“Remember that guy, Charlie, I hooked up with last week?” Alyssa asks.
“Yeah! Why did you do that, anyway? He wasn’t, well... anything special.” Jewel gives Alyssa a playful smile. A wave of comfort washes over Jewel as she realizes she made the right choice in going out tonight.
“Shut up! A girl has to have some pleasures. Anyway, he sent flowers to my work yesterday. He’s been calling me at least once a day and he texts me like every hour. I had to block his number. I was going to track him down and lay him a new one.”
“Yeesh, girl. Well, if you do that, let me know. I wanna help.”
“Jewel! I love hanging out with you. I can’t spill my gossip to anyone else and I know you’ll always be on my side.” Alyssa leans over to give Jewel a hug.
“Well, who hooked up with the geeky-looking guy in the first place? I mean, You’ve done all you can do, but if you want I’ll go give him a scare. I mean, if you think that’ll help.”
“Well, it may not help, but I’d enjoy it.” Alyssa chuckles.
Jewel doesn’t have a chance to respond before her attention is drawn to the two well-dressed guys a seat over. They aren’t talking anymore and are looking at the girls. Alyssa gives Jewel a sly smile as the men walk over.
“Hey, pretty ladies. Can we get you anything?”
“Maybe another beer?” Jewel states as she finishes her first one.
The man motions for the bartender and asks for two Manhattans. Soon, they are brought to Jewel and Alyssa. The first guy who is standing next to Jewel has short brown hair and dark green eyes. He’s wearing a grey dress shirt tucked in with a jacket and black pants. The other is wearing a black collar shirt and dark pants. He’s standing next to Alyssa.
These guys don’t seem to be dressed for the occasion. This is a rock show, not the opera! Jewel thinks to herself.
“I’m Dan, this is Greg.” Dan, the grey dress-shirt guy, continues, “We’re not cheap, you’ll appreciate a Manhattan much more than the fizzy water.”
Jewel lets her eyes roll at the remark. One beer wasn’t enough after my date with Optometrist dude, and will certainly not be enough to get me through the night with guys that can’t get a simple order right.
“What do you girls do for a living?” Greg asks.
Jewel encourages herself to be polite before speaking, even though she’s a little disappointed that gossiping with Alyssa was cut short by the pair of guys. “I’m a receptionist” Jewel offers.
“I work for a phone company, but just for now. My dream is to open my own boutique in Venice,” Alyssa replies. “You guys?”
“Oh, nothing special,” Greg vaguely responds before exchanging knowing glances with Dan.
Jewel turns to look at Greg and reminds herself to be civil. Clearly they didn’t even hear what the girls had said and were just waiting for the chance to talk about themselves. Trying to be open to dating normal men is harder than Jewel expected it to be. She’s realizing now that she can’t just shut every guy down. Since she gave an optometrist a chance, that also means giving guys like Dan and Greg here a chance… maybe.
Greg returns the glance to Jewel and raises his glass. “Hah. We’re the managers of this club.”
Dan nods in agreement before resting his hand on the middle of Jewel’s back. “Why don’t we go up to the office? It’s got a much better view.”
The two friends look at each other before responding at the same time. Jewel blurts out a loud, “No can do.” while Alyssa eagerly agrees.
Jewel leans in and whispers in her friend’s ear, “Alyssa! What are you doing? We don’t even know these guys. What if they’re rapists?”
“Oh, come on! They’re the managers! Ok, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll double check with someone that works here. Here comes one of the waitresses now.” Alyssa gets up to talk to the waitress, leaving Jewel in awkward silence with Dan and Greg before coming back a minute later.
Alyssa leans in to Jewel, “She says they’re harmless. Should we believe her?”
“Um, yeah. I guess so.”
At least this means I’ll get a better view of Ash when he comes on stage.
Since realizing she had a crush on him she’d been dying to see how he’s changed. She can only hope that it was for the better.
“I may not be able to date him, but he can serve as one great piece of eye-candy,” she whispers to herself as she gets up.
Dan asks what she said and she replies with an, “Oh, nothing,” before he takes the lead toward the stairs.
