And more fully against his hard-on.
She pulled away instantly. “Friends don’t usually have that, though.” Her eyes shifted down to his crotch then back to his eyes.
“That’s still from earlier.” The attention she was giving it didn’t make him any softer, however. “A guy walks in on a girl with her hand in her pants and that’s what happens.”
Her eyes widened in dismay. “We said we were going to forget that.”
“We said we were going to pretend to forget that.”
“Jerk.” But she was smiling, so he knew things were good between them.
“On that note”—it was his turn for his eyes to fall to her crotch—“I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.”
“Stop it!” Her expression softened. “And thank you. Seriously, thank you. And good night!”
“Good night, Songbird.” His chest ached as he walked across the lounge, away from her. Hurt more than he thought it should over a girl he barely knew. Against his better judgment, he turned back to say one last thing. “I have to admit, Lacy, that it’s easy to forget about her when I’m near you. I don’t know what it is, but you really get me going.”
He liked the way her mouth parted in surprise. Liked it too much. Which was his cue to turn away from her once and for all.
Chapter Seventeen
Lacy finished setting up the stand for Eli’s banjo and started on one for his mandolin. She was grateful that they could be easy like this after, well, after everything that happened before. Or at least it was easy with everyone else around. Andy’s presence might also be a contributor to the lack of intensity between them. She was admittedly a nice buffer.
Lacy was glad that her sister was at today’s load in, not just because of her buffer attribute, but also because she got to see the tour environment firsthand. It felt like ages since Lacy had shared music with Andy. SoWriAn, was a secret of course. And the whole writer’s block thing. Which made the things that Lacy could share even more special.
“Just set it down anywhere over there,” Sammy pointed and instructed to Andy, who had just carried a bag of microphones in from the bus.
Andy set her haul down then sat on Wes’s drum stool. She wiped at her brow with exaggeration. “You have to do this at every new venue?”
“Uh-huh.” What Lacy really wanted to say was, The microphones aren’t even that heavy.
“And you’re basically at a new venue every day?” Andy fanned herself with her hand, then checked for newly sprouted muscles.
“Yep.” Lacy grinned at her sister’s overdramatization. “Sometimes we have to unload after the show too, though Sammy usually feels bad for us and does it for us or finds some locals to help her with it in exchange for a beer.”
“Hmm. I had no idea being a musician required so much physical exertion.”
Lacy finished with her stand then turned to stare Andy in the face. “Are you complaining or complimenting?”
“A little bit of both? Oh, come on. You know you make me proud.” Andy pushed the pedal for the kick drum. Once, twice. Three times. “God. It takes energy to do even this.”
Lacy shook her head. What did her sister think she’d been doing all this time? But then, she normally showed at the venue just in time to grab some wine before the show. They’d never done a setup together.
Eli finished tuning James’s bass and set it on its stand. “Oh, this isn’t that bad. We pre-work off our post-show beers. We’re lucky we don’t have a big set with our show. But Kat should be here helping us out, if you ask me.”
“I really don’t mind that she’s not,” Lacy muttered under her breath. She was still unreasonably annoyed that pretty, flirty, talented Kat had decided to spend as much time on the tour as she had. “Anyone know where she is, anyway?” She hoped she didn’t sound like she cared that much. Honestly, she didn’t. She mostly just wanted to know where she’d spent the night before.
“She took off in the middle of last night’s show,” Jax said, changing the height of his microphone for the sixth time. “Said she had to be back for an early recording session.”
Lacy tried not to mind that Jax knew Kat’s whereabouts and focused instead on the joy of knowing that wherever she had slept, it hadn’t been with him. “Yeah, she’s covering all of my shifts so I can be on this tour. She’s been genuinely sweet.” It was easier to admit Kat’s generosity when she wasn’t overwhelmed by the other girl’s physical presence.
“Are we about done here?” Jax rocked on the balls of his feet, obviously ready to be on his way.
