by JL Paul
After a quick, hot shower and some warm, dry clothes, Ally felt much better. She put her damp hair into a pony tail and pulled Cole’s hoodie over her head.
She stood in the middle of the floor and stared at the twin beds. She didn’t know how she would ever be able to sleep in the same room as Cole, but she’d give it a shot. She didn’t want him sleeping on the floor somewhere else and she knew he’d do it if she showed the slightest sign of unease. She was just going to have to suck up all the swirling, confusing emotions and lock them away somewhere. She needed to act like herself – the old Ally. The Ally before the kiss.
Jamie knocked on her door and she hurried to join him. They rushed down to the lounge, not wanting to miss any more of the show than they already had.
Out of Control was rocking and nearly everyone was dancing or clapping or singing along and it made Ally smile. Jamie tugged her through the crowd and to the table the band had reserved for them. Jamie quickly ordered them soft drinks and sat back, grinning at his friends.
A flyer rested on the table, announcing that Out of Control would be playing Friday and Saturday night. She picked it up and smiled, quickly folding it and tucking it in her back pocket. She thought about their clever name and how impressed she’d been when they had asked for her honest opinion over a year ago when they had first decided to make a go of things. Cole and RJ had come up with it, liking the clever reference to their fathers’ group, and she totally agreed.
They mostly played cover music at gigs such as these –that’s what the crowd wanted – but sometimes they slipped a song or two of their own in the mix, just to judge the crowd’s reaction. She doubted seriously if they’d do that this weekend as Parker hadn’t been playing with them long enough to learn the original stuff, but she didn’t mind. She just loved to listen to them.
“Did you see their set list?” Jamie yelled over the noise at her.
She shook her head. “No, why?”
“Just wondering if they plan on doing any Tight Control.”
“They always do,” she replied with a smile. It was as if they could hear her for they finished up one song to a deafening round of applause and immediately launched into a Tight Control song. Their selection was greeted with screams from the girls dancing in front of the stage as they hopped up and down and threw their bodies around in their style of dance.
“Come on, James,” Ally called. “This is our fathers’ music. We must dance.”
He grinned. “No.”
She sighed and walked over to his side of the table. “One of those girls up there will probably notice you and think – hey, he’s cute and he dances. I should give him my number.”
He raised a brow and checked out the girls still jumping around in front of the stage. “Fine,” he said as he reluctantly rose to his feet and allowed a beaming Ally to drag him to the dance floor. “But it better be one of the pretty ones.”
Cole laughed when he spotted Jamie out on the dance floor with Ally. She’d once confided in him all the secret ploys she had to get Jamie to dance and he briefly wondered which one she’d used this time.
He watched as she moved gracefully, her body in sync with the music, and fought a sudden urge to join her so he could touch her cheek and kiss her. He quickly shook the thought out of his head and forced his concentration on the song, getting the right beat.
As they finished the song, he noticed a man much older than Ally stroll casually across the dance floor, eyes set determinedly on Ally. He tapped her shoulder and she turned and smiled politely. He couldn’t hear what the man was saying but he didn’t like the way her lips tightened as she shook her head. He looked around desperately for Jamie, wondering where he’d gone. But RJ beat him to it. RJ pegged Jamie in the head with a skillfully aimed pick then nodded in Ally’s direction. Jamie’s eyes narrowed as he shrugged off a clingy female and pushed his way to Ally’s side, draping an arm around her shoulders. He offered his hand to the man who shook it, talked to Jamie for a few minutes then made his exit, waving as Jamie led Ally back to their table. RJ announced that they would be taking a twenty minute break and shoved his guitar in the stand. Cole crammed his drumsticks in his back pocket and jumped off the stage directly behind RJ. A gaggle of girls impeded their progress, asking for autographs. They signed a few before pushing through the crowd to join their friends at the table.
“Make a new friend, Al?” Cole asked as he dropped into the chair next to her.
She crinkled up her nose. “No. He had to have been older than my dad!”
“What did he say to you?” Ren asked.
Her eyes darkened as her glare made a circuit around the table, stopping on each of them. “Were you all watching me when you were supposed to be playing music?”
“Of course,” RJ answered. “Especially when pedophiles are involved.”
She rolled her eyes and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and wiggling an angry foot. Cole put his hand on her leg and gave it a squeeze. Fireworks went off in her lower stomach and it took all she had not to reach out and touch him.
“Just accept it already, Al,” Cole said in a low, sexy voice. “We’re always going to look out for you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she conceded in a huff. “But you have to remember that I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
RJ leaned over the table to smile warmly at her. “That’s what we let you think, dear one.”
She groaned and turned her back on them, her eyes roaming the bar area in search of the older man -she wanted to avoid him at all costs. She didn’t see him but instead found a woman who had to be in her early twenties smiling serenely as she watched Ally’s friends laughing at the table. Jealousy surged through Ally’s veins as she sent the woman a death glare. She was far too old to be eyeing Ally’s friends and she was determined to keep her away at all costs.
She smiled to herself as she realized she was doing the same thing to them they had done to her – overprotecting. Just as she’d claimed she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she knew the same ran true for the boys. But she just couldn’t shut off the jealousy like it was a running faucet.
