Take Me for Granted

Chapter 31: Grant

“Seriously, you can’t keep me in here all day,” Ari said, flopping back on my bed. “I’m going to need to eat.”

“I’ll order us something.” I shot her a devilish smirk.

We’d spent the rest of the night tangled up in my sheets. I’d wanted to go again, but I was too afraid of hurting her. She was fragile enough, and while I’d been gentle, I could tell that she was sore by how much she winced when she walked. I would give her a day and see how she was feeling then.

It had been more than three months since I’d had sex. It had to be a record. Now that I’d tasted it again, I was dying for more. I couldn’t believe I’d held out for twelve hours straight already. If it were up to me, I would have been riding her all night.

“Can’t we just go downstairs and get breakfast?”

I leaned against one of the bedposts and arched an eyebrow. “I’d be happy to show everyone what we were doing last night.”

Her cheeks colored pink. “I think you’re exaggerating.”

“Go ahead and try walking around the room then.”

Determined, she stood and started toddling around the room.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “Babe, you’re all wobbly and waddling around like a penguin.”

She glared at me. “What did you do to me?”

I strode over to her and pulled her against me. “I fucked you.”

“So crude.”

“Are you saying you don’t want me to fuck you again?” I asked, pushing a hand up into her hair.

“I didn’t say that.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Maybe we could do it again,” she whispered hesitantly. Her hand landed on my chest.

“Are you asking me to fuck you?”

“Maybe.”

My hand slid down between her legs and gently rubbed against her. She winced and retreated from me just as I’d expected.

“I think I’m going to have to save you for dessert.”

“I think I’ll be better after your show tonight.”

I loved her enthusiasm. I kissed her on the mouth. “We’ll see. But first…breakfast.”

Room service arrived sometime later, and I threw some clothes on to go answer the door. Vin was lounging around in his boxers, watching some CrossFit championship on ESPN. I shook my head and opened the door. The guy wheeled the tray into the room, and then he was gone after I tipped him.

“What’d you get me?” Vin asked, hopping off the couch to examine the food.

“Nothing. Fuck off.” I pushed the food toward my room.

“You’ve been in there all night and morning. Do you guys even come up to breathe?”

“Nope.” No use telling Vin any details.

“I ended up fucking her ginger friend last night.”

“Cheyenne?” I asked. It was still shocking that I’d managed to remember other girls’ names longer than a couple of seconds.

“Yeah, bro. She’s a total freak in the sheets. We should swap, and you should try that out.”

I stopped walking and tried to keep my temper on lock. The last time I’d reacted on Vin, it had fucked up our rehearsals for the next week. I gritted my teeth. “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, you never were into redheads.”

“Did I discriminate?” I didn’t remember it that way.

“You didn’t used to.”

I could hear the annoyance in his voice but chose to ignore it. We had a huge show tonight. If Vin had something to say, he could fucking say it after the show.

“I wish I’d seen where Sydney went off to though. Think I could get her into a threesome with the ginger?”

“I’d assume it wouldn’t be Syd’s first, but she’s my cousin, so shut the fuck up about her.”

“She’s a goddamn cocktease. You should say something to her, Grant. I’ve been wanting in that ever since I took her virginity. I’m fucking obsessed with her.”

To my credit, I didn’t throw Vin across the room like I wanted to. I had beat the shit out of him when I first found out. Luckily, Sydney had enough sense not to actually be interested in my dipshit friend for a repeat performance. Her teasing was pretty entertaining, but fuck, I still wanted to kick his ass for ruining my little cousin.

“I’m not saying a word to her, and you should just fucking leave her alone. Concentrate on Cheyenne. She’s crazy about you.”

Vin cocked his head back like I’d just said the most shocking thing. “Since when are you the fucking voice of reason? You been hanging out with Miller too much, bro.”

Speak of the devil, Miller’s door cracked open, and he walked out in a clean pair of jeans and a band T-shirt. Sauntering out right behind him was Sydney, still in the clothes she’d been wearing the night before. Fuck!

“What the motherfucking fuck?!” Vin roared.

“Oh, Vin, baby,” Sydney said in a chipper voice. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Bro, are you fucking my girl?”

Miller leaned against the doorframe, crossed his arms, and gave Vin the best eat-shit-and-die look I’d ever seen from him. He didn’t need to say a word. That look had done the trick.

“Whoa!” I said, slamming my hand down onto Vin’s chest. “Fucking chill out. You were fucking someone else last night.”

“He fucking knew I was into Sydney!” Vin cried, trying to push past me.

He had more bulk than I did, but I wasn’t going to let my brothers kill each other. Miller was tall and lanky, but I knew firsthand that he packed a punch. He had been taking jiu-jitsu and various other martial arts classes since he was a kid.

Sydney rolled her eyes. “Vin, baby, calm down.”

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do!”

I shoved Vin backward. “Don’t talk to my fucking cousin like that, jackass.”

The other doors to the suite opened, and Aribel and McAvoy appeared out of nowhere. McAvoy came over to help block Vin’s path to Miller.

“What’s going on?” Aribel asked.

“We got it covered, Ari. Just go back into the room.”

She gave me a look that said, No chance in hell.

“You motherfucker!” Vin yelled at Miller, ignoring the bodies standing between them. “You broke code.”

“What code?” Miller was completely calm. “Did you claim her? Is she sharing your bed? Has she been there since high school? No. And last I checked, Sydney is perfectly free to decide where she wants to spend her nights.”

Sydney turned and smiled at Miller. Oh fuck! This hadn’t been just some scheme on her part, like normal. She actually liked Miller. Well, just fucking great. Way to split up the group, Ono.

“Vin is just overreacting. I don’t have time for this,” Sydney said with an exaggerated eye roll. She turned, grabbed her parka, and walked out of the suite.

I fucking knew she was going to be a disaster.

“We have a show in ten hours,” I said. My eyes darted between the two guys. “Are you going to fucking get over this shit before then?”

“There are going to be scouts,” McAvoy said, surprisingly coherent. His eyes weren’t even bloodshot. He nodded his head at me when he saw me notice.

“This is huge for us,” I repeated Miller’s words back to him.

“He fucking slept with Sydney.”

“Yeah, we all got that,” Miller said.

“Enough!” I yelled at both of them. “You should just go find your ginger and fuck her the rest of the afternoon to get over this.”

“Hey! That’s my friend!” Aribel called.

“You want to go for a spin, honey?” Vin asked with a wink.

Aribel narrowed her eyes.

I was ready to knock that shit look off his face, but McAvoy jumped between us.

“He’s just pissed. He doesn’t need a broken nose, too.”

“Maybe he does,” I growled.

“Look,” McAvoy said, raising his voice.

That caught our attention. He never raised his voice.

“We have a fucking show tonight. We shouldn’t be arguing over some fucking girls. It’s about the music. It’s always been about the fucking music. Why have I been the only one who seems to remember that lately?”

Miller stood up and dropped his arms. Vin looked away from McAvoy’s gaze. I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. These were my brothers. We didn’t need to be arguing like this.

“He’s right.”

“Yeah,” Miller said.

Vin continued to look off toward the TV.

“Vin?” McAvoy prompted.

“Yeah. It’s about the fucking music.”

“So, go get laid, blow off some steam, whatever you need. But when we step onto that stage, this shit never happened.”