Between Us (The Renegade Saints #3) (9 page)

“This brings back a really funny memory,” he laughs.

“Yeah?”

“When we were teenagers and we bought a moving van to make money and have a way to take our gear to shows, the thing smelled like a garbage dump. We tried everything—scrubbed the walls with bleach, power-washed the entire thing at least five times, sprayed cologne all the fuck over it—and nothing helped.”

“What did you do?”

“Gram had us spread about a dozen boxes of baking soda and a few cans of coffee on the floor. We shut the doors and came back two days later—the smell was gone.”

He comes to a stop at the curb next to a shiny black Tesla and opens the door, waiting until I’m buckled in to close it and walk around to his side. As soon as he’s in the car, I notice just how close we are. I can smell his cologne, something with a hint of musk that makes me want to rub up against him like a feline in heat.

I watch his hands in fascination as he does something on the enormous dash display, stifling a nervous giggle when I remember his hands were once insured for a million dollars each through Lloyd’s of London. I bet he can do a lot of great non-guitar related things with his fingers.

I’m fascinated by the tattoos on his arm. They’re just so… hot. Licking my lower lip, I look up at him from beneath my lashes, only to find he’s watching me. The smile he gives me makes my pulse race, and I’m too locked into him to look away.

“You still good with sushi?” he asks.

I nod, unable to get a word out. Licking my lower lip again, I continue looking him over. The man is sex personified. I’m still unsure how I never noticed this before. I turn my attention to an obscure point on the windshield so he doesn’t catch me staring at him like a lovesick weirdo.

“The restaurant isn’t too far from here,” he tells me as he puts the car into gear. “GPS says the trip should only take about twenty minutes.”

Cole’s Tesla is the first I’ve ever been in and I’m endlessly fascinated by how silent it is. He answers the myriad of questions I throw his way about the car during the drive. He also offers to let me drive it any time. It feels like only five minutes have passed when he pulls into the parking lot of a small sushi restaurant. Since we need to be to the Staples Center by eight, we’re having an early dinner. This means the lot is pretty much a ghost town, which is probably a good thing as far as Cole being recognized.

The hostess seats us in the back of the room next to a massive fish tank. It’s easily thirty feet long, so it takes up almost the entire width of the wall. My eyes widen when I realize the theme of said tank is Harry Potter.

“Dumbledore, Snape and Hermione,” I squeak excitedly. “It’s so freaking cool. Hogwarts looks amazing. Don’t even get me started on the Quidditch area! Harry and his Nimbus look so real!”

Cole’s laugh draws my attention back to him. I forget about the fish tank when I find him watching me intently.

“Potter fan, eh?”

I nod emphatically. “So much yes. I know people rave about the books, and they’re phenomenal, but that’s not what makes me a Potterhead. For me, it’s all about the movies. They’re cinematic masterpieces. The scores, the angles, the costuming, it’s all epic. If I had wanted to work in film as opposed to documentaries, I would’ve wanted to go in that direction. You’ve seen them, right?”

“Yep,” he says with a grin. “Tyson is a mega Rowling fan. Like, stalker status. Discovered the books while he was in rehab and has never looked back. He says being so enthralled in that fictional world helped him deal with his shit. We throw Harry Potter themed birthday parties for him. Somewhere along the way, I became a fan, too. Like you, I love the movies. Watch ‘em all the time.”

We stop talking for a few minutes when our waitress arrives. After a quick discussion about what her recommendations are, we wind up going with the chef’s pick. It’s basically an enormous amount of sushi that will allow us to try a sampling of todays best pieces. Since we may have a drink or two at the concert, we both order a green tea drink blend. After the waitress walks away, Cole turns his attention back to me.

“Tell me more about you,” he instructs.

“I feel like you already know a lot,” I laugh. “I’m pretty boring.”

“You’re the furthest thing from boring,” he says. “But since you can’t think of anything off the top of your head I’ll give you an easy question to answer. What was your favorite show as a kid?”

“
Mr. Ed,”
I answer with no hesitation. “
Bewitched
and
I Dream of Jeannie
weren’t far behind.”

He raises his brows in question. “You’re awful young to have pulled those out as favorites.”

“My parents weren’t big on TV. We got the bare minimum of channels, so I mostly avoided it entirely. But every weekend, I would stay up and watch Nick at Nite. They used to run all the classics, and I got addicted. How about you?” I counter. “What was your show of choice?”

He gives me a funny look before sighing. “You have to promise you won’t ever breathe a word of this to anyone.”

Crossing my heart, I lean forward. “Spill it, Hayes.”

“
The Golden Girls
.”

A second passes while I wait for him to tell me he’s kidding. Realizing he’s serious, I let out a bark of shocked laughter. “Shut. Up!”

“It was a really good show,” he says defensively.

The only way he could have shocked me more was if he’d announced a love of
Dancing With The Stars.
The Golden Girls
just seems completely oppositional to anything he would be interested in. This just goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover.

