A Second Chance at love The Rocker Girls Series

by Jennifer Byars

  The beat was slow and when she started to sing it was low, deep and sultry. “Damn, I think that’s the hottest fuckin’ woman I’ve ever seen in my life,” some guy was telling another while they walked past him. “Hell yeah, I’m going to see if I can get a piece of that when they get off the stage tonight,” the other idiot said, laughing. It amazed Win that he wanted to beat the fucker’s face in for even looking at her.

  She looked over at him and winked, and a smile formed on his face. But then her eyes moved away from him and he wondered why, until one of Win’s regular screws started hanging on him.

  “Hi ya, Win, you want to dance?” Candy asked in her sweet nauseating voice. How did he ever think anything was sexy before he heard that voice that was singing right now?

  “Not now, Candy,” he growled, pissed that those eyes didn’t look back at him. Candy was getting all clingy and pissy when he hardly noticed her rubbing her tits all over him. But Win did notice South pushing away a couple of girls, paying all his attention to Addison, and she liked that. She smiled at South, and he smiled that predatory grin that had all the women dropping their panties for him… Motherfucker!

  Candy took his arm, wrapping it around her. “Lisa’s back. Didn’t know if you’d maybe like for both of us to come over tonight?” she purred. But all he cared about was getting Addison’s attention focused back on him and away from South. “Not fucking now,” he answered, pissed that she wasn’t getting the hint, then he got up and went to go sit with the guys.

  The girls sang a couple more songs and the crowd was going wild by the time they finished with the show. “Thank you, thank you! We’ll see ya next week!” Lynn screamed out, and all the girls waved and laughed at all the whistling.

  South grinned. “Looks like I’m going to be the one to take her home first,” he told Win smoothly. Win started to get up but Andy put his hand on his shoulder.

  “Come on man, this is so not fucking cool! Just go get one of your hot fucking groupies that can’t keep their hands off you and go fuck her brains out. You two need to get your shit together and get your fucking minds off that lead singer!” he growled.

  Chapter 4

  Just one month of interning at the hospital and Addison was wearing herself thin. She loved the Friday nights singing with the girls, but really, she just wanted to go lie down and go to bed most nights.

  Tonight was a typical night in the ER. Lots of high fevers, things broken, and about twice an hour something major coming in. Learning to deal with losing patients was going to be one of the hardest things to cope with.

  She had just pulled a sixteen-hour shift and was in the locker room talking to Lynn when Frank came in. “Hey Ad, just wanted to let you know you did a great job with the woman with the heart attack tonight. I would have never thought of ecopia cordis, since that’s a childhood condition.”

  “Thanks. I guess paying attention in class was called for after all,” she smiled at him. She got her purse out and was heading out the door to get something to eat.

  “Hey, when’s your next shift?” he asked, putting a microwave dinner in.

  Addison rubbed her face with her hands. “Agh! I’m back at two tomorrow. I’m going to get myself a pizza and beer next door, then I’m off to try to get in eight hours before my ass is back in here,” she laughed.

  “Well, I’ll see you Wednesday then.” He smiled at her, leaning against the lockers. Lynn looked over at Ad, trying to hold in her laugh. She squinted her eyes at Lynn to shut up.

  “Sounds good. See you then,” she told him, leaving the room, and probably a good shade of red.

  The small pizza joint was next door to the hospital. It was the hangout for all the staff when they went out for drinks or to get a bite to eat. Tonight the place was packed as she made her way to the bar. “Hey, Trevor.”

  “Hey, Ad. What can I get you?” he smiled.

  “Something cold on tap would be fantastic. And could you do me a favor and ask Dawn to make me the doctor’s special, please.”

  Trevor smiled at her, bringing up a mug. “So that kind of night, huh?”

  “Well, really it was a typical night, nothing out of the ordinary, so I’m not complaining. Just too damn tired…and hungry. I don’t think I’ve eaten in ten hours. Unless the candy bar eight hours ago counts,” she laughed as he handed her the beer.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll have Dawn push your pizza through next. Go sit down at the table, darlin’, I’ll bring it out when it’s done.”

  “Trev, you’re a life saver! Tell Dawn, big kisses from me.” She smiled, looking to go find a nice secluded spot away from people, and enjoy some unwind time.

  A group of guys was at a large booth and when she walked by one moron tried to pick her up. “Hey baby, I could sure use a nurse right now. You see I’m burning up…cuz you’re so smoking hot!” he said, and the group of guys started laughing.

  Beer in hand, Addison stopped as her brow went up. “Wow, that was amazingly terrible. I’m sure you spend many nights alone if that’s your best pick-up line.”

  “Whoa!” said all his friends in unison, and started laughing.

  She walked by them and found a nice little corner booth, where she sat down, stretching her legs out across the bench, sipping the ice-cold beer.

  After a minute of blissfully stretching out her feet, she laid her head back against the old wood-planked wall and closed her eyes, thinking of good old times of her and the girls, and all the guys, and Jimmy. Then someone cleared his throat and slid onto the booth’s other bench.

  When she opened her eyes, South was sitting there staring at her. “Hey, your hair looks different?”

