Page 28 of Revelry

“Time, place and who,” Zed commands.

“Who?” Deb asks. “Who the fuck else is she gonna sleep with?”

“Levi seems to think it’ll be him.”

There’s a crackling pause from the other end, and then she howls with laughter. “Nice try, Quinn, but as much as I dislike her, I can tell already the girl has standards.”

“She wants me. I can tell by the way she’s looking at me right now,” Levi crows, I simply glare at him.

“What’s the figure?” Deb says.

“One fifty. Leif put in drugs.”

“I don’t want his fucking drugs. He can buy me a fucking Michael Kors clutch I’ve been wanting.”

They all nod in agreement, and I laugh. I don’t know much about designer handbags, but I know it likely costs a lot more than Leif’s drugs. I’m kind of impressed with Deb’s ingenuity.

“Okay. Cooper.” She emphasises her brother’s name. “Airplane on the way to the US. Four days from now.”

“Got it,” Zed says, setting the phone on the bench and jotting down Deb’s answer on a piece of paper along with the others. “You comin’ by later?”

“To hang out with you losers? Hell no. Since Red came along I have tonnes of free time. I’ll see you idiots at the airport,” she says, and hangs up. Zed tosses his phone on the bench and goes back to flipping pancakes and then he sets one on a plate in front of me.

Did that really just happen?I stare dazedly at the men surrounding me.

“Boys are kinda big on bets,” Coop says, and at least he has the good grace to look apologetic.

“You know what I’m big on?” I ask, glaring at all of them. “Not sleeping with rock stars. What happens if all your bets fall through, boys?”

Zed laughs, Ash just shakes his head and Levi makes a derisive scoffing sound.

“Pfft.” Leif dumps his coffee out in the sink. “As if that’s going to happen.”

“Eat your pancake, Red,” Zed says around a mouthful of hot bacon from the pan. I shake my head, pick up the syrup and pour it over the pancake in front of me. Of course I hadn’t looked at it until now, and when I see that I’m pouring syrup over a gigantic flat pancakey cock I let out a massive sigh. The boys all think this is hilariously funny until I stab the thing with a fork several times. Their laughter dies down, and they all stare awkwardly at one another. Coop moves a fraction of an inch away from me, and Ash’s face is twisted in a grimace.

“Ouch,” Zed says.

“Ash, call ahead and get them to remove the utensils from the tour bus, will you?” Levi says, and they all laugh while I eat my giant penis pancake in silence.

Nothing says awkward like listening to a near stranger having loud, uninhibited sex in the next room. I’d been staying at Zed’s for the last four nights, the first being the night we all came back here drunk, the second was a quiet night in. It was actually kind of fun. Zed and I played Monopoly—and I kicked his arse, thank you very much. By the third day the boys had wrapped the record, and Harbour had hosted their relaunch that same night, but instead of going out to celebrate afterward, they’d all gone back to their respective dwellings to sleep off the insanity.

When he’d invited me to stay, Zed had forgotten to mention that Leif stayed in the spare room. It hadn’t been a problem, though—I was more than happy to sleep on the couch, but Zed wouldn’t hear of it. He’d insisted I take the top bunk. Yeah, it was weird at first, until he pointed out that we’d be sleeping this way in a few days on the tour bus anyway, so why not start now? He had a point, and a bed was better than a couch, any day. Even a bed that was made for a giant man-child.

Living with Zed was actually surprisingly easy. He was clean, had a constant supply of food around—considering he never stopped eating this was sort of important—and it was kind of nice to have someone to talk to. Work had finally come through with an emergency pay, knowing that I’d be leaving the country tomorrow, so I’d taken Zed to breakfast this morning as a thank you, and then we’d gone shopping for all the essentials we’d need for travel. My essentials had consisted of toiletries, pyjamas, a squishy neck pillow, Chapstick and a Nintendo DS. Of course I’d be taking my fluffy blanket. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s pathetic for a grown woman to have a blanky, especially a Star Wars one, but it was kind of cool. I mean, the fact that it had the Rebel Alliance Starbird on it made it cool—just like the tattoo on the back of my neck. I got nervous if I couldn’t keep my hands busy. Fluffy blankets calmed me, and a fourteen-hour flight into LA sitting beside any one of these four hot rockers wasn’t the time to be lacking a distraction.

Life with Zed had been fun, enlightening sometimes, and dangerous even when he’d tried teaching me some pole moves and I’d almost popped my shoulder out of the socket, but tonight was where it had become awkward.

Zed had brought home not one, but two busty babes and had taken them into his room. Leif wasn’t home yet, and I would have killed to have had the separation that an extra locking door could provide against the weird and wild noises coming from Zed’s room, but I didn’t want Leif getting the wrong idea. He’s an okay guy, but he uses as well as deals, and sometimes he gets a little handsy. Hijacking his bed for the night wasn’t an option. But neither was sitting here staring at the TV and holding my hands against my ears to block out the noise.

The bedroom door opens and I slide farther down onto the couch, hoping neither of the girls feels like getting chatty, but then Zed struts into the kitchen completely naked and heads right to the fridge. I cover my eyes, because though technically the kitchen is behind me, I can see his reflection in the big windows running the length of the room.Allof his reflection.

“How’s it going, Ginger?”

“Zed, please tell me you’re not talking to me with your dick hanging out?”

“What? It’s not like you’ve never seen cock before?” he says, walking across the room and stopping in front of me so that his penis is right in front of my face.

“Oh my god, gross. You’re buck naked, sporting a boner and talking to me like it’s just another day at the apartment.”

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