The club is quite packed now, and people are still piling in like mad. The two managers make their way through the crowd, leaving Jewel and Alyssa an easy path to follow through the mass of bodies. Finally, they reach the stairs and two bouncers part the velvet ropes to allow them up. They make their way down the hallway and into the office.
CHAPTER FOUR
The office is much more luxurious than Jewel imaged it to be, which is a pleasant surprise. She notices a giant tinted glass wall opposite of the door. A couple feet before the glass, the floor lowers about six inches. Against the drop is a couple of small couches facing the stage. The rest of the office is adorned with fancy decorations. There are two wooden desks on each side of the room, with large, comfortable-looking chairs behind each. The desks are rather clean.
“Must have prepared to woo women up here,” Jewel whispers to Alyssa with a smirk.
Neither girl takes more than three steps in before they are each pulled over to their respective host’s desks. Jewel leans back on the desk and looks at Dan, who is giving her a charming smile and brushing his hand through his hair. Jewel suppresses the urge to scoff, and realizes this is probably how he wins over most of his women.
“Don’t worry, ladies. We have drinks up here,” he offers. His tone of voice has changed since being at the bar. It is almost as if he feels confident that he’s already won Jewel’s affection and sealed the deal.
“We could get a little frisky,” he adds, his eyes wandering up and down Jewel’s figure before he gives her a wink.
Before Jewel has a chance to respond, voices and music can be heard rumbling from the stage. She can feel it in the office, but the sound is a bit muffled. Jewel darts over to peer at the stage and immediately spots Ash. He is much sexier now, with his shorter hair and a fresh tattoo on his chest. He’s wearing ultra tight jeans and a wide open leather vest with nothing underneath.
She takes a moment to undress him with her eyes as she bites her bottom lip. He really is a handsome man. A few more moments go by before she sighs. She has to pull herself away from daydreaming, so she turns from the glass and smiles at Dan, who has walked up behind her to look, too. His hand slips from the middle of her back to her waist as she turns.
It’s a shame I’m so weak for musicians. Her thoughts turn back to the inked-up rock-star.
“Yeah, it is a great view you have,” Jewel compliments Dan as she peers over to Greg and Alyssa, who are enjoying their conversation.
Dan agrees and offers her a seat on the couch. He stands up and grabs some alcohol from his desk. He brings two glasses over with it.
“There are a few perks to being manager,” he starts as he motions to Jewel, “like hot women, a great view, top-shelf alcohol.”
He adds a single ice cube as he offers her a glass, but she didn’t even notice what he poured. In all honesty, Jewel had to admit to herself that she had forgotten that this wais how some men wooed women, with tons of alcohol and lots of flirty remarks. She’d grown both accustomed to and bored with it a long time ago, which was possibly the main reason she switched to musicians.
Guess it’s better than an optometrist, but things are never boring or routine with musicians. They add an element of the extreme to life. They are intense in everything they do. They don’t have to rely on alcohol to appear desirable to a woman.
Jewel shakes the thoughts from her head before returning to the conversation at hand. If she lets herself be too distract
ed she wouldn’t get what she wanteds tonight.
“I’m sure that’s true,” she replies as she takes a sip of her drink. It tastes like scotch. In her peripheral vision she sees Ash rip his skimpy shirt off and throw it into the crowd just as he goes into a loud chorus, one that Jewel can hear slightly better than the rest of the music from the office. He is intense, shirtless and sweaty. In the moment Jewel begins to fantasize about him again, much like the swooning girls in the crowd and the ones fighting over his torn shirt.
I would love another night with a man like him.
Her daydream reminds her how musicians make great lovers.
They sweep me off my feet every time.
In an attempt to refocus, she takes another sip and clears her throat. She looks at Dan and tries to imagine if he could make love to her in the same way, but with that thought she’s once again drawn back to Ash. It’s nearly impossible for her to stay focused on the manager in front of her as the musician on stage constantly pulls her gaze toward him.
