All those gears that had been relentlessly turning these past few weeks finally clicked into place. It was an “ah ha” kind of moment where all the problems could be fixed with one simple solution.
Go to him.
Be with him.
Be happy.
Rob had been correct, Bonnie did need the money and agreed to come over. Aveline had time to throw a few things together in a bag but she didn’t. Once she knew her mother was settled in with Bonnie and the nurse had all her pills and important phone numbers, she just left. Getting there was all that seemed important. With the prospect of seeing him after so long, Aveline’s body only went in one direction. There was no stopping, no passing go and no collecting two hundred dollars.
Surprisingly enough, she didn’t even debate whether this was the right thing to do. She had more than enough time to second guess everything but she didn’t. Her choice felt right. She felt settled.
The opening band was playing and just about to finish up when she got there. There were plenty of people still in the parking lot. Many of them would never make it to the show. Poor drunken fools. She followed the groups of people who were making their way to the stadium for the main act, Rusted and Reckless. Being in the crowd gave her a tingle of excitement to go with her anticipation. It had been a perfect tailgating day and everyone was pumped from the local band that had opened for them.
At the gates, Aveline split off from the crowd. She wasn’t sure where exactly they would be but looked for the fans who were willing to risk missing the show in exchange to see the band up close and personal. It was actually the buses she spotted first. Around the far side of the stadium, Aveline lined up with the rest of the hard core fans and hoped that she spotted someone she knew who could get her inside.
“I don’t know why I bother with these things anymore. At one point they used to let some of us in backstage to hang after the show but it’s been months since they last did that,” the man beside her said. “Have you ever gotten to meet them?”
She smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah, a few times actually.”
He grinned. “Nice. I played Cornhole with Nix and Rory once. They dominated but it was fun as shit.”
“Greer and I make a pretty good team. We won a few games when we played.”
The fan gave her a high five for that.
“Aveline?”
Oh, thank the gods! Aveline turned toward the very confused but happy Jason. He was kilted and shirtless already having run passed her but stopped.
“Holy shit. You’re here. Like…fucking here!” He jogged over to the barricade and hugged her over the rails. “I am so glad to see you. No. That isn’t a good enough word. Thrilled. Yeah I’m fucking thrilled you are here.”
The smile on her face was one of the most natural and easy things she had done in weeks. “I’m a bit thrilled myself. Any way you can sneak a girl backstage?” She fluttered her eyelashes.
Jason laughed and before she could react, he was pulling her up and over the barricade. “She’s with the band,” he told the security.
“I hope you are here for good reasons,” he said as he directed her through the tents that made up backstage. This was an open air stadium. Aveline’s eyes were scanning the crowd looking for Greer. Jason kept a hand over her shoulders. “Greer’s been a bit of a dick lately. Ok, a lot of a dick. Mostly it revolves around shouldering the blame for what Jamie did.”
“Where is he?” she asked. She wasn’t going to tell Jason why she was here before she told Greer even if they were best friends.
“On stage. Exactly where I need to be. They are waiting for me to go on.” He tugged her along telling every security person they saw that she was with the band. Finally, someone got her a pass. Once he was satisfied that no one was going to mess with her or kick her out, Jason led her to the stage.
“Look, he can’t see you yet. Whoa there, scary eyes. Put them away. I’m not saying that you can’t see him, just that he can’t see you yet. He needs to perform and if he catches sight of you then he won’t. He’ll caveman you out of here and then we will be without a signer and a bassist.”
She frowned but understood. “Yeah, fine. Point made.”
He pointed up a set of stairs that led to the main stage. “Once we start you can go up there to watch. Got it?”
She nodded. Jason smiled at her again and picked her up in a hug. It was a bit weird since he didn’t have a shirt on but she laughed all the same.
“I am so glad you are here.”
So was she.
*****
As Jason ran out on stage, he jumped onto Greer’s back. With a fist thrown in the air he screamed at the crowd. They screamed back. Something had put his friend into a great mood. Greer could use some of that energy to rub off on him.
“What’s gotten into you?” he asked.
“Just a good fuckin’ night,” Jason said grinning.
Greer laughed. “Apparently. Why’s that?”
“You’ll see, brother.” With a fist pump Jason ran over to his drums. Rory followed after. The two talked taking glances in Greer’s direction. Then Rory mouthed something like “no shit” and he too was smiling like a idiot.
So Jason could tell Rory but not Greer? Fuck. That meant this thing that had hyped them up had to do with him. Usually, Greer was all for surprises. But right now he just wanted to get to the one thing that brought him any kind of joy lately. Music.
Sawyer saw something was passing between Rory and Jason but he didn’t much care either. It took him a few weeks but now Sawyer enjoyed being the front man. He wasn’t as talkative as Nix was but he pulled the rest of them into it more. Greer found himself interacting with the crowd more so in the last few months than he had ever before. It was fun but sometimes he missed the days when he could just come and play.
