by Virna DePaul
“Don’t say frickin’, Rosemary. It’s so…”
“Rock star?”
“Exactly.”
She giggled. Giggling suited the tall, blond, skinny French coquette thing she had going on. Next to her graceful swan self, I felt like a mallard duck.
“Rehearsal went really well this afternoon, don’t you think?” she asked.
“Sure. If you consider the actual band members not participating a success,” I said.
She smirked. “I think it was meant for everyone else. Strings, lighting, sound crew…”
“What kind of musicians don’t need to rehearse?” I scoffed quietly.
She leaned into my ear. “The kind whose songs are all four beats to the measure. So I think the rehearsal was only for us new people.”
“Ah, yes. Please don’t remind me.” I couldn’t have felt more out of place.
In one corner of the mansion’s palatial gardens was a group of Greek goddesses dressed in white and gold bikinis all fawning over a man in red pants and a black T-shirt. The girls must have coordinated their hairstyles before coming, since they all had either streaked curls or severe ponytails pulled up tight, making their eyebrows arch up high. On another part of the patio, sectional sofas abounded with more tanned, glossy-legged women all gathered around a man in black pants and open shirt, knees apart, each of his arms laced around a fine Coppertoned set of shoulders. Wow, LA women took their beauty seriously, but that shouldn’t have been a surprise. Seeing it front and center somehow drove the point home, however—and made me wonder if I should have skipped the wine, given I was probably one of the only women at this party whose thighs actually touched.
The music blaring from the speakers thumped and pounded. An honest-to-goodness DJ spun real records, pressing headphones to her ears, and dancing to her own mellifluous offerings, all while sporting a tight turquoise minidress.
“How many people do you think are here?” Rosemary scanned the crowd.
I did a quick calculation of the patio and pool deck and estimated another fifty or so inside the house, more in the rooms upstairs, I was sure. “A hundred fifty, at least.”
“You think they do this before every tour?”
“Jaromir said they do this before every show. And every night in between.”
Rosemary’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? How would he know?”
“He said he’s a Point Break fan. Rose, there’s money in this business. It’s all showmanship, album covers, women-filled videos, self-inflated promotion… Real musicians don’t care about stuff like this. Real musicians just want to play, even if it’s to an empty auditorium with three cats listening.” Even as I spoke, I mentally winced. I sounded like a ripe old snob, and a bitter one at that. Real musicians shouldn’t diss other musicians, period. I knew that. And normally I didn’t. But now…here… I needed to hold on to some semblance of confidence. If I was overcompensating, I was only doing it in front of Rosemary, who hopefully wouldn’t hold it against me.
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Rosemary downed her beer. “But it’s still awesome to be a part of it. You want something to eat? I’m gonna go get something.”
“I’m fine, thanks.” I wasn’t so sure there was anything awesome about this. In this world, music was a means to a lavish lifestyle. In my world, the lifestyle was a means to the music. Losing yourself in the music was all that mattered. Which was why I’d made it a point not to get sucked into Point Break pics, gossip, and drama before coming. I read only what I needed to know about the band—recording history and discographies.
Wikipedia—nothing more, nothing less.
“By the way, you look really hot in that dress.” She winked and slinked away.
In this? I fidgeted with my pearls, glancing down at the only cocktail dress I owned, a black A-line more at home at a Manhattan shindig than a party in the Hills. “Thanks,” I said, not entirely convinced.
Before I knew it, Rosemary skittered away, leaving me alone with my so not-hot self. I should have gone with her, but I’d been following her around the whole night, clinging to her skirt like a little girl behind her mama, hiding from scary boys. Which wasn’t too far off from the truth.
In retrospect, now that Rosemary had left me alone, I wished I would have perused Point Break’s online pics before coming, so I would at least know what they looked like. But between my mother’s life lectures, packing for the trip, and fighting with Samuel, I didn’t have much time. Plus, I’ll admit I hadn’t wanted to look. I told myself it didn’t matter who my bosses were or what they looked like. It didn’t matter if I liked or respected them. This was just a temporary job, one I had to get through to make my own dreams come true. However, I’d started to think I’d been unprofessional by not doing more homework. I should at least introduce myself to my new bosses and thank them for the job. That’s the main reason I was here.
