Chapter 10

Bentley

My friend, Cami, had been messaging me all day, but I’d barely had time to send her a quick text promising to update her later. It was my fault she refused to accept that response. I should have waited until after work to call her about the events of the morning, but I’d been hoping she’d answer her phone so I could talk to her during my drive to the office. Instead, I’d left her a voicemail sure to pique her interest—a voicemail involving my photo in a tabloid and my kiss with Gage. She already knew about the kiss. I’d called her to lament my bad luck in losing his number as soon as I’d gotten home.

Cami had mentioned Reckless Release several times in recent months. She’d discovered them early in their career, and I knew she was excited about their upcoming tour.

I put Cami on speaker as soon as I started up my car after work, hoping she didn’t have a patient. It was a Wednesday, not one of her normal days for evening appointments, but she’s been known to change things up from time to time.

“You teasing bitch!” she accused.

I laughed at her insult. “It’s not often I have any juicy stories to tease you with.” Cami was notorious for messaging me with the near-scandalous details of a recent date. We often joked that she dated enough for both of us. “I didn’t expect you to send my call to voicemail,” I told her.

“One of my patients needed to see me today, so I had to squeeze him in this morning,” she explained.

We’d both been sophomores in college, each planning a career in psychology, when we’d met. Cami had recently gone into private practice with one of our professors who’d gotten tired of teaching.

“Gage Addison? Are you kidding me? You kissed Gage Addison?” she demanded excitedly.

“Technically, he kissed me,” I told her. “I didn’t know his last name when it happened, so I just thought some hot guy named Gage was kissing me, as you may recall.”

“And you honestly didn’t recognize him?” she asked. “You weren’t keeping this from me?”

“I don’t follow music,” I reminded her.

“I’ve shown you pictures of the band,” she began. “You were ignoring me, weren’t you?”

“I looked,” was my immediate reply.

“A brief glance is not enough when we are talking about all the hotness that is Reckless Release,” she insisted. “Gage is so gorgeous. I still can’t believe you lost his phone number. You should have had it tattooed on your body.”

“I wasn’t going to call him even if I hadn’t lost his number,” I told her.

“Then why take his number?” she asked.

“I took his number before realizing I can’t call him,” I clarified.

“Why can’t you call him?” she pushed. “He’s hot. You like him. He’s hot.”

“You mentioned him being hot twice,” I pointed out before adding, “Actually, you may have said that three times.”

“It was worth repeating,” she insisted.

“No matter how attractive he is, I am not dating a member of a rock band,” I stated firmly. “His brother is also my boss. This would be bad on so many levels.”

“So far, you’ve only mentioned two reasons,” she stated. “That hardly counts as being bad on many levels. When was the last time you got laid?”

“Why do you ask me questions you already know the answer to?” I asked her. Seriously, I told Cami everything.

“I honestly don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s been that long. If the old saying about losing it if you don’t use it is true, your vagina is going to put in for a transfer.”

“Did you just say my vagina will leave me?” I asked around a laugh as I pulled onto the freeway. “Forget I asked that question. I’m not sure I want to hear more on this subject. I know what you’re getting at. You’re trying to find a reason why I should call Gage. I lost his number. There will be no calling Gage Addison. End of story.”

“You could always get his number from your boss,” she suggested.

“Him being Colin’s brother is another reason to avoid getting involved with Gage,” I pointed out. “Having a tabloid accuse me of sleeping my way to the top with my boss is bad enough. I don’t need to add to that drama by getting involved with Colin’s brother.”

“And you think all musicians will be like the people you met when Lex was still playing,” she added.

“Most are,” I argued.

I’m fully aware that I’m prejudiced against musicians. They aren’t all bad people. That doesn’t change the fact that most make poor choices. My brother isn’t a bad person, and neither were the other members of his band. Still, as soon as his band started to see some success, the drinking got worse. Soon, they were all using a variety of drugs and partying too much. It wasn’t only his band; the other bands they hung out with were doing the same. I didn’t want to be involved with someone like that.

“You’re killing me, Bennie,” she whined. “Play with the sexy rocker. Live out my fantasy.”

I had to laugh at her dramatic plea. “Sorry, but you’ll have to find your own rocker to play with.”

“That is another good reason to call Gage,” she began.

“You can’t sleep with Gage,” I snapped.

“Down girl,” she said with a laugh. “I was actually going to suggest you get Gage to introduce me to the drummer. Of course, I’ll have to pretend I’m distraught after a bad breakup. That might not work. I’m not a very good liar.”

“Why would you need to pretend you’re getting over a breakup?” I asked.

“He’s the ultimate rebound guy,” she explained. “Women flock to him to help mend their broken hearts.”

“You spend far too much time researching this band,” I told her.

“It’s not just them,” she began. “I research all bands with hot drummers.”

I let out a sad sigh. “Sometimes, I wish I could be as carefree as you are, Cami.”

“Then who would keep me out of trouble?” she asked.

A startled bark of laughter escaped my lips before I responded. “Keep you out of trouble? Since when have you ever managed to stay out of trouble?”

“I stay out of trouble,” Cami insisted. “How do you think I’ve managed to keep my job so long?”

“Good point,” I conceded.

“You never used to be this good at staying out of trouble,” she mused. “We had so much fun back in our undergrad years.”

She was right. We’d had a lot of fun back then, but things had changed. “My parents need one of us to be responsible.”

“Are you saying Mercedes isn’t responsible?” she asked. “The girl owns a business.”

I wasn’t about to discuss my sister or her business, The Frisky Beaver. My parents were still pretending my sister owned a restaurant where women didn’t take their clothes off. I was proud of my sister’s success, but I knew it bothered my parents.

“Traffic is getting bad, so I’d better let you go,” I told her.

“Are you trying to get out of talking about Gage?” she asked.

“No, but that is a good reason to get off the phone,” I replied honestly. “We’ve talked enough about Gage already, and I need to focus on driving. It looks like there’s an accident up ahead, and people are dodging in and out of lanes to try to get further ahead.”

“Idiot drivers,” Cami muttered. “Let’s do lunch on Saturday.”

“Sounds good,” I agreed. “I’ll call you later.”

“Love you, babe,” she said.

“Right back at you,” I replied before ending the call.

As I fought the traffic home, I wondered what my life would be like had Lex taken a different path. Maybe then I wouldn’t care about Gage being a member of Reckless Release. I shook my head. I wasn’t the type to be in the spotlight, and I never had been. Losing Gage’s number had saved me from the mistake of getting involved with someone who was wrong for me. If I kept reminding myself of that fact, I’d be fine.