TANTRIC (Book 3 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 20: Front Men Forget to Breathe

"Goddamn," I swear again. I'm so hard right now—and no matter what I do to handle it, Ash has kindled a fire in me that only she can quench. I have to wait days for my girl to touch me—and for me to touch her. Cause no matter what she thinks right now, she's not giving me pleasure and going without.

"Leed..." she whispers and it sounds almost like a plea. "I'm really looking forward to Wednesday..."

"I never thought I'd say this, but you gotta stop sayin' my name and talking sexy, okay? You are killing me right now."

She laughs that sweet intoxicating laugh. "Okay," she says switching to to falsely stern. "What do you want to talk about? You wanna play a game? You want to guess my childhood dog's name in twenty questions?"

"Hmmm...no, but I do have a question for you."

"Shoot?"

"Baby, who the hell is Seb and why has he seen more of your body in the flesh than I have?"

She laughs again. "Seb is the guy who's doing the art for the Loving Marcs Campaign—remember?"

"The gay art teacher slash photographer?"

"That's him."

"Ah...okay, but that doesn't answer the second question..."

She gets quiet. I wait patiently. It's not in my nature, but patience seems like the thing she needs most from me. Finally she says. "Because I could show him only what I wanted him to see—the pretty side. The side without scars."

I make my voice as soft as I can. "We all have scars. The ones on the outside are easy to fix, baby. Get them lasered if they bother you, but I promise you...they won't bother me."

Her breath is fast. "Why do you make me believe that?"

"Because it's true."

She sighs. "I'm not ready to have them lasered. When I was in rehab, I promised myself...I'd wait until I was sober a year until I had them treated. I thought...I thought I would need them as a reminder of the life I never wanted to go back to."

"You still feel that way? Like you need them as a reminder?"

I hear the smile in her voice, "Lately I'm feeling like I'd rather look forward than backward."

"Look forward to having lunch with me at the Bliss Bowl after your practice with Ravi tomorrow morning, okay? Ollie's better, and I'm gonna move some things back to my place in the morning..."

"Okay, but I'll meet you there around one? I have an appointment after my practice."

I frown. I don't want to wait that long to see her. "Acupuncture appointment? I'll come with...I want to see it..."

"It's not that. It's a...stay-pretty-appointment."

I grin. I love the cute things she says. She makes conversation fun. "Well, I doubt you need it, but I know how you girls like your salon shit. Fine. I'll meet you at the restaurant. See ya then, Sunshine..."

Who am I kidding? I talk to Ashlynn four more times before meeting her at the restaurant the next day. Every time I call her she giggles and says..."I was just thinking about you..."

Yeah, me and my girl, we are so fucked for each other right now. Thank god I don't have to perform between now and Wednesday. I couldn't remember lyrics if I had to. All that's in my head is Ashlynn.

Who knew falling could be such fun?

Ashlynn's never been to the Bliss Bowl, but I come to this place a lot because I dig their Asian fusion food, but also because they have several terraces—and one is small. Only a few tables. I call ahead and they always do me a solid and keep it private for me or my crew. Today, it's just me and my girl. When the hostess leads her to patio, she's looking cute as fuck in one of those floral, flowy, long sleeve, short-short boho dresses, thigh-high suede boots and a matching hat.