Looking around, however, I tried guessing who the band members might be, hoping no one would notice the solo cellist standing by the potted tree. Much to my dismay, it was a bigger call to attention than I’d feared.
A pair of smiling eyes zeroed in on me from the opposite end of the pool. Wearing loose jeans, a leather vest over his strong, bare chest, a cowboy hat, and a big, silver belt buckle, the guy looked like a punk cowboy who’d lassoed himself a few ladies. Flanking him were…one, two, three, four, five girls in bikinis. Although, upon closer inspection, it appeared that two of them were topless. They played with his hat, laughing and taking it off, passing it around. His heavily tattooed right arm was wrapped around a girl’s waist. His other hand held his phone. He raised it, aimed it in my general direction, snapped a shot, then tucked it back in his pocket.
Did he really just take a picture of me when he was surrounded by all those nearly naked girls?
I tucked my hair behind my ears, feeling more self-conscious than ever, fingering my pearls some more. No, that didn’t make my awkwardness any more obvious to him, of course not. I wanted to hide, call it a day, and run back to my hotel room to the safety of my big, fluffy Hilton Hotel comforter.
Two guys careened by me just then, loud, obnoxious, holding each other up in their inebriated stupors. “Oh, sorry,” one said. If I hadn’t stepped out of the way just in time, he would have knocked me into the pool. He had a stubbly, short beard, intense brown eyes, and a rascally smile when he flashed it at me.
In the illuminated blue water, a bevy of bikini angels laughed at them. “Jacob! Throw Corbin in!” one of the girls cried.
Corbin! I recognized the name. Was the cutie with the short beard part of the band? And what about his friend Jacob? Was there a Jacob in the band? No, I was pretty sure the band members were Liam, Wes, Corbin, and…one other one.
“Yeah, we’ll take care of him!” The other girl laughed, boobs bouncing up and down, beach ball in her manicured hands.
I watched with mixed emotions. On one hand, I was annoyed that anyone could laugh so outwardly, without shame and pure confidence, while wearing strings and flaps of fabric for swimwear. Who gave them the right to look so perfect? On the other hand, I envied them—not just the girls and their beautiful bodies, but the guys, too, the way they managed to get the girls’ attention and be so at ease while goofing around.
It was baffling to me. I would never fit into this group dynamic, not in a million years. But I didn’t have to fit in. I was just here for background noise, literally, and only for a few months at that.
If Samuel were here, he’d tell me they were all drunken buffoons, Neanderthals, devoid of intelligence or class. However, since Rosemary and I arrived, everyone in this production had been super nice. Catered meals throughout the day, a car to go anywhere, whenever we needed it… Apparently, money either made you act incredibly stupid or incredibly generous.
Finally, after more poolside wrestling, Jacob and Corbin faltered and sank into the pool with a huge splash, eliciting cheers from the partygoers. The bikini girls flocked to them, hanging
off their shoulders. Short Beard started making out with one of them.
“Nice!” Standing near me, a guy with incredible green eyes lifted his drink high into the air, his arm wrapped in a tribal tattoo much like Punk Cowboy’s. Like most of the men at the party, he was easy to look at, though not as easy on the ears. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” he shouted, bending over to laugh. Then he straightened and walked past me, surveying my side of the pool. Suddenly, his eyes fell on me, and the man literally turned on his heels to head my way. Oh, God… Where was Rosemary when I needed her?
He sauntered over and paused in front of me, one hand on his hip, the other lifting his square glass of ice and clinkiness to his lips. His eyes, face, and brain took in every inch of me from head to toe, not that I had much on display for him to ogle. “Helloooo, Asian Persuasion.”
Ugh, no. He did not just say that. “That’s not funny.” I gave him a deadpan glare.
“You’re right. I apologize. Sort of, but not really. Can you, um…” He grazed his cold glass along my arm. He smelled like vodka…I thought. “Wear a kimono for me later? I promise I’ll make it up to you.” Eyebrows danced over those bright green, but mischievous eyes.