  She blinked a couple of times, then rubbed her hands over her face to wake up. “Yeah, Margie’s getting it back to my normal color for me.”

  “So you’re not a brunette?”

  “Nope, sorry to disappoint you, I’m really sandy blonde.”

  “No need to be sorry. That makes the package even better.” He smiled at her, to which she rolled her eyes. Then she took a good look at this well-built, green-eyed, shaggy-haired guy, and an arrogant little smirk formed on his lips, so she stayed quiet.

  “So you eat here a lot?” he questioned with that adorable smirk on his face.

  “Well actually, I do. And come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.”

  “I’m on a job around the corner from here. The guys wanted to go out drinking tonight, and what better to have a beer with than a slice of pizza.”

  Trevor came out with her pizza in hand and her stomach gurgled. “Holy shit, I didn’t think someone’s stomach could be so loud!” he laughed.

  “I haven’t eaten in a couple hours. Give a girl a break why don’t you.” She chuckled, picking up a hot slice and taking the first bite.

  South reached over, grabbed a slice and took a bite. “Hey, this is my pizza, and I intend to eat the whole damn thing,” Addison informed him.

  “I’ll owe you one then.”

  “Damn right you will,” she mumbled, taking another bite. She looked up and he was just about finished with that slice, and looking back at her pizza. “Why don’t you go hang out with your friends? They keep looking over here, and they have pizza too.”

  South smiled. “They keep looking over cuz they’re jealous. Besides, I don’t think I ‘ve ever seen this pizza on the menu.”

  She sighed. “You haven’t, it’s the hospital personnel special.”

  He took another piece and she smacked his hand, but that didn’t stop him from taking it and biting into it. “What?”

  “Nothing,” she sighed.

  “So tell me about yourself,” South said with a mouth full of her pizza.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Well, how long have you and your band been together?”

  “I don’t know. I guess about fifteen years.”

  “No way! When did you guys start, when you were two?” he laughed.

  “Ha,
ha. No, I guess around fourteen. It was about the same time when the boys that lived in the same house started to get serious about their band,” she told him, not wanting to give much away.

  “You’re serious?” he asked, to which she nodded, taking another bite.

  “So you’re like…”

  “I’m twenty-nine, well, in two months I’ll be thirty.”

  “No fucking way! I thought you were maybe twenty-three…at best.”

  “And how ‘bout you, I’m guessing twenty-four?”

  “No, twenty-six. Win’s the oldest of us, he’s twenty-eight. Wow, twenty-nine, and you just came out and told me, too. I thought women kept that shit a secret from guys.”

  She shrugged. “It’s my age, I don’t really care if you know.”

  “So you girls have known each other for a long time. When did you all meet?”

  She sat back, letting her food digest and thinking about his question. “Well, Tia and I met the girls when I was ten and Tia was eight. So I could easily say most of my life.”

  “You talk like you lived together or something?”

  “Yeah, we did. There was a community home that we all lived in. Me, Tia, Lynn, Mindy, and Margie, we all grew up together and became a family. We haven’t left each other’s sides since then.”

  She picked up her beer and took a drink. “So what about you guys? You all seem pretty tight knit.”

  He nodded, picked up the beer she’d just put back on the table and took a drink, and she frowned. “You owe me another beer too,” she mumbled, making him smile.

  “Well, I guess we’re a lot like you. But we met in high school, and just kind of clicked. Win’s like the brother I never wanted, though. My mom kind of adopted him into our family.”

  “Well isn’t that sweet,” she smirked.

  He smiled but it faded. “You see Win’s mom and my mom were best friends most of their lives. But my mom moved away for college and met my dad. When they got divorced, about two years later she got remarried, and her and my stepdad decided to come back to her home.

  “When she did, she found out that Win’s mom was being abused. She tried to get her to leave but she said she loved him, and after every beating he’d come to our house, picking her up and saying how sorry he was. Finally my mom just let Win live with us, his mom never said anything about it.”

  She looked down at the table, thinking of Win, and at such a young age witnessing all that violence…just like Jimmy had been. Then all the drunken beatings that he’d given her in the last two years came rushing to her mind.

  Taking one more slice of pizza, she was about to take a bite when the group of men all cheered, and called out a name when someone walked in. She looked over to see Win saying hi to his friends, and his friends laughing, pointing to the table where she and South sat.

  He looked over at her, smiling that smooth smile she’d seen on many playboys before, and walked over to them. “What are you doing bothering this beautiful woman, South?” he asked as he sat down next to him.

  “Just getting to know our neighbor better. Why don’t you go sit with the guys, we were having a nice conversation before you came over.”

  Win glanced at him and Addison could see a scowl on his face. But he looked back to her and took a slice of her pizza. “Hey! Between you and South my pizza will be gone!”

  He took a bite. “So what were you talking about?”

  “Just how all the girls met, how we met, and our families,” South said, but she could see Win tense slightly.

  “So you told him all about your family?” he asked Addison. “Cool, so what did I miss?”

  “I didn’t tell him about my family. I told him how I met all the girls,” she said, finishing her last piece.

  “Well, tell me about your family then.”

