When the Music Stops (Mason Brothers Book #2)

Chapter 18

PARKER

When I felt my bed move, I was confused for a moment until I remembered that Jolie had spent the night last night. The memory of what we did made my cock twitch a bit and a smile spread across my face. I opened my eyes and just barely caught a glimpse of her before she closed the bathroom door behind her. She was looking adorable as hell in my t-shirt, with just a hint of her ass cheeks showing at the bottom.

I turned over and checked my phone, it was only seven in the morning, and being December, it was still dark outside. I figured she must just be getting up to go to the bathroom so I pulled the covers up and went back to sleep.

When I woke up again at nine, I turned over and realized that she wasn’t in bed and there was no sign that she had ever come back to bed. I slipped on a pair of athletic shorts and made my way downstairs where she was sitting in the living room on the phone. I wasn’t going to eavesdrop, but thankfully as I hit the bottom stair she said goodbye and hung up.

“Good morning,” I said from the stairs with enough warning not to startle her.

She turned around and smiled big. I went around the couch and noticed that she has a pair of my boxers on with my t-shirt. Sometime between when she got up to use the bathroom and ventured down here, she must have ended up back in the bedroom. She looked so fucking cute with my clothes on and her hair piled up on top of her head. 

“Hi! I didn’t wake you up did I? I was trying to keep it down.”

“No, baby. You didn’t wake me. I was missing you when I got up though.” I sat on the couch and pulled her up into my lap and buried my face into her neck, leaving a trail of kisses behind. She started to wiggle to try and get away, but I held her on tighter. “Nope, you’re not getting away from me. I love the feel of you in my arms.”

“Keep talking like that and I might never leave,” she giggled.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, beautiful.” 

I moved out of my parents’ house when I was nineteen. I had been working at the bar and also as a lifeguard during the summer since I was sixteen. I had enough money to lease this condo and start to make it my own. I made it into my bachelor pad and this was my place. I would have girls over but never spend the night. This was my comfort space.

Before Jolie, the idea of a girl even joking about never leaving would have sent me into a straight-up panic attack. Not with Jolie though. I mean, damn if she said tomorrow she wanted to move in I’d clean out my entire closet for her shoe collection. 

“Who was on the phone?” I tried to ask without sounding nosy or suspicious. I don’t think it came out that way though. I just hoped she didn’t get mad or annoyed.

“Oh um, my sponsor. I try to call her once a week, but I haven’t in a couple of weeks. I was just checking in.”

I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, “I didn’t mean to pry. If you don’t want to share something with me, you don’t have to. I’ll respect your privacy.”

“It’s no big deal. I just wanted to check in with her before she worried about me.”

“Can you tell me about her or is that like against the rules?”

She let out a small laugh and her fingers found the hair at the base of my neck and she started running her fingers through it. “Not against the rules. Her name is Camilla. I kind of have two, she and her husband Bo took me under their wings when I was still in rehab.”

“Is that the couple you were talking about living with and working for?”

“Yeah, they were helping me a lot. They’ve both been through getting sober so they get it in ways that other people might not.”