Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Plus, we needed the extra space. Ellis’s plants had pretty much taken over every surface of his apartment, and our new place afforded him more room to do what he enjoyed. And that included music as well.
Speaking of which, we had plans for a music room where we could set up all our instruments. That might’ve excited me most of all—outside of living with the man I swore my allegiance to on the altar of love.
“But first things first,” I said with a wince. “Getting you inside.”
I stepped over the threshold, then set him down as gently as possible, which wasn’t very gentle at all because my muscles were burning. But he didn’t seem to mind as he tugged me toward him. I panted heavily against his neck, pretending that stunt hadn’t totally zapped my energy. But neither of us was a workout or health guru, which I wholly appreciated.
“Congrats, you have a new home,” Ellis whispered in my ear.
I hummed against his skin. “Feels like a dream.”
“A perfect dream.” His eyes met mine before he brushed our lips together. We stood there, making out in an empty house, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was ours, and we were free to do what we wanted with it. It felt like a new beginning, a fresh start, something we needed after the whirlwind of the past year.
And not only because of the aftermath of the robbery and the falling in love with my best friend. Ellis had been set to testify against the two men who broke into his apartment, and that had created plenty of sleepless nights for him. He’d been working with his therapist to gear up for the courtroom appearance when he’d been informed at the last minute about the plea deal the suspects had struck with the prosecution. It was less jail time than they deserved, but the relief he’d felt was incomparable. I’d held on to him for hours while he cried grateful tears that the ordeal was finally over.
His emotions were closer to the surface nowadays, but I liked it that way. Liked that I could see what he was feeling written all over his face.
“We have a fuckton to paint,” Ellis said as he drew back. The idea was to freshen the walls, floors, kitchen, and bathroom before moving our furniture over here. We’d have a mishmash of stuff at first, but at least it would feel like ours.
“Yes, we do. Thankfully, we’ll have plenty of help.”
The doorbell rang as if on cue, and we walked over to greet Anthony and Perry.
We let them inside and showed them around. The living room was open concept, so they could see the kitchen, which needed some updating. We’d decided to paint the cabinets and replace the countertops, and there was a small area to place a table and chairs. Not enough room to fit both our families, but we’d also be setting stools around the small island, which would help. In fact, I couldn’t wait to have our first housewarming party.
It was a two-bedroom townhouse, so we had space for an office on one side and our music room concept on the other side of the second bedroom. Our master would fit a brand-new frame and mattress, so it was perfect, really.
We even bought a new cat tree for Wednesday. Well, it was Ellis’s idea. He had fallen for her hook, line, and sinker. I thought it was mutual, honestly, though Wednesday would never show it unless it was the middle of the night. Sometimes I awoke to find her snuggled up to his chest.
“Okay, put us to work,” Perry said, rubbing his hands together.
Since the incident last year when he’d walked out on us, he’d been nothing but supportive. We still got into tiffs, but it was more like a family feud than anything else. Plus, I thought he was enjoying our newfound popularity. More fans were buying our music, and we’d been invited to several gigs on the road—most of which we’d had to turn down because of our jobs and finances. But in the end, we could say with a reasonable amount of certainty that being our true selves had worked in our favor. Sure, there had been a couple of shows with hecklers who weren’t familiar with us or our style, but the audience took care of it for the most part, either booing until the offending patrons left or by calling in the management.
We’d gotten wooed by other, larger venues, but after several discussions, all of us agreed to stay loyal to Mario because he’d done the same for us.
The most surprising thing was that the ongoing encore segment at the end of our sets had taken on a life of its own. People reached for their loved ones, slow-danced to our “Love Song,” and shouted out requests. It had become our schtick, and Anthony, Ellis, and I worried that Perry would get discouraged again, but instead, he’d started joining in—and he got himself a girlfriend in the process. She was a superfan who asked him out during one of those requests, and they made a cute couple. Anthony teased him relentlessly about his puppy-dog eyes for her at shows, but Perry didn’t seem to mind. In fact, it had definitely softened him.