Page 187 of Composed
“Answer.”
“Ha,” I deadpan, plucking a low C. “Will you tell me something?”
“Anything.”
“How in the fuck did you get Noah Pierce to shag you in a port-a-potty?”
A spoon clanks against ceramic as he drops it with a hissed curse.
I twist on the couch, settling into the arm of the couch, as water splashes on the floor. A wide grin curls my lips. It’s not the most pressing question I could ask. But I don’t want to push him about his children.
His story is his alone.
If he wants to fill me in on the details, he’ll do it when he’s ready.
“Fuck me, Rix.” He barks a laugh. “Age hasn’t changed you at all, has it?”
“Nope.”
He shakes his head as he grabs the mugs. “Truth? We were both hammered. Too much vodka, too little inhibition. It was just a one-night thing that wound up changing my entire life.”
“But you two aren’t together, right?” I ask as he peels the guitar from my hands and replaces it with a warm, white mug.
Steam curls over the rim, trailing up my cheeks when I blow into it.
“Nah. We never clicked like that.” Carter drops down next to me and props his boot clad feet on the coffee table. “We’re great friends now, she’s probably my best friend if we’re being honest. But nothing romantic. Itworks better that way. Between juggling tours, the girls, there’s not a lot of time to worry about a relationship and all the drama that comes with it.”
“I’m sure relationships aren’t all bad.”
“Says the woman living her own dramatic romance tale.”
I huff a tired laugh. “You got me there. Not a great example, am I?”
“I dunno.” He sinks deeper into the couch and presses his shoulder to mine. “Of all the couples I know, the relationship you and Cole have is the one I’d want my girls to aspire for when they’re seventy and finally allowed to date.”
“But I left him.”
“You came back.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
He hums, non-committal. “You were gonna come back one day.” He looks at me then with a smirk. “He just beat you to the punch.”
“How can you be so sure?”Fuck knows I’m not.
“I’ve heard about those walls of yours, Rix. There’s no way you were staying away forever.”
Maybe he’s right. Maybe he’s not.
I honestly don’t know what I would have done had more years gone by without Cole coming home.
I inhale a slow breath and sip my tea. “You’re not gonna let your girls date until they’re seventy?”
“Changing the topic, huh?”
I wrinkle my nose and ignore him. “Seventy?Really?”
“Maybe forty, if they’re lucky.”
