Double Time

Trey glanced down at her. He hadn’t meant to say that aloud and was surprised that Reagan wouldn’t want kids. Didn’t all women want them?

“You don’t want kids?”

She shook her head. “Do you have any idea what they do to your vagina?” she said. “No thank you.”

Trey laughed and squeezed her against him. “My perfect woman.”

Chapter 11

Reagan carried two of her guitars onto Si

Brian dropped Reagan’s luggage and brushed past her to sit next to Eric in the booth. He began flipping through pictures on his cell phone. He’d been so excited when he had been allowed to turn on his cell phone after landing and found he had six new pictures and a video of Malcolm sleeping in his bassinet for the first time. While Eric ooo-ed and aww-ed over baby pictures, Trey struggled with Reagan’s abundance of luggage.

“I brought too much, didn’t I?” she asked.

“You think?” Trey laughed and stacked her four guitar cases on the only sofa on the bus.

“Maybe we should store them underneath the bus,” she said.

“Good idea.”

“You’re not going to introduce her?” Eric asked. He lifted his gaze from Brian’s three-minute-long, baby-sleeping video to look at Reagan.

Brian elbowed him in the ribs. “This is Malcolm’s first meal.”

Eric looked at the picture and gri

Trey stared at her as if he had no idea how to introduce her to Eric. Eventually he said, “This is Reagan. She’ll be on tour with us for the next two weeks. Dare’s idea.”

Eric scratched behind his ear. “Dare’s idea?”

“I’m Exodus End’s new rhythm guitarist. Taking over for Max,” Reagan explained.

“Oh. Max’s carpal tu

“I think they’re afraid that I’m not man enough to go on tour with a rock band.”

Eric’s gaze traveled down Reagan’s entire length. “I’d hazard to guess you aren’t man at all.”

“She’s also Trey’s girlfriend,” Brian said.

Eric’s head snapped around in Brian’s direction, his bright blue eyes wide with astonishment.

“I know, right?” Brian said.

Trey cringed. Reagan wondered why it made him uncomfortable.

“Let’s go put some of your stuff under the bus,” he said.

A loud mechanical sound came from near the front of the bus. Before Reagan could figure out its source, Trey took Reagan’s arm and directed her to stand with him between the captain’s chairs along one wall while a good-looking young man maneuvered his wheelchair down the aisle.

“You ready to head out, Brian?” the man asked. “We’ll be on the road for hours. The other bus and equipment trucks are already in Topeka. They’ve started setting up.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Brian said. “Where are the rest of the guys?”

“Jace and Sed went to get some necessities,” Eric said. “Jon left with the other bus. Jake’s napping.”

“Rebekah?”

Eric smiled and glanced at the back bedroom’s closed door. “She’s getting dressed.”

“We need to store some stuff under the bus,” Trey said to the man in the wheelchair.

The man started when he noticed Reagan crammed between Trey and the wall. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” He extended a hand in Reagan’s direction. “I’m Dave. I run the soundboard when Rebekah lets me.”

Reagan reached around Trey to shake Dave’s hand. She had heard about Si

“You better be glad Reb didn’t hear that,” Eric said.

Dave gri

“And my wife,” Eric said. “She’s a little kinky. Just to warn you.”

Trey laughed. He’d never heard Eric apologize for his wife’s kinkiness before. Of course, she’d been the only woman on the bus for the past seven months and the guys were used to her emerging from the bedroom dressed as a vampire or an umpire. She would then corral her husband into the back bedroom and a whole lot of happy emanated from that area of the bus for the next couple of hours.

“So Dave is your brother-in-law?” Reagan asked Eric as she worked out the dynamics of the bus occupants.

“Yep.”

“What are you working on?” Brian asked Eric, finally taking his attention off his collection of photos to look over the scores of music. “New Si

Eric collected his music and stuffed it into a folder. “It’s not Si

Brian laughed. “I still can’t believe you named your new band that. Why not call it Wiener Eater? Maybe Trey—”

“Let’s go put this stuff under the bus,” Trey interrupted loudly. He reached for two guitar cases and handed them to Reagan. He grabbed the larger of her two suitcases and another guitar case and encouraged her to head toward the exit.

“Eric has a new band?” Reagan asked as she made her way back toward the exit.

“Some punk/emo/goth hybrid thing he’s working on with Jon Mallory. They’re still in the pla

“What about Si

Trey shook his head. “Side project,” he said. “Si

Reagan descended the steps and waited at the bottom for Trey to join her. She followed him to the side of the bus where he opened a compartment underneath.

“I should have asked you which guitar you wanted to keep out,” he said as he rearranged some luggage so he could fit three of her guitars and one of her suitcases in the cramped space.

“They’re all awesome. I’m glad you chose so I didn’t have to.”

Once Reagan’s things were stored safely underneath the bus, Trey shut the hatch and then reached for her. He drew her against the length of his body and kissed her.

“Don’t pay attention to what the guys say,” he said, still thinking about how Brian had almost revealed Trey’s homosexual tendencies to Reagan on the bus with that wiener eater remark. He wasn’t ready for Reagan to know that about him. Wasn’t sure if he ever wanted her to know. Trey did feel uncomfortable about hiding it from her, but since men were no longer on his menu, there was no sense in complicating his new relationship with Reagan with all those skeletons in his closet. There was an entire army of skeletons in his closet. And a few sailors. “They joke around like that a lot.”

“I should hope so. They’re guys. I’m sure Exodus End does that a lot too.”

Trey laughed. “They’re a bit rowdier than we are.”

“Rowdier?”

“Yeah. Dare figured if you couldn’t handle the five of us, there’s no way you could handle the four of them.”

“Well, don’t take it easy on me.”

“Si

“Si

“Before chicks.”

“Well, don’t mellow for my sake,” Reagan said. Her hands slid down his back to squeeze his ass. “I happen to like you naughty. The naughtier, the better.”