Four

Sky

Always mine, my bright Sky

Marley knocked on my apartment door way too freaking early in the morning, especially since I'd spent half the night texting Jerrin and the other half of it tossing and turning while I thought about him.

"You look like shit," Marley announced when I opened the door for her.

"Thanks. Want to evaluate my life next?" I asked, stepping back so she could enter.

"Don't get me started." She stretched out her hand, offering me one of the paper cups she held. "I figured you wouldn't have had your coffee yet, so I brought you one."

Glancing at the sticker on the side, I saw she'd gotten me a non-dairy caramel ecstasy from my favorite bakery. That was the thing with Marley. She might come off bitchy—such as her observation about my appearance and her assessment of my life—but she remembered the tiny details, like how I wanted my coffee and that I didn't do dairy. And really, she just wanted the best for me, and she didn't feel as if I were living up to the potential she envisioned for me. I could sum her up as hard-ass exterior and mushy insides. She'd growl at me then she'd jump in front of a train to save me.

"Thank you." I gave her a hug then stepped back and took a sip of the heaven she'd brought me.

Moving past me, she headed over to the small dinette on one side of my kitchen. "I brought pastries, too." She shook the bag that had been in the hand with her own coffee. "I hope to God they're extra gooey and calorie laden. This whole festival has been a bitch."

"Yeah?" I asked, sitting across from her while she placed a sugary apple Danish in front of me. I didn't ask if it was dairy-free. I knew she would have ensured that, just as she had with my coffee.

"Yeah. I don't know how the hell the music festival committee pulls this off every year. It's a train wreck. A real shit show; I'm telling you. Plus nobody can find our merch. It got shipped ahead from the supplier and festival head tells me ‘it's here someplace'. I swear, it's probably with my damn lead singer who went missing."

"Oh…" I half-gasped. That wasn't good. "Is he…okay?"

"Yeah. Kyson assures me Jay was on his bus last night, and he wasn't drunk or high or anything. Kyson is one of the guys in the band."

"I figured. I hope you can get things squared away today." I took another sip of my coffee then pulled off a corner or the Danish and groaned. It was pure sugary heaven…

Marley waved away my words. "It's all part of the headache that comes with the job. How about you? How was it yesterday?"

"What?" I panicked. Did she find out about Jerrin? That I hadn't been alone? For some reason, I didn't want to share what was happening with him. I liked having the secret for now. With four older siblings, I'd rarely had confidences. "What about it?"

"Inventory…? That's what you said you were doing."

"Oh. It was fine. Same old same old. No surprises. I mean it's bins of rocks, right? Didn't take long."

"Uh-huh," Marley said. "What really went on?"

"What?" I took a sip of my coffee, hiding behind the cup.

"Did you know you babble when you're avoiding an answer—or as some might say: lying."

I shook my head. "I just know you hate my job—"

"I don't hate it. I just hate it for you. You could do so much more. You're so smart, Sky."

"Marley…"

"I'm just saying…" Here came her agenda. Again. "…you could come work with me. We could use a medical technician traveling with us."

I shook my head. "That's not the kind of thing I learned in college. I'm a researcher. A scientist."

At least, I would be with a more advanced degree.

Marley's shoulders slumped. "It's just as well, I guess. The tour guys are horndogs. They truly act like what happens on tour stays on tour. Which is total shit. You should see my condom budget, though. It's insane."

"I'd rather not, thanks." But I couldn't help remembering what had happened last night. Jerrin wasn't like that. I mean…he'd been horny, but he'd stopped before we went too far. And I'd definitely wanted more.

"Fair enough. I wouldn't want you to get a verbal STD."

"A verbal STD, Mar? Really? I might not be a doctor, but even I know that's not a thing."

She raised her brows at me. "Really? Because trust me… There are things you can see or hear that will definitely scar you for life."

She took a hard bite of her Danish, and I winced. "Okay, but other than that, how have things been since Christmas."

Marley launched into some stories of things that had gone on since then, making me laugh several times with the hijinks she recounted while we ate then while she followed me into my room as I got ready for the day. I noticed that Stix, Stone, Blu and Kyson starred in most of the stories, but not Jay, who she'd only complained about when she first walked through the door that morning.

"So there's a betting pool about Stix and Stone? Do they know?"

My sister blew out a scoffing breath. "God, no. If they did, they'd stay apart just to spite us all."

"All? Did you bet on them, too? Marley, you didn't," I chided.

"I bet in all the pools—it's a thing."

"All the pools?"

"Stix and Stone getting together. Blu punching out some rando guy at a concert—she can have some anger issues when it comes to misogyny. That Kyson will knock up someone while we're on tour. I've got real good odds of winning for Stix and Stone. With all that, I didn't have Jay wandering off the plantation on my bingo card, though."

