Page 20 of More Than a Spark

Adjusting my now tight as fuck jeans, I cleared my throat. I really had to stop thinking about Milo that way. He had a date tonight. One he was probably going to go home with. My chest pinched. I wasn’t sticking around long enough to see that happen. I’d already tortured myself enough.

Archer snuck his fingers into Milo’s shorts.

“Hey, stop that.” Milo shifted on his stool and tapped Archer’s chest. “You need to wait for later.”

With a wicked grin, Archer nuzzled into Milo’s neck, nibbling him.

Milo squirmed and wriggled away from him. “Archer…”

“I can’t help it. That outfit is driving me crazy.” Archer threw a mischievous look my way, then focused on Milo. “Want to check out a stall in the bathroom?”

As his eyes grew wide, Milo snuck a peek at me. “Uh, no. That’s not um…” He tossed a glance toward the band wives’ table. “We need to play any minute.”

“Come on. It’ll be quick.” Archer bit Milo’s shoulder. “You’re such a tease, Milo.”

“That’s enough.” Puffing my chest out, I straightened my spine, heat crawling inside me. Maybe Archer wasn’t such a nice guy after all. “He said no.”

Both Archer and Milo stopped and stared at me, mouths dropping open.

Shit, was I out of line? Maybe this was some sort of game they liked to play? I pursed my lips and swallowed hard.

“Thank you, Ryder.” Milo pushed Archer’s chest and Archer stumbled a step back. “Stop pawing at me.”

“If you didn’t want me to paw at you, why did you dress like that?” Archer furrowed his brows.

“Did you really just say that out loud?” Dude sounded like a guy blaming a rape on the victim because of what they were wearing. I climbed off my barstool and planted my forearm on the bar, crowding Archer. He’d better watch what he said next.

Archer threw his hands out in front of him. “What? I’m sorry. Okay? I-I didn’t mean anything by it.” Archer brushed his knuckles on Milo’s cheek. “You know what those lacy panties do to me, babe.”

Babe?I rubbed my temple. What was Milo getting himself into here?

“Yeah, okay. I know.” Milo leaned his cheek into Archer’s touch.

Gabe strode to us. “Hey, everything all right here?” He looked each of us over, then focused on Milo. “We’re ready. The place is filled to capacity.” He ticked his brows, then grabbed Milo’s hand and pulled him off his stool. “He’s mine now, boys.” With a sly grin, he led Milo to the stage where Axel, Caleb, Silas, and Devin were adjusting mics and fiddling with instruments.

I snuck a glance at Archer. Fuck, I didn’t want to be stuck here with him after that weird exchange.

With a peek at me, Archer pressed his lips together. “Look, I don’t know you well, but I know you and Milo have something special. He gushes about you.” He flagged down Simone and ordered us both beers.

“Yeah, okay.” I inhaled deeply, willing my nerves to calm. I should at least listen to what he had to say.

“Maybe I’m a little jealous, you know?” He tilted his head, wrapping his hand around a beer glass as Simone dropped them both off. With a shrug, he said, “I don’t know how to act around you.”

“Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. I wasn’t sure how to act around you, either. Milo’s never brought a guy around me that he was interested in.” I sipped my beer. Maybe we were both just nervous about the whole thing. Could I fault him for that?

“So, what do you say we call a truce? We both care about Milo, right?” He held up his hand.

I gave him a bro shake without the hug. “Yeah, we both care about Milo.” Maybe I could learn some more from him about this gushing Milo had been doing about me. It was telling that it was enough to make the guy jealous, especially when he thought I was straight.

The stage lit up and Devin pranced to his microphone, then ripped it off the stand, his long red bangs covering one of his heavily lined and shadowed eyes. “We’re starting off with a new song that Milo, over there on keys, picked.” Pointing at Milo, he lifted the edge of his mouth. “I don’t know, but I think he likes it because it has a cool keyboard sound in it.”

Milo nodded, a pink light shimmering off the white sequins on his cropped shirt.

“We are Knot Me and this isSomebody Told Meby the Killers.” Devin dipped his head.

Screams and shouts filled the room and people rushed the stage.

“Holy shit.” I climbed up onto my barstool while Archer did the same. Thank God I was sitting here right now. It was crazy at the stage with people clambering to be closer to the band.

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