He stopped to drain the last third of his beer, handing the glass back across the bar for a refill. “I told Pumpkin straight out. I said, my sperm is not to be used for these purposes for quite some years, thank you very much.”
“How’d she take it?” I asked.
“She laughed at me.” Mal frowned. “Sometimes, I wonder if I’m really in charge at all.”
“That’s the problem with settling down,” said Vaughan, arms crossed over his chest. “She’s got the pussy. You want it. Might as well just say goodbye to being your own boss.”
“That’s your view of relationships?” I tipped my head. A fresh angle achieved nothing, however. He remained a puzzle I could never solve. One that sadly made my heart beat double time. “Seriously?”
“This should be good,” said Joe, staring into his drink.
Some snickering from Mal.
Oh good. We had everyone’s attention. Andre stood beside Nell, an arm wrapped around her waist. Vaughan had assumed the old blank face. Eyes open and guileless, arms hanging loose at his sides. And yeah, no. We didn’t need to do this. I didn’t need to know.
I smiled, shook my head. “Forget I said that. A toast!”
Everyone held up their glasses apart from Vaughan. I avoided his gaze, getting on with my life—accepting situations I couldn’t change, fighting the inevitable wasted valuable time and energy.
“To Vaughan,” I announced, holding my soda and lime high. I wasn’t afraid to meet his perfect blue eyes. Not now. Time to pull my big girl panties up and move on. “Safe travels and musical glory. I hope all of your dreams come true.”
Compliments and similar wishes were spoken. Drinks were drunk.
“You’re not going with him?” asked Mal, voice subdued as conversations continued around us.
“No. We’ve only known each other a week. It’s not … and I’m hoping to become a bigger part of things in the Dive Bar.” My smile felt staged for some reason. Not that I was lying. “I like it here.”
He tipped his chin and said no more. The understanding in his eyes, I didn’t like it. Shit, I barely knew the man. I could really do without parading my dumbass heart in front of international rock stars.
“Do you spend much time in Coeur d’Alene?” I asked, eager to change the topic of conversation.
Mal smiled. “Yeah, I’ve got family here. Bought a place on the lake. You should come over sometime. Meet Pumpkin. I think you two would get along and it’d be good for her to know some people in town. We’re spending a bit more time here these days.”
“Thank you,” I said, eyes wide in surprise. “I’d like that.”
“In fact, all of you losers should come visit,” he announced more loudly. “Stay the night, bring instruments, I’ll organize the eats and drinks. Ben’s coming out with Lizzy and Gibson tomorrow. I think Davie and Ev were thinking about visiting too. It’ll be fun.”
“Won’t that be a lot of people?” asked Nell.
“Nelly, the house is big. Like, a bajillion bedrooms or something. No way was I taking the chance that someone’s screaming baby would wake me in the middle of the night. Visitors go in the other wing, far, far away from me.” He waved a hand, indicating one hell of a distance. “Trust me, you’ll all fit.”
“Christ, your place has wings?” Joe huffed out a breath. “Last time I saw you, you said you were looking at a log cabin on the water. You didn’t say anything about it being a castle.”
“Hello, I know we haven’t hung out much since school. But, um, guys, I’m kind of rich now,” said Mal. “It is a log cabin on the water. It’s just a very fucking big one.”
“This I need to see,” said Joe. “Who built it?”
“Fucked if I know. You can climb over the place to your heart’s content, Bob the Builder. Check out how it’s put together.”
“You had to know he’d be back, shoving his money in our faces,” said Andre, a sly smile on his face.
“Haha.” Mal flipped him the bird. “Oh, hey. Am I still banned from your shop and have you still got your old man’s Gretsch kit?”
“It’s upstairs in storage, but I could bring it down.”
Eyes excited, Mal rubbed his hands together. “Excellent. Is it for sale?”
“Maybe.” Andre sipped his scotch. “If I knew it was going to a good home. As for you still being banned, that depends. You going to try and skateboard in my shop again, you fuckface?”