Free Beats by Kendall Grey

No need to piss him or Toombs off right before we go on.
    I fumble through my bunk sheets, searching for the drumsticks I thought I left there earlier.
    “You coming, Jinx?” Letty shoves a foot into her boot and stands.
    “Yeah. Be there in a minute.”
    She nods and follows Shades down the steps.
    I shake out the linens one more time and feel around. Nothing. “Damn it.” I roll open the trundle. Beside the missing sticks I was looking for, a freshly picked yellow wildflower and a note stare up at me. The messy scrawl across the page reads, “Sorry for being a dick.” I whip my gaze right and catch Toombs watching me. He quickly fiddles with something in his own trundle.
    My pulse takes off at a sprint.
    “Hurry up, Toombs,” Rax calls from the front as he hops down the stairs.
    Toombs and I are alone on the bus. We stare at each other for a good fifteen seconds. The sweet scent from the flower rises from the drawer. Why did he leave this for me? Why the note? Why—
    Heavy leather and clinks of steel toes thunder toward me. Toombs plows into me like a bullet and tangles his arms around my waist, catching some of my hair in his splayed fingers. His lips crash into mine and swindle the oxygen right out of my lungs.
    Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.
     
    Toombs is kissing me.
    I’m dizzy, drunk from his touch. His lips are softer than I imagined. Gentle. Giving. Tender. And Jesus, up close he smells divine—a combination of the cinnamon gum he chews and the bottle of cheap body wash I’ve sniffed in the shower a dozen times. On him, it’s heaven.
    The pounding in my ears intensifies, matching the beats pulsing in one of the thick veins in his neck. I can’t see them, but I can feel them.
    Shit. He’s watching me. I snap my lids shut and hold them down tightly. My body shakes all over, but his wiry arms support me with unexpected attentiveness.
    I was right about him. He’s a good man. His kiss proves it.
    I knew it.
    “Yo, Toombs. Let’s book,” Rax hollers from outside and bangs three times on the metal hull.
    Toombs breaks the kiss. My eyes flutter open, and my jaw quivers without his lips to keep me steady. I’m out of breath. Out of my mind. Out of words.
    “I’m coming,” he yells back, gaze locked on mine.
    I’m a hot mess of confusion and elation and shock. A ball of nerves under the influence of a cattle prod.
    “We’ll talk later.” He fiddles with some strands of hair draped across my sleeve.
    Fighting with my uncooperative lungs, I nod. When he releases me, I lose track of the rhythm our pulses drummed up together. The disconnect jars me, throws me out of the perfect balance we shared.
    He dips his head. Heat floods my cheeks as he turns away and leaves me gaping after him.
    Oh. My. God.
    Why did he kiss me? He made it pretty clear he wanted nothing to do with my lips back in San Antonio when I walked in on him and Rax with their groupie. What changed?
    Eager to make sense of this new development, my mind sifts through the facts. Rax was with us the night Toombs jerked away from my lame attempt at a lip lock. Just now Toombs waited for Rax to get off the bus to kiss me. Maybe Toombs didn’t want Rax to see us?
    Again, why?
    Do I dare conclude he likes me and doesn’t want Rax to know?
    What kind of power does Rax hold over him that Toombs has to hide his affection for someone else?
    I know the answer. Rax made it clear he wants me for himself—if only for casual sex. He views Toombs as his rival, and as his sub, slave, or whatever he is, Toombs must do whatever Rax tells him. He doesn’t want Rax to know his feelings for me because it’ll put them in direct competition with one another.
    This fucked-up lust triangle really muddies the already choppy water. But I now have an unexpected ally in Toombs. And a damn good reason to follow through with our “meeting” tomorrow night.
    But can I give my body to Rax in exchange for a chance at winning Toombs over?
    I touch my lips and shut