She excuses her behavior as trying to name the songs he is singing and by saying she’s just a huge fan of Ash. Dan seems unfazed, though. There are probably tons of women who come up here and can hardly take their eyes off the singer. Dan wouldn’t care so long as he gets a woman at the end of the night, Jewel guesses.
In the background she can hear Alyssa and Greg starting their hot and heavy session. In her own desire to get laid tonight, Jewel draws Dan in for a kiss. The taste of whiskey mixes in their mouths. Though Dan is taken by surprise at first, he pulls her in closer, kissing her back with an intensity that makes her want him a little bit more.
The door suddenly slams open and both Dan and Jewel break apart in an instant to look. A rather muscular man haughtily struts in and begins to demand the band’s money.
“OK boys, no more fucking around. We need to get paid… NOW.”
Dan and Greg bolt up from the women and start to scramble around the office. What they think they are accomplishing is unclear, but they look like chickens trying to avoid getting their necks broken.
“Wolfe.. Wolfe—”
Greg attempts to start but is cut off by Wolfe, who is a massive man, intimidating in stature and strength. He has a spider tattoo on his neck, he is wearing black leather clothing and biker gloves, and he is livid.
“Who gave you this job in the first place?!” he demands as he slams his fist into the wooden liquor cabinet. The wood splinters and cracks, bottles bust.
“Who let you run this here club? You best start doin’ a better job of it!” Wolfe stops his demands as he notices the women in the room. Jewel had stood up just moments ago. Wolfe begins to look her over. His eyes speak all the words he isn’t saying. He likes what he sees and obviously wants her. He is practically licking his lips while looking her up and down.
“I apologize ladies. That was rude. These guys and I, well...”
He clicks his tongue at the words. “We have to talk some business. So if you don’t mind, you both can wait in the band’s dressin’ room if you’d like.”
There is no hesitation. In the same moment Wolfe speaks, Alyssa is making her way to the door. She then turns to see if Jewel is following her. Jewel gets up, knowing full well the implications of following Alyssa and what it means for her anti-musician resolve. She stops at the door to glance into the room. Dan and Greg have expressions of pure loss on their face. Their night has been ripped away from them and their excitement has turned to fear. Jewel can’t help but to snicker. She was having a hard time getting into Dan anyway.
“Have fun, boys,” she states before following Alyssa. “Maybe the band will know how to get a lady a beer when she wants one.”
CHAPTER FIVE
On the way to the dressing room Jewel can finally hear the music from the band clearly. The songs are hard and fast, just the way she likes them. Shecan’t help but to notice how sexy Ash’s voice really is, especially for a rock singer. It lures her in and she enjoys it immensely. It makes her want to break free from the hallway to go stand out front and center to just to listen to him.
For a moment, she sees herself as just another fangirl, screaming his name, dreaming of a day that she’ll actually get to meet him. But as she’s walking down the hallway to the dressing room a smile spreads across her face. She is meeting him, and the whole band. She is living the life that they only experience in their dreams.
Take that, skinny bitches!
The green room has four couches, one among each of the walls. It’s filled with the band’s gear; an extra guitar, some drum sticks, a few t-shirts, some black chokers and wristbands with spikes. The room is covered with stickers of various band names and tour locations. There is a rug in the center of the floor with a large coffee table on it. There are coasters and empty beer cans.
At the sight of the beer cans Jewel’s face lights up. She walks over to the refrigerator that’s tucked in the corner. She closes her eyes, afraid to see empty racks. S
Slowly she opens it, and peeks inside. With the joy of a kid finding candy, she snatches up her beer. “Thank you.”
She huffs as she plops herself down on the nearest couch. She closes her eyes and listens to the wonderful sound of the can popping open.
Alyssa only laughs, “You found your beer, girly.” She, too, walks over and grabs one before sitting next to Jewel.
“To all those skinny bitches out there.” Alyssa laughs as she takes a swig.
“They’re all out there, cheering and showing their cleavage, pulling out their boobs just hoping that they will get back here. But here we are, you and me. The bigger women. The beautiful women.” Alyssa holds her beer up and they clink their cans together in cheers.
