Page 6 of Not the Punk

I should have known better. “You are. Have you considered moving here too? It’s nice and way more affordable.”

“What would I do out here? And even if I did find a job, my life is in California.”

“I’m not in California.”

I shoved him. “You’re not everything, dude.”

“Aww…you hurt my feelings. Fucker.”

We laughed together after that and spent some time reminiscing since Saxon had to be sure I remembered why he should actually be everything to me. He had an ego bigger than his muscles.

I couldn’t help admitting that it was nice seeing him again.

Chapter five

Joe Getting Ready

I tossed a few of my favorite T-shirts into the suitcase. It wasn’t like day one of the tour was tomorrow or anything, but I wanted to be ready, and Kay’s barbeque reminded me that it was on the horizon. Plus, I still had so much shit packed in boxes. It was going to take a while.

Colten was more handsome than I remembered, and he flirted with me at the party. I hadn’t had real attention like that in a long time. Sure, fans were always vying for attention, but that was different and not what I considered genuine. Colten, on the other hand, was a nice guy who I could see myself getting to know better.

But I wasn’t sure it could go anywhere. Or should go anywhere. He didn’t know about all the drama that I came with. The total package wasn’t as cool as I appeared to be on the outside. Trent had been stalking me and harassing me for years, and I couldn’t seem to get him to stop. A new boyfriend shouldn’t have to deal with that.

Not to mention that Colten was obviously a Daddy, and I had no clue how to deal with that.

My phone rang, interrupting both my drama and my packing. “Hey, Kay. What’s up?”

“I have an idea.”

“I’m scared.”

“Shut up.” He giggled into the phone.

“What’s the idea?”

“I think you should invite Colten to come to Rocktoberfest.”

“What? No. Why doesn’t Saxon invite him?”

Kay sighed a bit overdramatically—if you asked me, anyway. “He probably will, but it’s different coming from you.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Joe, don’t play stupid. You like him. He likes you.”

“You don’t know that. You’re making assumptions.”

“I’m not. He told Daddy he likes you. And you like him, right?” He was determined to play matchmaker here, but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea.

“Kay, I get you want to help, but sometimes you have to let things happen or not as they will. I don’t—”

“Pa-lease. If I left it up to you two, hell would freeze over before you boinked it out.”

“Boinked it—what? Geez. Sometimes you have no filter.”

“I’ve been hanging out with Matty too much. He says whatever flits through his crazy brain.” We both laughed at that. Matty, who was Drake’s Little, was a hot and hyper mess for real. “Ahh…that was funny. But seriously, Joe. Just call him. I know you have his number.”

He was right. We’d exchanged numbers when I saw him on our last tour, but I’d never used it. And neither had he. But…maybe I needed to suck it up. “Okay. Okay. I’ll invite him, now leave me alone.”