Page 22 of Accidental Fire
“This calls for a huge blunt. I talked to one of the bellhops, who says he’s got a hookup. I’ll be back.” Hardy rushed out the door before anyone could stop him.
“Call the cops for what?” I asked. I was probably the most naïve guy on the planet, but I couldn’t figure out why the cops would care or have a say in the situation.
“Well, it depends on when she got pregnant. If she got pregnant the first time while she was underage, that’s a problem,” JD said.
Goldie went to his room and came back with his pipe, ready to go. “If we smoke this, we won’t give a shit about anything, and then Hardy’ll bring back some shitty weed to keep us going. Let’s drink to the new daddy—”
“Or the newest inmate,” JD added, laughing as he shook his head and held up his glass of tequila.
“You fuckers are so damn shortsighted. This will ruin us if word gets out that one of the members of Accidental Fire knocked up an underage girl. We’re fucked,” I shouted.
I threw down my empty glass, which shattered against the tiles before I stormed out.
I didn’t stop stomping until I reached the beach bar and ordered a bucket of beer, paying cash and walking down to the shoreline.
Did nobody else in the band appreciate the extremely rare opportunity we’d been given to make music by Sound Wave Studios? All the guys wanted to do was get high, get laid, and get into trouble. We were too old for that shit, and we owed our record label a hell of a lot more than that.
I drank two beers before Kit found me, and considering I hadn’t eaten anything all day and I’d had the shot of tequila, I was well on my way to being wasted. He sat down in the sand with me, and we talked about what was bothering me. Fucking hell, Arlo was just like Regal, knocking up women without a second thought.
Kit was quiet…until he wasn’t. “Fire him.”
I gasped. The thought of getting rid of Arlo had never entered my mind. “I can’t do that, Kit. He’s my brother…well, half-brother. Our dad is a fuck-up, and he goes back and forth about whether Arlo is really his son. It’s done a fucking number on Arlo, so I can’t blame him completely for this. The kid has looked for love anywhere he can get it. Hell, I have too.”
Kit wrapped me in his arms, and it felt good. He whispered in my ear, “It’s okay to want to be loved, River. People do shit that we don’t understand all the time, and we get hurt by their actions, which is what this sounds like. I’m sorry you guys are going through this before you’ve really gotten off the ground. What can I do to help you?”
Hell yeah! My intoxicated mind knew exactly what the straight guy could do for me. I had him on his back in an instant and climbed on top of him, pressing my mouth to his. I ran my tongue over the seam between his lips, and when he opened his mouth, I was in heaven.
An instant later, I was rolled onto my back as Kit plundered my mouth, kissing me in a way I’d never been kissed in my life. I would never forget that kiss as long as I drew a breath.
The pounding of his heart was as hard as mine, and it seemed as if our heartbeats synced into a perfect rhythm. It was mind-blowing.
When we pulled apart, our gazes met and held for a long moment as I tried to figure out what to do next. Finally, Kit asked, “You wanna get something to eat?”
“Nope.” I sat up, seeing the server coming from the bar.
The guy stopped next to us. “Can I get you anything?”
“Another bucket, please.” I reached into the pocket of my shorts and pulled out Marshall’s business card. “Put it on his account.”
Kit and I both laughed.
Kit wanted to feed me, but I wasn’t hungry for food. We took the third bucket and went up to his room, drinking and talking about our lives as we sat on the balcony.
“I don’t date. I’ve tried, and it doesn’t work out for me,” he said before taking another sip of his beer, propping his feet up on the balcony railing.
I chuckled. “I’ve hooked up through an app, but it was only hand jobs and blowjobs. Well, I had anal once, but there were no repeat performances.”
“You ever been with a woman?” Kit stared at me across the little table where the bucket sat.
“No. I’ve known for a while that I’m into dick. I’ve had female friends, but I was never attracted to them physically. My dad’spissed because I’m gay and Sky’s gay. He’ll probably be happy to find out Arlo’s straight, though I’m not sure how being a grandfather will strike him.”
I couldn’t hold the laugh at the idea of Regal Ashe with a grandbaby. My mother said he wasn’t very hands-on with me, so a grandchild? That was something I wanted to see.
“I can’t say I’m interested in having kids. Society puts a lot of pressure on people to have kids, but that’s a lot of responsibility to shoulder. I’m not sure I’m up for it.” I glanced toward the water, seeing the sun’s rays bouncing off the surface and casting a silver glow. It really was beautiful.
“You’re so young, River. I’d hold off on making those kinds of proclamations just yet. As we get older, life throws situations at us that we couldn’t have fathomed when we were young. My mom had to have a hysterectomy after I was born. She used to tell me they were blessed to have me, though during my teen years, I doubt she truly felt that way all the time. With age comes wisdom.
“My pop says now that he was glad they only had me. He doesn’t think he could have handled having a daughter and worrying about her. I think maybe with time, you might change your mind about things.” Kit put his empty bottle in the bucket upside down and took a full one.
