twice.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” my twin bellowed the moment I stepped a foot past the curtain and into the living space.
I stopped like an idiot, or better yet, like a deer caught in the headlights. Eli clapped loudly until the low buzzing of chatter inside stopped. I couldn’t help but notice that there really weren’t any ladies on the bus besides me—unless you counted Mason and Gordo—and I knew my twin well enough to accept that he wouldn’t refer to me as a female. “Everyone, now that the asshole we kicked off the bus earlier today is gone, I want to introduce y’all to our newest addition.”
He reached out to grab my hand, throwing up both our arms like I’d won a boxing match. “This is my baby sister, Gaby. She’ll be with us for the next few months.” He shook my hand, still in mid-air. “Flabby, say hi,” he instructed me as if I was a little kid. Fucking Eli.
I grinned nervously at the five new faces looking me intently, and let my brother wave my hand for me. “Hi, guys.”
A low murmur of multiple “Hi” greetings were spoken while I yanked my hand away from Eli’s grasp. At that very instant a hand landed on the small of my back. Turning my head over my shoulder just barely, I saw that it was the only person it could have been—Sacha. Up close and under the decent lighting of the bus, his skin looked clear and a little glossy from how sweaty he’d become during the concert. He really was good-looking, and a little taller than Mase as well.
“Don’t bend over in front of her. She likes to kick people in the ass,” he laughed, giving me a sly smile before shimmying his way around us to walk to the back of the bus.
I groaned to myself while Eli and Mason laughed like it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard. Minutes later, I found myself squished between Mase and Gordo while the bus driver steered the traveling hotel and trailer to where I’d been informed we’d be showering that night. The couches on either side of the bus were long, but it seemed like everyone was crammed into that front area closest to the door, including the narrow kitchen and bathroom. After the mini tour Eliza had given me hours before, I knew that past the door by the bathroom were the twelve bunks we’d be sleeping in, and at the farthest end of the bus was a small room with a U-shaped couch along the walls.
Mason introduced me to two of the guys from The Cloud Collision, a big muscular guy named Julian and a lanky one named Isaiah that I recognized as being the guitar players for the band. I caught Sacha standing in the kitchen, drinking something steaming from a ceramic mug, still half-naked. Still unbelievably hot, if not hotter than before. The yellow lighting in the bus did wonders for the lean cut of his chest and for his narrow hips with their cut oblique muscles, all of which then did wonders for my panties—I mean my hormones.
“You should wear shirts like that more often.”
I slid my gaze over to Mason, whose entire side was pressed against mine. I shouldn’t have been as surprised to see his eyes on my “shirt,” and by my shirt, I really meant my breasts. The tank top had begun to ride low enough so that the edge of my lavender bra was visible. Instead of replying, I frowned and tugged my shirt up enough so at least the girls weren’t hanging out so much… since half an inch of boobage was apparently too much to begin with.
When I met Mason’s gaze again he was smirking, looking entirely too pleased with himself. “I can still see them.”
“No way.” I rolled my eyes, trying not to be too self-conscious. It wasn’t like I didn’t get the same reaction from him every time we saw each other over the last three years. Well, it was the same reaction from just about every guy that wasn’t my brothers or dad. I’d spent ten years of my life trying to keep people’s attentions away from my chest and now, after everything, I still didn’t want people looking there for
Robert J. Sawyer, Stefan Bolz, Ann Christy, Samuel Peralta, Rysa Walker, Lucas Bale, Anthony Vicino, Ernie Lindsey, Carol Davis, Tracy Banghart, Michael Holden, Daniel Arthur Smith, Ernie Luis, Erik Wecks