by Aubrey Irons
I’ve never been to a rock concert.
I’ve never been anywhere close to something like this.
The lights dim, a blue light fills the stage, and the electric guitar clangs across the small crowd. Chastity tightens her grip on my arm, and I turn — where I’m excited, she looks terrified.
The singer starts to sing, a good looking guy with long hair and a beard, and the crowd goes nuts as the rest of the band comes roaring in.
I’m standing in a rock club, sipping a beer, watching a band of men dripping sex appeal sing about a one-night stand while thrashing on electric guitars.
Yeah, so much for getting back to the old, clean-cut, polished me.
Sierra elbows me as the guitar player steps forward for a solo. “That’s my friend!”
“Wow, he’s-”
“Gorgeous?”
I blush, grinning.
“Yeah, I know,” she laughs.
Chastity mutters something about the devil’s agents, but I can barely hear her as I tip the bottle back, take a sip of beer and let the music and the crowd and the light just wash over me.
A baptism in coolness.
But then suddenly, I freeze. I blink, squinting in the dim light, but there’s no denying what my eyes spot.
Rowan.
Here.
He’s in profile, off to one side of the stage up on the second level of the bar, and he’s scowling as he argues with someone I can’t see behind a pole. I jerk my eyes back to Sierra, who’s glancing up at her brother too.
She sighs exasperatedly.
“What?”
“Just classic older brother crashing my night out,” she rolls her eyes. “He’s probably here with some skank.”
“A skank?”
“Oh,” she rolls her eyes again, grinning. “He’s like a lightning rod for the sluttiest girls in New England. You could drop Rowan on Mars and he’d find some bar skank ready to sink her claws into him in under an hour.”
My face scowls.
“I know, gross. But that’s Rowan.”
“Disgusting,” Chastity mutters.
Rowan’s eyes narrow, his face darkening as he stabs a finger at someone behind the pole. Suddenly, a large hand reaches out from behind it, shoving him back. He steps back, and suddenly two men step into my line of sight.
The big one I instantly recognize as the “beer delivery man” from that night at the bar. But it’s the smaller man, in a brown leather jacket, who’s speaking to Rowan, jabbing a finger right back, and shrugging as he takes a sip from the glass in his hand. Rowan looks away, shaking his head and looking furious.
“Oh, shit.” Sierra’s looking up at him again.
“What?”
“Oh, Rowan’s got…” she sighs. “He’s got some not great friends.”
I watch as he angrily shrugs off the smaller man’s hands when he claps him on the back. The guy laughs, does it again and then walks away, followed by the large man.
Rowan scowls, taking a big breath and running his fingers through his hair.
I haven’t seen this Rowan. This Rowan isn’t cracking a joke, or being crude, or grinning.
He looks furious.
He looks scared.
And then he looks right at me, and suddenly he’s right back to the man I know.
He grins that wicked, tempting grin at me over the crowd, wagging his brow.
I quickly look away.
Nope, not going there. The rock show, the beer, the crazy music, the new scene I’m not used to?
Sure.
But Rowan Hammond and his magnetic ability to tempt me into wickedness is nothing I need to add to this. I take another quick sip of beer as I purposefully turn back to the stage.
I take a second one right after.
You know what? Maybe beer is my drink. And maybe I can make it until Milton gets here without Rowan interfering in my life.
Getting under my skin.
Getting in close.
Getting into my pants.
Because I know where that leads. I know myself enough to see the weakness I have around him. I let go around him for some insane reason, and I forget who I am.
I want to forget who I am around him. I want to forget the way I was raised, the code and the rules I’ve adhered to.
Around him, I want to be bad.
I want to sin.
And I can’t keep doing that, not anymore.
I’m watching the bass player jump off the drum stand when I feel the hand on my ass.
Is he serious?
I freeze, clenching my beer tightly before whirling. “Are you serious?” I hiss as I turn. “Here?”
I freeze.
“We can go somewhere else, cute stuff.”
Oh. My. God.
It’s not Rowan. Not at all.
The man in the skull t-shirt with the arms cut off and a Red Sox baseball hat leers at me. “How you doing, babe?”
I jerk away from him but his arm darts out to catch my wrist. “Hey, where you going? Thought you wanted to go somewhere?”
I swallow thickly. “Oh, no, I- I mean-” I shake my head, my eyes darting across his creepy grin.
He swigs the beer in his hand and when he leans close, the smell of it washes over my face, making me cringe.
“What’s your name.”
“Let me go.”
“That’s a funny name.”
I yank my hand away from him again. “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
“Boyfriend?”
“No.”
“I don’t care if you’ve got one, you know,” he winks at me.
I shudder.
“Enjoy the concert.” I turn back, shivering.
“You know, it’s rude to turn your back on someone.”
Suddenly his hand claps my ass again, and I yelp. This time, Sierra turns sharply.
“This guy bothering you?”
“I’ll bother you too, sweet stuff.” He grins. “How you doing?”
Sierra’s mouth tightens. “I’ll be great when you get the fuck away from us.”