  Addison looked away. Those deep blue eyes could talk any woman out of her panties and if she didn’t watch herself, she could be one of them. Win was definitely the slick bad boy. With that auburn hair and a model’s gorgeous looks…yeah, this man could easily pull her into his trap. She just had to remember that she didn’t have time for herself, let alone time to get involved with someone.

  “I don’t speak about my family,” she said softly.

  “Why?” asked Win.

  Glancing down at her watch, she started to get up from the table. “Look, I really need to be going. I’ve got to be back at work by two tomorrow afternoon. It’s been good talking to you guys. Have a good time with your friends.” She’d started to walk away when Win came up beside her.

  “Hey, how you getting home?”

  “I’m going to take the bus tonight. Mindy and Lynn are still on at the hospital.”

  “Well, why don’t I give you a ride to the apartment? It will be much safer for you than waiting for a damn bus,” Win said, walking with her to the door.

  She looked up at him. “I don’t know,” she said, but man, it would be great not to take the bus and get home forty-five minutes sooner. She looked over at South who had his arms crossed, looking at them like he’d lost a bet or something. “Are you sure you want to leave South? He looks pretty ticked off.”

  Win smiled. “He’s fine. Believe me. He’s just slower on the uptake.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about, angel. So how ‘bout that ride?”

  “I guess a ride would be quicker. That is if you’re sure you don’t mind not hanging out with your friends?” she asked, looking back at the table full of men.

  “I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to,” he told her, opening the door and leading her out.

  ***

  The windows were rolled down in Win’s big truck as they drove back to the apartment. She slipped off her clunky but comfortable shoes, kicking her feet up on the dash and enjoying the breeze, then let down her hair, scrubbing her hands through it to get the rubber band headache out.

  She pulled off her scrub top, leaving on the tank top underneath, so she could cool off. “So you and South work together. What do you do?”

  “We’re in construction.”

  “That’s cool. What kind of construction?”

  “Carpenter.”

  “Nice,” she told him, hanging her hand out the window to feel the breeze.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Depends on what you want to ask.”

  “Fair enough. But, why don’t you like to talk about your family?”

  She looked out the window, and not at the gorgeous man who asked the question. “It’s not a good story. In fact it’s a really bad one. And not something I like to talk about.”

  “Would it be a bad thing to tell me?” he asked as they waited at a red light. She turned her head to look him over when the light turned green.

  “Well, like I said, I don’t talk about it. But, I guess I could tell you, but only if you promise not to tell anyone else. There are things in a person’s past that the whole world doesn’t need to know about.”

  He nodded. “No, I get that. And I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

  Leaning her head back against the seat she pulled a cigarette out of her bag. “Do you mind?”

  “No, go ahead. You pretty much have free rein in my book, angel.”

  She put the light to the end and took a deep drag before she started her story. “First, my mother was a beautiful, but a very carefree woman. And my father was very jealous of men looking at or being near my mother.”

  She put the smoke up to her mouth, taking another drag before she got into the bad stuff. “See, my father smothered her. That’s all that I could ever think of, because he was a handsome guy too, but I think she felt stuck, maybe a little trapped. You see Tia is my half-sister, and nobody even knew that, until the night Tia got hurt.

  “Tia has always been clumsy and when she was little, she was accident prone. When she was eight she fell off her bike and onto these bricks that outlined the neighbor’s lawn; they kind of stood up diagonally, an
d she fell and hit her head on the hard part and had to be rushed to the hospital.

  “The doctor came out, telling my father that she was fine, and they put some staples in her head. But since her blood was so rare it would be a good idea for him to have some blood set aside for her or him just in case of an emergency. You see Tia is AB negative… My father and me, we’re A positive.

  “My dad was so quiet on the ride home from the hospital. But I was too young to understand what was going on, or what the big deal was with the different blood types. He dropped me off at our house and kept Tia in the car while he went into the garage, where he kept his gun-safe…

  “My mother was a nurse, and I guess she was supposed to be working that evening. But when he got to the hospital, she wasn’t there. And to make a long story short… He found my mother at his best friend’s house in bed. I guess he dragged Tia with him into the house…after some kind of argument, he shot my mother and his best friend. When that was done, he took the gun and shot himself. All in front of an eight-year-old little girl.”

  They had pulled into the parking area as she finished, and Win didn’t say anything at first. “Addison, I’m so sorry,” he said softly with that look of horror people got on their faces when they found out what happened to her family.

  She sighed. “Thank you. But it happened a long time ago, and I’m fine,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Anyway I have to be strong and take care of my little sister. She’s the one who was traumatized.”

  “Is she okay now?”

  “Well, yes, and no. She didn’t talk for four years afterwards, and the state put her into therapy. But she somehow managed to find her voice again. Now she just doesn’t deal well with stressful situations.”

  “She works at the hospital, right? Isn’t that stressful for her?” he asked as he turned in his seat to look at her.

  “Yes, she works there, but only as someone who works with admissions. That can be very stressful also, but it’s a different kind of stress than working with the public. She likes the feeling of control at her job, and likes the solidarity it gives sometimes. She knows that everything has a certain place for it to be, and she likes that.”