DRASTIC (Book 4 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 45: Drummer Boys Can't Get No Satisfaction

Bodie

Four Days Later, Atlanta

I'm lying on my back, watching the dance of morning leaf shadow on the wall of our bedroom.

The exquisite sounds that Marley makes as she's coming awake are sheer torture to me. Soft, unorganized little moans like she's protesting coming out of her dream state.

We've been sharing sleep and waking up together for a few days now, and those murmurs she makes are already entrenched in my brain.

Memorized, categorized, and fantasized.

They drive me fucking crazy. When she starts mumbling like that, all I wanna do is slide up her tank top and peel down her sleep shorts and bring her fully awake with sweet words and sexy moves. Turn those soft little sounds into urgent pants and moans.

But for one reason and another, we haven't got there yet. And waking her up with my dick seems a little pushy for our first time.

Second time. Whatever.

Goddamn. Am I ever going make it with this girl again?

Why is it so hard?

I snort at my own unintended pun, as I adjust my morning wood.

Yeah, I know why you are so hard, dude. You've been shit out of luck for months. I feel ya.

But seriously, why is this so hard? We were almost there a few days ago, but ever since, it's been nothing but tears from Marley.

Happy tears over the settled babydaddy drama. Sympathetic tears as I battled through a couple of rough days of withdrawal. Tears of frustration over the very first parenting decision we have to make together: whether or not our new little family of three sticks together or splits up when I have to go LA for Grammy rehearsals.

I thought it was a no brainer. With Darius' love for music, I just assumed he would do some homeschool thing and come with to LaLa Land for an inside peak at the rock star life.

But to my genuine surprise, Darius is not jazzed about that idea. He keeps throwing out all the reasons he should spend the next few weeks with Pat and TJ, and then join us on the road for the summer.

He wants to finish his school year strong, not phone it in and have a chance of his GPA slipping.

He kinda misses Jory and he definitely misses Mama Pat's cooking.

His mom and I should have some "alone time" so we can get it out of our system and stop making him want to gag with all the PDA.

He doesn't want to be stuck with some stupid PA/babysitter while we go out at night to do all the pre-Grammy publicity.

He hates Arabella and he is disgusted he has to share the same planet with her; he can't imagine sharing the same city.

On that last point, his mama seems to agree, but she's confined her opinion to a few sassy "mmmm-hmmmm's" when he says stuff like that.

It's not only the last point on which they are aligned. In fact, Marley agrees with Darius' idea from a psychological standpoint.

I can pretty much recite her position by heart.

We need to let Darius stay with Pat and TJ for his emotional well-being. In order for Darius to feel secure in our new family, we need to let him spend some time with his old family. He needs to see that we can all work together and be there for him, not stake out territory and lay claim to him.

From a psychological standpoint, that all sounds very healthy, I agree.

But this is the real world we are livin' in, and from a practical standpoint, Darius staying with the Turners doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me. Pat can not know about the new paternity test.