I follow suit, trying to avoid Seth’s gaze. The last thing I need is to be interested in a self-aware manwhore. “To Jax and the best twenty-first birthday celebration to ever roll through Mendo.”
“To Jax,” Seth says. “May some lucky jerk finally get to take you home.”
She giggles and presses her glass to mine and Seth’s. “To the best friends a girl ever had.”
The tequila burns going down and my eyes water. I’m not a big drinker. In fact, I hardly ever drink. But tonight’s different. I can’t do what Jax wants without a little help. I want to do it. It’s just hard to face the memories.
I slam the shot glass down on the bar and stumble forward. “I’ll be right back.”
“Whoa,” Seth says, grabbing my arm to steady me. “Maybe you should sit down for a minute.” His words are said with kindness, but his green eyes turn stormy with a mix of worry and judgment.
“I’m fine.” I tug out of his grip, irritated at his reaction. How dare he judge me? We’re in a bar for gawd’s sake. “I’ve only had two drinks. It’s these boots. I’m not used to standing on stilts.”
“Uh-huh.” He wraps his arm around my waist, steadying me.
Heat sears its way through my skin. His rock-hard body sends electric shocks deep into my center, making me shift uncomfortably. All I want to do is clasp my hands around his neck and press into him as we sway to the Maroon 5 song blaring over the club’s loudspeakers.
“Aren’t you supposed to sing in a few minutes?” he asks.
His question snaps me out of my drunken lust haze. “Um, yeah.”
He clutches me tighter and chuckles. “This should be entertaining.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. Just looking forward to the show, no matter how it turns out.”
I glare and step away from him, steadier now. “No matter how it turns out? Seriously? Don’t be a jerk. It’s not easy to get up in front of a room full of drunken assholes and sing your heart out.”
His eyes widen in surprise and he opens his mouth to speak, but I don’t give him a chance. “Forget it, dude. I don’t need this. I’ve got a show to put on.” I stalk off, praying my ankles hold. Crap. I should’ve worn the platforms. At least then I’d have something to balance on.
“Lucy!” Jax calls. “Wait.”
Her eyes are twinkling with laughter, and I force myself not to scowl. “What’s so funny?”
“You.”
“What did I do?”
“Nothing. Except you totally put Seth in his place.” Her tone is light, but I can tell she’s feeling out my mood and wants to say more.
“What?”
Her smile falters, but she pastes it back on and leans in to whisper, “Don’t you think you might’ve been a little defensive back there?”
I push through the door leading to the dressing room. “Maybe, but I’m tired of that shit. You know how I feel about people who bag on performers.” Why is it that people who don’t sing or act think it’s okay to trash those who do? It’s like a damned sport for some people to see who can be the meanest.
She stops in front of the door marked Band and crosses her arms over her chest. “Yes, I do. But I think he was making fun of your inability to hold your alcohol, not the fact that you’re finally going to sing. Jeez, Luce, he’s only been listening to me brag about you for two years now. I think he expects tears of joy to rain down from heaven when you put those pipes to work.”
“Jax!”
“Well, it was almost true when…” She bites her lip. “Sorry. It’s just that when you were with Cadan, you two made people weep. How could I not talk about it?”
“I’m never singing with Cadan again.” The words make me cringe. There was a time when I thought I’d always be singing with him. When our voices melded, it was almost as if the universe stopped. A light would fill my soul and a deep-seated peace settled over everyone within earshot. People said it was a miracle. And it was for those who’d endured life’s hardest challenges. To be able to take away a moment of suffering had been a gift. One I cherished. Cadan had taken that from me, too.
“I know,” Jax says, patting my arm.
She’s sympathetic and tries to be understanding, but she doesn’t know what I’m going through. She hasn’t met her soul mate yet. And until she does, she’ll never understand the devastation of losing that connection. I lean against the wall, staring at a guitar case. Someone had covered every square inch with a violent ocean scene, the waves crashing over the sides of the case.