Rory lead them into Hijinks and then Sawyer took over at the end and pulled them straight into Bottom Barrel. By the time Sawyer got around to actually greeting the crowd, Greer was smiling from the high performing gave him.
“Got a girl on stage right,” Kelly said in their ear pieces. “Claim her as yours or security is giving her the boot.”
Sawyer and Greer turned to look as Jason and Rory yelled in unison that she was to stay.
“Holy hell,” Sawyer said into the mic and echoed through the stadium.
Greer was too stunned to even have function over his voice. Aveline was standing not fifteen feet from him having some kind of argument with a security guard. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she just kept shaking her head back and forth. A backstage pass was gripped in her fingers.
When the guard put a hand on her arm, Greer snapped.
A loud crack rang out over the stadium as Greer dropped his favorite bass to the ground and ran off stage. He vaguely remembered hearing Sawyer tell the crowd some excuse. He should have said something himself but that guy was about to touch Aveline and pull her away. He was twice the size of her. The hell with that. Greer advanced and pushed the shoulder of the guard. He stumbled backward a step.
“Back off,” Greer told him. “She stays.”
“That’s fine but she can’t be up here. I’m trying to escort her to the main level.”
Greer was having none of that. “She stays right where she is.”
“Greer?” Came the voice he had missed for three weeks. Aveline touched his shoulder and he turned toward her. She had on a t-shirt and cotton shorts, something he knew she wore around the house on a day off. It was nothing like the dress she had worn at the last concert. No makeup graced her face, only the thick brown frames of her glasses. Her hair was windblown and full of knots that fluffed it up and made it wild.
She looked beautiful.
For all he knew she was here to break up with him, but in that moment, he didn’t give a shit. She was here and that was all he cared about. Greer pulled her into his chest and lifted her off her toes. It took him a moment to register but she was laughing as he swayed her back and f
orth off the ground. He feet dangling to and fro.
That sound.
Oh god, that sound was sweeter than any music he had ever heard.
When he put her back on the ground, she held onto him. The little tug she gave to keep him in place, not ready to let go went straight to his heart. He needed this. He needed her more badly than he ever would admit.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered in his ear.
Every single thought ceased as he tried to figure out what she could possibly be sorry for. This had all been on him, on Jamie. He was still in confusion when she pulled back enough to kiss him.
Nothing matter. She was sorry? Great. So was he. They could be sorry together as long as it meant they got to hold and kiss each other.
The touch was short but when she pulled away she was smiling.
“Go,” she said waving to something behind him.
Greer wasn’t going anywhere.
“Greer,” she laughed. “You have to go back. We’ll talk after the show.”
Shit. The show.
He groaned. She laughed. Rory said something about him being whipped.
Greer kissed her again. Just a peck but the buzz between them was amazing nonetheless.
“I missed you,” he told her.
She nodded. “I missed you too.”
“You are going to miss the show if you don’t get back out here,” Sawyer said. He was turned away from the mic and talking into Greer’s ear piece. “And then I’ll be pissed and have to use my room card to steal the back bedroom from you tonight.” Fucker would do it too. He had won a bet a few months ago that gave him the chance to steal any one night in the back bedroom.
The guitarist played rough.
Aveline looked around Greer and waved to Sawyer. He gave her a nod. “You should go. I’ll be right here,” she said again.
“Don’t go anywhere.” He looked back to the guys who were both happy and annoyed at him. Jason made the “wrap it up” motion with his finger.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Greer ran back out of stage but never took his eyes off her. At one-point Sawyer had to ask him if he cared to play for the good people of Hershey for a while because he had slowly been turning toward Aveline.
He was all over the place. Probably the worst he had played since he was seventeen. There were so many notes that he missed or just didn’t play altogether that Jason and Rory had a very public conversation with the crowd about his performance and whether or not he should be fired. Greer laughed it off, nothing could upset him tonight, not with Aveline in view.
Chapter Fifteen
“Usually, at this time, we’d head off stage and take a few minutes to decide what song we play while you all yelled 'Encore' at us. But tonight when we walk off stage, I can guarantee that we will not be walking back on…at least not without Greer. So let’s just skip that part and just play another two songs.”
Greer was half unplugged when Sawyer announced the plan. He looked up and glared at the man. They didn’t have to do an encore. It wasn’t required of them, even though they always did.
“Ouch, dude. If looks could kill,” Sawyer said with a shake of his head. “I’ve got an idea, though.” Sawyer handed his guitar to Rory and he walked off stage toward Aveline. He greeted her with smile and then bent and tossed her over his shoulder. Sawyer turned around and walked back out of stage. The crowd roared with delight. Greer was on his feet protesting until he saw her laughing. Sawyer walked right passed him with a smirk and deposited her on stage. He told her to wait and then walked back off. A minute later he reappeared with an empty box from one of Jason’s drums.
“Here ya go Darlin’. Best seat in the house.”
Aveline beamed. “Thank you.”
“Hopefully your boy will play better if he’s not straining his neck to look at you.”
