Page 23 of That One Touch

“She’s very sweet.”

“Yeah, she is.” His eyes dropped to her mouth then back to her eyes again. Marley’s phone rang. He pulled it out and murmured something to the caller, walking past them and through the doorway, mouthing that he’d be right back.

“So Cassie,” Alex said, lifting his beer to his mouth. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

She tried not to laugh at the abrupt change in subject. “No.”

“You want one?”

She laughed.

“Leave the woman alone. We can’t afford to lose another keyboard player,” Presley said gruffly.

Oh, that was interesting. She turned to look at him. “What happened to the other keyboard player?” she asked him.

“Alex happened,” he said shortly.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault,” Alex protested. “I can’t help it if all the women fall for me.”

“Yeah, but you could stop being an asshole to them and scaring them off,” Presley muttered. He looked at Cassie. “Seriously, avoid him.”

“You’re the asshole,” Alex muttered.

“Yep.” Presley didn’t look at all perturbed about that. “But I’m not the one trying to get it on with our new keyboard player.” He glanced at Cassie, who shifted awkwardly. “Sorry. Just ignore him. And me, for that matter.”

“Why should she ignore you?” Marley asked, walking back in. And just like that, the atmosphere lightened.

The three of them had a beat. Presley the gruff one, Alex the flirty one, Marley the peacemaker. She wondered where she fit in. If she fit in at all.

“It doesn’t matter.” Presley shrugged. “Are we ready to get back to rehearsal? I need to get home soon.”

“Sure.” Marley shot her a smile, and she smiled back. “Let’s go make some music.”

Chapter

Seven

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were auditioning,” Gemma said, leaning on the counter of the reception desk. Cassie’s last class for the day was over and all her students had been picked up on time. Delilah had groaned when she saw her grandmother standing at the end of the hall with all the other parents and guardians.

“You don’t have to pick me up on time, you know,” she’d said to Maddie Hartson. “I can stay behind and help Miss Cassie clean up any time.”

It was a far cry from the tearful little girl who’d been almost inconsolable when her dad had been late picking her up.

But now it was just her and Gemma, and her friend was looking at her proudly. “Look at you, being all grown up and making friends.”

Cassie wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t sure she exactly made friends. But she’d gotten out of the house without having to rely on Gemma to be there, so it was a start.

“So….” Gemma said, lifting a brow. “How was it? When’s your first gig? I’ll need extra notice because babysitters are like gold dust around here.”

“We’re not at the gig stage yet,” Cassie told her. She wasn’t even sure if she’d could call them a band yet. Sure, her and Pres’ voices meshed together well, and the keyboard arrangements were easy to keep up with.

But last night had been… intense.

“It must be weird being the only girl in the band. Even Fleetwood Mac had two women,” Gemma mused. “And obviously when I say weird I mean nice. All that male attention.”

“I wasn’t getting a lot of that,” Cassie said. “Although Alex asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend.”

Gemma’s eyes widened as she laughed. “What?”