He frowns. “No need to be a bitch.”
“Fuck off.”
“We got a real mouth over here, Sean.”
Another guy, this one in a football jersey of some kind sticks his head in. “What’s that now?”
“Lady over here talking like a sailor.”
“Ohh, just my type.”
Sierra bristles. “If you think this is you being charming, I can promise it’s not.”
The crowd suddenly feeling smaller around us, closing us in too close to the two guys.
“So fuck off and leave us alone, aright?”
“Buy you ladies a drink?”
“Wow, you’re terrible at hints, aren’t you?”
“I just don’t speak cunt, sorry.”
The first guy reaches out, slinging an arm over my shoulder. Sierra shoves him away. “Get your hands off- hey!”
The other guy grabs her by the wrist when suddenly he cries out. The arm slips from my shoulders as skull t-shirt man whirls to meet-
Rowan.
Rowan looking furious.
“Hey pal-”
“She’s with me.”
The guy’s jaw tightens. “Yeah? Which one.”
“All of them. They’re with me.”
Skull t-shirt snorts, turning his back on Rowan. “Fuck off, you dumb-” he yelps as Rowan grabs him by the wrist and spins him around, dropping him to his knees with his arm twisted at an odd angle.
“Shit! Shit man! Fuck!”
‘Sean’ suddenly jumps into Rowan from behind, knocking him forward, when suddenly we’re surrounded by large guys in black t-shirts and walkie-talkies.
“All right, we’re done here!”
Suddenly, we’re being dragged out, pulled through the crowd, and out the front door. We spill out into the front marquis of the venue, gasping for breath.
“Shit, Hammond!” One of the bouncers suddenly seems
to recognize Rowan. “The fuck you starting fights for, man?”
“These two,” he nods at the two creepers. “Tried starting shit with my sister and my-” he glances at me. “Her friends.”
The bouncer nods. “Fair enough,” he turns to the two other guys. “Walk, now.”
“Hey man, we had tickets!”
“You got five seconds to walk or I’m going make sure you can’t for the next few months, got it?”
They don’t walk then, they run.
“Thanks, Jerry.”
“You owe me a pint.”
“Done,” Rowan grins. “Think we can head back inside?”
“I’m- I’m good actually,” Sierra says, shakes her head. “One bar brawl a night is my limit,” she grins wryly.
The bouncer chuckles. “All right, you guys have a good night. Sorry about that.”
“Well!” Rowan claps his stands together. “That sure got fun, huh?”
“Eva!”
I whirl to see the angriest, most furious Chastity I’ve ever seen glaring at me. Her face bright red and her eyes blazing.
“Chas?”
“We are leaving!”
Sierra’s shoulders slump as she steps forward. “I’m so sorry about that Chastity, just a misunder-”
Chastity balks at her. “A misunderstanding! That place?” She jabs a finger back at the club. “Eva, if your father knew where we’d gone tonight-”
“He doesn’t have to know, Chas.”
Her eyes go wide. “I won’t lie to a man of God, Eva!” she snaps. “The Lord says honor thy Father! And it has a good many things to say about hedonism and consumption and lewdness too!” She spits the last word at Sierra, who frowns.
“Lewdness?”
“Let’s go, Eva.”
“Chastity, please calm down.”
“Fine,” she whirls. “You can stay here if you want, but I’m leaving.”
I sigh. “Oh c’mon Chastity!”
“I’m walking, now.”
“Chastity!” I call to her, but she ignores me as she storms away in her long dress and her cardigan.
I exhale slowly, turning to Rowan and Sierra. “Sorry about that.”
“Never been called lewd before.”
“Really?”
Sierra punches Rowan in the arm.
I smile, but my face falls immediately after. “Look, I really am sorry,” I mumble.
Sierra hugs me. “Please, don’t be. It’s not your fault those guys were creeps. You okay?”
I nod. “Yeah, I-” I grin. “I actually had a great time.”
Sierra laughs, hugging me again before she lets go and yawns. “Okay, I’m actually beat. This was a long week. Row, feel like giving me a ride to Mom and Dad’s?”
“Sure.” He glances up, his eyes locking onto me with an intense look. “C’mon, I’ll drive you too.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rowan
Sierra’s asleep in the backseat by the time we’re three blocks from where I parked. I pull onto Front Street, driving past the closed tourist shops by the main docks, past the ferry terminal, and past the slips for the out-of-town yacht owners. I pull up Levine Street, up past Julie’s Pizza, the Citgo station, and Hammond park — formerly Marsden park until the town renamed it in honor of my dad and his contributions to the community last year.
And here I am, owning a fucking dive bar.
No pressure, right?
I feel eyes on me, and I turn to see Eva glaring at me.
“Oh, what.”
“What is that I was not ‘with you’ back there.”
I roll my eyes as I turn back to the road. “Trust me, in that place? With those guys? You were with me. The alternative is worse.”
“Who were those guys?”
“Hell if I know. Townie douchebags.”
“No, the guys before that. Who you were talking to.”