Eli scratched the back of his neck and scanned the stage. “I think so. I have to tune my mando but it can wait until sound check. It will just need to be tuned again then anyway.”
Lacy looked around the stage as well, mostly so she could avoid the weird tingle in her stomach at the sight of Eli’s flexed bicep. “I’m not sure where Sammy went. Should we wait for her to say we’re good to go?”
“We can, I guess. I’m going to check out the green room.” Jax stepped across an instrument case at Lacy’s feet before turning back to her. “Wanna come with?”
“Sure.” Her heart flipped. Jax had never invited her to do anything with him. So this was only a trip to the green room, but, hey, it was something.
He held his hand out to her, lifting her off her spot on the floor. He was strong—strong like Eli—and his hands were warm. There wasn’t any spark of electricity like when Eli touched her, but that didn’t mean anything. Maybe Eli was just a better conduit or Jax wore thicker socks.
And why was she comparing the two men, anyway?
He let go of her hand when she was upright and headed offstage left. “I don’t know where it is. This side probably.” Lacy followed after him. Just beyond the curtains, he stopped suddenly. “Oh, cool. There’s a catwalk.” He nodded to the metal ladder bolted into the cement wall. “I love this shit. My high school had one in their auditorium. I used to sneak up there with the girls.”
She cocked her head hoping she looked flirty. “‘Girls’? As in plural?”
“Plural as in multi trips up the catwalk. Not like multi girls at once.” He paused. “Well. Okay. Usually not multi girls at once.”
Lacy was surprised. Her impression of Folx had always been that he’d been shy in high school. “Jax, I had no idea you used to be such a ladies man.”
“Used to be? There’s no used to be about it.” He winked at her before putting two hands on one of the ladder rungs and pulling himself up.
Lacy felt a rush of panic. “Where are you going?”
“Up.”
“Right now?”
“Yep.” Jax was already at the top of the ladder, hoisting himself up to the metal bridge.
Great. Well, Lacy wasn’t going up there. No way. No how. Heights were not her friend. She preferred to be on solid ground.
“What’s up there, anyway?” Andy asked from behind her.
“A bridge so the techies can adjust the lights without having to bring the whole electric grid down.”
“Can you just go up there?”
Lacy shrugged. “He did.”
“Cool.” Andy started to climb up.
“You’re going too?” Lacy couldn’t hide the irritation from her voice. Andy knew that Lacy didn’t do bridges. Or ladders.
“Sure. Why not?”
Because that left her alone down at the bottom, that’s why. Left her alone with Eli.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Eli came up alongside her. “Hey, a catwalk. I love these.” And then he was climbing.
“You too?” Jesus, was everyone leaving her? Just what she needed—to feel like a losery loser while everyone else went exploring.
Eli paused to call over his shoulder, “Join us.”
“I can’t.” She hesitated at his questioning look. Whatever, it wasn’t that humiliating. Not like being a songwriter unable to write songs or being walked in on while masturbating in a hotel lobby. “I’m afraid of heig
hts.”
“Really? Huh.” Eli let go of the rung he was on, letting himself fall to the ground. He stared at her, a moment too long for comfort. “I know another girl who’s afraid of heights.”
“Eh. It’s not really an uncommon fear.” She was sure, however, that it wasn’t that common to look so good jumping off a ladder.
He wiped his sweaty hands along his jeans. “I guess not.”
Now she truly was alone with Eli. And that whole I’m glad things are easy between us vibe she’d had earlier seemed to be fading away. Maybe she’d rather be alone without Eli. “You don’t have to not go up because of me.”
He cocked his head, a gleam appearing in his eye. “I know. And I don’t plan to not go up. But I want you to come with.”
“Eli, I’m not kidding. I’m not good with heights.” Terrified, more like. “I quit gymnastics as a kid the minute I stepped up on the balance beam. And playground slides? The only times I made it to the top was when Andy climbed behind me and held me tight on the way down.”
