Faith (My Misery Muse) (5 page)

“It’s too bad you can’t join us,” said
Drake.

She shrugged. “It's okay, not really my
thing. I am going to get the kids in bed then curl up with a
book.”

“What are you reading?” I asked. She and I
read a lot of the same books.

“The Edge of
Never—
I know it’s going to end up making me
cry, but it’s been amazing so far.”

“I’ve been wanting to read that, haven’t had
time to yet.”

Drake was looking at us like we were crazy;
men they just didn’t get it.

“You going to hand her over?” Ash asked.

“Do I have to?”

“She’ll be fine, Mags. Go out enjoy yourself,
because when we get back home you won’t get many breaks.”

“I know you're right, but it’s hard.”

“We’ll be fine, I will call you if there is
any reason, but there won’t be. We are all going to curl up on the
couch and watch a movie, then go to bed, right, Quinn?”

I nodded and kissed my daughter on her fuzzy
little hair. “Night baby” and I handed her over to Ash for the
night and tried not to cry.

I looked over to where her stuff was only to
find it gone. “Uhm, where’s her stuff?”

“I already brought it over.” said Drake.

I nodded. “Thanks,” still fighting tears.

“See you later, Mags,” said Ash walking out
the door with Quinn.

I took a deep breath and wiped away the stray
tear I couldn’t hold back. Drake walked over and gave me a hug.

“She’ll be fine, baby,” he whispered in my
hair.

“I know, I’ve just never left her for any
real time.”

“I know, but you could use some fun, and she
will be fine.”

I nodded. “Okay, let me go finish getting
ready, we will be leaving soon.”

Drake let me go and I didn’t like that, it
felt like he took something more than his body heat from me.

Drake

I sighed and watched Mags leave the room, I
knew she would be okay; Devi had a rough time leaving both her kids
the first time. We needed to talk, without yelling, soon, but it
would have to wait since Devi decided we needed to celebrate my
becoming the manager of the band. She was more excited about this
than I was.

A few minutes later she came back up, her
eyes were a little red and I knew she had been crying but I also
knew she wouldn’t let me comfort her. Mags and Devi were both too
damn independent for their own good at times.

We walked into the lobby to meet with
everyone else and the first thing I saw was Seth with his tongue
shoved down Devi’s throat—I groaned, a brother really doesn’t want
to see that shit. I cleared my throat but they ignored me, as
usual, as far as I was concerned both my niece and nephew were
conceived by Immaculate Conception, no matter how often those two
tried to prove differently with their PDA.

“So Devi said something about celebrating,
what are we celebrating?” asked Mags also watching the debacle in
front of us.

I cleared my throat louder and threw in a
cough as well hoping to get them to stop before they put on more of
a show. Mags laughed at my once again failed attempt.

X walked up beside us. “Think it will turn
into real life porn this time?” he asked.

I sighed, I was becoming more and more
fearful that one day it would in fact become just that.

“Damn, I don’t want to see that shit,” said
Eli after he came out of the elevator.

“Still claiming Immaculate Conception,
Drake?” asked X.

Both Eli and I nodded our heads and answered
yes.

“So where is Cin?” asked X.

“Not here,” replied Eli rather curtly.

I looked over at my cousin and smirked; I
knew that Eli had tried to forbid Cin from being around X, though I
knew it was a wasted attempt. Not that X and Cin had much going on,
from what I had heard they used each other when they were together
but nothing more to it than that.

I heard a sigh from behind me and looked over
to see Sam shaking his head. “We really need to invest in shock
collars for them,” he quipped.

“Shut up,” replied Seth who was still
manhandling my sister.

“Well, I am going to get dinner; you guys can
come if you want, but I am hungry.” replied Sam then walked off. We
followed leaving Seth and Devi to untangle themselves.

We walked to the restaurant and were seated
quickly, the guys were noticed, of course, and the hostess just
about fell over when they walked in. It always made me laugh at
people’s reactions to them, if they only knew what they were really
like they would probably get a completely different reaction out of
people.

“So what are we celebrating?” Mags asked
again.

