by Jean Haus
She smiles seductively and that’s all the encouragement I need. I kiss her long and slow, showing her mouth all the things I want to do to her body.
When we part, the guy who was talking to her closes his mouth and turns toward the bar.
Allie lets out a rare giggle as her hands tighten around my waist. “The show was great. I didn’t know you played acoustic so well.”
“I really don’t. I only know a few songs.” I reach for her hand at my back. “Come on. Everyone’s in the back room.”
“Holly’s coming,” she says. “I should wait for her.”
“Just text her to go to the back room.”
“Oh, okay,” Allie says, pulling out her phone.
I walk behind her as she texts, touching her waist but wanting to touch even more.
When we get to the back room, it’s full. Even Romeo and Riley are here tonight. I introduce Allie to Riley’s best friends, Marcus and Chloe, who ooh and aah over her sleeve tattoo. Riley gives Allie a wave, but of course doesn’t leave Romeo’s side. At the end of the table, Gabe sits as usual with his girlfriend in his lap.
The two of us grab the seats at the middle of the table, and then share the beer that’s there waiting for me. I order two more. It’s different and nice to just talk instead of trying to lay the moves on someone I hardly know with the expectation of whoever it is taking me home. Allie and I laugh at Sam’s story about going out for a smoke, then getting locked out of his apartment for four hours while the girl he’d brought home slept off the body shots they did. Chloe, Riley, and Allie talk school and classes while Romeo drones on to Sam and me about next Saturday’s recording session.
I’m arguing that I’d rather break it into two more sessions instead of an unbearably long one when I notice Allie is gone. Chloe picks up on my confusion and tells me Allie went to get Holly. After a thankful nod in Chloe’s direction, I continue arguing, but after more than ten minutes pass without Allie’s returning, I get up and go to inspect the busy bar. I finally spot her across the room. With Trevor. Even from this distance, I can see the grip of his hands on her arms. He’s leaning over her. She’s leaning back as her face turns fearful.
Pushing people out of my way, I’m across the room in seconds.
Chapter 26
Allie
As I walk through the crowded club to meet Holly at the bar, the giddiness that has pervaded my mood since watching Justin onstage doesn’t dissipate. As he performed, all I could think was, That wonderful, sexy rocker up there is mine. I’m not sure how it happened, when exactly I opened up to it, but there’s no denying that I’m out-of-control into him now. I feel exactly like I should, a twenty-two-year-old out at the bar with her boyfriend. I feel young and carefree.
And I like it.
Holly and Jake are waiting for a round of shots at the bar, so I hit the restroom. On the way out, I’m still on my Justin cloud nine when someone steps in front of me. Startled to see Trevor, I stumble backward. He appears a bit menacing in all black: jeans, T-shirt, boots.
“Thought you weren’t into this guy. Thought it wasn’t serious,” he says, sneering so much the tats on his neck stretch. He’s also yelling in my face because of the loud music blasting through the speakers. “Making out in the middle a bar screams serious, Allie.”
For a moment I’m too stunned to reply, but I slowly put two and two together. I’d been talking to Mark Beech, a Dragonfly customer who’d known Trevor forever, when Justin came up to me at the bar. Obviously, the jerk had called or texted Trevor after we left for the back room.
I stand with my fists clenched but calmly say, “It’s really none of your business who I date, kiss—or how serious it is. We’re divorced, Trevor.”
His blue eyes blaze and he reaches for my arm. “We have a kid and a business together.” He pauses and leans low. “You’ll always be connected to me. Always. No douche bag singer is going to change that.” He starts dragging me toward the door.
For one quick second, I remember the past, the constant aching over Trevor. Then I imagine a long, sad future of constantly pining for Trevor. Of never feeling loved. Of sick jealousy over Jazz. Oh, hell no. That won’t be my future. I jerk back from his hold and brace myself.
“We are divorced,” I repeat, trying to pull away from him. “Let me go. Now.”
His grip grows tighter. “What’s going on with you and this guy?”
