Page 42 of Bad Boys After Dark - Brett
“Great, and the staff has all been put through the ringer?” Brett asked Thomas Crull, who managed security for the backstage crew. Brett glanced at his watch, his leg bouncing restlessly beneath the table. He wanted to stop and pick up a bottle of wine and grab a movie from Redbox on the way to Sophie’s. When he’d texted her earlier, she’d said she’d had a rough day at work and he hoped it might help her relax.
“We’re in solid shape,” Thomas answered. “No more hires are going to be made between now and the date of the concert, and the existing staff has been screened and validated. Backstage will be locked down, which the artist isn’t thrilled about.”
“It means he can’t line up his groupies as easily.” Brett shook his head. “I don’t give a shit if he gets pissed. No one who hasn’t been screened gets backstage.”
“Did you seriously just say that?” Thomas glanced at Gio, who smirked.
Brett knew he micromanaged the team, but after the recent public bombings, he wasn’t taking any chances.
“You should have heard the crap they said when we told them we had to check out the band members,” Thomas added.
“The artists are always the worst,” Brett said. “They think that because they’re the talent, they’re clean, but one of these days it’ll be a drummer who loses his mind.”
“Not on our watch,” Gio said.
There was a rumble of agreement and head nodding around the room. Half an hour later they wrapped up the meeting. Brett picked up a bottle of wine and a movie and hightailed it over to Sophie’s, worrying whether his staff had felt rushed, or if that was just his impatience to see Sophie getting the best of him.
When he stepped from the cab and raced up the steps to Sophie’s apartment building, her voice trailed through his mind. Don’t you ever plan anything?
He stopped at the entrance, chastising himself for not remembering to call ahead. “Fuck.”
“Excuse me?” the doorman said.
“Sorry. Forgot something.” Brett jogged back down the steps to the sidewalk and called her.
“Hey.”
The smile in her voice took his anxiety down a notch. “Hi. I, um. Are you busy tonight? I’d love to see you.”
“Um, I have a standing booty call with this guy I know…”
“Soph,” he said, and looked up at the clear night sky. “Don’t call it that.”
“Sorry. I was kidding. I’d love to see you.”
“Great, babe. See you soon.” He ended the call, and the doorman pulled open the door. He must have heard Brett’s conversation, because he gave him a thumbs-up as he passed through.
Five minutes later Sophie was in his arms, smiling into their kiss, and nothing else mattered.
When their lips parted, her hand snaked around his neck the way he’d come to adore, and she said, “I’m not done yet,” in a seductive voice that made his body, and his heart, throb.
He deepened the kiss, and the bottle of wine he’d forgotten he was holding slipped. He fumbled for it, catching it just before it hit the floor and slowing him down enough to get a good look at her. Sophie always looked gorgeous, but tonight she had on a pair of cutoffs and a simple white shirt, with a long tan cardigan that hung to her knees. She looked relaxed and comfortable, like the small-town girl she was, and it made him want to experience more of that side of her.
“You brought wine?”
He held up the movie from Redbox. “And Get Out.” The shine in her eyes made his heart feel even fuller, which he hadn’t thought possible.
She snagged the movie from his hands. “Oh my gosh. You got a movie? Suspense? You hate suspense. Wait. Do you hate suspenseful books and movies?”
He chuckled and pulled her in for another kiss. “Both, but you love it, so I can deal with it.”
She ran her fingers over the label on the wine, tempered hope brimming in her eyes. Tempered. He hated that. He wanted her to know how he felt, to count on him and take for granted that he wanted to do things just for her. His pulse quickened erratically with the direction his thoughts were taking him, but he didn’t push back. Not this time. Not when pushing back meant seeing that tempered look, which made him even more restless than he was when they were apart.
