Graduation and Gifts (Untouchable Book 8) by Heather Long (ebook reader play store .txt) 📗

That was the only warning I got before he thrust into me again, and my eyes rolled back into my head.

Oh hell.

It was going to be a glorious night.

We never did get to the ice cream.

Subject: SUMMER PLANS

I’d kill to see you guys in concert again, but currently, I don’t know what our summer plans are. Archie is being very cagey. Yes, I know he’s the one making them, but considering our spring, I’m not going to say no to anything. That said, we’ll be in Manhattan before August. If you really are enrolling at the school in Connecticut, we won’t be that far away. Maybe we can lure you into the city to come listen to us practice.

Are all of you going? Or just you? I don’t even know much about the school. I did see it when we were up there. My grandparents live pretty close by. As for lyric sheets, see attached. Ian and I have studio time this weekend, but we’ve been swamped with some other stuff. We’re going to re-record and remix.

Weird question, are you going to miss touring? I swear, I think you girls have been on tour since I first started listening. (Also feel free to ignore the question.)

F.

Chapter Nine

Be Still

Frankie

I wandered out from my shower to find Archie and Coop in the kitchen with Jake. They were razzing him, and his eyes gleamed when he caught sight of me. “Good morning, Baby Girl. Glad to see you still walking.”

Pausing, I raised my brows. “I was not that loud.”

“Oh, yeah you were,” he said with a wide grin. “And I was here for it. But I found a happy volume on the headphones.”

Laughter escaped as Archie snorted, and then warm arms wrapped around me from behind. “Be nice,” Ian scolded a moment before he kissed the back of my neck. “And we were going to go out for breakfast if you guys want to join.”

I leaned back into Ian as he cradled me to him. The night had been wonderful. Honestly, I don’t think we’d really slept that much. Yet I was so relaxed, it didn’t matter. There was no school today. No school again until we were in college. We still had to go to orientation, but we signed up for one at the beginning of August. I’d wanted the earlier one, but the guys all campaigned to avoid me launching into back to school mode before summer even began.

Like I was that bad.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. Ian tilted my head back for a quick kiss before he let me go so I could tug the phone out. The best part of not being in school was my denim short shorts that didn’t meet their stupid length requirement. Dress codes were a thing of the past…well, mostly. I’d survive.

Shaking that thought off, I blinked at Hank’s face staring up at me from the phone. He’d texted since he left, but this was the first time he’d called.

I swiped across the screen as I pulled it up to my ear. “Hello?”

“Good morning,” Hank greeted me. “Sorry to call, I tried to not make it too early, but then I wasn’t sure what your schedule would be when you weren’t in school, and while I’ve got the end of May-mester and office hours this afternoon, plus you probably have plans, so I took a risk. If you’re busy, I can just call you later or leave a message. Probably should have just done that.”

The rush of words had me grinning. “It’s fine, I just got up a little while ago and I’m going to get coffee…”

“You haven’t had coffee yet? Shit—I mean, well wait, you’re eighteen, I can say shit.” He grunted. “Hang on a sec.” The phone muffled, and I found the guys looking at me in question as I poured my coffee. Bless them, they must have put on a fresh pot when I headed into the shower.

“It’s Hank,” I said. “I’m gonna talk to him before we go, and I’m good with pretty much anywhere for breakfast. Are you guys still good for the appointment today?”

“We’re fine, babe,” Archie told me with a sweet smile that made my toes curl. “Go talk to your dad.”

My dad.

That was never going to get old. I lifted my coffee mug toward them and then turned to wander back into the living room. Tiddles tracked me to the sofa, and as soon as I sat down, I had a lapful of cat.

“Sorry,” Hank said, huffing out a breath. “I had to settle a dispute between Alec and Chloe, but that’s actually why I called.”

“Because of a dispute between Alec and Chloe?” At this point, I’d seen more pictures of the kids, and his wife had sent me friend requests on social media. I hadn’t answered those yet. Sorry, that was still just a bit weird. Not bad weird.

Rachel totally stalked her and reported back that she seemed cool, though she had some bizarre obsession with running. Like miles and miles every day. It made me laugh, because I had to admit to Rachel that I’d been running more with the guys. Not every day, ’cause um no, I liked sleep. But a few days a week.

I didn’t think she’d ever looked so disappointed in me.

It had been hilarious.

She also sent me links for deprogramming sites.

Smart ass.

“No,” Hank said. “Well, not exactly. Chloe wants to set up a video call to meet you since you can’t make it up here yet and I’m not pressuring, but she has been campaigning all week and this morning, she presented me with a three-part argument to present the idea to you and let you decide whether you would like to speak to her or not.”

I had to bite back a laugh. “A three-part argument?” Okay, not going to lie. That tickled me. “What were the three parts?”

“You sure you want to listen?” The amusement vying with pride in