Once I felt like it was okay to head up and gather my things, I wasn’t surprised to see his bedroom door closed. Not a peep from beyond.

Fortunately, I had changed in the hall bathroom earlier, and my jeans and boots were right where I left them. My shirt still crumpled into a ball on the couch. Shawn was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed he was still in bed. It was only seven-thirty after all.

Mason’s truck was still missing from the garage when I went down to grab my bike, so I figured he was still at his mom’s house with Phoebe. He followed them home last night.

Lost in my thoughts, I jolt when a scrap of lace hits me square in the face. I catch the strap of a thin black bra with my knuckles and glance up wide-eyed.

“Sorry!” a young woman slurs, sliding over to me. She wobbles and it’s more than a little obvious the rogue bra belongs to her. I avert my gaze to her forehead.

“Laney!” A deep voice scolds from behind me. Someone shoulders their way past me, muttering an apology as he practically hugs the girl, shielding her. “What did I tell you about whipping off the bra?”

“Butttttt Matty,” she whines. She pouts. “Bras suck.”

“I know, babe,” he says, patting her on the cheek before turning his face toward me. And the bra dangling from my fingers.

“Sorry, man.” He smirks, eyes bright with laughter. “I can’t take this one anywhere.”

I hand over the unmentionable and assure him it’s no problem. How she managed to remove said unmentionable without the shirt is a mystery I doubt I will ever solve. Hell, I’ve never even tried to remove a bra, period. I fortunately managed to skip that awkward right of passage.

On stage, the guys wrap up the song, and Mason announces they’re going to be taking a quick break.

“I’m Matt.” The cute guy in front of me grins, looking me over. The spark of interest in his dark eyes has me straightening.

I shake his offered hand. “Will.”

He tilts his head, his blond curls waving with the motion. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.”

The girl—Laney—excuses herself to the bathroom, grabbing her bra from her friend’s fingers as she stumbles off. I give Matt a quick rundown of my move here and we make small talk before the second set starts.

I’ve gotta say—it’s been a long fucking time since I’ve had any action outside my right hand. Not that I haven’t tried. I had my chances on the road.

It’s just really hard to turn my brain off these days. Almost impossible to kiss another guy and not see Zayne’s face behind my eyelids, ashen and lifeless.

Eventually, I gave up trying.