Mr. October: A Rock Star Romance (Calendar Boys Book 10) Page 3

  I type out a text to Avery. She’s been begging to visit me, but I’m not ready for that yet. Avery is like a wrecking ball, and I don’t even really know what I’m dealing with here. I’m not ready for her to turn up and ruffle everyone’s feathers.

  To: Avery

  From: Billie

  Such a tough life

  I attach a picture of my bare legs and the ridiculously lavish pool beyond.

  She texts back with the emoji of a hand pulling the middle finger.

  I sigh and scroll through my kindle app, looking for a book to catch my attention.

  I’m bored.

  I could go and see what Morris is doing, but honestly, I don’t think he knew what to say when I offered to help him do the washing or clean the house yesterday.

  This arrangement is not what I imagined it would be.

  I’m not sure exactly what I did imagine, but it wasn’t sitting by the pool, bored out of my mind, all alone.

  I glance around and try to listen for any noise.

  I assume Masen is in the basement, in his studio. I saw him go down there a few hours ago, and I haven’t seen him come up again.

  I also haven’t heard a thing, so it must be soundproof. Either that, or he’s bowling – but I just can’t picture him doing that.

  I’m dying to go down there and find out, but I feel like I’m invading his privacy. I thought he might have invited me in by now, but he hasn’t. In fact, he hasn’t shown me a single thing around here since I first arrived. He’s barely glanced in my direction if I’m honest.

  I guess his comments about me being ‘hot as fuck’ were designed to get me to agree to be his pretend girlfriend rather than being genuine, because he’s clearly not in the least bit fazed by my presence.

  I toss my phone back down, having no luck with the book search, and I’m just about to go back inside to find something to eat when I hear feet running, coming up behind me.

  “Fire in the hole!” a voice bellows, and I curl up into myself, having no idea what’s coming for me.

  I see a shadow leap and then a huge splash lands water all over me.

  “Shit!” I shriek, grabbing for my phone and drying it off with a towel. I seem to recall Morris telling me something about it being waterproof, but you can’t be too careful.

  A head pops up in the centre of the pool and shakes another spray of water in my direction.

  A grinning, blonde-haired guy slides his arms through the water gracefully until he’s resting his elbows on the side of the pool right in front of me.

  “Damn, when he told me he had a fake girlfriend, I thought he meant a blow-up doll or something.”

  I grimace. “That’s gross.”

  He presses up, his biceps bulging as he levers himself out of the pool, water dripping off his bare torso and down his boardshorts.

  Sweet lord.

  This guy is in seriously good shape.

  “I’m Josh,” he states, still grinning a boyish grin, a deep dimple in his left cheek.

  Wow.

  I swallow deeply. “Billie,” I manage to reply.

  His eyes roam over my bikini-clad body, making no attempt to hide his ogling.

  I’m torn between covering myself up and taking off the little I am wearing.

  I don’t know where that brazen thought came from, it’s not like me at all, but this stranger’s stare is heating me up.

  He finishes his eye fuck, his gaze meeting mine again.

  “Where is the grumpy fucker?”

  I shrug. “I don’t seem to see him much.”

  “Rude prick,” he says, shaking his hair out again. “C’mon, FG, we’re going to find him.”

  He holds out his hand to me and before I can even make sense of what’s happening, I take his hand in mine.

  He pulls me to my feet, tugging me closer to him than is in any way required, his body hitting against mine.

  He’s tall and broad and cut and gorgeous.

  Oh man.

  He’s absolutely cut to shreds.

  Jesus. What have I got myself into?

  I’ve barely had a chance to speak to a male since starting college, let alone one that looks like this, and the ones I left behind in high school were just boys… but not Josh here. No… he’s all man.

  “FG?” I question, my tongue darting out to moisten my lips.

  My hand is still in his and his other hand is resting on my elbow now, I’m not even sure when that happened.

  “Fake girlfriend,” he murmurs, emphasising the word ‘fake’.

  “Right.” I nod, my throat thick.

  He’s looking down at me like he wants to kiss me.

  I don’t know who this guy is, but his complete and utter confidence is magnetising. I can’t look away.

  His hand trails from my elbow, up my arm to cup my neck.

  Holy shit. What the fuck is going on here?

  “Get your man-whore hands off my girl,” Masen’s deep voice sounds from behind me and I gasp, my belly fluttering at the sound of his no-bullshit tone.

  Josh chuckles, and just like that the spell is broken.

  His hand drops from my neck and he steps back a fraction, dropping my hand and slinging his wet arm around my shoulders instead.

  “If you’re not going to play with her, I will.” Josh chuckles.

  I nudge him in the ribs. “What makes you think I want to play with you, jackass?”

  “Didn’t hear too many complaints a minute ago.”

  I feel my cheeks heat. He’s right. I wasn’t putting up much of a fight.

  I try to shrug out of his hold, but he doesn’t let me.

  “Can you get your hands off her? Fuck’s sake, man, I can’t leave you alone for thirty seconds,” Masen growls, and I finally manage to get free as Josh chuckles.