“How the heck did you end up watching a show about older women?”

Before he has time to answer, I let out a squeak. “Oh my God, I bet you had a crush on one of them, too! It was Blanche, wasn’t it? Please tell me your bedroom walls weren’t covered in posters of Rue McClanahan.”

He waves his hands as he shakes his head. “No, no, no,” he laughs. “That’s a really disturbing visual, by the way. I assure you, I wasn’t crushing on them. Gram and my mom loved the show. Somehow Flynn and I ended up watching it with them. The writing was really good and the acting was great.”

“You’re telling me Flynn got sucked in, too?”

He snorts and shakes his head. “The girls were
way
to highbrow for him. Flynn watched, but his favorite show was
Clarissa Explains it All.
He wanted to ride the Melissa Joan Hart express so bad. In comparison,
The Golden Girls
is like National Geographic.”

“That’s hardly an apt comparison since they’re both comedies. At least his show was sort of age-appropriate,” I tease.

“But stupid,” he counters. “
The Golden Girls
is consistently picked as one of the top one hundred shows of all times. You won’t see Clarissa on that list, ever.”

When I question whether
The Golden Girls
ever wound up on such a list, Cole whips out his iPhone and does a search. He lets out a triumphant sound and holds his phone up.

“Right here it says top sixty in
TV Guide
and Top one hundred in The Writers Guild of America. I rest my case.”

Taking a sip of my green tea, I chuckle. “I guess I’ll have to pay attention the next time I see it on. I can sing every word of the theme song for some reason, but I’ve never seen an episode.”

“Oh, we’re fixing that,” he laughs. “I’m going to get you hooked on the show, just you wait. You need to start coming over so we can binge watch.”

His words make me happy, and I grin at him. I love the idea of us spending more time together. My smile grows bigger when our waitress comes to the table with a massive tiered assortment of sushi. Cole and I dig in, sampling the plentiful and super fresh meal.

“This is the best,” I enthuse after swallowing a particularly tasty piece. “It’s unbelievably good.”

He holds out a piece of a roll with his chopsticks. “Wait ‘til you taste this one.”

Leaning forward, I open my mouth and let him feed me. The incredibly fresh smoked salmon all but melts in my mouth.

“Mm,” I moan after I finish swallowing. “This chef knows how to make great sushi.”

The look on Cole’s face is sinful, and I feel my nipples tighten.

“Somehow it’s made even better watching you eat it,” he murmurs.

I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Cole grins at me devilishly, and I feel my face heating up. What I wouldn’t give to have his hands on me. Before I can formulate some kind of a response to what he said, the waitress is back to refill our drinks.

I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed to have been interrupted.

Dinner with Cole was great, and I have to admit, I wasn’t even a little upset that Ian wasn’t able to join us. Selfishly, I liked having Cole all to myself. Ian’s house isn’t too far from the restaurant, so we get there pretty quickly.

Before Cole has the car parked, Ian comes striding down the driveway toward us. Opening the rear door, he climbs into the backseat. I turn and look over my shoulder at him and almost let out a sigh. He really is something to look at. Ian’s eyes flash when our gazes meet, and I can’t help myself from appreciating how sexy he is.

“Hey,” I say as I give him a big smile.

He grins back. “Hey.”

As I turn back around, I find Cole staring at me intently. I know I’m blushing as I smile at him. He inclines his head toward Ian but keeps his eyes on me.

“Ian.”

Ian clears his throat. “Cole.”

Cole’s eyes leave my face as he looks to Ian. “You ready for this?”

When a second or so passes without an answer, I turn to look at Ian myself. He and Cole are in some kind of a stare-down, and Ian’s cheeks are flushed.

“Yes, I’m ready for the show,” he responds.

Cole lets out a
hmm
as he turns away and puts the car in gear. I’m fairly certain he wasn’t asking about the concert.

I
’m normally pretty laid back—maybe even indifferent—when I’m spending time with the people I fuck around with. This is different. Devon is hot, and to be honest, I’m kind of stunned by how much sexier her personality makes her.

I never thought anyone could hold my interest the way she does. I’m endlessly fascinated by her, which makes it easy to hang on her every word. For years, whenever I’ve talked to my mom about my lack of interest in relationships, she’s gotten right back in my face and said it’s because I purposely hang out with people who don’t have anything to offer, personality wise. Devon has personality to spare. It’s a first for me.

My parents know I’m bi-sexual and are fine with it, but they still want grandchildren and they’d like me eventually to settle down. My dad agrees with my mom, and he points out I always find people who aren’t cut out for the long haul. It’s likely there’s some truth to their assertions since Todd, Gram and Pop all say the same thing. When you hear something once, it’s in one ear and out the other. When the people closest to you say something over and over, you start to wonder.

For the first time ever, the thought of seeing someone every day isn’t making me feel itchy. I want to see Devon as much as possible. I’m not cut out for a one on one relationship, so having Ian around is ideal.