Without warning, Eric reached out, grabbed Rebekah around the waist, and dragged her across the table. He growled and gobbled against her neck until she was laughing and squealing at the top of her lungs. She kicked her feet, trying to escape his assault, but Eric held tight. On the opposite side of the table, Jace grabbed her ankle to avoid getting kicked in the face. When Eric decided she’d laughed enough, he tucked her head under his chin and held her gently. She wasn’t in the most comfortable position, stretched across the dining table on her side, wedged against Eric’s shoulder as he sat in the booth, but she let him hold her. She knew he needed to provide comfort as much as she needed to receive it. He couldn’t stand it when she was melancholy.
A moment later, the bedroom door opened, and Brian wandered out.
“How’s she doing?” Sed asked.
“She’s fine. Cussed me out when I told her I wanted to cancel tomorrow night’s show to see her.”
“That sounds like her,” Sed said and chuckled. “Is she going to fly in to see you then?”
Brian shook his head. “She said we’ll see each other at Thanksgiving.”
“That’s only two weeks,” Rebekah said, hoping he’d stop looking so fucking miserable. The man was intense in every imaginable way.
He played his guitar intensely. Loved his wife intensely. Experienced emotions intensely. Rebekah bet he was one hell of an intense lover.
She flushed at her thoughts and cuddled closer to Eric, who wasn’t exactly intense, but definitely enthusiastic.
“It’s sure to be the longest two weeks of my life,” Brian murmured. He glanced around. “Where’s Trey?”
“Sulking in the bathroom,” Sed told him. “We have got to find that guy someone to love.”
“He has a different someone to love every night,” Eric said with a chuckle.
“And that’s his problem.”
No, his problem was that he already had someone to love, and that someone didn’t return the sentiment. Rebekah didn’t say it, but she was pretty sure everyone except Brian was thinking it.
Brian sighed. “I’ll go talk to him.”
“Hey, Brian,” Rebekah said and eased out of Eric’s embrace to sit up on the table again.
Brian turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised in question.
She smiled brightly and met his intense gaze. “You’re going to be a daddy.”
He beamed, all his troubles flowing away in an instant. “I’m going to be a daddy!” He tossed the bathroom door open. “Hey, Trey! I’m going to be a daddy!”
“Fuck off.”
“That is not the appropriate response.”
Brian yanked Trey into the corridor by one arm and forced him into a headlock. Trey poked Brian in the ribs, hooked his leg around Brian’s ankle, and took him to the floor. Rebekah giggled as they wrestled, not sure why watching them go at it made her hungry for sex. Eventually, they stopped wrestling and lay in a tangled heap on the floor laughing.
“What’s the appropriate response, Trey?” Brain asked.
His head pinned to Brian’s chest, Trey wrapped an arm around Brian’s abdomen and gave him a squeeze. “Congratulations,” Trey said breathlessly. “Daddy.”
Brian placed a hand on Trey’s head and pressed him closer to his chest. “I hope my son’s smart like his mother and not a knucklehead like the two of us.”
Trey squeezed his eyes shut and clung to Brian as if he planned to never let him go.
Chapter 20
Rebekah had never been more exhausted in her life. Tonight was their last show before a six-week break centered around Thanksgiving and Christmas. She was pretty sure she would need every day of those six weeks just to recover from their grueling tour schedule.
Carefully winding a power cord so the soundboard could be put on the truck, she paused when she felt someone’s presence behind her.
“Uh, Rebekah?”
Rebekah spun around to look at Marcus, her eyes wide in question.
“I sort of owe you an apology,” he murmured, his eyes downcast.
“I found this a few weeks ago and forgot to return it.”
He pulled a spiral-bound notebook from under his sweatshirt and held it out to her. It was Dave’s collection of notes that she’d misplaced her first night on the job.
“That would have come in handy when I had no idea what I was doing,” she said, “but I don’t need it now.”
“Dave’s a genius,” Marcus said, still not meeting her eyes. “I thought I would be the best choice to take his place, but…”
She waited for him to continue. He looked up, and his pug-like eyes met hers steadily. “But…” he said, “you’re good at what you do.
The band sounds awesome. I’m not sure if Dave could have done any better.”
Rebekah couldn’t hide her smile. “You really think so?” she said eagerly.
Marcus chuckled and got a sappy look on his face. “Yeah. You’ve proven yourself over and over. I’m sorry I misjudged you. It’s just really hard to take someone as fucking adorable as you are seriously.”
Rebekah’s smile faltered.
“Uh, uh, uhnnnn,” Eric said as he moved to stand between them. “You will not be teaching Marcus any lessons for mistaking you as adorable.”
Marcus flushed and did an about-face. “Later.”
Eric wrapped an arm around Rebekah’s waist. “Are you about finished?”
“Not even close. We have to get this stuff put away properly tonight so everything is easy to find when we go back on the road in January. Did you talk to Jon yet?”
“Sorta.”
“Eric, you promised!”
“I told him we wouldn’t need him when we went back on tour in January.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.”
“How did he respond?”
“Made me feel as if I betrayed him. Told me to go fuck myself.
Took off in his Jeep.”
“Do you think he’s gone for good?”
Eric shook his head. “I have no doubt he’ll try to manipulate me again. I’m not going to cave next time though.”
“I’ll make sure of it. This has been eating you alive for weeks.
You need to stop being his martyr.”
He rubbed the spot between his eyebrows with one finger. “I know…
I just… He was the first real friend I ever had. Turned out he wasn’t my friend after all.” He grinned unexpectedly. “I got you something.”
There he went again, changing the subject without warning.
“Eric, we discussed this. No more expensive gifts.”
“It wasn’t expensive.” He pulled a little white teddy bear out of his vest. It was wearing a tiny blue T-shirt that read I ♥ Sinners.
“It reminded me of you because…” He leaned closer to her ear.
“It’s adorable.”
“Eric Sticks, I’m not adorable!” She tossed the teddy bear at him, and he caught it in one hand.
“Prove it,” he teased and jogged backward. He cuddled the bear against his chest. “Oh, look at adorable little Rebekah,” he said, squeezing the stuffed toy until its head threatened to pop off.
“Cutest girl in the world.”
She knew he just wanted to play, and she was tempted to chase him around the stadium, corner him, and tickle him into submission, but sometimes work had to come first. “I’ll deal with you later.”
His eyebrows lifted, and his smile of anticipation almost convinced her to forgo work. “Promise?”
If he wanted to act like a naughty boy, she was going to treat him like a naughty boy. “I do not tolerate that kind of misbehavior in my class, Mr. Sticks.”
The excited little huff he produced was almost more than she could bear.
“As your first punishment, you will write an essay that describes all the ways you plan to repent for your disobedience,” she added.