste of a human too and he’s out of work.”

“Yeah, we had mentioned Mick’s name now too, but we don’t have any hard proof. It’s all just hearsay. But at least the police have both of their names in case something turns up.”

“Youaregoing to stay here until all of this shit is cleared up, right?”

“I am. I just hope it isn’t making us move too quickly. Although I’m not looking at it as moving in together as much as a temporary living arrangement. If we treat it like that, we can reassess where things are with us when this is solved.”

“I think that is a really good way to look at things. And you’ve got a beautiful view of the beach here and a hot and considerate guy to snuggle up to every night. Among other things, little hussy.” She waggled her eyebrows at me, prompting a giggle from both of us.

And who writes lovely heart felt songs about me. But I kept that part to myself. Not that I didn’t want to share that with my bestie, but I was sure there was a process to releasing new songs and I didn’t want to intrude on that.

The door sliding open drew our attention to the guys stepping out onto the deck.

“Mind if we join you or are you still catching up on girl talk?” Teak walked over to me and leaned over to put his hands on my hips, sliding me forward so he could sit down behind me. Then he wrapped his arms around my waist and cuddled me to his chest.

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