The Best Deceptions (Want You Bad sequel)

Chapter 8

**Writing has not been my friend lately. I'm sorry this took so long. And I'm sorry for the cliffhanger at the end.

I flopped face first onto Ugly Couch and closed my eyes, relishing in the fact that I had nothing to do for the next couple of days. Since Erin's wedding, I had been in the studio almost every day, either writing or recording. The label had surprised me by having Kacey Musgraves come out to write with me, and while I was beyond grateful for the experience, due to her schedule, we had to work extra hard to get as much done as possible in the week that she would be in LA. Today had been the last day, and I was exhausted. I don't think I had ever felt so run down.

"Natty Light!" Garrett sang as he entered the room. "How do you feel about having a pizza night?"

Face firmly planted in the couch; I extended an arm to give him a thumbs up.

"The usual?"

I held my arm up again.

"Are you too tired for company?" Garrett was very aware of how awful I had been feeling lately and had expressed concern several times.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows. "Define 'company.'"

"Ellis and Sutton."

I rolled my eyes. "Gare, that's not company; that's family."

"So...yes? They can come?"

I nodded. "Duh."

"Good, because I already invited them."

I laughed and sat up, bracing myself against the arm of the couch when a wave of dizziness washed over me. "Fuck," I groaned, closing my eyes.

"You good?"

I took several deep breaths and nodded as the feeling subsided. "Yeah, I think. Must have sat up too fast."

I opened my eyes to see Garrett frowning at me. "You just relax until dinner, alright?"

I nodded. "If I fall asleep, wake me up so I can eat."

"Goose," I said quietly after dinner as we cleared the table. "You've been kinda silent tonight. Is everything okay?"

He glanced at Ellis and Garrett, who were in the living room, deciding on a movie to watch. "I'm okay. Can I talk to you for a second, though?"

I giggled. "We're talking right now, silly."

Sutton looked at me with a sad smile. "I meant privately."

"Oh. Yeah." Once we were finished cleaning up, I led him onto the back porch. We sat on the porch swing and I turned to him. "So what's up?"

"Well first, how are you feeling? You said the other day you haven't been feeling right lately. Has that gotten better?"

I shrugged. "Not really, but I'm fine. Just need a few days off to recharge, and lucky for me, I have them now."

"If you still feel bad after them, you need to see a doctor, Nat."

"Aww, Goose, are you worried about me?"

He rolled his eyes. "You're one of my best friends, Natalie, of course I'm worried."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "What else is bothering you?"

He scratched the back of his neck and looked at me sheepishly. "Uh, well, Garrett told Ellis something, and Ellis mentioned it to me thinking that you had told me, and I didn't know about it, so I wanted to ask about it."