“How about I kick your balls in instead?” I said before I could calculate a more refined response.
His eyes flew open for a moment. “Ha!” Then, he closed them and shook his head in silent laughter. “A feisty one, I love it,” Vodka Breath said, holding on to his stomach.
Meanwhile, my stomach sank. My heart pounded. I was about to get away from him.
But then…
“Tucker…” The scent of sweetness and sun-warmed skin wafted by me at the exact moment my mouth was open and ready to send this idiot back to his cave. It was Punk Cowboy from across the pool. He had light brown eyes, and was over six feet tall, well-built with strong hands shoving the green-eyed douchebag in the shoulder. “Shut up, bro. What the fuck’s wrong with you?” He towered over me and my five-foot-two frame, scowling at my aggressor.
Vodka Breath—Tucker, I guessed—was shorter than Punk Cowboy, but still a lot taller than I was. He held his arms out wide. “I’m just talking to her, dickhead. What the fuck’s wrong with you?”
“Bro, have some class. Don’t you see you’re clearly out of your league here?” He gestured to me, side-glancing with a tiny smile that made me think perhaps this was an act and the two were in cahoots in a chick-pickup scheme. Not that they needed me to hit on at a party full of silicone goddesses. “I’m sorry if he’s bothering you.” Punk Cowboy placed a gentle hand on my lower back.
Though he was certainly taking liberties, the small gesture felt nice, and I wasn’t about to object. He was hot, though I normally did not check out a guy’s physique before his personality. Then again, he was being a gentleman, too, compared to his friend.
“I wasn’t bothering her, bro, but look at her. Tell me she doesn’t look like that chick from the happy massage place that was here earlier today.” Tucker pushed his drink tumbler in my direction. “Am I right?”
Great, high school jokes all over again. I clucked my tongue. The last time I clucked my tongue, Samuel’s friend, Nicolas, earned himself my handprint on his face. Enough was enough. I didn’t need any more Asian jokes when I was already feeling like an idiot for being here. “Say it again,” I prompted.
“Say what again?” Tucker pressed a hand to his chest. “You’re not mad, are you? Sweetie, I’m just paying you a compliment. You are, without a doubt, the finest Japanese princess I have ever laid eyes on—”
“Dude…stop.” My defender shoved Tucker’s chest and simultaneously pulled back on his shirt, throwing him off-balance.
Which was actually helpful, given I’d just shot out my wine glass and dumped its contents down his hairless chest at that precise moment. The liquid created a shiny trail down into his pants. “I’m not Japanese. I’m American, of Chinese descent, if you must know. We’re not all alike. Unlike assholes. I heard that once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all.”
Punk Cowboy scoffed a laugh, and I turned to walk off, find Rosemary, leave the party—at this point, I didn’t care—but I wasn’t going to stay here and take this. The people next to me broke into cheers over my display of bravado, but I couldn’t focus on them. I’d come here for one thing and one thing only—not to party, not to bond with my fellow tour mates, not to experience a Beverly Hills party for the first and last time in my life.
No, I’d come only to meet my bosses, wherever they were, if they were even here.
“Hey…” Punk Cowboy’s hand reached into mine—warm and strong—and he spun me toward him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry about Tucker. Not to defend him, but he’s just drunk. Normally, he’s a stand-up guy.”
“I hadn’t counted on harassment being part of the job.” Guess I already had something to report to my boss. “Can you tell me something before I go? You seem a decent enough guy.” I took my hand back and gripped my purse strap instead.
“Sure, anything.”
“Can you tell me where Liam Collier and the other guys are? I just came to say hello then get going.”
He studied my face carefully, as though maybe I was kidding, as though I was some clueless fish that just flopped out of the water. “I’m Liam Collier.” His hand, covered in silver rings, extended toward me. “Pleased to meet you. And you are?”
Mortified.
Abby “Mortified” Chan.