“Let me go,” I say under my breath, noticing people watching us.
“Are you fucking him?”
“Now,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Are you?” he says, shaking me.
His shaking me hits a major nerve. “Screw you! I’ll fuck whoever I want! Let me go!”
Fury fills his face, and he lets me go with a shove that sends me colliding with a nearby table. Unfortunately, it isn’t empty. Drinks fly and crash onto the floor when the table nearly tips. The people at the table jump up, yelling, “What the hell?”
I’m finding my footing as Justin gently helps me upright and searches my gaze. “You okay?”
Before I can answer, Trevor whips him around. “Don’t touch her!”
“Why? So you can push her again?” Justin’s expression is furious as he shoves Trevor.
Trevor’s mouth twists as he stumbles backward. “Fuck that,” he snarls. He lunges forward and punches Justin in the jaw.
Justin’s head snaps back, but his feet stay planted. He whips his head around, his gaze livid, as Trevor raises both fists in an aggressive stance. Justin takes a quick step back, and punches Trevor in the middle of his face before he can lift a fist. Jaw slack and eyes wide, Trevor staggers against the wall and slides to the floor.
Things are moving fast. Yet it feels like I’m watching a fight through a lens in slow motion.
Scrambling up from the floor, Trevor bull-rushes Justin, who ducks just in time to jab Trevor in the ribs.
People crowd around us—some screaming, some yelling, and some cheering. Their voices reverberate in my head as I move forward, intent on pulling Justin away from Trevor’s reach, not caring that I’ll end up in the middle of their fight.
As I reach for Justin, Gabe flies out of the crowd at Trevor, who cuffs him in the side of the head. The punch does nothing to stop Gabe. Fists flying, he beats Trevor to the ground. Even amid the shouting around us, I can hear Gabe repeating, “Men don’t fuck with girls. Men don’t fuck with girls. Men don’t fuck with girls.”
Strangely—or maybe not so strangely since it’s obvious that Gabe is in a rage—both Justin and I work at dragging him off Trevor. After nearly getting pulverized by Gabe’s elbows, we finally have him standing between us. He’s breathing hard, eyes still murderously trained on Trevor, who’s rolling across the floor and covering his face.
Gabe tears from our hold and lunges again, but Justin yanks him back by the waist. “Whoa, he’s down. Leave him be.”
The music in the bar is suddenly cut off.
Romeo breaks through the crowd. “What the hell is going on?”
“He”—Gabe points a shaky finger at Trevor, who’s sluggishly pushing himself up off the floor—“pushed her into a table.”
With rage etching his features, Romeo is obviously about to lay into Gabe with an embarrassing reprimand, but some guy dressed in a button-up shirt and pressed slacks breaks through the crowd around us. A nametag on his chest and the ring of keys on his belt loop signifies he works here. He holds a hand out to help Trevor up. “Back off, people!” Supporting Trevor, who’s swaying as if drunk and cupping his bloody nose, the guy yells, “Get away or get out!”
People start dispersing. Justin tugs Gabe away from the scene.
The man helping Trevor points to us. “You two, stay put. The cops are on their way.”
“The cops?” Gabe gasps, finally pulling his rage-filled gaze from Trevor and struggling
to get out of our grip.
Romeo is instantly in Gabe’s face. “Don’t even think of taking off,” he says from behind clenched teeth.
Gabe visibly deflates, and Justin lets him go and wraps his arms around me.
“Tell me you’re okay?” he whispers in my ear.
“I’m all right,” I say into the skin of his neck, breathing in his earthy, comforting scent. “Your jaw?”
“A little sore, but forget me. When I saw that prick push you I feared the worst.”
“I’m all right,” I repeat, though the side of my thigh is throbbing where it hit the table. A bruise will definitely be there in the morning. “Just shook up and shocked. He’s never been like this.” I can’t tell if Justin believes me, but it’s true. Sure, Trevor has always been a jerk, but he’s never gotten physical with me. Something was off about him tonight, though, and I’d been close enough to him to know he wasn’t drunk.
