Page 11 of Spring Break with a Bass Player
“Saige.” He says my name after a beat but I’m already halfway to my door. “Please, let me take you out.”
“You’re busy.”
“He’s not busy,” Corbin says with his hands up in surrender. “I just have shit timing.”
“Have a good night, guys.”
Turning, I slide my key in the lock and step inside just as I hear Corbin say, “Dude, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”Bridger’s voice is too low for me to hear his answer but I can imagine.
But it’s good we got interrupted.
Because I almost gave in, and Bridger Cole is a full-time job.
And I already have one of those.
Sighing, I kick off my shoes and head to the kitchen for the half-empty bottle of wine in my fridge and a glass.
The tub is calling my name, and after the day I’ve had, I definitely deserve it.
6
BRIDGER
“Hey man, quit hogging the pepperoni,” Declan, our lead singer, gripes at Landon, our drummer, as he shoves another slice onto a plate.
“Shoulda gotten here earlier,” Landon says with a smirk before relinquishing the box and pulling out a chair at Corbin’s table.
Despite being frustrated with my best friend, I am at least thankful that something productive came out of his interrupting my conversation with Saige a few days earlier.I feel like she almost said yes to going out with me.
Shaking the thought away, because I’ll go insane if I don’t, I focus on the guys in the room and do my best to remain in the moment.
Nick, who plays the sax and trumpet, talks around a mouthful of pizza while Sam, who rocks the keyboard, nods animatedly.
“Don’t make that face,” Corbin murmurs as he comes to stand beside me.
“What face?” I ask even though I know exactly what face he means. It’s mysentimentalface—the one that says these guys have been my family for a long time.
And now things are changing.
“Look at them,” I whisper back, motioning toward Nick and Sam as they smile and laugh, most likely about Sam getting married and Nick becoming a father.
We’ve all grown up in the last few years, some more than others. My gaze drifts to where Declan and Landon are doubled over laughing and I smile.
“We’re allowed to want different things than when we started. Hell, you’re chasing a woman light-years out of your league as we speak.”
He snorts at his joke, refraining from mentioning how much shit he’s in with my sister, and turns back to the guys. We’d all kind of paired off—Corbin and I because of our history, Sam and Nick because of their long-term relationships, and Landon and Declan for their perpetual bachelor status.
It worked for us.
We’d been traveling all over the country and even did a few tours overseas. Garrett North, the lead singer of Descending North, had called and asked if we wanted to open for them last year.
Garrett Fucking North.
The guy wasn’t any older than I am but cool as shit, laid-back, and just so incredibly in tune with the music. He was private but never treated us as anything less than peers even though their fans didn’t quite know what to make of us.
We aren’t rock but we sure as hell know how to jam, and after a while we had the crowd jamming too.
“You’re ruining thevibe, Bridge,” Declan whines as he throws a pretzel at me. It hits me square in the chest, and I roll my eyes as the others chuckle.