I glanced over at her and grinned. “You
really have no idea and it's bugging the crap out of you, isn’t
it?”

She stuck her tongue out at me which caused
me to laugh. I had missed this carefree side of Mags; she’s been
under too much stress lately.

“Well, Drake has accepted our job offer,” Sam
said.

She looked at me curiously. “Job offer?”

“Drake is going to be joining us, as our new
manager,” Seth said.

“That’s terrific, Drake!” Mags squealed.

Chapter 9

Mags

“So when did this happen?” I asked.

“I was asked this morning and decided
earlier,” Drake answered with a shrug.

“We knew he couldn’t turn us down,” replied
X.

“Really and why's that?” asked Devi.

“More chances to get laid, of course,” X
scoffed followed by a thump and an ouch.

“Seth, she’s abusing me again,” he
whined.

“Stop being a prick, and man up, by the way,”
Devi responded before Seth could. Seth just shrugged while everyone
else laughed at them.

“I didn’t know you were a masochist, man,” X
said in mock horror.

Seth shrugged. “Whatever floats your
boat.”

Devi and I groaned, we knew what was coming
next.

“Whatever sinks your ship,” quipped Eli.

“Whatever tickles your pickle,” came from
Drake.

“Whatever increases your trickle,” from Sam,
which got some looks.

“Whatever trips your trigger,” from Devi, I
looked at her and lifted an eyebrow, she gave a look that pretty
much said might as well join.

I sighed. “Whatever turns your crank.”

We all looked at X, scared of what would come
from his mouth, but we didn’t have to wait long.

“Whatever pets your monkey.” That caused us
all to groan.

We all sat back and enjoyed our time
together; we really didn’t get enough time together like this.

We had decided to walk instead of get a car
for our evening out, which meant the guys had a lot of people
looking at them. When we walked into the club, X immediately had
girls circling him, which he loved. Seth and Devi ducked out to who
knows where to do who knows what. Eli and Sam skirted around X
leaving him to pull as much attention as possible from them. Drake
and I followed them to the VIP section we would be hanging out
in.

Our waitress came by quickly and got our
drink orders. X came up a few minutes later followed by, I counted
then recounted and shook my head, five women.

“Thought we could use some company.” He
winked then sat down and the women started volleying for his lap
and positions around him. That is until a few realized who else was
in the booth with them, and they started batting their eyes at Sam,
Eli, and one girl at Drake. I couldn’t blame them; all four were
eye candy.

Seth and Devi showed up at our table and sat
down with us, then went to ignoring us having their own
conversation. I looked over and Drake was talking to one of the
girls X had shown up with and I felt a spurt of jealousy, but tried
to tell myself I had nothing to get jealous over, he wasn’t
mine.

Drake

I sat there pretending to listen to this girl
prattle on about something, while trying to keep an inconspicuous
eye on Mags. She was standing at the bar in the VIP section talking
to some guy and I didn’t like it; he stood too close to her. When
he reached out and dragged a finger down her arm, I started seeing
red and had to clench and unclench my fingers together to keep from
standing up and ripping his hand from his arm.

I glanced over and saw Devi giving me a look,
and I didn’t like what that look was saying, but then Devi always
saw too much when it came to me. I attempted a smile for her, but
knew it fell short; I didn’t know what to do about Mags
anymore.

“You okay, bro?” she mouthed and I shrugged
in response.

No, I really wasn’t okay, and I didn’t want
to be here anymore pretending to listen to this girl I had no
interest in, while the woman I loved was standing at a bar getting
hit on. With that thought, I stopped pretending to listen. No, I
didn’t love Mags. I mean, sure the sexual tension between us was
astronomical, and yeah, we fought a lot but I had always thought
that was more of an outlet for the tension than anything else. I
couldn’t love Mags; neither of us did love. I didn’t have time, and
Mags was always the more love 'em and leave 'em type, not wanting
to settle down.

I realized I was well and truly fucked; I am
in love with Mags.

Chapter 10

Mags

I couldn’t get away from this guy; I just
wanted a bottle of water, not to have some guy trying to impress me
with who he was, how much money he had, and I definitely didn’t
want this guy touching me.