Justin’s arms tighten around me. “I almost wish we’d let Gabe continue.”
Shaking my head, I hold on to him and let his embrace calm me down. Holly is suddenly next to us. “I can’t believe this. He pushed you?”
I can only nod at her.
She sneers at Trevor, who still appears out of it.
Behind us, we can hear Romeo lecturing Gabe. “Three years of playing and this is the first time this type of shit has happened. This shit is never happening again, do you hear me?”
As Justin turns and holds me close by one arm, Gabe mutters something under his breath but keeps his head lowered. I notice the group from our back room table standing at a distance and watching the aftermath unfold. A few tables over, the man I assume is the manager has Trevor in a chair and is crouched in front of him, holding a towelful of ice to his bloody nose. The sight irritates me. Even though Gabe went overboard, Trevor is not the victim here.
Romeo keeps bitching at Gabe. Now he’s talking about losing the club.
Justin shoots Romeo a cold look and says, “Honestly? This isn’t the time to be an asshole.”
Romeo stares at Justin with eyes that flash daggers.
I’m starting to feel awful. If I hadn’t come, none of this would have happened. I’m aware the guilt isn’t entirely mine, but I can imagine the rumors that will spread over the next week: The singer and drummer of Luminescent Juliet got into a bar fight over one of their girlfriends. The thought makes me cringe.
As the guys continue to argue around me, my gaze finds the instigator of the evening’s fiasco. The manager tries to help Trevor up, but he brushes off the man’s hands and heads toward the bathroom. The manager then comes to stand by us, probably hoping to stop anything else from erupting, Trevor turns back and his hostile gaze finds me. I don’t flinch. Instead, I stare right back until he disappears into the bathroom.
A few minutes later, the police arrive. My shock over the fight escalates when, after talking with the manager and several bystanders, the two policemen cuff and arrest both Justin and Gabe. Justin looks shocked too. Gabe’s face is impassive. Startled, I’m at the policeman’s side in an instant.
“They didn’t start it.” I’ve already told them this, but I have to do something before they haul off Justin. “My ex-husband was the first one to throw a punch.”
The cop glances at me. “This isn’t elementary school, miss. If someone hits you, it doesn’t give you the right to beat them senseless.”
My hands clench at my sides. “He kept the fight going, after he shoved me into a table and almost knocking it over.” I’ve already told him this too.
The cop directs Justin toward the door. “You can post his bail tomorrow morning. After that, it’s for the judge to determine who, if anyone, was in the right.”
Justin glances at me over his shoulder as he’s dragged out of the building, and I have to stop myself from following them.
The least shocking thing of the night? Trevor is nowhere to be found.
Between the three of us, Romeo, Sam, and I managed to collect the seven hundred dollars for Gabe’s bail. It turns out this isn’t Gabe’s first run-in with the law. All Justin has to do for his release is sign a personal recognizance bond—something about promising to return and appear in court. Justin will pay us back on Gabe’s behalf once he gets out, but I’m not too worried about money at the moment.
We arrive with the money at the police station at dawn, and while Romeo and Sam go inside to pay, I sit in my car. I’m looking forward to putting this sleepless night behind me. I’ve been consumed by guilt while also wishing I’d punched Trevor myself. I really don’t understand why he came last night. Sure, he’s been hinting at getting back together with me since he returned but he hasn’t been persistent. And he showed no signs of being completely freakin’ nuts about me with Justin until last night.
I’ve been waiting in my car for over half an hour when Romeo and Justin finally come out of the building, with Gabe and Sam following behind them through the revolving door.
Even though this is stupidest—I’m blaming it on lack of sleep—time to be obsessing about appearances, I’m kind of wowed by the four men coming at me. Of course, with his dimples, green eyes, and swoop of dark blond hair, Justin’s brand of hotness is the most devastating. But Romeo, who’s as tall as Justin’s six foot two, has this dark, sensual thing going on. Then there’s Gabe. Tall too, maybe just over six foot. He’s all wiry muscle, with piercing eyes and a jaw so hard it’s like someone cut it from marble. Last is Sam, who is all energy and handsome cuteness with his buzzed dark hair and muscles bulging, even at seven thirty in the morning. Geez. You’d think they were models instead of bandmates.
