Page 82 of Dirty Like Brody
I knew it was wrong that I was putting off all the shit I needed to tell him. That this was cowardly of me. That I’d kinda promised myself I was going to tell himbeforewe ended upnaked.
Oops.
But the thing was, it wasBrody. And I’d gotten carried away with how incredibly good it felt to get along with him for once. After all the years we’d been apart… and the years of turmoil before that… didn’t we deserve just a day or two to getalong?
He’d given me his truck for the day, so on the way back from church I stopped off at Roni’s to shower and change, and picked up the ingredients I needed. When I got back to Brody’s place, I got caught up telling him about the day’s writing session and the new song we were working on as I unpacked thegroceries.
“It was something Jesse said,” I told him, “about Katie. And something she said about him. We had this conversation the other day, about the studio he gave her; about making room for someone when you love them. And I got thinking about that. Making room… you know, physically and mentally; making space in your home, your heart. Then Jesse told me that sometimes she comes to bed in the middle of the night with paint all under her nails and smeared on her face, her hair all tangled up in a bandana, all sweaty and mumbling she’s so exhausted from painting all day. He said it’s like sleeping with a street urchin.” I grinned, kind of rolling my eyes. “I’ve never seen him talk about a woman like that. With thatlightin his eyes. I told him Katie literally lights him up, you know? The way music always has. And he just said, ‘She makesiteasy.’”
Through all of this, Brody just smiled at me. He was sitting on a bar stool with me trapped between his thighs as I unpacked the groceries around him. He played with the ends of my hair, listening to me babble in such an excited rush I barely remembered tobreathe.
“Anyway, that’s the name ofthesong.”
“Whatis?”
“‘She Makes It Easy.’ It’s kind of a play on words, ‘easy’ being a slide-into-homereference.”
Brody raised an eyebrow and I rolledmyeyes.
“That was Zane’s contribution. Apparently a wet pussy is his version of ahappyhome.”
Brodylaughed.
“Whatever. It’s got this really fucking sexy vibe. Jesse had this melody he’d come up with and I started playing around with some lyrics to lay down on top of it, and the whole thing just started to flow… the chorus came fast… and the song just came together. It was like old times. When we used to just write without worrying about how it would fit on the album. But they liked it so much that they said it’s definitely going on the album. They even said it’s going to help shape the direction of things. We played it for Jude and he liked it too, and you know how picky he is—like it really hastorock.”
“Can’t wait to hear it,” Brody said. “Maybe you can sing it for me tonight.” Then he started kissing my neck, and thedoorbellrang.
Damn.
“You never told me who’s coming over,” I said, melting into hiskisses.
He slipped his arms around my waist, holding me close. “I didn’t know how you’d feel about him coming over.It’sSeth.”
I felt my face freeze in a weird half-smile. Then I found myself saying the last thing I’d ever have imagined I would say at hearing thosewords.
“Great. Hope he’s hungry. There’splenty.”
“You’re okay with this?” Brody searched my face. “Because I can have him leave, reschedule if you don’t want toseehim.”
Shit. Was he testing me on this or something? What the hell was Seth doing here anyway? First the painting…nowthis?
I’d thought Seth Brothers was a thing of the past. Wasn’t Dirty done with him, likeyearsago?
“Why wouldn’t I want toseehim?”
“I don’t know,” Brody said evenly. “Youtellme.”
I shrugged. “Haven’t seen him in years. Might be nice to catch up.” My guts roiled even as I said the words, but I’d always had a hell of a poker face. “How’s he doing,anyway?”
“Guess we’re about to find out. We’ve spoken a few times, but this is the first time I’ve met with him. Think he’s sniffing around about the guitarist position. I hear he’s doing well, though.” He was watching me, gauging myreaction.
“Cool. I’ll make dinner, and you guys can talk shop.” I turned back to my dinnerpreparations.
Guitaristposition?
Seth was here about the guitaristposition?
And Brody was meetingwithhim?
