CRASH!

My heart slams hard against my chest from the startling wake up call. Sitting up in the bed, I place one hand over my heart and the other over my forehead, willing them both to stop pounding. With my eyes barely able to focus on anything from the blur of the migraine that's already settled, I slowly peek around my surroundings. The room feels heavy and gloomy, which makes me want to crawl back under the covers to hide from the impending storm when a low rumble shakes the windows.

CRASH!

Okay, that actually sounds like it's coming from inside the house. What on earth could Nora possibly be looking for this time? And at this hour, for that matter, assuming it's still early since my alarm hasn't gone off yet. Not bothering to look at the time to prove myself right, I leap off the bed and hastily throw on my silk robe and tie it loosely around my waist.

Rushing down the stairs, I peer my head over the banister to see an empty, quiet living room. My eyebrows pinch together while I stand there, trying to hear any movement anywhere, to no avail.

Leaving the staircase, I pad my feet toward the kitchen. "Nora? What are you looking for this time?" I say jokingly.

Inching closer to the doorway, I peek my head inside the dark kitchen when another rumble of thunder reverberates against the walls. "Ana?" I try to say louder with a shaking voice.

CRASH!

Clutching my chest, I take a deep breath to regain control of my breathing. What the hell are they doing? Shaking the nerves away, I walk quickly back into the living room in time to see the from door swinging open.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" I ask curiously with my arms crossed at my chest.

"Woah, Allie!" Ana exclaims. Her lips turn at the corners into the biggest grin when she bursts into laughter.

Shaking my head with confusion, I look to the doorway to see Nora coming inside when her eyes go wide and she attempts to mouth something to me. It looks like she's saying "cover" but I'm having a hard time piecing it together before Jax and Casey barrel inside behind Nora. My mouth hangs open while I stand there in shock.

Jax's eyes slowly raise when his cheeks turn the pinkest shade I've ever seen on a man before he clears his throat and averts his gaze to the floor. Hearing the sound of snapping fingers pulls my attention from Jax and onto Nora who hurriedly pretends to wrap herself in a blanket? Or maybe a jacket?

Looking down at myself, I realize my robe is wide open for the world to see me in my black bra and panties set. Casey's face is lit up with a look of amusement while he stands there, staring at me with wide eyes.

"I didn't realize this is what we were invited to," he chuckles. His gaze makes me feel more exposed than I already am.

I quickly tie my robe and wrap my arms around myself, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. "I... I heard a crash while I was sleeping. I was scared someone might be hurt," I stammer, my eyes darting between Ana and Nora.

"Sorry we woke you, Allie. James dropped a few of the boards on the way in," Jax says soothingly.

"Oh, that's... that's okay. I'm going to... get changed," I say while pointing behind me.

Backing up slowly until I reach the banister, I rush upstairs and close the bedroom door behind me. Pressing my back against the cold surface, I squeeze my eyes shut in hopes of waking myself up from this nightmare. "That did not just happen," I mutter to myself.

Finally opening my eyes, I see my phone mocking me on the nightstand. I rush over to it, turn on the screen and mentally curse at myself. He did text me. The timestamp says 10:30 is when the message came through, letting me know he was on his way. And it's now 12:30. Apparently I snoozed my alarm at some point and fell back to sleep.

"Good going, Allie. You overslept, again, and now the guys just saw you basically in fucking lingerie," I scold myself.

This is not how today is going to start. I'm going to take a shower and pretend like this never happened and start the day over... Even though it did happen, and I'm completely mortified by how Casey was looking at me like I was some meal he was waiting to devour. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl. It's nothing against Casey, either. I just never thought of him like that and don't find him attractive.

Thinking about the way Casey looked at me makes me think of how Jax looked at me in that moment. Like he was embarrassed for me. I think his cheeks were more red than mine when his eyes raked over my body. I almost wish he was the one that looked at me like he wanted to devour me, but instead I was met with a look of secondhand embarrassment.

Instead of sitting here feeling bad for myself, I decide to take a nice, hot shower without putting music on. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was putting my shirt on inside out. I only noticed when I looked down and saw the seam peaking out at the bottom of my t-shirt. Is it too early for wine?

When I return downstairs, most of the windows have already been blocked with large boards being held there by furniture. The only one left untouched is the one beside the front door. While the thunder continues to roll by, I grab the television remote from the coffee table and flick on the news channel.

Trying my hardest to focus on the news and not on the laughter that echoes from the kitchen, I turn the volume up slightly. Although it proves to be useless, since all I can hear is Nora cackling in the other room and glasses clinking against the countertop. The only bits and pieces I have achieved to hear is the potential for damaging winds, power outages, and they strongly urge everyone to stay inside and away from all windows.