The guys left to start their next set and Ally kept a careful eye on the woman at the bar, not liking the way she watched them, like an hawk contemplating prey.
Ally tried to relax and enjoy the last half of the show but she could not stop her eyes from wandering back to the woman at the bar. Her anxiety grew as the show wound down and the woman set her empty drink on the bar and joined the masses on the dance floor, edging closer and closer to the stage.
When the show finally finished, Jamie dragged Ally back to the table, although she was reluctant to go. She wanted to stay in front of the stage and shoo the girls away while the boys packed up their equipment.
“Come on, cuz,” Jamie wheedled. “They don’t need our help – they always accuse us of getting in the way. Let’s sit down, huh?”
“Fine,” she said and followed him to the table.
Once they finished, they joined Ally and Jamie and quickly ordered food, wolfing it down as if they hadn’t eaten in months. It was rapidly approaching twelve and the lounge rules sternly stated that no one under eighteen was allowed in after midnight. Jamie and Ally weren’t especially happy, but Ren was especially disappointed. He wanted to remain in the lounge and watch the next band to perform with Cole, RJ, and Parker.
Cole draped an arm around the back of Ally’s chair and leaned in to whisper in her ear. She shivered. “Hey, I know it sucks that you can’t stick around but we’re not going to stay long. Do you want me to walk you to the room?”
“No,” she said, disappointment stabbing her heart. “It’s all right. I’ll go up with Ren and Jamie.”
“Okay,” Cole said with a smile that stilled her heart. “I’ll catch you later.”
She shrugged and nodded, needing to break from his hypnotizing smile. She turned to Jamie, meaning to ask if he was ready to go, when the woman from t
he bar approached their table. She smiled sweetly and asked Cole if she could have a word with him. Cole nodded and followed her over to the bar.
Fuming, Ally jumped out of her chair, fighting the surge of anger eager to spew from her mouth in ugly words. “I’m going up. See you guys in the morning.”
“Want someone to walk you up?” Parker asked but Ally shook her head.
“I’ll go with you,” Jamie said with a sigh. “Come on, Ren.”
Ally cast one last longing glance at Cole still standing at the bar by the woman and wished he’d turn and acknowledge her. But he didn’t. Her heart nearly broke when instead, Cole flashed a charming smile at the woman who had placed an hand on his arm. Ally whipped her head around and caught Jamie’s glance.
“Ally,” he started.
“Let’s go,” she ordered, turning her back on him and storming out of the lounge. “I’m tired.”
Jamie exchanged a quick, worried look with RJ. RJ shrugged so Jamie, feeling helpless, just trotted off after her, Ren in his wake.
The elevator ride was silent as tension filled the car. When they exited the elevator on their floor, she strode purposely to her room, biding the others goodnight over her shoulder before slamming her door. She paced from one end of the room to the other, fury swirling above her head like a storm cloud, while she ripped his hoodie from her body. She threw it in the vicinity of his bed and watched as it fell to the floor in a heap. She dug her shorts and night shirt from her bag and prepared to go to bed. After she let her hair loose and brushed her teeth, she shut off all the lights and slipped under the warm blankets.
She tossed and turned for hours, wondering exactly what Cole was up to with that woman – if he was still talking to her or if he’d left her to join his friends. She hoped fervently that he had but she knew better. She’d recognized the hunger in the other woman’s eyes.
“You’ve got to quit being stupid and rein in this jealousy,” she ordered herself in the dark room, eyes wide open. “He’s not interested in you that way so it doesn’t matter. For all you know she could be a nice person just interested in talking music with him.”
As soon as she spoke those words aloud, her heart fell to her feet. Moisture clouded her eyes so she squeezed them shut and turned on her side, doing whatever she could to coax her body to sleep.
About an hour before dawn, as sleep hovered lazily over her head, the door opened and Cole crept silently into the room. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to even out her breathing, hoping he wouldn’t notice, and listened as his bed creaked and his shoes thumped to the floor. She was dying to sit up and give him a tongue lashing he’d not soon forget but her pride got in the way and forced her to remain still and continue with her sleeping act. Maybe her anger would fade with the night and she’d be able to confront him civilly in the morning.
But she doubted seriously if that would happen.
Chapter Six
He awoke, groaned and rolled over, looking for a clock. The red numbers glowed in the still dark room telling him it was 10:46 in the morning. The heavy curtains were still drawn over the window and the room was eerily quiet. He groaned again and forced his body into a sitting position, throwing his feet over the side of the bed. The other bed was empty, like he figured it would be, but he called out her name anyway. When she didn’t answer, he grabbed some clean clothes from his bag and hurried to the shower.
He walked out of the steaming bathroom, fully dressed, his hair still damp, and searched through his luggage for his toiletry bag. Finally locating it, he straightened just as the door opened and Ally breezed into the room, totally ignoring him.
“Hey, Al,” he said, slightly confused by her anger. “Give me a second and we can go grab something to eat.”