  I don’t know why I feel like I’ve been caught doing something wrong, I mean, kissing strangers isn’t exactly my normal past time, but Masen told me to do ‘whatever the fuck I wanted’ while I was here, so it’s not like he could be mad if I had done it.

  I would have thought that Josh was classed as ‘whatever the fuck I want’, but the look on Masen’s face is giving the distinct impression that this is not the case.

  He’s made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t give a shit what I get up to, but right now, it seems like he does care after all, maybe just a tiny bit.

  I reach for my towel and try to wrap it around my body. When I chose this skimpy bikini this morning, I planned to be the only person to see it, and now it feels like all eyes are on me.

  Josh snags it from my hand and runs it through his soaked hair instead.

  “Sorry, FG, I’m all wet,” he says, his tone confirming that he’s not sorry at all.

  I grumble a series of curse words under my breath.

  “Didn’t catch that, sorry, were you telling me how wet you were?”

  My eyes bulge, and he erupts into laughter, tossing the now-damp towel back to me.

  “Jesus, your face.” He sniggers, turning back to Masen, who is watching us with an unamused expression. “Where’d you find this one, bro? She embarrasses easy. I like her.”

  I hurriedly cover myself with the towel, my face flaming.

  “Fuck off into the house, would you,” Masen tells Josh, who laughs again, but complies, as he strolls towards the door.

  “Good luck, FG,” he calls over his shoulder. “Don’t let him bite.”

  I don’t exactly know what I need good luck for, but the barely concealed irritation on Masen’s face tells me I’m about to find out.

  He walks towards me, his lazy, languid steps a stark contrast to the tension radiating from him.

  “I should have warned you about Josh,” he says as he comes to a stop right in front of me, closer than he’s ever been before.

  I tug the towel higher up my chest. “Oh, um… I mean you told me he’d be here sometimes…”

  He glances over his shoulder, back at the house, and I see a frown on his f
ace.

  “He’s a player.”

  “Okay…” I reply warily. I’m not exactly sure why I’m being warned off his best friend, but I think that’s exactly what’s happening here.

  “I’ll have a word with him.”

  “Um… about what?” I question. I squint as I try to look him in the eye; the blinding sun is at his back, making it nearly impossible to make out his expressions.

  “Touching what’s mine.”

  “Do you mean me?” I reply, shocked by the possessive statement that just fell from his lips.

  His head moves up and down slowly, nodding. “You’re here to be my girl… not to be his plaything. I’ll make it clear to him.”

  I’m confused. So, so confused. This is the most he’s said to me in two days, and he’s so close. The planes of his chest are right in front of me, so near I could press my palms against him and fill the space between our bodies. I can smell him too, masculine and woodsy. Addictive.

  My head is swimming with confusion, swimming with him.

  “I didn’t mind. He was just being friendly,” I say, my tone breathy.

  He laughs humourlessly. “Well he can be friendly with someone else’s girl.”

  He turns on his heel and moves swiftly back inside, and I’m left reeling, even more conflicted than I was before.

  Josh might be magnetising, but Masen is all-consuming.

  I don’t know what just happened, but things just got a hell of a lot less boring, that’s for sure.

  ***

  “C’mon, FG, let’s go see what he’s been working on.”

  Josh grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet, dragging me along behind him towards the door that leads down to the basement.

  Masen scowls at our joined hands – it appears that Josh didn’t receive the message as loud and clear as I’m betting Masen would have delivered it.

  At least I had time to throw a dress over my bikini before he got his hands on me again.

  “I’m not really in the mood for sharing,” Masen drawls.

  “Well bad luck, sunshine, we’re going down to the studio, no one said you had to come.”

  I pull my hand from Josh’s and hide both behind my back so he can’t grab either one again.

  “I think I might just go up to my room...” I offer.

  Masen looks relieved, but Josh is oblivious.

  “Like fuck, you’re coming with me,” he states.

  Masen steps in front of him, blocking his path.

  “Oh quit being such a baby, if she’s ‘yours’ when I try to kiss her, then she’s yours now too, which means she gets to see everything.”

  My cheeks heat again as he confirms he was in fact intending to lock lips with me, and then redden further at the idea of being Masen’s, even if it is just pretend.

  Masen goes to open his mouth – probably to argue, but Josh cuts him off.

  “I bet you had her sign some elaborate contract so she can’t say shit anyway, so stop being a little bitch and let her in.”

  Masen lands his hand in the centre of Josh’s chest, halting him.

  “Come on, that thing will be so watertight, I bet I could piss in it and not lose a drop.”

  “Ew.” I grimace. “That’s disgusting.”

  Masen glances at me and then back to Josh before stepping aside with a heavy sigh and letting him past.

  “Green light!” Josh yells to me as he rushes down the stairs. “Let’s go, FG!”

  I rub my temples. I’ve only known the guy an hour, and I’m already tired.

  “Yeah… he has that effect,” Masen grumbles as he starts to trail after his friend.

  He turns back when I don’t follow. “You coming?”

  I shrug. “I don’t have to.”

  He runs his hand through his hair, and as much as I don’t want him to be uncomfortable, I’m dying for him to say yes, so I can check out his setup for myself.

