by Tess Oliver
He stared at his phone and then threw back an entire mug of beer. I could hear his glass smacking the table even through the din of crowd.
chapter 25
Gage
Seth slid back into the booth with one of those grins that was just begging to be wiped off with a fist. He was taking far too much joy in watching me squirm about a girl. It wasn’t helping my temper. I couldn’t explain it either. The tension of suddenly finding myself wanting a girl and not just for a nice casual fuck, which was my normal reason for wanting one, was driving me nuts. But Summer had invaded my thoughts and it went way past the short dress and seductively placed tattoos. The second I’d left her bed, all I could think about was crawling back under the sheets with her. I didn’t want to leave her. That’s where it had all gone to shit. Now I was tense just thinking about how badly I wanted her and how badly I needed her to stay in Montana, and in my life. The loss of control was new to me, and I wasn’t loving it.
“Bro, you’re a fucking bore,” Seth said confidently. “Just thought I’d let you know.”
I looked over at him. “As you can see— I don’t give a shit.”
Summer walked onto stage with her smooth long legs and that dress. That fucking dress. Jericho was flirting heavily with a girl who was sitting at the bar drinking a beer. Kristina was trying her damndest not to notice him. She’d told me her attraction to Jericho was only physical, but from the looks she was shooting his direction, it seemed as if there was more to it.
The music started. This time silence fell over the crowd as soon as Summer parted her lips to sing the first word. Those damn lips. And that voice. That voice just took the whole fucking thing over the edge for me. She started with a rock song, She Talks to Angels by the Black Crowes. The audience rocked with the music, but it was as quiet as a fucking library in the restaurant. It was as if no one wanted to miss one note that came from those amazing lips. Those fucking amazing lips. Even Seth, whose attention span was not longer than the time it takes to unfold a centerfold, sat completely still next to me. I couldn’t draw my eyes away from the blonde on stage, her cheeks shaded by long dark lashes as she closed her eyes to sing. The hand with the stitches stayed down at her side as she clutched the mic to her mouth with the other. Every lyric, every note went straight into my chest.
A loud cheer went up at the end of the song. She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled shyly.
Seth looked over at me. “Damn.”
I released the breath I’d been holding. “Yeah.”
At the end of the first set, at least six guys had found places right near the stage, and two of them had yelled out ‘I love you, Summer’ between songs. They were both guys I’d worked with and both guys I didn’t like. But then, I didn’t like a lot of people.
Rita walked over and set a pitcher of beer on the table even though I hadn’t ordered it. “Sweetie, I can see the tension in your jaw clear across the room. Thought you might need this. Remember, she’s just performing up there. You had to know with those looks and that voice that she’d be gathering a truckload of drooling fans.”
Jericho, seeing the beer pitcher, made a straight line for the table. He plunked down, filled his glass and took a loud gulp. “What are we all discussing?” He gulped again and wiped the foam off with the back of his hand.
“I’ll leave you boys to your beer then.”
“Thanks, Rita,” I said.
“By the way,” Jericho said, “Summer’s voice, man oh man, it’s enough to—”
I shot him a look that warned him to consider his next words carefully.
“It’s enough to make me dance.” The smirk that followed wasn’t helping his case.
“You’ll have to excuse my brother. He’s finding the attention being showered on Summer to be a bit annoying.”
“No,” I said, “I’m finding you to be annoying.”
Jericho laughed. “Kind of ironic.”
I was sure whatever was coming next out of Jericho’s mouth wasn’t going to help my mood.
“You actually know what ironic means?” I asked.
“Yep, I do.” Jericho looked at Seth. “When Luke, Evie and I were staying up here—”
Seth stopped him. “Who’s Evie?”
“Oh, that’s my nickname for Angel. I’m the only person who calls her that. Anyhow, Luke wouldn’t let Evie go to the bathroom without escorting her there. He was ready to start a brawl with any guy who looked her way.”
Seth laughed. “Classic. Poor Luke.” I felt Seth’s stupid stare on the side of my face. “I can see where this is going.”
“Gage told Luke that he was being a dick for being so obsessive and protective over her,” Jericho said. “And there you have it. Irony.”
“I’m just sitting here,” I said in my defense.
“Yeah, sitting there looking tense enough to crack walnuts with your ass.” Seth pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?” I asked.
“Who do you— Luke, hey, remember last year when you guys were out here hiding from that crazy, old dude and you wouldn’t let Angel out of your sight so Gage called you a dick?”
He paused. “Yes, there’s a fucking point to this. Guess who’s being a dick now?”
I gave Seth a hard look and he scooted away from me. “I should probably go, Luke. I’m getting the deadly Gage scowl.”
Jericho elbowed me, and I nearly pushed him out of the seat. He motioned up toward the stage. Summer had gone off to the kitchen in between sets but she was back now. “That guy just had Summer sign the waistband on his briefs.”
I slid out from the booth. I was done with these two, and I was done with frilly beer.
“Where are you going?” Jericho asked.
“There’s a whiskey bottle behind that counter with my name on it.”
“Wait.” Seth held his phone out to me. “Luke wants to talk to you.”