“I already ate,” she snapped as she brushed past him, heading for the small table pushed under the window. She snatched her cell off the table, flipped it open briefly then snapped it shut, cramming it into her pocket. She strolled purposely toward the door, her chin lifted high, anger flashing in her eyes. He reached out and snagged her arm, jerking her nearly off her feet.
“What the hell is the problem today, princess?” he said.
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to yank her arm out of his hold. He only pressed harder. “Nothing. Maybe it’s PMS or something. Now let go of me.”
He tugged her closer and she stumbled into his chest. “What is with the attitude, huh? What did I do to deserve this?”
“Gee, I don’t know, Cole. Maybe you should think about it, huh? You’re not a total moron, certainly you can figure it out,” she yelled in his face, standing on her toes. She wrenched herself free and stormed out of the door.
He found his cell and tried to call hers but he knew she’d never answer. He sighed, raked his hands through his wet hair, and tried RJ’s cell instead.
“Is Ally with you,” he asked as he darted to the bathroom and combed his hair.
No, man,” RJ said, confusion in his voice. “Just Ren and Parker. We’re going over the set list. Is something wrong with Ally?”
He cursed. “Who the hell knows now? I’ll be there in a second.”
***
“You can’t avoid him all day,” Jamie informed her as she paced his room, fists clenched firmly at her sides, muttering curses under her breath.
“Watch me,” she declared, her eyes flashing dangerously.
“Why are you so mad at him?” Jamie asked. He was reclining on one of the double beds, one hand tucked behind his head, the other holding the remote, flipping through the sports channels, checking scores. He was amused, that much was obvious to her, but she ignored it. Her fury was far too great.
“He’s a jerk. A pig,” she said as she flung herself into a chair. She couldn’t get the disturbing images of Cole with that bar woman out of her mind and it only stirred her anger. She kicked her head back and closed her eyes, trying desperately to count to ten as she slowly released a breath. She needed to get her emotions in check. “Can I have your keys? I think I’ll hit the mall and do a little shopping.”
He sighed and shut off the TV. “I’ll come with you. They have a sporting goods store in town and I need some new cleats.”
***
Cole never thought Ally would be able to avoid him for the entire day but she’d somehow managed. His heart twinged in guilt as he recalled Jamie’s desperate phone call, informing him that he was at the mall with a furious Ally and that he’d try to calm her down and return to the hotel. Cole knew she was mad at him, for some unknown reason, and he hated that Jamie was taking the brunt of that anger. Still, he couldn’t help but be a little relieved, too.
So he hung out in RJ’s room, discussing the gig and anything else they could think of and ordering room service from the menu near the phone. All and all, the weekend wasn’t looking as promising as he’d originally thought – he surely hadn’t counted on sitting in the room all day.
Finally, when they were preparing to go downstairs and hang out before the gig, a knock sounded on the door. Parker opened it and allowed Jamie entrance.
“Where’s Ally?” Parker asked, frowning when the girl wasn’t trailing behind Jamie.
Jamie grimaced and pointed an accusing finger at Cole. “You so owe me, man,” he said. “I spent most of the day with a very, very angry Ally and I let her drag me around the mall.” He stopped to shake his head. “You did something to totally piss her off.”
Cole lit a cigarette and threw the pack at Jamie. “I have no clue, man. I tried to ask her earlier but she damn near spit in my face before running out of the room.”
Parker laughed with the others. “She is a spitfire, isn’t she?”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Cole complained, taking a long drag off his cigarette.
Parker grinned and released a light chuckle. “Jamie, man, I know she’s your cousin but she is hot.”
Jamie and RJ shared a grin as Cole’s face darkened before he turned away.
Someone pound
ed on the door, causing them all to start. Parker shrugged and ran to open it.
Ally stormed inside the room, long black hair streaming behind her, and studiously ignored Cole once again. She stood in the middle of the room, eyes blazing. “You do know that you’re on in about an hour and none of your equipment is set up yet?”
Cole slowly got to his feet and crushed his cigarette out in the ashtray. He approached her, dark look still on his face. “We’re on it, princess. Anything else?”
She clenched her fists and took several deep breaths. “Yeah. Don’t be such a jerk,” she said and sailed right back out of the room.
Cole smirked and turned back to the other guys, shrugging, his hands out, palms up. “It must be a gift.”
Jamie clapped him on the back. “I’ve never seen her that mad. I don’t know what you did, man, but you’re in for a hell of a ride.”
“Maybe I should room with you guys,” he said as he followed them out the door. “She’s liable to kill me in my sleep.”
***
She sat at the table, a bit passive, and watched as they played, hardly hearing a note. Her mind was in a slump, not able to produce a single answer to any of the questions plaguing her. Especially the one asking why she cared so much if he spent the entire evening with some strange, older woman. It wasn’t her business in the least. He had let her know that he wanted no part of any sort of relationship with her and she just needed to accept his decision and move on with her life. Maybe she would eventually see him as just her best friend again.
But she seriously doubted it.
“Did he hurt you?” Jamie blurted. “Hit you or anything?”
“What?” she asked, not sure she heard him right over the noise. She turned to him and was shocked at the concern lingering in his eyes.