“Yeah. There’s just something about us, you know.” Jewel replies as she chugs down part of her beer. “It’s so good. I can’t believe it took this long to get another one. Who orders a girl a Manhattan when she asks for beer?!”
“Calm down. You’ve got your beer now, and we’re sitting back here for the band, so nothing could be better. You wanted to get laid tonight, right? Well, here you go! A chance to get back to your old rocker style.”
“Who said I wanted to get laid?”
Jewel glares at her. “You know I’m getting away from musicians.”
“You didn’t say anything about not sleeping with them.” Alyssa smiles and takes another sip.
Jewel bites her tongue. There isn’t much she can say in response. It’s true, she loves a musician in bed, but she hopes that afterwards she will be able to dismiss the desire for them to stick around. For some reason, one night stands with musicians never work out for her. They always want her to stay, and she undoubtedly loves it too much to want to go anywhere else. A relationship usually ensues.
Jewel takes a breath and reminds herself she can’t let it get that complicated this time.
From the couch she can still hear the sound of the music and Ash’s voice. It is a sound she is falling in love with. It carries through the music in a way that just captivates her. As the song comes to an end, Jewel peeks out from the room. She can see the band talking while the crowd is going wild. All the girls are cheering and screaming. Those in the front row reach their hands up to be touched by Ash, and Jewel only smirks.
Alyssa is peeking around too, they exchange smiles at each other as they rearrange their seat so they can watch the stage. As Ash goes through and touches the fanatic girls’ hands, they all appear to melt and scream louder.
“I bet I can get Ash to touch more than my hand,” Jewel brags as she sips her beer.
“I don’t doubt it!” Alyssa smirks.
Finally, the band comes through. Everyone is wiping sweat from their brow, cheering each other on, giving fist bumps and body bumps and chugging down the last of their waters from the stage. Tons of girls all dressed in skimpy outfits come piling into the room. They are all excited to be touching members of the band. Some are whispering in their ears and others are trying to seduce them wit
h body language. The band becomes much more boisterous in the presence of the women. Guitars are strummed, and breasts are signed. The previously dead room becomes alive with excitement.
The band and their roadies are having a lively time passing around beers and chatting up the women. Some have already moved past mere talking as they take over space on some of the couches. Alyssa has already gotten herself the devoted attention of a member of Seven Ravens and seems to be having a great time. Sitting right next to them, Jewel can’t help but feel a little jealous.
Jewel looks around and spots Ash. He is standing across the room, focused on letting loose. He’s cracked a beer. A particularly beautiful fan with long black hair kicks off her shoes, stands on a chair behind Ash, and starts giving him a backrub. Watching him, Jewel gets the impression that he’s mostly ignoring all the commotion. She glances around to see if there’s anyone else she might be able to talk to, but her attention is constantly pulled back to Ash.
Judging by the pained look on his face she can tell that he is not enjoying his massage. He motions for the tall thin woman to stop, and she walks away, looking dejected.
Just then, he momentarily locks eyes with Jewel. She raises her beer to give him a silent cheers, but he doesn’t react.
“Hey, Alyssa, save my seat. I’m going to grab us some more beer,” Jewel says.
She stands up and heads toward the fridge. Once back on the sofa, she hands one off to Alyssa and gets comfortable. Since noticing Jewel Ash hasn’t looked at another woman, despite their desperate efforts to try to gain his attention. Some are rubbing their bodies against him and giggling. Others are caressing his face. He steps forward as if to show them his disinterest. They soon give up when they realize he isn’t changing his mind. There are only a few other bigger women in the room. Jewel notices that most of the band members seem to be giving them extra attention.
Jewel’s eyes are locked with Ash’s again as she notices the other disappointed women begin to leave. She tries to suppress her smirk. A couple of horny fans look Jewel’s way, trying to figure out what has drawn Ash’s attention. They roll their eyes in jealousy and start whispering to each other when they notice Jewel and Alyssa.
Bought by Him: A Breslyn Auction Club Romance (The Breslyn Auction Club Book 1) Page 11