“Well, it was nice talk to you, uhm, yeah, I
need to get back to my friends.” I tried again to leave without
being a total bitch.

“Your friends?”

“Yeah and I need to get back,” I said for
what felt like the hundredth time since the guy had started talking
to me.

“Oh, I’m sure they’re fine without you.” He
continued on about himself, and I rolled my eyes. Geesh, he didn’t
get it.

I looked over towards Devi trying to signal
her for help but she was busy with Seth. Sigh, guess I will have to
be a bitch and I really didn’t want to be this time; he didn’t seem
like a bad guy just not my type.

“Hey baby, get your water?” a voice I would
know anywhere came from behind me. Then arms encircled my waist and
lips nuzzled my neck. I melted back into that strong chest; I
couldn’t resist, not that I wanted to.

I nodded. “Yeah honey I did, and I was just
talking to, uhm what’s your name again?” I asked, happy for the
save.

“Scott,” came the disgruntled response of the
boring guy.

Drake nodded. “Yeah, whatever, baby, have you
been bugging the babysitter about our princess all night?” he
asked.

I spluttered, “no, of course not.” But we
both knew I had been.

He chuckled. “Then why did I get a text from
her about me taking your phone away so you couldn’t keep bugging
her?”

“Babysitter?” the guy sputtered.

Drake looked up. “Oh you're still here?” He
went back to nuzzling behind my ear making me shiver.

The guy walked off while muttering to himself
and I laughed. “Thanks for saving me,” I told Drake.

“Oh I wasn’t saving you; I was saving him
from getting his hand ripped off,” he stated this like it was
natural for him to threaten men with bodily harm over me.

“WH…what?” I stuttered out.

“He was touching you; I didn’t like him
touching you.” He sounded like a petulant child when he admitted
this, as if it caused him actual pain.

“That’s not really your choice, Drake.”

“Isn’t it? How long are we going to play this
game, Mags?”

“What happened to that bimbo hanging on
you?”

He shrugged. “Jealous?”

“Of course not,” I responded weakly; we both
knew the truth.

“Come on darling, let’s go back to the hotel.
I’m tired of this loud crappy music,” he said grabbing my hand
tangling his fingers with mine.

I sighed. “Only because I want to check on
Quinn.”

I felt him laughing behind me, and realized I
was still leaning against him, I straightened myself out and went
to tell Devi bye, my hand still locked firmly in his.

A few minutes later we were walking back to
the hotel, I was lost in my thoughts not really paying attention to
where we were, when Drake nudged me.

“You know we would be great together,
right?”

I looked at him. “What are you talking
about?”

“You and me, Mags.”

I shook my head. What was with him lately and
talking about us like there was an us?

“Drake, that’s not a good idea.”

“Why?”

“I’m a single mom, who’s trying to take care
of my kid, why would you want someone with that kind of
baggage?”

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair
pulling at the ends. “I don’t see Quinn as baggage, and why would I
care about you being a single mom? Do you really know me that
little? We’ve know each other what almost eight years now, why
don’t you have any trust in me?”

“Why would I think you care about me being a
single mom? Uhm because she’s not your kid, she’s not your
responsibility, because I am used, because no one wanted my mom
after she had me!” I was yelling at the end and had to calm myself
down before I continued. “Because you deserve better than me,
because I can’t give you what you need.”

“You’re not your mother, Mags, and you are
not used. No, Quinn isn’t my biological child, but that doesn’t
really matter, biology does not mean anything, if that was the case
Devi and I would be completely different people than who we are.
And I deserve far less than you, I mean, come on, I am a prick,
right, so how could I deserve a woman who is a smart, sarcastic,
sexy, jaded, bitchy, and a terrific mother?”

I reached up and grabbed a handful of his
T-shirt and yanked him down, I pressed my lips against his and bit
his bottom lip. With a groan, he grabbed a handful of my hair and
pulled me closer, his tongue thrusting into my mouth dueling with
my own tongue. He licked and sucked and nipped my entire mouth, I
don’t think he left anything unexplored. We broke the kiss panting
but leaving our lips touching; I couldn’t break the connection I
felt with him.