Skylar will kill me if she finds out I leaked this before it was time.
Mrs. Palma makes a zipping motion across her mouth. “My lips are sealed. Now, who’s this Quinn you mentioned earlier?”
“Quinn is Phoenix’s—”
The sound of the doorbell ringing cuts me off.
“That must be my grocery delivery. I’ve been having everything sent here since it’s easier.”
“I’ll help.”
I start to get up, but she shakes her head. “No. It’s only a few essentials. Sit and relax.”
While she answers the door, I take another bite of cake…
And choke on it when Phoenix comes waltzing into my kitchen like he owns the place.
“I didn’t know you were expecting company,” Mrs. Palma says behind him.
That makes two of us.
The sound of the teakettle whistling mimics my rising blood pressure.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Phoenix merely smirks.
“Would you like some tea?” Mrs. Palma questions, her wide eyes ping-ponging between us.
“No,” I say at the same time Phoenix says, “I’d love some.”
“You don’t drink tea.”
He takes a seat next to me. “I do now.”
“Don’t you have to be at sound check?”
Reaching over, he plucks the remaining cake off my plate and eats it. “Not for another three hours. This is good cake.”
“Thank you,” Mrs. Palma says. “I made it yesterday.”
Dang it. Her manners have always been impeccable. The woman could loathe someone and still wave and smile at them.
“Stop eating her cake.” I glance at Mrs. Palma, who looks like she’s getting ready to serve him his own slice. “Don’t let him eat your cake.”
He might steal the recipe and make a fortune off it.
She places the plate on the counter and busies herself with our tea instead.
“Why are you here?”
“I miss you.”
Mrs. Palma drops a spoon on the floor. “Don’t mind me. Keep talking among yourselves.”
I have no doubt she’s eavesdropping. Which is all the more reason to keep this conversation brief.
“You’ll see me tomorrow morning.” I spring up from my chair with so much force it almost topples over. “Let me show you the door.”
He stands, towering over me like a tree. “I know where the door is. But I won’t be using it.”
Holy hell. The asshole is out of his damn mind.
“Why are you doing this now?” Here.
“We’ve been stuck on a bus for the last fifteen hours. There was nowhere to talk without someone overhearing.”
As far as I’m concerned, we have nothing to talk about. Everything we needed to say to one another has already been said.
“You need to leave. I made it perfectly clear the other night that our arrangement was over.”
Those piercing blue eyes study me like I’m a puzzle he can’t quite figure out. “Let me get this straight. You’ll let me fuck you six ways from Sunday, and suck my dick like it’s your new favorite pastime, but you won’t have a conversation with me? What kind of shit is that?”
I jump at the sound of glass shattering behind me.
Mrs. Palma grabs the broom. “Darn teacup just slipped out of my hand.”
I want to crawl in a hole and die.
Grabbing his arm, I escort him out of the kitchen and to the front door. “Do you have any idea how rude you’re being?”
Then again, rude is practically Phoenix’s middle name.
Right after thief.
“Rude?” His eyes narrow. “Rude is when two people have an arrangement and then one of them ends it abruptly, without just cause.”
“We were fuck buddies, Phoenix. It’s not like we had a freaking contract.” I poke him in the chest. “And I had just cause.”
“Bullshit. I finally admitted what I did just like you wanted, and you threw me out of your room.” He steps closer, eclipsing my space. “I never should have acknowledged shit. It fucked everything up.”
“No. You fucked everything up!”
Behind him, I see Mrs. Palma’s head popping in and out of the kitchen entryway.
I point to the door. “Leave.”
“No. We still have ten days.”
“Left on tour. Not that.”
My mouth hangs open when he crosses into the living room and sits on the sofa. “I want my ten days.”
He’s like a petulant toddler who’s not getting their way. “No.”