Ana confidently strides into the living room, stopping when she sees me sitting alone on the couch. She plops beside me and throws her arm around the back of it.

"Hey you," she says with a kind smile. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I ask with a slight shake of my head.

"Well, you know... The guys just about saw you naked."

I wince at the unwelcome reminder as the image of Jax's red tinged face flashes in my mind. "Yeah, don't remind me."

"Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad!" he chides, shoving my shoulder playfully.

"Not that bad? Ana, did you not see his—" I stop talking once Nora enters the room, her energetic presence driving a knife deeper in my self-loathing.

"You know, they say this all the time," Nora says, leaning her body against the back of the couch between Ana and I. "They say it will be horrible and we get a few thunder clouds, maybe a few lightning strikes, and then they disappear."

Ana's face scrunches up before leaning her head back to look at our dear friend. "Yeah, but that's also up north... In the mountains. We're near the ocean now, Nora."

The glowing smile that previously occupied Nora's face is quickly replaced with a prominent frown. Her eyes travel to the window beside the front door when a flash of lightning illuminates the entryway.

"So, when did they get here?" I ask quietly, not wanting the guys to overhear.

"They got here around 11:00. You know it's close to 1:00 now, right?" she replies with a smirk.

"Oh, great. I missed breakfast," I huff jokingly, standing from the couch.

Slowly walking into the kitchen, my eyes land on the guys while they're huddled around the kitchen table, deep in conversation. When Jax's eyes find mine, his cheeks tinge with a slight shade of red again. Most likely from residual embarrassment at seeing me practically naked earlier.

Averting my gaze to the floor, I hurry to the coffeepot and decide to sulk by myself while waiting for my caffeine rather than eavesdropping. Did I really look that bad? I've never been able to get past the different reactions I get from people. Whether their stares are from being repulsed or maybe mesmerized, I've never been able to pinpoint it. With Jax though, his facial expression makes it painfully clear which of the two he feels.

I discreetly look over my shoulder, trying to see if they've resumed their conversation. Only instead, I see Jax slowly standing from the table. His black Metallica t-shirt tightens around his tattooed biceps when he pushes the chair in and quietly excuses himself from his friends. God, he looks so good it's almost disgusting.

He walks over casually, scratching the back of his head while his feet shuffle along the floor. His shoeless feet. I could marry this man right now for taking his shoes off inside the house.

"Hey Allie," he says with a small smile. His voice carrying an electric current that shoots down my spine.

"Hey, Jax. Would you like some coffee?" I offer, gesturing to the coffeepot.

"At 1:00 in the afternoon?" he chuckles with a raised eyebrow.

Shit. That's right, I overslept.

"It's never too late for caffeine."

Grabbing a mug from the cupboard above me, I place it down with shaky hands and fill it to the absolute top.

"Hey, uh, sorry for startling you this morning. That must have been a horrible way to wake up," he says empathetically, eyeing my every movement.

"Oh, that's okay. That's not exactly what the horrible part was," I mutter.

"Maybe horrible on your end," he winks before backing up slowly to rejoin the guys.

My mouth falls open while I stand there in shock. I can't seem to pull my eyes off of him while I watch him pull his chair out before turning back to give me one more smile before finally sitting down. Am I going crazy? Maybe I was being too harsh before to assume he was feeling embarrassed for me... I need to talk this through with Ana and Nora before I drive myself nuts.

Abandoning my coffee, I walk as casually as I can muster to the living room. Ana and Nora are seated next to each other on the couch, in the middle of a conversation when I interrupt by plopping myself on the other end of the couch. They must sense something is wrong because they both immediately stop talking and turn toward me.

"What's wrong, Al?" Nora asks with her eyes squinted. Her subtle way of saying 'don't bother trying to lie.'

"I think I'm being stupid, so I need you guys to tell me if I am or not."

It sure feels like I'm being stupid. My heart is racing a mile a minute while I try to suppress a stupid smile from breaking through my stupid face. God, why does this feel so foreign? I should know what flirting is like without having to run to my friends. But the only flirting I'm familiar with is asking what their favorite bread is at Subway—and if they don't say Italian herbs and cheese, they get added to the 'red flag list.'

"Okay, stop being stupid," Ana says with a sly smirk.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm going to need more than that," Nora says, looking at me expectantly while she crosses her arms at her chest.