I’m lost in the beautiful destruction and it hits me. That’s exactly what I’d had with Cadan. Beautiful destruction. Everyone else saw the beauty of our harmony, while I was stuck with the shit he created with his selfishness.
I’m done letting him treat me as if I’m nothing but a meal ticket on his way to fame and fortune just because I happen to be unlucky enough to be his soul mate. No. I’d watched my mom be that person for the last eight years. I’ll be damned if I make the same mistake she did.
The door to the dressing room swings open and three guys dressed in all black, with various facial piercings and tattoos, file into the room.
Jax pastes a huge smile on her face. “Ahh, you’re here!”
The tallest one, Mike, leans down and picks up the guitar case I’d been eyeing and nods in her direction. “We’ve been here. Just waiting on your girl.” He glances at me and gives an appreciative nod.
“Oh, well, she’s here now and I can’t wait.” Jax rushes to my side and leans in to whisper, “I’m sorry about that Cadan stuff.”
I grit my teeth, wishing she’d drop it already.
“Really I am. Honestly, it’s been so long since you’ve performed without him, I can barely remember what it’s like to hear just you.”
Perfect. It’s what I’m afraid of most—having my performance compared to what I sound like when I’m with Cadan.
Jax pulls the door open. “Break a leg.” Then she eyes my boots. “I didn’t mean that literally.”
I shake my head, feeling my lips twitch into a small smile. “I hope I don’t disappoint.”
“Not a chance of that,” Teo, the lead guitarist, says. “Fuck, we’ll be lucky if they let us off the stage at all after they hear your pipes.”
I blush. These guys hadn’t known me during the period I like to refer to as my “Cadan days.” They’d heard of me, of course, but had promised Jax they wouldn’t bring him up or the fact I’d left him. And they hadn’t. Thank God. Our practice session had been the most fun I’d had onstage in years. But there hadn’t been anyone staring at me expectantly from the audience. There would be tonight if anyone recognized me.
It happens everywhere I go these days. Lucy Moore, the famous singing soul soother. It seems everyone wants a piece of me, and all I want to do is sing.
Chapter Three
Seth
Across the bar, Lucy and Jax reappear from backstage. Lucy sweeps her dark bangs to the side as she frowns at Jax, but her plump lips make it look more like a pout. Despite the tongue-lashing I just received, or maybe because of it, I can’t help but be intrigued. What I wouldn’t give to tame her for one night. Not that Jax would approve. Oh, no. Lucy was off-limits, or so she’d said about ten times already.
Lucy disappears into the back again and Jax returns, giving me an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. Lucy’s a little touchy lately.”
I shrug. “Whatever. I’m here for you, not your high-maintenance friend.” My gaze slips to the V of her smokin’ red top, and even though I’m not interested, I linger there, trying to erase the image of Lucy’s short skirt riding up her bare thighs as she walked away. And the way her full red lips seduced the rim of that shot glass. Dammit if I couldn’t already taste her lips on me. I harden, feeling myself strain against my zipper.
“Stop, you pig.” She slaps me playfully on the arm. “And don’t call Lucy high maintenance. She really isn’t. Tonight is a big deal for her, that’s all. She hasn’t performed for an audience in over three months, and she’s only doing it now because I begged her.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Begged?”
She shakes her head, laughing. “Is that all you ever think about?”
That’s not what I meant. I work with Mike, one of the guitarists in the band, and overheard him talking about Lucy’s amazing voice. Why did Jax have to beg her best friend to sing for her on her birthday? But I play along, letting her think whatever she wants. “What do you expect from a manwhore?”
“True. Anyway, you’re going to either die or want to take her to bed after you hear her sing.”
“Half the guys in this bar already want to fuck her,” I say. “It’s those damned boots.”
She eyes me slyly, seeing right through me. “Ah. You included, I see.”