“And you loved it, right? ’Cause I can tell from your expression that you wish you weren’t afraid now. You want to be up there.”
Lacy bit her lip. “Maybe.” But that was just because everyone else was up there. “No.” Except she did kind of want to see what it was like. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Eli chuckled. “So let’s do this. You go ahead of me and I’ll follow behind you like your sister did when you were kids. You don’t have to worry about falling, because if you slip, I’ll catch you.”
He’d said something like that before. On the bus, when she’d crashed into him as they took a turn. He’d said he was happy to break her fall. That stirred something in her now, not just because he was saying it again, but because it felt like it meant so much more than just a physical, literal thing.
She was being ridiculous, though. He had someone. What else would he mean by it? Though there did seem to be some lyrics buried in there somewhere.
Lacy looked up the ladder and considered. She could hear Andy and Jax up above her, laughing about something. She wanted to go … but … “I’m not just afraid of falling. There’s the whole looking down and getting dizzy thing.”
“Then don’t look down. At least not while you’re climbing. When we get to the top, if you want to look down, I’ll hold you while you look. Then if you get dizzy, you’ll have someone to lean on.” Eli grinned then, that wickedly bright grin that made her knees knock.
This probably wasn’t a good idea.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head.
“Never mind then. See you when we get down.” Eli grabbed onto a rung.
“No. Wait!” She couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t stand to see him climbing up without her. Couldn’t stand to keep on living her life in fear of what was next. “I’ll go.”
“Awesome.” Eli waited while she got her grip, then helped her get her footing. “That’s it. One rung at a time. Just keep looking forward.”
She moved one foot and one hand up. Then the other hand and the other foot. As Eli had suggested, she kept looking forward, her eyes glued to the bridge above. She felt him below her, and though she wouldn’t glance down, she knew he was watching her. Protecting her.
Near the top, the metal wrapped around the top of the ladder, encasing the climber so that if she leaned back she would fall against the enclosure instead of down to the ground. That added to her confidence. She came out from it and found Jax at the top to give her a hand up to the bridge.
“Glad you could make it,” he said as he pulled her to him. Their bodies were flush against each other and she thought she saw a hint of interest in the way he looked down at her. Still, something was wrong. Probably the fact that she was standing on a bridge way too high above the ground. Humans were not meant to do this.
Oh, God, what had she been thinking!
“Can you make a guy a little room?” Eli was stopped at the top of the ladder, Jax and Lacy blocking him from coming all the way up.
She giggled stupid nervous giggles that were definitely because of the height and not because she was smack between two gorgeous guys. “Of course. Come on up.” Lacy pushed against Jax to make space.
Jax took her hand as he led her further out on the bridge. “Are you nervous about heights or something?”
Not wanting to seem like a total scaredy-cat to Jax, she underplayed her fear. “A bit. But it helps to have something solid to hold onto.” Her free hand quickly found the side railing. It was cold steel in her hand and nothing had ever felt better.
“That’s what she said.” Eli came behind her as she gave a shaky chuckle. He put his hand on her elbow. “You okay?”
Well, maybe she’d been exaggerating about nothing feeling better than the steel because his touch felt pretty good right now too. “Yeah. I’m pretty okay.”
Andy stood ahead of them at the center of the bridge examining the lights on the grid above. As the threesome neared her, she turned toward them. “Lacy! You climbed up here?”
It was encouraging to have her sister witness her bravery. But she played it down. “Well, don’t be too impressed. I haven’t looked down yet, and I just realized I’ll probably have to do that on the way back down the ladder.”
“You haven’t looked down?” Jax seemed flabbergasted. “There’s no point in being up here if you don’t look out at the view. It’s awesome. You never get to look at the audience from this viewpoint—above the lights so you can actually see them.”
Eli’s hand fell from Lacy’s elbow, but he still stood near. “You do realize there’s no audience out there right now, right?”
