Page 48 of Feuds and Interludes
He wasn’t mad, though. He was smiling so wide and there was a bounce to his step that made my heart unclench a little. Maybe this would be okay. Maybe I didn’t need to be so afraid.
“Hey, Boone.” What the hell, why not just welcome him deep inside my terrordome. “I had an idea.”
“Tell me,” he said, looking up at me with a blissed-out gaze that had me wondering what he’d look like when I finally got tobend him over a surface. That booth we’d sat in last night in the lodge would be a good height.
“Shane?”
“Sorry. I was just thinking of how hot you looked when we made that mess last night.”
“Cold or not, you keep talking like this and I’ll perform an encore right here, right now.”
I laughed, pulling him against me and kissing the top of his head.
“Good to know. Seriously, though, I know I’ve got a lot to contemplate, but there’s one thing I’d love for us to work out together.”
“Elevated Splits? Or Folded Deck Chair? I would need to stretch out real good first, but we could probably— Oh, did you mean something else?”
My jaw hung open and I’d stopped walking. “Elevatedwhat?”
Boone gave a dismissive shrug and grabbed my hand to drag me forward. “You know, like I’m in the splits on top of a counter or something, and you?—”
“You can do thesplits?”
“Hmm? Oh yeah. I took ballet for a while. Gran had this thought that I might use my vocal talents on Broadway someday instead of that ‘rock ’n’ roll rubbish.’ Of course she loved Papa’s music, but she had bigger plans for me.” He sure mimicked her British accent perfectly. “Ballet has its perks. I can also still put my leg behind my— What?”
I reached down to adjust the monster in my pants, straining to get out and do whatever Folded Deck Chair was with Boone. “You can’t say these things. Seriously, how do you…where…who decided on these names?”
“Oh,” he said, all nonchalant as he kept walking beside me with that pep in his step that made his curls bounce on hisshoulders. Damn, I had hair envy more than ever. At least he didn’t mind me playing with it. I wanted to have it spread all over me like right now. “I’ve read a couple of books about sexual positions,” he was saying. “There are a couple of good websites too. I’m happy to show you. We can try whichever ones you want, I’ll do my best?—”
“Whoa, whoa, Boone.” I pulled him to a stop at the edge of the orchard and held his arms. “When we fuck? It’s not a performance. You don’t have to do anything except tell me what you like and don’t like and be there a hundred percent with me, okay? Sex doesn’t have to be acrobatic or choreographed to be great. It just has to feel good.”
“Oh.” He smiled at me but it was unsure again. “I just want you to be happy with me.”
“I’m wild about you, Boone,” I said, cradling his face in my hands. “But I wanted to ask you…are you guys playing Rocktoberfest?”
He blinked up at me in confusion. “Like, in the desert? Black Rock City? No. We’ve never been invited. I always assumed we weren’t hard enough for them, or maybe they had an issue with the gay thing?—”
“Are you kidding? Do you know how many of those bands like dick? I mean, seriously.”
“Sounds like a party.” I could tell he was teasing, but he also seemed confused. “Why do you ask?”
I cleared my throat and stood up straight, dropping my hands. “Well, since my band just broke up with me and we’re scheduled to play, I’m kind of in a bind. But also…how cool would it be for Collins Butler to play a set of the old guys’ songs at Rocktoberfest?”
“Butler Collins,” he said.
“What? No, it should be your name first.”
He shook his head. “It sounds better with your name first. It’s the alphabet, people expect things. Besides, you’re older and more established. So wait, you mean play California songs?”
“Yeah.” I laughed, of course he’d have a whole thesis about the name. “And John Boone’s solo stuff and Brothers, maybe a song or two of ours.”
“And ‘Paisley’?”
I grinned. “I would love to sing it with you. I think the thing that bugged me the most about the ceremony was that I wanted to be the one sharing the mic with you, not Pops.”
Boone burst out laughing and threw his arms around me.“I think it would be a blast!” But then he straightened and cleared his throat. “I’d have to ask the Thompson Twins though.”
“Why?Wait!Is that seriously their last name?”