I say nothing and watch as Jax takes a sip of her margarita. Her lips attack the straw with a vengeance, eliciting a purely physical response south of my belt buckle. “Jesus, Jax. Stop that before you hurt someone.”
“I’m trying to get noticed.”
“Trust me. The other half of the bar is already undressing you.” Hell, if she were a stranger, I’d be right there with them, angling to get her alone for an hour or two to find out what those lips could really do. Then Lucy’s face clouds my vision, and all I can think about is wrapping her booted legs around my waist as I slip into her, hard and fast.
“Stop looking at me like that.” Jax makes a face. “You’re freaking me out.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re wondering what exactly is underneath this sexified outfit.”
I laugh. “Not even close, Russo. Your clothes hadn’t even crossed my mind.”
“That’s because you probably were imagining me without any.”
“Naked is always better.” I nudge her shoulder to make sure she knows I’m joking. I own my player reputation, deserve it many times over. But I’d never go there with Jax. She’s the relationship type. And I’m not. Not anymore, anyway. The last thing I want to do is hurt her by treating her as a one-night stand.
I wave down the bartender, holding up my beer. “Another.” I point to Jax’s drink. “And a refill for her too. Put it on my tab.”
Jax eyes me and then the beer.
Irritation starts to build before she even says anything.
“Who’s—”
“Derek’s the DD tonight.” I shift to stare her in the eye. “Don’t start. Not tonight.”
She holds her hands up in surrender. “Just asking.”
“And what about you? How are you getting home after your shots and margaritas?”
“Marty’s coming after work. It’s his present to me.”
“His present?” I grimace with irritation. “To drive you home? What a dick.”
“No, you idiot. To take care of me and Lucy. You know, make sure we don’t end up with total losers or drugged, and then he’s going to take us out for breakfast before we go home and suffer the worst hangovers of our lives. It’s what big brothers are for.”
“If you say so.”
“If you had a little sister, you’d understand.” She smiles patiently and takes another sip of her margarita.
I make a noncommittal sound. I still think he’s a dick. But that might have something to do with his comment the day of E’s funeral. Don’t blame yourself, man. It was her choice to come pick your sorry ass up. A familiar rush of anger and helplessness fills me, and I slam the door on the memory. Not here. I won’t think about that now.
Cold air whips across the bar as the front door opens and a line of people file in. The show is about to start, and apparently everyone between the age of eighteen and thirty within a fifty-mile radius has come out of the woodwork.
“Dude.” Derek leans over the bar and grabs a bottle of water from a bucket of ice. “Of all the nights to ask me to be the designated driver, you had to choose this one?” He twists the top and takes a long slug. He’s just come from work and is still wearing his blue firefighter T-shirt. He’ll have five girls begging him to take them home within forty-five minutes. Or less, if he starts buying them drinks. “How am I going to get through this without something to take the edge off?”
“Get through what?” I purposely ignore the way he’s looking at Jax. He’s had a slight obsession with her for as long as I can remember, yet he’s never made a move. And as far as I know, he never plans to.
He lifts his water bottle to the crowd. “A night of barely dressed hot chicks. Are you fucking blind?”
I might as well be, because right now, I don’t see anything except the girl strutting out onstage in her sex-bot boots, swaying her hips and seducing the crowd with her eyes before she even opens her mouth.
Jesus. She’s going to kill me. I’m going to combust right here in the bar just staring at her pouty lips. She picks up the microphone and smiles tentatively at Mike, waiting for his cue.
“Omigod!” Jax squeals and grabs my arm. “She’s actually going to go through with it.”
I glance down at her and smile at her huge grin. Jax hasn’t looked this happy in months. Not since before the big breakup. “You were worried she wouldn’t?”
She lets out an ironic huff of exasperation. “Are you kidding? I wasn’t even sure I’d get her to the bar, let alone near the stage.” Her pretty blue eyes meet mine and her smile fades. “Whatever happens, promise me you’ll be nice to her.”
