Page 121 of Insta Bride
Devon and I had met in Army Cadets back when my parents thought discipline would be the answer and Devon thought a soldier’s life would be shooting and fucking. He’d made it through all interview rounds until ruled out with health issues.
Defence didn’t want me because of attitude issues. Apparently, my feelings back then about women and their place in my bed weren’t what Defence were looking for. It didn’t matter. Dev was now a rock star and I was well, I wanted to be more than what I’d signed up for.
I headed out of town, not surprised to find Dev and the band were back at the same Southern Highlands mansion I’d taken Elena. The Flying Monkeys had been on tour when we’d been there for the weekend. Now they were in town, and I needed a circuit breaker from Sydney and the party life.
Not that Elena cared. With less than a week until the commitment ceremony and as much as I wanted to spend every second with her, I knew if I didn’t get my shit together—if I didn’t get my head on straight—if I didn’t find a way to give her a reason to stay, then it wouldn’t matter how many days until the ceremony. It would be over.
“So, tell us,” Xavier offered me another beer before topping up his girlfriend’s glass with more wine. “What’s your plan?”
Two days of bonding over drinking, pool and listening to the band jam away at half written lyrics, the worries of my life seemed distant.
Bree had called, checking up on me. I’d promised to be home and pre-record interviews tomorrow. She’d promised not to ask me where I was or who I was with.
“Thanks, babe,” Xavier thanked his girlfriend before she draped herself in the lap of the drummer. They’d lost all pretence in front of me after the first night. It no longer seemed strange that all five rockstars had their own special relationship with the one girl.
I didn’t understand it.
The Devon I used to know would never have agreed to sharing.
But, it seemed to be working for them, and given my life—I was the last person to judge how other people found love.
All I’d had to do to get acceptance as part of their family was convince lead guitarist Jax Malone that I wasn’t about to make a move on their stunning blonde girlfriend. No, I already had one blonde doing my head in.
“Why don’t you do your magic?” Devon told Sydney. “What use is your PR voodoo magic if you can’t use it in the name of love.”
“What do you want more?” She asked me. “Votes or the girl?”
“Why can’t I have both?”
“You can have a little of both, or all of one. Which is it?”
“Elena.” I paused, “Elena. Elena. I choose Elena. I’ll always choose Elena.” The Kye from nine months ago would belt me senseless. The new Kye, the new man, wanted Sydney to work whatever voodoo PR magic she could summon.
“Did you get that?” Sydney asked Dev.
“I’m not a fuckwit. Of course, I got it. What do you wanna do with it?”
“Make your magic and then I’ll use mine.” Sydney left the drummer, leaned over my friend and gave him the porn version of mouth-to-mouth. Fuck, I didn’t need to see or understand this shit.
“Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked Xav who didn’t seem to care his girlfriend—his fucking girlfriend—was sucking face and lapdancing with the rest of his band. I’d tried to read one of Elena’s reverse harem romance novels, but I never expected my friend to be in the middle of one.
“When are you going back to the city?” Sydney asked, all professional.
“I shouldn’t have left. We’ve got some publicity to do for the last few days, but Elena’s staying with friends and dodging my calls.”
“If you don’t mind me saying,” Sydney kissed Devon softly on the cheek before returning to the lap of Xavier. “Love gets harder when you’re not in the same city. When this man was here and the rest of us were still down the coast, it got messy. Go back. Even if she’s still ghosting you, at least she’ll know you’re in town. Right now, she’s probably thinking that you’ve hooked up with some girl or six.”
“Not my style, anymore.”
“The problem is, she doesn’t know that. Go back home and leave your PR to me.”
Sydney led me outside. Yes, she was a stunning blonde with legs that could wrap around any man’s lips, but it was her energy that drew me in and made me understand. When she looked at each of her men, she gave one hundred percent of herself, leaving no room for doubt. She loved them all.
If they could make complicated love work, why couldn’t Elena and I?
After all, we loved to banter, and mostly our fighting lead to fucking.
It was only crap like the fake photos and her ex that messed with what we had. Sydney was right. I needed to get back home and make sure Elena knew I wasn’t going anywhere—without her.