Summer of Love

The rest of the day was surprisingly good since I bumped into Jordan. I even made a new friend of his now ex-fiancée. The band mates looked confused, but the girls knew what was going on. Caroline renewed my outlook with her strong, inspirational words; Rita helped me calm down with her kindness and soft words; Tori offered her shoulder but I could tell it made her squeamish and it made me laugh. I felt much better.

Red pierced me with a look. “What was all that about? You hauled off like Wonder Woman.”

I laughed at his analogy and shook my head. “I just dumped that guy yesterday and found out he had a fiancée the entire time. He played us both and...I don’t know. I just got so angry.” I frowned, a little frightened by my reaction. “I’m normally not a violent person.”

Alexander split into the first wide grin I’ve seen. “Girl, that was awesome. You have a lot of hidden muscle for a lady.” He winked. I smiled, feeling that somehow I won his approval.

Caroline patted me on the back, smiling. “They’re right. You tore him a new you know what.” She sounded proud and I ducked my head, embarrassed.

“He deserved it,” Gage said for the first time since it had happened. His golden eyes flashed. “Men like that don’t deserve beautiful women.”

He was giving me a compliment. My face grew hot and I looked away, not knowing how to react. I just met this guy and he was handing me compliments. He just smiled and turned to the others.

“Well guys, it’s getting pretty late. We should head back to the hotel now.” His band members nodded in agreement and smiled at us.

“Thanks for showing us around, ladies.” Red gave Caroline a wink. “See you on the flip side, hot stuff.”

That was the first time I ever saw her blush. She laughed, trying to hide it and only made the redhead man grin wider.

They turned to leave, when Travis paused and looked over his shoulder. “Hey, why not exchange numbers? You guys are pretty chill.”

Rita blushed in sweet surprise and I blinked. Exchange numbers with famous people? It wasn’t something I normally would do, but I didn’t have a choice. Just as Teresa did only hours ago, Travis took my phone from my pocket with a goofy grin and typed in his number. I was surprised as one by one, each of them entered their numbers into my contacts. Even Alexander did which baffled me. He seemed so uninterested before.

Gage was the last to enter his number. He smiled at me and nodded to my friends. “If you want the numbers, just ask this pretty lady.”

Butterflies swarmed my stomach like buzzing bees. It was a different feeling, but definitely a good one. There was something about him that was like a magnet, though he was usually quiet. Maybe it was because he was so much like Cian.

With a wave, they walked off in the opposite direction of us and Caroline sighed. I looked at her with a laugh when I saw her hand over her heart. She had that love struck expression.

“Wow...I like him. A lot,” she added with raised eyebrows and Tori rolled her eyes.

“They aren’t bad I suppose. Anyway enough about that,” she said as she rounded on me and I stared. “Misa, where did all that fight instinct come from? I’ve never seen you look so...warrior like.”

I frowned, thinking back to that one moment when I was consumed with rage. If there was one thing I hated most in this world, it was liars. Especially when they lied to me as he had done. I didn’t like myself in that moment of time. In fact, I despised it. I never wanted to become that type of person. Sure, I was strong as an Ox but I never imagined using it against someone like that.

“I don’t know, but I never want to feel that way again,” I said seriously. They looked at me with matching frowns and Caroline draped an arm around my shoulder as we began walking home.

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo. It’s understandable. I don’t even want to know what I would do if something like that ever happened to me,” she said with a face and looked over at me. “It’s a good thing you dumped him.”

I sighed but couldn’t help but agree. “That’s true. Now he has no one.”

Tori snickered and shook her head. “Some guys are just complete morons.”

Rita’s eyes smiled behind her glasses. She still wore the ones from her costume. “Who needs men? We have each other.”

“What about Travis? He was ogling you,” Tori snorted. Rita blushed and gave a sheepish smile that sent us into a fit of laughter.

Caroline sighed. “They really are something different, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they are. Their songs aren’t too bad either,” I admitted. The sky grew dark and the city lights began to light up one by one.

Eventually we parted, each going our separate ways but not before we exchanged numbers that had been entered in my cellular. I waved to them and started home. The walk was quiet and I couldn’t help but think about Gage and the guys. They were interesting people and Gage caught my attention. It was strange that we could be twins with our hair and eyes. The only difference was I was athletic and lean while he was muscular and chiseled. He also had a strong jaw and that cocky smile that was just a little sexy...

I stopped short. What am I thinking about? I just found out about Jordan and I’m already feeling emotions for another guy? What about Cian? I rolled my eyes and continued on. I hate being caught in love triangles. Why does it have to be so stupidly hard?

I rounded the corner, stepping into a darkened street. Half of the lights had either been broken or had gone out. Chills crept up my spine as visions of that night in the alleyway came back to me. I swallowed my suddenly dry throat and forced myself to calm down. I remained alert, listening to any sound and keeping my heart rate slow. My head had to remain clear so I could react appropriately if something happened. I was about to leave the street and sighed with relief when I saw it was well lit. I took a step toward it, just into the light when my arm was grabbed from the shadows. I gave a cry of surprise and jerked in the iron hold.

“I never pegged you for a screamer.” That voice was familiar.

Turning, I watched as Red stepped from the shadows with that grin. I sighed with relief and lowered my head.