“What the hell, Jax?” I pull away slightly and frown at her, offended she has such a low opinion of me. “What do you think I’m going to do? Mock her and throw beer bottles?”
She clutches my arm and pulls me back. “No. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything. It’s just that this is a huge deal for her and I want it to go smoothly. She belongs up there. She’s not herself when she’s not singing.”
Onstage, the band starts to play, and the girl who’d wobbled her way backstage has transformed into a dazzling, confident crowd-pleaser. She’s standing with her feet shoulder-width apart, her head held high, a seductive smile on her face as she scans the room. Her eyes land on me and she grips the mic with both hands. Then she starts singing. I instantly recognize the song as a popular Mandy Taylor number my sister is always playing. But instead of Mandy’s pop sound, Lucy’s voice is huskier, and she sings it slower. Seductively. She’s fucking mesmerizing.
“Holy shit, dude.” Derek leans forward, eyeing Lucy as if he’s mentally calculating how fast he can rip her clothes off. “Who the hell is that?”
“Don’t even think about it, asshole,” I growl. Where did that come from?
“Awww.” Jax laughs. “You’re such a softy. Look at you, all protective of my friend.” She slips her arm around me and gives me a sideways hug.
“Yeah, softy,” Derek mimics and gives me that guy look that says he knows exactly what’s going on with me and it has nothing to do with being protective.
I glare at him, making sure he knows it doesn’t matter my motives. She’s off-limits to the likes of him.
“God,” Jax whispers. “Look at her.”
My gaze automatically shifts to the fiery pixie onstage.
“I didn’t think it was possible, but whoa. She’s even better than I remember.”
The entire club is riveted, watching her strut around the stage. Then the band pauses and Lucy freezes, the mic held close to her lips. Her eyes scan the crowd, and my breath gets caught in my throat when her gaze lands on me. Something foreign in my gut flips over as her lips turn up into a secret smile I swear is meant just for me.
Jesus, this girl knows what the hell she’s doing. She’s holding me in the palm of her hand, leaving me salivating for more. And though I’m sure
I’m not the only one, I can’t tear my eyes away from her to confirm the effect she has on the room.
Her gaze never shifts and she starts singing in the sexiest voice possible, “When it’s just you and me in the dead of the night, I get reckless… reckless… reckless.”
I hear and see nothing except this girl in this very moment. Her brilliant blue eyes are sparkling with mischief and desire. It takes all my willpower not to stride up to the stage and whisk her away to the back where we can—
“Here.” Derek shoves an ice-cold beer bottle into my hand. “You look like you need it.”
I take the bottle but don’t drink. Lucy is still imploring me with those eyes, seducing me into a puddle of lust and something more I can’t quite explain. Something deeper that seems to come dangerously close to touching my soul. “Shit,” I mutter and lift the bottle to my lips, downing half the beer in one pull.
Derek laughs. “It’s about damn time, man.”
I turn around, deliberately tearing my gaze from the stage. “About time for what?”
Jax is dancing in place, her margarita empty. I signal to the bartender to get her another.
“That you took an interest in someone of the female persuasion.” He’s leaning against the bar, his gaze still locked on the stage.
My body stiffens involuntarily, and I force myself to relax. “There has never been a time when I haven’t been interested in a hot chick.”
He snorts. “Point taken. But I haven’t seen you look at one like that since…” Grimacing, he doesn’t finish the thought.
Anger flares to life and shoots through my veins just as it always does when someone brings up E. I don’t want to talk about her, and I especially don’t want to talk about her after I’ve been thinking of all the dirty things I want to do with Jax’s friend.
Jax’s margarita materializes at the same time the band switches to a slower Lady Antebellum song. I hand her the drink, and she smiles up at me, her eyes already glassy from her buzz.
“Thanks!” She takes a long sip and frowns as she watches me.
“Stop.” I run a finger over the bridge of her nose, smoothing her worry lines. “I’m fine.”
Rockers After Dark: 6 Book Bundle of Sexy Musicians Page 3
