Page 36 of Taste of Surrender
The room went silent as I poured Ryan a glass, and Sean began eating. After a few minutes, I broke the awkward quietness. “I’m going to head out. All of your meals for the weekend are in the fridge.”
“Thank you.” Sean wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I’ll see you on Monday if I get home before you finish up.”
Relief washed over me as I realized I hadn’t lost my job. “Sounds good.”
The holiday rushmade the next couple of months fly by. It seemed as though I was cooking for multiple parties every week during December, but things seemed to settle down once we got past the new year.
As I made my way to Sean’s place, I popped in my ear buds and listened to Surrender’s new album, “Neon Nights.” It became an immediate success when it was released a couple of weeks prior, and even though hearing Malachi’s voice reminded me of the few months I got to be with him, those bittersweet feelings didn’t stop me from playing it on repeat.
When I got to my boss’s condo, I pulled out the ingredients to make a beef Wellington for his monthly family dinner. Shortly after I got started on the meal, Ryan arrived and sat at the islandacross from me. The two of us still hooked up on occasion, but we no longer messed around at his father’s place.
As I wrapped the prepared beef tenderloin in puff pastry, I heard the front door open. Even though Ryan and I weren’t doing anything, I still felt a twinge of embarrassment remembering when Sean had walked in on us. It had taken weeks before I could look him in the eye again.
Morgan, Sean’s daughter, walked around the corner and smirked when she saw Ryan was already there. “Should I leave so you guys can be alone, or did you already finish?”
I groaned while Ryan barked out a laugh. When I’d learned he had told Morgan what happened, I had been mortified, but he promised it wasn’t a big deal. Since then, it had been a running joke between the three of us.
“Just finished,” Ryan teased.
“Eww. It was funny when I said it. Not so much when you admit to it,” she huffed and took a seat next to her brother.
“Don’t worry. Nothing happened.” I glared at Ryan.
“Not yet, at least.” He winked.
I wasn’t opposed to what he was suggesting. The thing I had with Ryan worked because neither of us was looking for anything serious, so we got together whenever it was convenient. Since I’d fallen hard—much harder than I’d expected—for Malachi, and it had hurt like hell when he left, I was wary of getting into a committed relationship again. Since then, I’d used casual hook ups to try to forget about the man I could never have. Much to my dismay, it hadn’t worked, and when I was alone at night, with my hand wrapped around my cock, it was only Malachi I thought of.
As they continued to chat, I started boiling potatoes.
“So, I’ve been listening to Surrender’s new album non-stop. It’s amazing, and I heard they are going on tour in a couple ofmonths,” Morgan said out of nowhere, and immediately my ears perked up.
I received regular updates from my brother about what the band was doing and saw a lot of posts on social media about them, but I hadn’t talked to Malachi since the night they’d wonThe Band Showdown. Even when the guys were on the East Coast for the holidays, I avoided him, telling my brother I had catering gigs every day except Christmas when Malachi was with his family.
From what I could tell, Malachi had moved on and was fully embracing the rock star lifestyle. Pictures of him were plastered everywhere on social media, and he had a different woman on his arm in almost every photo. And while I wanted only good things for him, I didn’t think I could handle seeing him in person again. It would hurt too much because I still missed what we once had.
“We should go to one of their concerts,” Ryan stated.
“Duh. Of course, I’m going, but I was wondering if Jasper here could hook me up,” Morgan said.
Morgan was what could be described as a Surrender superfan. When she had found out I grew up in Southborough and my last name was Bennett, she’d asked if I was related to Jesse. She could hardly contain her excitement when I told her he was my brother.
“Can’t you just use Dad’s credit card to buy a ticket like you do for everything else?” Ryan asked his sister.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to buy my own ticket, asshole.” She turned to me, her voice taking on a much sweeter tone. “But I thought maybe you could get me backstage?”
“Uh, I don’t know how that all works, but I can ask my brother the next time I talk to him.”
“You’re the best.” She jumped up and hugged me.
I glanced at Ryan, my eyes wide.
He laughed. “You just made her day. She has the biggest crush on Malachi Danvers.”
Who didn’t?
10
MALACHI