“You scared the crap out of me, Red.” My heart was pounding so hard and loud, it was a miracle it didn’t explode in my chest.

He gave a chuckle and released his hold on my arm. “Gage wanted me to follow you home.” His eyes looked down the street. “Somehow he figured you lived pretty far from downtown.”

My face grew hot. Gage was worried about me. He had sent Red to make sure I got home alright. How did he know I lived so far?

I looked at him. “How did he know?” Suspicion was evident but he chose to ignore it.

He shrugged. “Gage has always been good with reading people. He guessed from your looks and the way you dress.”

I narrowed my eyes. “So he figured I’m a bum and live in the poor end of the city?” My tone was a dry as a desert.

To my surprise, he laughed and patted me hard on the back. He knocked the wind from my lungs and I inhaled sharply.

“I like you, you’re intriguing.”

I straightened and rolled my eyes. “So glad I amuse you.”

He raised an eyebrow and treated me to a real smile, not one of his trademark smirks. It made him look different...less intimidating.

“Come now, sheath those claws,” he teased and nudged with his elbow. “I didn’t mean any offense, just that you’re not like most girls. It’s interesting.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, I like to think myself as different from the rest of my gender.”

“So you don’t like, wear dresses or anything? Do you always dress like a boy?” That usual cockiness was back and I scowled.

“I wear what is comfortable for me, and yes I do wear dresses, thank you very much,” I said haughtily with narrowed eyes. He just laughed as we continued on toward my house.

When we arrived, I paused on my steps and turned to look at him in confusion. “How are you getting back to the hotel? That’s a long walk.”

He shifted his stance and immediately I went on alert. He smiled and ducked his head, peering at me through his red hair.

“Um...we all sort of followed you.”

I snapped toward the sound of the voice and I saw the rest of the band walking toward me. My jaw dropped in disbelief. Red smiled sheepishly and took a step back as Travis, who had spoke looked up at me with frightened eyes. Alexander as usual, looked as if he didn’t care and Gage looked smug.

“Now I know where you live.” His grin widened, his eyes dancing.

I glared. “What the hell is this? You followed me home for what? So you can stalk me? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?”

Travis stepped forward and held out his hands. “If it means anything, this was not my idea. I tried to talk them out of it.”

I looked at him carefully, angry that they had followed me home on purpose. However, Travis looked so damn cute. I sighed in defeat and smiled at him, reaching over to ruffle his hair. He didn’t seem to mind and grinned. It was obvious he was relieved.

Folding my arms, I turned to Gage with a raised eyebrow. He seemed to be the leader, the one who spoke and the rest jumped.

“What do you expect, trailing me here like this?” I raised an eyebrow with a cool expression.

He smiled and gave a shrug. “Invite us in?”

Travis joined me on my step with a grin. “Yeah, can we come in for a bit? We really want to know more about you.”

He sounded so sincere that I wanted to say yes, but I remembered my friends. I could hear them laughing and watching TV. Alexander must have heard it too, for he cocked his head.

“You still live with your parents?” He sounded disappointed and my smile dropped.

“No, my parents are dead. I used to live with my brother, but he died not too long ago,” I said flatly, not impressed with his tone of voice. “My friends didn’t want me to be alone, so they moved in with me.”

Alexander stared at me in silence, obviously surprised. Travis was the first to move because he was right next to me. He rested his head on my shoulder and sighed. He was like a child.

“We’re sorry, Misa. He didn’t mean to be rude,” he said, flashing Alexander a warning look. The other man just scoffed and looked away.

I smiled and patted his head. “It’s okay, I’ve gotten used to it. So now you know my friends are inside, let’s just take this easy.”

Turning, I opened the door to be greeted by Cian. He was wearing my mother’s old apron. Obviously he was in charge of dinner. He saw the band and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“What are they doing here?”

Gage stepped up, eyeing Cian carefully, sizing him up. “We were interested in knowing more about Misa and her friends.”

Cian’s steel blue eyes narrowed slightly before he gave a sharp nod. He turned and disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Who is here?” Sara voice said from the living room and I sighed.

I stepped inside and smiled. “Oh, just some friends I met at work.” One by one they filed in and I saw both Sara and Hannah’s mouths drop in astonishment.

Sara pointed, her eyes wide. “Seriously? Love4Life?”

I smiled sheepishly as the guys waved politely. I slipped off my shoes and stood in front of the TV to keep their attention. Fox and Jack exchanged a confused glance. Obviously they didn’t know who they were.

“Oh my god,” Hannah breathed as she stared at all four of them, her cheeks burning feverishly. Fox lifted a brow.

I saw and smiled reassuringly. “They belong to a band.”

Sara rose from the couch, not caring she was in her night wear. “A famous band,” she said in a ‘duh’ tone.

The guys walked over to stand by me and I gestured to them with a smile. “Guys, this is Alexander, Travis, Red and Gage. They belong to the band group called Love4Life.”

Sara’s eyes remained on them as she spoke. “How did you met them?”

I laughed. “We had a promotion for them today and we each had to impersonate one of the members.”

Jack chuckled and nodded to Gage. “It’s obvious who you were dressed as.” Gage gave a shrug and smiled. I couldn’t tell if it bothered me that they seemed so at home in my house. They fit like a piece of furniture.

So now I had my friends and a famous band, all within my house.

I sighed.