Jason tapped his sticks together four times, setting the rhythm and went into “Sonofa.” She turned and gave him a thumbs up. Aveline was just going with the flow of things and Greer could not take his eyes off her. In fact, even with her two feet away, he felt the distance was too much. He nodded for her to move over. She smiled, sliding over and tapped the space beside her. Greer sat, their shoulders brushing, their thighs touching, and played for her.
She sang along beside him. Dancing along the beat Jason and Greer were producing. The front few rows of the stadium had started up a line dance. Everything about the moment melded into the melody and produced a mood that was intoxicating. As his fingers played by memory, his eyes were locked on the beautiful woman dancing in her seat beside him.
Why had she chosen now to come? Why not call? What made her get in her car and drive up here from North Carolina to sit on stage with him and jam out? Not once had she turned away from him. Her eyes steady as she met his, like they were trying to prove something. She didn’t see Jamie, that much was clear. Not anymore and hopefully, never again.
Aveline opened her eyes and smiled at him.
Nothing else was needed. Greer stopped mid stroke and leaned over to kiss her. He threaded his hand in her hair, pulling her to his lips. They kissed softly, testing, hoping that things were still there between them. She bit her lip, sucking it into her mouth as their foreheads touched.
“Did you come back to me?” he asked her. The roar of the crowd as they sang along with Sawyer over powered his words. He wasn’t sure she had heard him. Wasn’t sure if he wanted her to. Greer stroked her neck with his thumb, content on just sharing this moment.
Aveline tipped the brim of his hat up, lighting up his face, exposing him to her. Her cheek twitched into a lopsided smile. “I couldn’t stay away.”
Well, that settled it.
Greer took off his bass, laid it on the ground then scooped her up in his arms and walked off stage. There were hoots of laughter and shouts of encouragement from the front rows. Sawyer grinned and kept on singing. He waved them away with a roll of his eyes. Aveline was laughing so hard she was having trouble breathing. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she buried her head in his chest.
“You are crazy,” she said when they were off the stage and headed away from the show. Greer yanked out his earplugs and dropped them in one of his roadie’s hands. “You can put me down now,” she said as he kept walking.
“Never gonna do that.”
She snorted but didn’t press the issue. Aveline let him carry her through the tents and passed security to their bus. He didn’t let her go until she was safely locked away with him. In the background they could hear Sawyer saying goodbye to the fans.
“Greer, I’m really sorry for how I acted.” Aveline began. She seemed to take the band-aid approach and wanted to get the messy parts out of the way as quickly as possible. “I shouldn’t have pushed you away like that. I needed you but found it hard to-”
“Ava,” he said interrupting her. “Stop apologizing for something that was not your fault. The only one to blame is Jamie. I am not going to fault you for your reactions to what he did. What kind of man would I be if I accused you for his actions? You asked for time, I gave it to you. Simple as that.”
He had walked to her, held her hands and kissed them. Any anger Greer felt over the last few weeks had been at his brother and at himself. Never would he have blamed her.
“Can we leave it at that, for now?”
She sighed and nodded.
“Why are you here, Baby? You could have just called me but you didn’t. Why?”
A shadow crossed over her face. He thought she misinterpreted his question. Greer was elated she was there. He just wanted to know what had pushed her to driving that far when a phone call could have done the same thing.
“I lost my job,” she said looking at their hands. “Vino’s made some cut backs.”
“Aww hell, Ava. I’m sorry.” Greer tugged her forward into his arms. He knew how much she relied on every cent she made.
“So I had some time on my hands and figured it was time for a road trip.” Her t
one was light but he could hear the masked sadness beneath.
“Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re here,” Greer said into her hair. She sighed, sinking into his arms. Greer wasn’t sure how he’d do it yet. She was a proud woman who prided herself on the money she made and the care she provided. But he would help her out somehow. If he enlisted Rob, maybe he could sneak money to her. Or pay for some of her bills without her knowing. Hell, if he could work it, maybe he could pay her student loans.
Greer could feel the moment the thought crossed her mind. Aveline stiffened and then pulled back. “Don’t dare go offering me money, Mr. McQueen.”
“Me? I wouldn’t dream of it.” He grinned but she wasn’t falling for his charades. Aveline kept an eye on him as he played innocent. “Besides, you shouldn’t be worrying over things such as money right now,” Greer said casually. He took a step toward her, she took one back.
“Oh,” she asked taking another step back. Her eyes alight with mischief. “And what should I be worrying about?”
Greer grinned. “How many times I can make you come before we have company.” He pushed her two more steps back into the bedroom door. His hands found her waist and tugged on her shirt till he touched flesh.
“Confident are we?” she said but her voice had taken on a heavy tone.
His hands spread over her midsection and slowly pushed her shirt up, revealing the skin he wanted to savor. As he cupped her breast revealing the plump masses, Greer dropped his head to taste the sweet flesh. Ava’s hands came to his head, pressing him on. She was hot, ripe with lust. It had been too long since they last touched like this.
Chance (Rusted and Reckless Book 1) Page 14