Jax smirked at his bandmate. “Shut up. Imagine it. The sea of faces. That’s how many seats they’d fill.” He dropped her hand and gestured out in front of him. Toward the audience, Lacy guessed—she still didn’t dare to look anywhere but at the people around her.
He sat down on the bridge and let his feet dangle off the side.
Even though there were three sets of safety bars, Lacy was not doing that.
“It is a pretty cool view,” Andy admitted. “But not because of the imaginary sea of faces. It’s cool because it’s just something you don’t usually see.”
“All right. I’m going to look.” Lacy took a deep breath. Then another. Then a third. Gripping the steel with both hands, she looked out.
And saw nothing but the back of the curtain. “You can’t even see the audience. The masking’s in the way.”
“That’s why you sit, Lacypants. Try it.” Jax extended his hand out to her. “Come on. I’ll help you down.”
Ah, dammit. “Uh, okay. Oh, my God. I can’t believe I’m—” She broke off in a chain of swear words that lasted until her butt met the metal of the bridge. She crossed her legs Indian style. “Okay. I’m here.”
And wow. The view really was … cool.
Eli sat on the other side of her, mirroring Jax. “Now dangle your feet over the side.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Her heart rate picked up just at the thought.
Eli put his hand at the small of her back. “There are bars. You’re going nowhere. And I’m here.” He cleared his throat. “All of us, I mean. All of us are here.”
Man, she must have taken a crazy pill that morning, because she was about to do it. She held both hands on the lowest bar and threw first one leg, then the other, over the edge.
Something about the new position made her feel looser, more like she was free in the air. Sort of more like flying. But because she had the bars and a strong man on either side of her, plus her sister nearby, she also felt really safe.
“Lacy, this is really amazing,” Andy said standing above her. “Look at you! Does this mean you’ll finally join me at the top of the Prudential Tower?”
“Uh, yeah, no.” Hell no. “That’s like seven hundred fifty feet high. This is, what? Fifteen feet? Eighteen?”
“Twenty-six feet,” Jax said.
“Holy sh—” Lacy s
wallowed. That was more than four Eli’s stacked on top of each other. And just one Eli was pretty tall. She took another yoga-deep breath. “Fine. I’m fine. It’s all fine. How’s everybody else?”
Andy took a seat on the other side of Eli. “I’m doing great.”
“Me too,” Eli said, his hand still pressed to the small of Lacy’s back.
She glanced down at his arm, not sure if she really wanted him to remove it but knowing that it would be best for both of them if he did.
Perhaps unfortunately, he caught her meaning. “Oh, sorry,” he said quietly, letting his hand drift to the metal bridge.
And now Lacy wasn’t afraid of the height at all because all she could think about was missing the warmth of Eli’s touch.
Jax leaned forward, his hands clasped on the lowest supporting rod as he surveyed the space in front of him. “I love it up here, man.” His voice was wistful—dreamy, even. “Sometimes I wonder if this would have been the better career. A behind-the-scenes guy. They can come up here and enjoy the crowd without having to deal with any of the pressure of being the talent. They can just, like, enjoy the music. You know?”
Lacy patted his thigh. “I do.” She did know. Even though she didn’t have pressure from fans like she was sure that Jax did, she did have pressure. Pressure to record her next album. Pressure to write her next song. Making music was a job—she’d never expected it to be anything different—but that knowledge didn’t make it any easier to stay current and relevant when her creative muse had gone MIA.
It was that type of pressure that made her do crazy things. Like jump unassuming nice guys just to get a few words written down.
Yeah, she understood Jax. She understood big time.
But on the other hand, wasn’t the pressure what made it worth it? Right now, the fear of being so high in the air was what made the view worth it. A view that was really nothing but an aerial of an empty theater was suddenly special.
She opened her mouth to say just that when she was interrupted from a voice below. “Okay, kids. I’m locking up now. Time to go.” It was Sammy.
Jax put a finger to his mouth. “Shh. This will be fun,” he whispered.
Love Struck Page 17