Reluctantly, I grabbed the phone from his hand. “Yeah.”
“Hey, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Luke said.
“You did. And next time Seth has a vacation, I’m sending him your way.”
***
The band finished up and it seemed the place had stayed packed until Summer sang the last note. The admiration for the beautiful girl with the soul stealing voice was palpable throughout the entire room. She had a voice that could break your heart and mend it in one song. One thing was for sure— she’d taken hold of me in a way that I’d never seen coming. I’d been an asshole the whole night and not even shots of whiskey had helped cool me off. Between every set, a mass of fans would circle around her. I hadn’t talked to her once.
Finally, a few people began to wander toward the exit. Summer’s cheeks were pink from singing and from the heat in the room. There were still half a dozen people standing around her. They laughed at something she said. She was an entertainer, a performer who was completely at home on stage and had a hypnotizing effect on her audience. She had me fucking mesmerized too. There was no way a girl like her was going to stick around a place like this, and that thought depressed the hell out of me.
She looked across the room and our gazes snapped together like magnets. Someone said something, and it pulled her attention away from me. I was done. I’d been as patient as a fucking stone statue. I lumbered across the room, gathering up plenty of attention as I pushed through the people still hanging around the dance floor. I heard my name muttered more than once as I parted the crowd and made my way to the stage.
Summer’s eyes rounded as I approached the circle of fans. I reached past the others and took hold of her hand. Without another word, I walked back through the restaurant, this time gathering even more attention with Summer trailing behind me.
“Where are we going? I’ve got to help with clean up,” she said as I pulled her into her office and shut the door hard behind us.
She looked slightly angry and completely confused. “Are you drunk?”
“Yep, and that’s your fau
lt.”
“My fault?” she asked indignantly.
I walked toward her and she backed up until she smacked into the wall. I pressed my hands against the wall, effectively trapping her. “I can’t share you with anyone else out there for another fucking second.”
“You can’t just drag me—”
I stopped her words with a punishing kiss, which she pulled back from for a mere second before wrapping her arms around my neck. She kissed me back with the same hunger I was feeling. My mouth devoured hers as I reached down to the hem of her dress and lifted it above her waist. I pulled my mouth from hers just long enough to look down at her panties. Then I hooked them with a finger and dropped them to her ankles. She held tightly to my neck as she stepped out of them. Her dark brown eyes glistened in the light of the room as she stared up at me with a mix of emotions that was difficult to read.
“Do you want me to stop?” I asked, swallowing hard as I waited for her answer. I’d acted the complete asshole, and it was surprising that she hadn’t slapped my face.
“What do you think?” she asked throwing my own arrogant words back in my face. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a condom. With one hand she attempted to unbutton my pants but then she giggled with frustration. I yanked open my fly and pushed them down to my knees. I stretched the condom on over my rock hard cock and stared hungrily down at her.
“All damn day,” I said. “Since the second I left your bed, all I could think about was having you naked in my arms, and tonight, watching those other guys—”
This time she stopped my words with her mouth. She wrapped her hands around my neck and jumped up into my arms. Her thighs wrapped tightly around my waist. I pushed her back up against the wall, and she moaned into my mouth as I pushed inside of her. I’d trained myself to keep hard for as long as necessary so the girl could come first, but I wasn’t completely sure I could restrain myself this time. Summer had even shattered that part of my self-control. I moved my hips back and forth, pushing her harder against the wall with each thrust. Her legs tightened, and her head lulled back. My frenzied movements seemed to shake the small office, but I couldn’t slow down or hold back. I’d been waiting all day for this. All fucking day.
I stared at her face. Her eyes drifted shut, and the sounds coming from her throat assured me she was getting close. I slowed down my movements, pushing my cock deep inside and then withdrawing it. My fingers dug into her naked ass as I held her over me, making sure to drag her clit hard against me with each movement.
Her long fingers reached up, and she tangled them in my hair. “Yes, please, fuck yes,” she cried as her thighs clenched my waist and her pussy tightened around my cock.
My hands took roughly hold of her ass, and I pressed her harder against the wall as I slammed into her over and over again. It seemed the wall would crack from the force of it, and then I reached the end and I held her tightly over my cock as I came.
She lowered her feet to the ground but still held securely on to me.
I put my hands on her waist, leaned my forehead down against hers and waited for my breathing to slow.
She laughed softly. “I guess I’ll think twice before wearing this dress again.”
“Did it come with a warning label? It should’ve.” I straightened. “You should have come with a damn warning label.”
“What are you trying to say, Mr. Barringer?” Her lip turned up on the side.
“Wasn’t ready for this. Wasn’t ready for you.”
She reached up and pushed a long strand of hair behind my ear. “That makes two of us. Well, I need to get out there and help with the clean up. Otherwise, we’ll never get out of here tonight.”
“Right. Seth, Jericho and I can help, although I’m not standing behind their work quality.”
We straightened up our clothes and hair and I opened the door. She walked out first.
Seth was leaning against the bar counter with that same smug face he’d been wearing all night. “Feel better?” he asked.
