“Shut the fuck up, Lo. You know she’s as much my wife as she is yours.”

“That would be incorrect. I didn’t give her my last name. You did.”

“No, you’re just the reason she’s gone.”

Staring at Jericho, I silently prayed that he wasn’t still pining for that bitch. “I’d do it again,” I told him.

Just so we’re all clear.

Shaking his head, Rich refused to look at me when he changed the subject back to Braxton. I didn’t give a fuck about Emily. “Are we doing this or not?” he questioned angrily.

I hated myself for looking to Houston first. We all knew this wasn’t happening without him on board. He sat on the arm of the sectional, forearms braced on his thighs, and staring at the floor for too goddamn long. “I’m in,” he finally said with a slow nod.

“Sweet. Me too.” I snatched up my phone when Instagram notified me that someone I followed had posted. There was only one person I cared enough to use the setting. Tapping on the notification, it took me to Braxton’s profile and the new photo she’d posted ten minutes ago.

It was a goddamn selfie of her eating a beignet.

Unable to help myself, I left a comment.

[thebassistLo]: petty

There were already hundreds flooding her comment section since her follower count had reached over three million. Before coming out as our new guitarist, she’d garnered thirty thousand on her own. Not bad for someone who hadn’t wanted to be found.

Oni made sure to let us know how hard she worked to sell Braxton so that we didn’t fuck it up.

I snorted.

It’s like she didn’t know us.

After scrolling through some of the comments, I refreshed Braxton’s page to see if she’d replied.

She didn’t.

Instagram told me her account was not found, which meant I was blocked again.

Tapping my handle at the top of the page, I switched to the ghost profile I’d made the last time she blocked me, found her page, and typed another comment.

Yeah, I was supposed to leave her alone, but I couldn’t help it.

Braxton was addicting.

[brax_n_lo_4eva]: You look like your pussy tastes better

Done trolling since I knew she wouldn’t respond, I pocketed my phone and turned to my friends. “I just have one question.”

Rich still wasn’t talking to me, so Houston stepped to the plate with a sigh. “What, Lo?”

“Assuming we win her over, how do we decide who gets her?”

“We don’t,” Houston informed me. “It has to be her choice.”

I liked the sound of that since I had more charm and charisma than both of them put together. I also had a leg up. Braxton would never speak to Rich again once she found out he was married, and Houston would have to grovel more since he’d been the biggest dick to her.

Lacing my fingers behind my head, I grinned at my evil master plan.

“Sounds good to me,” I said excitedly.

“I have a better plan,” Rich said slowly. He looked to Houston and then to me, and I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever the fuck came out of his mouth. “We share her.”

It was late as fuck when Braxton finally returned to the bus. I was lying in my bunk, smoking, and forcing my eyes to stay on the movie playing as she got her shit together for a shower.

She was going to be mad as fuck when she realized I didn’t leave her any hot water again.

It was the first time I’d done the shit on purpose, hoping she yelled at me again. I was willing to take any scraps she gave me at this point. If I felt like this after only a week, I couldn’t imagine what I’d do when the year was up. She said she was just temporary, but maybe she didn’t have to be.

Drawing as much weed as I could into my lungs, I slowly exhaled.

One step at a time.

As soon as Braxton disappeared inside the bedroom, I rolled out of my bunk and snatched her bag from her bed.

“Lo!” Rich hissed so that Braxton wouldn’t hear. He’d been sulking in his bunk for the last hour too. “What are you doing?”

“Staying out of your business,” I tossed over my shoulder. “Return the favor?”

A joint in one hand and Braxton’s phone in the other, I typed in her passcode and then tapped the Instagram icon only to realize she’d logged out.

Fuck.

Not willing to give up, I tried a few combinations.

When I struck out on her full name, birthday, and all that simple shit, I switched tactics.

bambi

babyfawn

richisawimp

houstonisabadlay

I snorted when I struck gold on my final attempt before Instagram locked me out.

lorenisadick

I started to put her phone back once I unblocked myself until I realized there was no rush, unlike last time. Getting comfortable on the edge of Houston’s bunk since he was still out discussing shit with Xavier, I went to her photos. I thought her Instagram feed was good until I saw all the shit she didn’t post.

Damn.

I was praying for a nude as I scrolled through all her photos, and just when I thought I wasn’t that lucky…

There was an aerial shot of her without a stitch of clothing, lying in her bunk alone, thick lips pursed, and staring at the camera as if she knew someone would find these photos. Her hair was spread out like wings on her pillow and around her shoulders while the light from the TV illuminated her pale skin.

She looked like an angel cast from heaven, but she didn’t fall.

She dove.

I felt my mouth watering as I stared at her dusky nipples and the gentle swell of her breasts. Her stomach was taut, the skin there smooth, and I even felt the urge to dip my tongue inside her belly button.

Just as I was admiring what I knew were soft thighs and thinking about what I really wanted hidden between them, her phone was snatched from my hands.

I’d been so caught up in her photo that I failed to hear Rich climb out of his bunk. He stood over me, holding Braxton’s phone in his fist and staring down at me in disapproval.

Toking on my joint, I watched as Rich glanced at the screen and then as he sucked in a breath at what he saw. It took him a second longer to realize he shouldn’t be looking either before exiting the photo and stuffing the phone back in her bag.

“Enjoyed that, did you?” I teased.

“Seriously, Lo. Grow up.” Shaking his head, he slid back into his bunk, and I chuckled under my breath when he stared at the top like he couldn’t get Braxton’s nude out of his head.

Welcome to the party.

Hearing the shower cut off, I climbed back in my bunk to resume my nightly ritual of smoking. Before I gave it up, I could never seem to sleep without getting high as fuck first, but I managed. Now it seemed to be having the opposite effect. I was too wired.

Braxton was keeping me on edge.

Rubbing my eyes with the heel of my hands, I sighed. Fuck it. I climbed out of my bunk just as Braxton entered wearing a camisole and… Where the hell were her shorts? She usually wore them, or maybe it was the other way around. Perhaps she was tired of accommodating us by being decent, which was more than fine with me.

Panties covered her perky bottom—if you could even call them that. They went up her ass like a thong, but they had a little more material. I had no idea what chicks called those shits. It was sexy as fuck, and that’s all I needed to know.

Since I was just standing there in my boxers like a dope, Braxton eyed me warily as she finished towel drying her hair. More than once, her gaze strayed to my chest before catching herself and meeting my eyes. I could feel Rich silently warning me from his bunk to stick to the plan.

Fuck the plan.

“Enjoy your beignet?”

There was amusement in Braxton’s eyes as she regarded me. “Does the answer have anything to do with tomorrow night’s show?”

Cheeky bitch.

“It would if you got food poisoning.” I wasn’t quite sure if she could from eating fried dough and powdered sugar but…anything to keep her talking.

Tossing her towel at the foot of her bunk, she turned away from me. “I think I’ll be fine, Loren. Good night.” As Braxton climbed in her bunk, Houston showed up and got an eyeful of her nice, round ass.

He looked like he wanted to say something to her, but one glance at Rich, and he swallowed it. It was good to know he followed someone else’s rules better than he did his own.

Tucked inside her bunk and nestled under the covers now, Braxton met Houston’s gaze, and a moment later, she turned, giving him—us—her back.

“Ouch.”

Rich promptly threw his pillow at my head, a final warning before he lost his shit. Rolling my eyes, I decided to brush my teeth before Houston could finish getting ready for his shower. Once I was done, I borrowed a couple of things and was back in my bunk after hiding them under my pillow.