I frown. Shit, she saw that. Yeah, not telling her about Rich and that whole thing. She already saw enough with Gus that night behind the bar.
“No one, just assholes.”
“Well, I can take care of myself,” she mutters, turning to stare out the side window at the passing town.
I snort.
“Excuse me?”
“That was me respectfully disagreeing with you.”
“And what makes you think I can’t? I’m not as sheltered as you like to think I am. I’ve been abroad you know.”
“To Korea.”
“Yep.”
“Where you, I’m guessing, stayed with a very nice, very wholesome church family in a very nice little town where nothing ever happened.”
She purses her lips and I grin.
“I’m just saying, it’s not like you went to Kabul or something. Yeah, angel, you’re sheltered, trust me.”
“You can stop calling me that you know.”
“What, angel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I know you’re making fun of me.”
“I’m not- hang on.”
I pull into my parents’ driveway, shifting into park before I reach back and shake my sister. “Rise and shine, kid.”
“Hmph?” Sierra startles awake, wiping drool from her chin.
“That’ll be four bucks for the ride.”
“Thanks,” she mumbles. “Sorry again for the weird night, Eva.”
Eva turns, beaming at my sister. “I had a really great time tonight.”
“Good.” Sierra glances back at me.
“I’ll drive her home, it’s on the way back to O’Donnell’s anyways.”
“Okay, night.”
We pull back out of the driveway, and I turn back to her.
“I’m not making fun of you.”
She gives me a look.
“Honestly.”
“Now who’s lying.”
I chuckle. “It’s supposed to be a compliment.”
“How’s that?”
“Because you’re…you. You walked in a the bar that day when you woke me up in the office in that white dress with that hair and that innocence on your face.”
“Right, you’re making fun of me for being into church and religion and-”
“I call you that because you’re beautiful, actually.”
She freezes, and her eyes dart to mine in the darkness of the car. Lights from a streetlight wash over her face like a wave. “Oh. Thanks.”
I shake my head. “You’re welcome.”
I pull up to the curb on the corner near the rental house.
“This is you. Hey, don’t worry about Chastity. She seems a little high-strung, but I doubt she’s the squealer type. She’s not going to rat you out for being out tonight. Besides, she was there too.”
“You think I’m beautiful?”
She says it softly, and when I glance at her, I see her eyes big and round as she watches me from her side of the truck.
“I don’t think you’re beautiful, I know you are.”
She blushes, her eyes dropping as she tries to hide the smile.
“You don’t hear that enough, do you.”
She smiles wider.
“Didn’t think so. You looked good tonight, you know.”
She rolls her eyes. “What, in my dorky jeans and t-shirt look? Now you’re definitely making fun of me.”
“No, I mean, in your element. Well, out of it, I guess.”
She looks at me curiously.
“When I caught you staring at me.”
“I was not.”
“Whatever, when I saw you from up on the second floor of the venue, you looked…. alive. Like you were having fun.” I shrug. “It’s a good look, for what it’s worth.”
She blushes again. “Thanks.”
We’re facing each other, the truck off and dark, the dim light from a streetlight illuminating our faces.
This is where I tell her goodnight.
This is where I drive away.
This is where I go ho
me and jerk off or call Fiona or whatever.
This is where I shut my goddamn mouth.
Except this is where I don’t do any of those things.
“You look good when you let go. You should let go more often.”
She nods, her lips parting slightly as her eyes lock onto mine. “I should?”
I nod. “Yeah, you-”
And that’s when she kisses me.
That’s when she closes the distance between us, throws her arms around my neck, and kisses me. Her lips are soft as they press into mine, her body molding to mine and her hands grabbing at the back of my hair as she sears that kiss across my mouth.
And just like that, before I can really even process it, she’s pulling away, her eyes wide.
“Oh,” she breathes quietly, touching her lips. “Oh my God. I- I’m sorry. I, um, I didn’t mean to-”
This time I shut her up, as I grab her, pull her back to my mouth and kiss her with everything I have.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Evangeline
“Oh God,” I gasp as he pulls me against him, hard. I’m still reeling from the insanity of kissing him when he does it right back. His lips bruise against mine, a fierceness and passion I’ve never felt before as I get lost in that kiss. He growls, pulling me into him, his strong arms wrapping around me and his fingers tangling in my hair as I gasp into his mouth.
He groans as I part my lips for him.
I like this. I like kissing him a lot.
I moan softly, letting my own hands move to his arms, trailing up his skin to those strong shoulders I hold onto him tightly, gasping silently as he suddenly pulls me onto his lap right there on the bench seat of the truck.
I kiss him harder, feeling my legs go astride his waist and shivering as his arms encircle me and pull me tight against his chest.
“What are we doing?” I breathe, pulling back for air.
“Kissing.”
“We- I thought- I thought we agreed this was bad.”
“I think we were wrong.”
“I think we were wrong too,” I moan as I grab him, and kiss him again.
His hand moves over my back, stroking my spine through the shirt and wandering lower until his hand molds to the curve of my butt, and I gasp as he squeezes.