"I just keep thinking he might be flirting, but then when my robe came undone he looked absolutely mortified—"

I'm suddenly cut off when Ana bursts into giggles before clamping her mouth shut. "I'm sorry, Al. I don't mean to laugh, but you thought he was mortified?" she asks.

My eyebrows pull together in confusion while looking at my two best friends. They're already looking at me like I've lost my mind. At a loss for words, I instead give them a slight nod and start picking at my cuticles for a distraction.

"Sweetie, I promise, he wasn't mortified," Nora says, grabbing my hand to stop my picking.

Before we can delve more into the conversation, James walks through the entryway, peeking out the window beside the front door.

"Man, it's really coming down out there," he says. "You guys think we'll lose power?"

Ana leaps off the couch to join James in looking out onto the street. "I haven't seen a storm this bad in years."

"Yeah, you guys should get away from the windows," I chuckle. "Come sit in here."

James almost looks sad at my words of wisdom as he and Ana walk back into the living room, and take a seat on the two open recliners. Another loud rumble of thunder shakes the house when the rest of the guys join us. Casey strolls in confidently and takes a seat on the floor in front of the coffee table while Gareth sits next to Nora, her face instantly lighting up when he purposely moves closer to her. Jax enters last and takes a look at the sofa to see the only seat available is next to me. I move over as much as I can to leave more room as he sinks his body into the space next to mine. His thigh lightly brushes against mine, sending my nerves on a rampage.

"So, how long are you guys in Boston for?" Ana asks.

"We're not really sure. We signed a record deal with a place across town a few months ago, so it'll be a while. There's no sense in traveling back and forth, so we're here until it's done," Gareth replies.

"If you guys are from Wales, how did you land a record deal here?" Nora asks curiously.

"We played an event here in Boston last year, and one of the head honchos of the label was there seeking prospective clients. They ended up liking us, so they offered us a deal on the spot," Casey answers proudly, smiling while he relives the moment.

"Is that why the tour was announced so last minute? You guys only did a few locations and it was announced a few weeks ahead rather than months," I chime in.

"Exactly. They wanted to move the record up, so we figured we'd do a few shows before we head to the studio," Jax says, his eyes traveling to mine before he gives me a warm smile.

A crackle of thunder strikes, making me jump involuntarily. It sounds like it's almost on top of us now at this point. The sound of the rain bouncing off the roof becomes louder, when a sudden gust of wind causes the tree branches to scratch at the windows.

"Do you mind if I make some tea before we lose power?" Jax asks.

"Tea? Sure, there's a teapot in the cabinet," Ana offers.

While everyone engages in conversation, Jax excuses himself and heads toward the kitchen. His every movement drawing my eyes with him, and I can't help but be hypnotized.

"Go with him," Ana mouths to me.

"I'm not following him," I mouth back.

She chuckles with a shrug while lifting the leg rest on her recliner. Eyeing me the whole time because she knows damn well I'll end up doing it. God, I hate it when she's right.

Slowly leaving the couch, I pad into the kitchen behind him. Thinking of some excuse I would need to be in the kitchen at the same time as him, other than following the guy like a lost puppy. When I walk through the entryway, I see Jax standing against the counter with a clear, steaming cup pressed to his lips.

"Would you like some?" he asks, gesturing toward the mug.

"Oh, that's okay. I'm not really a big tea fan," I decline politely.

"Have you ever tried it?" he asks, raising one eyebrow quizzically.

Alright, he caught me. I might not have tried every brand of tea there is, but every cup I've ever tried has tasted like wet grass. He chuckles softly, knowing damn well my answer is a solid no. Holding the cup out, he offers for me to take the hot, gross liquid.

"Go on. Try it," he teases.

I take the mug from his hands and smell the aroma first. It smells like hot lemonade, which I know is just a trick. It's going to taste like grass, or something earthy, I know it. I reluctantly put the glass to my lips, and take a sip just to satisfy him and torture myself.

"Holy crap, it tastes like hot lemonade," I chuckle, completely shocked at how wrong I was.

"Yeah, it's definitely not green tea. I hate that stuff," he smirks, reaching his hand out to take his tea back.

"Hey, this is mine now, pal," I say, holding the cup hostage.

He chuckles while turning to grab another mug from the cupboard. "I'll take that as a 'Wow, Jax. You make amazing tea! I think I'll drink it all the time.'"

"I wouldn't go that far. Although, this is pretty good," I say before taking another sip.

A bolt of lightning flashes, illuminating the kitchen before everything turns to total darkness.

"Maybe we can share this one," I laugh, handing him the cup back.

His eyes crinkle at the sides when he chuckles and takes it, our fingers lightly grazing each other.

This is going to be one hell of a long night.