After a few fist bumps, Justin, Sam, and Gabe come over to my car. Romeo has to get to work at the family center where he volunteers, so I offered to drive everyone else home when he and Sam and I met up this morning. Up close, the two who got sprung appear the worse for wear, with red eyes and exhausted expressions.
“Hey,” I say as Justin gets into the passenger seat. “You all right?”
He reaches for my hand and smiles softly. “Seeing you, I’m doing a shitload better.”
When Gabe and Sam get in the back, my car is overloaded with testosterone.
After a few minutes of arguing—everyone wants to help everyone else on this bleary Sunday morning—it’s decided that I’ll take Gabe home first, and then he’ll take Sam home. Really, I could take them all home, but it’s obvious they’re trying to leave Justin and me alone.
Gabe’s directions land us in one of the few seedy areas in town. The houses are rundown. Yards are overgrown, and junk covers almost every porch. As I pull in front of Gabe’s house, an older man opens the broken door and wobbles out onto the first step. Between the wobble and the beer can in his hand, he appears half-drunk.
Pointing at Gabe with the hand holding the beer, the drunk shouts, “You know I’ve got a scanner, you little piece of shit. I told you the next time you get arrested not to come back! Your shit’s going to the curb!”
Getting out of the car, Gabe gives the man the finger.
The man points his own middle finger at Gabe. “Come in this house and I’ll break that off and stuff it up your ass, you little fucker.”
Gabe ignores him and goes straight to the driver’s side of his truck, which is parked on the curb.
Sam gets out next and bends down to Justin’s open window. “See you guys later,” he says. The man on the porch yells something else and after glancing over his shoulder, Sam adds, grinning, “Hopefully, we’ll make it out of here in one piece.” He gives Justin a soft punch on his shoulder, then runs to the passenger side of Gabe’s truck while the old guy on the porch continues yelling obscenities as he whips his beer can at the truck.
Not wanting to witness any more drama, I take off just as the can hits the truck with a thud.
Keeping my eyes on the road, I ask, “Do you want
to go back to the dorm? Or you could come to my house. I’ll just have to take you home by two, when I pick up Ben.”
“Got a washer?”
My glance at him is questioning.
“I have to get out of these clothes. Jail stank.”
“Ah. Yeah, we’ve got a washer and dryer in the hallway closet.”
“Then your house it definitely is.”
Turning a corner, I say seriously, “I’m really, really sorry about last night.”
“Why would you be sorry?” His tone is incredulous.
“If it weren’t for me, Trevor wouldn’t have come and ruined everything.”
“Shit, Allie, you don’t have any control over that asshole. Although after last night, you should file a restraining order against the prick.”
His words surprise me. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“You should. But as for last night, don’t be sorry. He pushed you, and Gabe…Well, obviously, he has one crazy-ass temper.” He watches the passing scenery out the window for a moment. “I’ve always thought Gabe was a prick. Still do. But in the last twenty-four hours, I’m starting to understand why. He has one screwed-up life.”
“You guys talk last night?”
“A little. The shit he told me wasn’t pretty. After getting her ass kicked numerous times, his mom left him with that asshole on the porch when he was six.” He rubs his forehead. “I was seriously clueless about the shit life he has. I mean, we’re all aware there’s abuse and sick shit out there, but it’s totally different seeing it.”
I shudder at the thought of the person on the porch taking care of anyone, much less a six-year-old. I was really hoping the guy wasn’t related to Gabe. I was hoping for distant stepfather or maybe his mother’s awful new boyfriend.
“People like Gabe make me realize that my anger at my parents isn’t shit.”
I park in front of my apartment building, but don’t make a move to get out of the car. “Why are you angry at your parents?”