"I can't believe you betting on them."

She shrugged, leaning against my bedroom doorjamb as I finished getting dressed, paying extra attention to what I wore, hopefully without looking too much like that's what I was doing.

"Gotta amuse myself somehow," she defended. "Hey, since you're ready, can you give me a ride over to the fairgrounds? I took an Uber to your place this morning. I can't believe Spring Harbor has Ubers now. Our little town… All grown up."

"Not so little anymore." I pulled out my phone and texted Jerrin, letting him know that I would be dropping off Marley.

Jerrin: I'll be waiting where you dropped me off last night. XO

XO?

A little flutter took off in my chest.

"Who are you texting?"

"One of the girls from work. We're supposed to meet later."

"Uh-huh…" Marley's tone said she didn't believe me, but she didn't press me on it. Which was good. I was a pretty terrible liar; that much was clear since I was practically transparent to my sister.

Her gaze speculative, she silently gathered her bag while I got my purse and we left.

"You're still coming to the concert tomorrow?" she asked once we were on the way to the venue. I was pretty sure it was the thirty-seventh time she'd checked in the past month. Maybe, this time, she'd been waiting until we were locked in a moving vehicle together, so I couldn't escape if I'd changed my mind.

"Wouldn't miss it," I quipped.

"Ha!" she laughed. "Yes, you would."

"Okay, you're right," I conceded. "But for you, I won't miss it."

"Good. You'll like it. I promise. And they always play that song you like."

"What song?"

"The Sky one."

When I glanced over, she had an amused smile on her lips. I sighed. "You know that obsession is embarrassing, now. I was a kid. Sixteen. I'm way over it."

"It was cute."

"What ever ."

Before I knew it, I was at the music festival grounds. The venue wasn't far from my place—nothing in Spring Harbor was far, to tell the truth. A thin, eerie fog lay over the nearly deserted lot, with only a half dozen vehicles parked close to the backstage access. I pulled past them and to the walkway where a single guard leaned against a post, drinking what was likely coffee from a large thermal cup.

"I probably won't see you until right before the concert, but once all our stuff is packed and out of here tomorrow, I have a few days off until I fly back to LA. So keep an opening for me." She hugged me. "Love you. See you tomorrow."

"Love you, too."

Pulling back, she reached for the door handle then paused and looked at me. "Be careful."

"I'm…" I started to argue then decided against it. This was her way of saying she knew there had been more than inventory last night. "I will be. I'm not the little kid you left at home back when you went off to make it big."

She nodded, not taking my words as accusation. They weren't. She was the oldest of us five kids, and I was the youngest. Of course, she'd flown the coop before me.

I watched her go before I put my car back in gear and drove the perimeter of the gate to the other entrance where I'd dropped off Jerrin last night. Wearing jeans, another T-shirt—green this time—and a ballcap, he leaned against the fence near the gate, chatting with the two guards there. As soon as he saw me, he pushed away from the chain link and headed for me.

Unlike last night, he leaned in and brushed his lips over mine, the light touch lingering and sending a tingle through me.

"Missed you," he murmured.

"Missed you, too. Even if we talked half the night," I teased.

He chuckled. "That was a first for me."

"Yeah?" I liked that. Unable to stop my grin, I headed toward the street.

"Yeah. Maybe, I shouldn't say this, but there's something about you, Sky…"

That tingle he'd created inside me intensified, though he only held my hand. "There's something about you, too," I admitted quietly. "My sister, though… She said…"

"What did she say?" he growled.

"Not specifically about you," I clarified. "I didn't tell her about this. I want time for just us, without her opinions. And trust me, she will have opinions. She's pretty overprotective. But she said you guys on the tour are, uh… What word did she used? Horndogs."

His rich laughter filled the car, bringing back my smile. "She's not wrong, but I'm not like that. I don't mess around, sweet thing. Haven't been with… Fuck, I can't even remember. Like I said, there's something different about you."

He could have been feeding me a line, but I chose to believe him.

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked.

"Whatever you want. I'm yours until rehearsal time at four, then again afterward, if you want."

"I want." I wanted more than I should, actually. Too much too fast as he'd said yesterday, but I couldn't think it was wrong.

"Maybe breakfast?" he offered. "Then we can decide."

Despite the pastry I'd picked at earlier, I could eat. Or watch him eat while I drank more coffee. If I wasn't careful, though, I might jump him.

"I was thinking breakfast then maybe laser tag or the ropes course outside of town." Something like that would keep us from falling into each other. Tonight… Well, that was another story. We'd see what happened.

"I'm good with ropes," he said, his tone making my head jerk toward him. Yeah, he was smirking, definitely teasing me.

I cleared my throat. "Laser tag it is, then."