  “Oh, what the hell, you’re going to be here a while, right? May as well get it over with.”

  I grin widely and rush down the steps after him.

  I think he chuckles, but given that I’ve never heard him laugh, I wouldn’t know if it was my imagination or not.

  I follow him until we step into a huge room, all set up like a professional recording studio.

  “Wow,” I breathe.

  This is like my dream come to life, and he hasn’t even started singing yet.

  Josh pats the chair next to him as he smiles at me. “Come sit.”

  I slowly cross the room, feeling Masen’s eyes on me the entire time. “This is incredible.”

  My fingers trail lightly over the huge workstation while my eyes scour the recording booth.

  He’s got all kinds of instruments in here, a piano, drums, guitars…

  “You play?” I tip my head towards the thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment.

  I’ve seen him live in concert once – not that he knows that – and he didn’t touch an instrument, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play.

  He shakes his head slowly, watching me intently.

  It’s clear he doesn’t like people in his space all that much, but hey, I’m not particularly thrilled about the state of my life right now either, so it won’t kill us both to be out of our comfort zones.

  “He’s lying, he can play,” Josh drawls as he grabs hold of my hand and tugs me down so I’m sitting on the seat right next to him.

  “You really don’t know anything about personal boundaries, do you?” I ask him.

  He grins wider, that sexy dimple of his appearing. “Oh, I’m aware they exist, I just prefer to ignore them. You’ll get used to it.” He taps the end of my nose.

  I try but fail not to smile back at him. I don’t know what it is about Josh, but he’s so warm and inviting. He’s the stark opposite to the other man in the room with us right now.

  Masen is cold and unwelcoming. And confusing. Really, really confusing.

  It scares me that even given that, I don’t know whose company I’d choose if I had to pick just one.

  As long as Josh doesn’t try and kiss me again, I think I could get used to spending time with him quite easily, but Masen’s time… I’m starting to crave it.

  I tug my hand free from Josh’s and turn so I can look at Masen, who is lingering awkwardly in the corner. “So, you do play?” I question.

  He shrugs. “A little.”

  Jesus. Getting any form of conversation out of him is like getting blood out of a stone.

  “Alright.”

  “Sing something already, I’ve got shit to do today.” Josh crosses his legs at the ankles as he speaks, his arms splaying widely across the back of the seat.

  “I’m not singing for you,” Masen replies with a shake of his head.

  “You sing for the world, don’t be such a prick,” Josh says, his grin growing.

  Masen doesn’t budge, doesn’t even crack a smile.

  “Fine then, I’ll just find something on here.” Josh leans forward, reaching for one of the hundreds of dials and buttons.

  My hand darts out and catches his before he can touch anything. “Do you know how to use that?”

  Josh chuckles. “Not a fucking clue, but I’m more than willing to push buttons until his eye twitches.”

  “I think you might have already succeeded,” I reply dryly. “Maybe you should let me…” I tug his hand back and place it in his lap.

  “You some kind of music-producing expert, FG?” He quirks a brow questioningly.

  I shake my head. “I’m no expert, that’s kinda why I’m doing the degree.”

  “You’re studying music?” It’s Masen who questions me this time, and much like every time he speaks directly to me, I feel his raspy voice all the way down to my toes.

  I don’t know how someone so young can have perfected being so intimidating. He’s only twenty-three, yet he’s got years and years’ worth of life experience simply radiating from him.

  I nod, my eyes not wande
ring from the elaborate setup in front of me. “Did you think I was running around getting coffees at the recording studio just for fun?”

  I glance at him. He doesn’t answer me, but his eyes study me with a look of curiosity.

  I have to look away, his stare sees too much.

  I slide one of the dials and press a few buttons. A beat fills the room.

  I grin victoriously at the small win.

  I spent a lot of time in a small recording studio back home, learning the basics every holiday break for the past three years, but the setup they had, had nothing on this. I don’t even know what most of these gadgets do, but I’d kill to find out.

  “Ten points to the new girl.” Josh holds his knuckles out to bump against mine.

  I fiddle with another few dials and then Masen’s raspy voice fills the air, surprising me. I frown, glancing at the speaker, before realising that the voice is coming out of the man himself, not the recording equipment.

  He sails through a verse of a song I’ve never heard before, and into the chorus, his voice belting out the chords effortlessly.

  I fall back against my seat, transfixed by his beautiful face and voice as I get the show of a lifetime – one that half the women in the world could only dream about.

  He stumbles through the next verse, before stopping all together. “It’s a work in progress,” he says with a shrug.

  I twist a dial and the music dies down.

  “Masen, that was incredible,” I breathe.

  His eyes rise from the floor to meet mine, the dark brown iris flecked with gold.

  I swallow deeply. When he looks at me with that undiluted intensity, it’s hard to remember that this is just business.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Masen

  “She’s cool, man, I like her.” Josh twirls a drumstick around his fingers.

  I snatch it from his grasp and put it back where it goes.

  I hate him being in my studio, he’s so big and messy – he’s always touching shit like a toddler.

  He scowls at me, but it’s short-lived, he’s grinning again in no time.