Chapter Two
Liam
The angel standing before me was a cross between Audrey Hepburn and Lucy Liu, a vision in classic black, with porcelain skin and minimally painted eyes. Yeah, she stood out like an Aston Martin among Chevys and Toyotas, but I liked that about her. Her delicate hand slipped into mine, and I felt the thick pads of her fingertips.
Okay, maybe not so delicate.
“Oh. I didn’t realize…you were…nice to meet you…” She fumbled with her words, squeezing my hand softly instead of shaking it. “I’m Abby. Your cellist.”
Cellist? “No shit?” My depraved mind flew to an image of this tiny girl, naked and cradling a huge cello between her milky white legs, head tossed back in ecstasy. Whoa. I shook away the vision.
“Yes, shit.” She smiled.
“Sorry, I mean, wow, that’s awesome…that you work for me. And that you play cello. Fantastic.” I was fumbling my words, a pretty fucking amazing thing. Few people left me speechless anymore. I’d seen and done it all these last few years, but I’d never had a prim and proper class act join my tour before.
She stood wringing her hands as though we were at an eighth-grade prom and I was asking her to dance. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I had to be on my best behavior around this chick. “And here I was, thinking you didn’t need me for anything after the way you handled Tucker over there.” I gestured in the general direction he’d fled after Abby scorched his ass.
“Was he a friend of yours?” she asked.
Man, she really didn’t know us from a hole in the wall, did she? Refreshing! “Tucker? He’s our drummer. You’ve probably heard of Tucker the… You know what? Never mind. And that guy right there…” I pointed to the guy in the pool who’d been wrestling with Jacob in front of her before they’d both fallen in. “That’s Corbin Ross, our bassist.”
“Right. What about Wesley Shaw?” she asked.
“Wes?” I scanned around for our lead guitarist, but he was more the private type and was probably upstairs in a bedroom taking his pants off as we spoke. “I don’t know where Wes is. Probably better that way.”
“Well, you’re wrong. I do need you,” she said, clearing her throat. “For something, that is. My paycheck,” she clarified, breaking out another thin smile.
“Ha, ha, good one.” I grinned. Then, because I’d talked to everyone at this party except for her, I sat my ass against the edge of one of Robbie’s potted plant things, crossed my legs, and studied her�
��the way she scoped around, trying not to notice the naked people in the pool, as if hoping horse blinders would appear on the sides of her face.
I wanted to put my arm aound her and tell her it was going to be okay. The lifestyle might be a little crazy, but we weresically all good people.
We’d never had a string section on tour with us before, but back in December, I told the guys that I thought Save Me Tonight and Never Again could use some instrumental backup onstage. Other bands did it for their live shows, and their songs were all the richer because of it. Wes, Tuck, and Corbin had been on board, but the hard part had been convincing Robbie. He’d thought it would give us too serious an appearance, like an older band wanting to grow as musicians when we should still come across as bachelor playboys. He’d finally relented, if only because I insisted, so I was really bummed to have missed the string rehearsal this afternoon. Unfortunately, there’d been a thousand and one things to do before we headed for San Francisco. But if I’d known Abby was going to be there…
“Well, I just wanted to say thank you…for employing me.” She laughed in a really cute nervous way, hands clasped in front of her. “I look forward to the tour starting tomorrow.”
“You’re welcome. Thanks for doing an awesome job…you know…playing the cello.” I pretended to hold an oversized cello upright and slide an imaginary bow across the strings.
She reached out, placed her small hands over mine and corrected my wrist, swerving it back and forth. “It needs to bend, like this, in order to keep the bow straight.”
“Oh. Gotcha.” I did my best to imitate her hand movements, but the truth was, I couldn’t focus on anything but the touch and feel of her hands on mine. “Thanks for the tip, Teach. I’ll see you at the buses tomorrow.”
She smiled, and holy shitballs, Batman…Tucker was right—she looked like the girl from the happy massage place, yeah, but ten thousand times prettier. Without hardly any makeup, without her hair done, with most of her body covered, too. It was hard not to imagine her dressed in something shorter, tighter, with maybe a pair of black patent leather boots up to her knees and some cherry blossom red lipstick outlining that perfect mouth.
