“Eric, what the f**k did you say?” Trey asked as Aggie stepped off the bottom step.
“Nothing, I swear! Let’s eat.”
Aggie slipped into the jean jacket she’d borrowed and headed toward the woods past the bus. She needed a moment away from the guys to collect her thoughts. She wasn’t running away. She wasn’t.
She entered the woods, autumn leaves crunching beneath her feet. She circled behind the nearest thick tree and leaned against it, staring up at the darkening sky. What was she going to do? She never liked to think about the future. It never did what she expected—what she planned. She had to live in the now. She didn’t know if she had a future with Jace. She was afraid to dwell on it too much in case things didn’t work out with him. Why did he have to bring up that possibility now? Leaves crunched beside her. She wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.
He stopped next to her.
“That’s my jacket.”
Not Jace. Jon.
She leaned away from the tree and started to remove the jacket, but Jon caught her arm. “It’s okay. I don’t mind if you borrow it.”
She felt like she was wearing the opposing team’s game jersey, but if she took it off, she knew she’d have to go back to the bus immediately. The temperature was dropping rapidly as the sun sank behind the horizon.
“What are you doing out here by yourself?” he asked.
“Getting some fresh air.”
He leaned back against the tree beside her. “Stifling in there sometimes, isn’t it?”
She nodded slightly.
“I know you don’t like me.”
It was that obvious, was it?
“I’m not always an obnoxious jackass. That’s just what the guys expect. Can’t let them down.”
“I think they’ve grown up since you were with them originally.”
Jon pulled a hand through his collar-length, wavy black hair. “I guess. I don’t have much to offer. I know that.”
He huffed a breath and stared at the few leaves still clinging to the barren branches above.
“Your guy,” he said. “He has a lot of talent.”
Aggie glanced at him, wondering what he was getting at.
“The band isn’t ever going to take me back, are they? Not for real.”
Aggie felt no need to protect this guy’s feelings. “Probably not.”
“Not unless something happened to Jace.”
Aggie’s heart thudded. “Is that some kind of threat?”
He rolled his smoky gray eyes and shook his head. “If it was a threat, would I have told you?”
His words didn’t make her feel better. She needed to tell Jace what Jon had just said. Warn him that he needed to watch his back.
“I’m going inside,” she said. “It’s chilly out here.” She headed around the tree and almost ran into Jace.
“What are you doing out here with Jon?” Jace asked from the near darkness.
She didn’t know why she felt like she’d been caught cheating. Probably because she knew how much Jace disliked Jon.
“Nothing important.”
“Why are you sneaking around in the dark? Tell me that.”
Wait. Was Jace jealous? Of Jon? Aggie chuckled.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Don’t you trust me, Jace?”
He hesitated. “Yeah, I trust you. But why were you out here alone with Jon? And isn’t this his jacket?”
“I didn’t know it was his when I grabbed it. Let’s go talk inside. I’m cold.”
“The guys are inside.”
Aggie grinned at her sweet, predictable, tough angel. “Are you afraid I’ll embarrass you?”
“Well, won’t you?”
“Yeah, probably.” She looped her arm through his. They had a lot to talk about, whether she was ready to face the future or not. That was what had her so freaked out. Mentioning marriage suggested Jace was thinking of the future in a big way. “I suppose Sed and Jessica are occupying the bedroom.”
“Obviously.”
“Where should we go so we can talk and I don’t embarrass you in front of the guys?”
“We don’t have to talk.”
“Yeah, we do. You brought up marriage.”
“It was a question, Aggie. I just wondered what you thought about marriage. I didn’t mean—”
She found his lips in the moonlight and covered them with her fingertips. “We still need to talk. It makes me nervous too.”
“It does?” he murmured against her fingertips.
“You’re trapped by your past. I’m afraid of my future.”
“Afraid?”
“Terrified.”
She suddenly found herself in his arms, his lips against her forehead. “Don’t be afraid, baby. I’ve got you.”
But would he always? She snuggled closer. She actually found herself hoping—for a future. With this guy. Her heart thudded faster as her mind raced through possibilities, the good and the bad.
“Maybe both of us should concentrate on now,” she suggested. “Forget the past. Don’t worry about the future. Just be.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“I’m not sure it’s what I want, but I think it’s all I can handle.”
“Okay.”
“But we still need to talk.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” she agreed. “Let’s go eat, and then you can take me to your bunk and have your way with me.”
“The guys will hear us.”
Aggie chuckled. “Like they don’t hear us when we’re in the bedroom.”
“Just don’t call me anything embarrassing like Sweet’ums McSugar Bear.”
“I’d never called you that. What if I call you Huge Cock Master Pussy Delighter? Would that be okay?”
He laughed, and her heart warmed at the sound. “I guess I could live with that.”
They entered the bus. Aggie took off Jon’s jacket and tossed it on the sofa on her way toward the kitchen. The rest of the band was squashed together in the small booths surrounding the square table eating spaghetti. Jessica was sitting on Sed’s knee. His hand rested against her lower back. He might as well have been growling mine, mine, mine under his breath. Aggie smiled, happy to see Jessica, but more happy to see her glowing. She’d always been a beauty, but with Sed beside her, she was radiant. Sed fed Jessica from his plate while she talked animatedly to Trey.