Slide (Black Addiction #1) Read Free Page A

we could meet up tonight?” Caroline’s hand traveled suggestively up my leg.
    “Maybe leave me your number and I’ll see where I’m at. I’d hate for you to be waiting around.”
    The brush off was gentle, but I wanted to be clear nonetheless. We—Caroline and I—were not a thing. We weren’t going to be sharing popcorn watching the latest Michael Bay flick nor would we be dating. Not that I had anything against her—she ticked all the boxes—but I wasn’t interested in a girlfriend. Hadn’t had one in a few years and now that life was throwing me all the pussy I could handle—literally, and I’m talking two hands—I wasn’t about to give that up for a ball and chain.
    “Okay, well thanks for last night.” She leaned in and gave me a kiss on the mouth. It wasn’t a sweet kiss, more a calling card to remind me she had sucked my dick so hard last night I wasn’t sure I didn’t have chafing this morning.
    “Sure thing, babe. Let’s do it again sometime.” And I meant it too; my dick just needed a day or two to recover.
    She grabbed a marker that was sitting on my nightstand and scrawled her number on the notebook that was lying beside it. The little love heart added to the end made me second-guess my decision. Maybe a callback wasn’t in the cards; the love heart was giving me the heebie jeebies.
    Thankfully, she didn’t try to convince me further and was dressed and out the door about thirty minutes later. Awesome. Now I could finally get some sleep. My eyes slowly closed as my head hit the pillow.
    “Hey, Rus. Are you home, buddy?” The knock at my front door threatened to upset my plans.
    While the whole band had made some coin during the Power Station tour, it wasn’t enough for us to pack up our shit and head into the city. I still lived in a row house I had inherited from my grandma in the Bronx, with Joey and Max still sharing a place about a block away. Angie was the only one who’d shipped out. With the husband and the bun-in-the-oven, no one was surprised when she’d relocated.
    “Rus, open the door. I saw the chick leaving.” Joey, my drummer and not too distant neighbor didn’t take the hint that I wasn’t interested in entertaining this early in the morning.
    “Give me a minute.”
    As much as I wasn’t in the mood for company, Joey would probably sit on my front stoop until I opened the door. And being that I didn’t want to piss off my neighbors anymore than I already did with my occasional parties and loud music, I figured it was easier to just suck it up and see what he wanted.
    I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and made my way to the door as I pulled them on. My debate of whether or not to let him sweat it out a little longer negated by the fact I was already bored with whatever bullshit I knew was going to be coming out of his mouth. Better to just get it over with.
    “Fuck, dude. What the hell happened to you?” Dark sunglasses covered Joey’s face, and he looked like absolute shit.
    “Max’s brother is in town. He split up with his wife again and he’s crashing on our couch. His snore is like the Texas Chainsaw massacre is going down, I haven’t slept all fucking night.” He pushed past me and wandered into my living room. “I think she’s finally done with his ass, apparently their last showdown was pretty epic. So whatever he’s done, I think he’s out for the count but there is no fucking way he is staying with us.” His ass hit the couch as I followed him back in.
    “So what do you want me to do? There’s no way he’s staying with me.” While I was sympathetic to his cause, I wasn’t sure exactly where I fit in with this problem. Max’s pain-in-the-ass older brother wasn’t going to be chilling it in my spare room, if that’s what he was looking for.
    “I’m not looking for a solution, just fucking refuge. We’re recording today and you know I need a solid ten hours or I can’t function. You want to be sitting in a booth with me longer than you