Page 104 of Just Wait

“Come on, honey. Give us something. We can make you famous.”

Riser slides up on my other side, wrapping his hand in mine. “It’s okay. We’re right here.” He offers a dazzling smile, and my heart thumps erratically.

I’ve never met anyone as in tune to my moods as he is, and I adore how safe and seen it makes me feel.

Tennyson and his friends, along with some people they must have invited back to the hotel from the after-party, take over the living room area of the suite.

Mine and Theo’s apartment was a bit of a hangout spot for everyone, and I’m no stranger to parties or chaos, but I’m also exhausted. I truly have no idea how these guys do nine-month long tours.

Kincaid, Malcolm, Riser, and I end up out on the balcony as Mal rolls a blunt. It’s cooled off a bit, which hopefully means winter is on the way. Although, I will likely need to do some shopping. I only packed two pairs of leggings and a single pair of jeans. Unlike Liminal, who has a huge bus that stores their extra wardrobe items, Tangled Desires was told not to overpack. The fact Theo and I had to split his drawer space didn’t help.

Have they noticed how much I’m re-wearing clothing items? If they haven’t, they will within a week or two.

If I get a payout from the label, I could afford to spend a few hundred dollars on clothes, but that would be wasteful in the long run. The stuff I wear here is nothing like my day-to-day clothes back home.

I squint as Kincaid holds his phone out, trying to hand it to me. If he said something, I missed it while I was lost in my head.

“What’s this?” I ask, taking the phone.

At first, I worry it might be a news article about me. Only, when I get a clear view of the screen, it’s some type of paperwork.

“That would be our lab work,” Kincaid says.

“They test us for STIs before every tour, likely to ensure we aren’t spreading—” Malcolm cuts off when Kincaid leans over, smacking him in the arm. He’s just in the process of rolling the blunt, and pieces of weed go flying. “Jesus, dude. Sorry. I’ll shut up.”

“Yeah, do that.” Kincaid sighs, shaking his head. “We thought you might like to see the paperwork. Everything was negative. I compiled them into one PDF. You can scroll through.”

“Okay,” I say, mindlessly flicking through the pages. The columns are easy to understand, and everything seems to be negative. “These were taken before the tour? What about since?”

“We had Randy during the entire first month of the tour,” Mal says. “His entire job was to report our every move back to the label admins.”

“We agreed before we left that we wouldn’t hook up or do anything else that might risk the label pulling the plug on the tour,” Riser chimes in.

I almost wish they would be less diplomatic and just say it. “So, you haven’t hooked up with anyone since you were tested?” I need to make sure I’m following what they’re saying without any confusion.

“Correct,” Kincaid says.

“Well, we kinda fooled around last night, but I haven’t had sex with anyone since before those were taken,” Malcolm says, licking the cigar to stick it together.

“The same goes for me,” Riser says. “I haven’t been with anyone in almost a year, except for what we did last night.”

My face burns.

We absolutely did have sexual contact last night.

“I don’t have recent test results.” I shove Kincaid’s phone back at him. “The only person I’ve been with for over a year was Theo. Before that, when I was tested, everything was good, but I have no idea if he cheated on me before that woman. He said he didn’t⁠—”

“We’re adults,” Riser says, reaching over and resting his hand on my thigh. “All sex comes with risks.”

“There’s not much a good round of antibiotics can’t cure nowadays.” Malcolm lights the blunt, shrugging. “I mean, there are a couple you really want to stay away from, but⁠—”

“Yeah, you would know,” Kincaid says, kicking Malcolm’s foot.

“You’re such a dick.” Malcolm passes the blunt to Riser, rolling his eyes. “I was going to say, kids are a big threat when fucking.”

“I have a hormonal birth control implant,” I blurt out, twisting my arm to show them the underside. “I got it less than a year ago. It should be good for two more years.”

My cheeks feel like they’re on fire, and I wish I could be more of a grown-up about discussing sex.