“Just because you’re my brother doesn’t mean I won’t throw my fist at you.” I walked past him. He flinched slightly before breaking out into a laugh that was even more annoying than his smug grin.
chapter 26
Summer
The morning interviews had been utterly disheartening. Out of the three applicants, one was a no show, one barely had time to give answers because she was so busy gnawing on a giant wad of bubble gum. When one of her answers was punctuated by a big pink bubble, I thanked her for coming and showed her the door. The third girl, I’d felt sorry for. She walked in, thin, bordering even on emaciated, and swimming in her blue and white sweater. She stared up at me with round eyes that were sunken deep into her gaunt face, and I badly wanted to find her a position. But halfway into the interview I’d discovered the reason for her appearance. She mentioned that she would have to avoid getting near nuts, citrus, eggs and it seemed just about every good food in the restaurant because she was highly allergic to them all. I was wracked with guilt when I told her I didn’t think she was a good fit for a restaurant and that she might possibly look for a book or gift store to work inside. She trudged out quietly, and I came close to calling her back and giving her a napkin folding position. Unfortunately, my own financial woes just weren’t going to make that possible.
I walked up the porch steps to my house. It was much friendlier looking in the day than at night. I glanced down the road. I could only see the top of Gage’s barn from my house, which was probably a good thing. After we’d cleaned up the restaurant, the guys had taken off, and I’d driven home, convinced that Gage would drop by. But he hadn’t, and I was thoroughly disappointed.
I grabbed an apple and sat at the table. I had a pile of unopened mail. A few things were still addressed to my grandfather. It made me sad to see his name sitting on a piece of mail as if he was still around and just waiting in the next room. There was an obnoxiously thick envelope with a law firm’s stamp on the return address corner. I was sure it was had to do with my charming mother. Or maybe it was the band, or Clark, or one of the many other wonderful people I’d left behind. I’d considered opening the envelope for all of a second and then pulled out my phone.
My mom answered groggily as if she was still asleep. I checked the clock. It was eleven in Montana so it was ten in Los Angeles. What was I thinking calling the woman at such an early hour? “Hey, Mom, I just wanted to let you know you can call off the legal dogs. I’m going to sell half the restaurant and then I’ll pay you a share.”
“What do you mean by a share? How much are you putting the half up for?” Her grogginess cleared instantly when the topic turned to money.
“What I decide to sell it for is my business because I’m the sole owner. Grandpa left it to me. And the more I think about how you made me pick sides, and how many years I missed with Grandpa because of it, it makes me want to spit through this fucking phone.”
She cleared her throat. “I didn’t force you to side with me.”
“I was a teenager, and you were my mom. What the hell was I supposed to do?”
I could hear her flush a toilet in the background.
“That couldn’t have waited?” I asked.
“Nope. And whatever this share is, I also need to be compensated for the amount of money I spent for the lawyer.”
“Sorry, that little extravagance is on you.”
“Sweetie, now wait. Why don’t you come back here, and we’ll talk things over. I understand Clark is hot on the trail of another recording deal.”
“Not interested. And stop calling me sweetie. That’s a nickname good moms use. You don’t fall into that category. In fact, if there’s a category for selfish, overbearing, money-grubbing moms, you’d be right at the top. I’ve got to go. I’ll let you know when I have the money.” I hung up feeling satisfied and energized. Gage had stormed through the crowd last night, hungry for me and not afraid to show it. I was feeling the same way today. The heated moments in my
office, sandwiched between the hard wall and his just as hard body, had made me think about him the rest of the night. But since he hadn’t had the decency to come put me out of my misery, it was time to take things into my own hands.
Gage’s ranch was just a few miles down the road, and as tempting as it was to march up to his front door in the infamous dress, the wimpier side of me chose jeans and a sweater. It was around fifty degrees in the midday sun, a sun that seemed to always be hanging lower than it did in California. But the sky was a periwinkle blue, and a soft breeze tipped the tree tops. There was a hint of reddish-orange on some of the trees, pointing toward what was going to be a spectacular autumn. It was a perfect day for a walk. I only hoped I wasn’t making a mistake by showing up there unannounced. I took four steps and another thought stopped me cold. What if he had another girl with him? It was a scenario I’d come across before. That would be heartbreaking. I turned around to go back inside and then stopped again. “Fuck that. I’ll just risk it.”
The road was nearly deserted with only the occasional truck passing by. Cows were enjoying the final traces of grass in the fields, and as they looked up to watch me pass, the methodical grinding of their big jaws reminded me of the girl with the bubble gum. The heavy scent of pine wafted along with each light puff of air. The landscape was as close to idyllic as any place I’d ever been.
My thoughts drifted back to the ugly conversation with my mom. There was still that tiny voice in me that said you were meant to be on stage and selling out concert tickets. While it was a blast singing at a small, homey venue, singing to massive crowds had its appeal. Or at least that’s what my ego kept telling me. But right now, I had no one controlling me, no one telling me what to sing or what to wear or which band to use. I was my own manager and I rather liked it that way.
Once I got to the gravel path that led down to the house, some of my courage had shriveled into apprehension. But I’d gotten this far, and turning around would have made me feel incredibly silly. And the truth of it was, I badly wanted to see him.
