by Quinn, Cari
Which, of course, was BS. He’d be using a forklift to dig out by the end of the day.
He brought the forty with him and elbowed his way into the laundromat with it to his lips. Conversation skidded to a halt at the sight of him, just like it had the first time.
Man, could he kill a room.
Simon zeroed in on the forty first. “What the fuck. Where’s ours?”
Ignoring him, Nick kicked a stool into place near the assembled group and took another slug of his beer before setting it down. He tugged over one of their cheap practice amps and plugged it in. Flexing his fingers, he brought them to the strings and willed them to work. He didn’t look at any of the group. Didn’t even acknowledge their presence. Right now he was alone in the basement, playing for his own enjoyment. No one else existed.
The chill at the base of his spine grew, taunting him. As if he’d be let off the hook that easily. The sensation was nothing new. Soon it would be climbing up his back, wrapping cold fingers around his throat, trapping the words he needed when he lowered his mouth to the mic.
This time he wasn’t giving in.
His fingers started moving faster and he squeezed his eyes shut, leading them into one of their first songs, “Decimation”. He missed some of the notes despite knowing the song better than the sound of his own heartbeat. Beside him Simon kicked into gear, joining him without any hesitation. Of course not. Simon charged in with swagger and a smile. Always.
Deak followed him up, playing the acoustic with an effortlessness Nick both admired and hated. Why the hell did he have to use a crowbar to get the music out of him when it came so easily to the other guys?
For a few moments, it was just the three of them, jamming as they always did. He’d almost forgotten they weren’t alone when another guitar joined in, somehow making room for himself in a song made for three. The transition wasn’t seamless, not even close, but it was closer to it than he’d expected. Way closer than he wanted. By the time the slow drumbeat started, adding a firmer backbone to the song, he was already losing himself in the unexpected new rhythm. Much as Nick hated to admit it, the sly embellishments added by Gray took the melody places it hadn’t gone before. Better places.
Then the drums. She didn’t try to overpower the song, just chose her moment and entered the rhythm stealthily, like she expected to be shoved right back out the passage she’d snuck through. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t falter. She could’ve been Snake for all the bravado she showed, crashing through the song and making it hers while Nick fought the overwhelming urge to open his eyes and see if she looked as beautiful as he knew she must. Those pink curls flying wildly around her head, those tiny fists gripping sticks that were made for hands twice her size.
But Nick didn’t look. Couldn’t, until the song ground to a halt and he blew out the breath he hadn’t realized had clogged in his lungs.
Nick wiped his forehead and stared at his palm as it came away damp. He’d sweated through the song, and his shoulder blades ached from his vicious hold on his guitar. Didn’t matter. They didn’t know he’d been in meltdown mode, and he could lift his chin and stare hard at the preppy kid across from him without flinching.
Insolently, Gray kicked out his long denim-clad legs and crossed them at the ankles. He wasn’t sweating at all, and he gripped his guitar in a loose hold that spoke of his utter calm. Goddammit, it pissed Nick off.
“So?” Gray demanded.
“So?” Nick tossed back. He’d happily kick Gray’s ass just to burn off some of the relentless frustration brewing in his gut. Then he made the mistake of glancing at Jazz.
She smiled like a rainbow appearing after a storm, eyes bright, cheeks flushed with pleasure. They were almost as pink as her hair. Her blush emphasized the enthusiasm practically leaking from her pores.
God, how long had it been since he’d felt that excited about playing? He wanted to feel like that again.
Hell, he wanted her.
What would it be like to take a taste of the energy that burned inside her? To harness some of it for his enjoyment? To feel her splinter apart and sag under him, finally replete.
So not happening.
Before he did something he would regret, Nick pulled the cord out of the amp, threw back a slug of beer and got to his feet. Deliberately standing over Gray, he let his mouth curl into a smirk. “You passed the demo. Want a real audition? We’re playing at the Blue Rhino on the Strip on Saturday night.” They usually had to fight fang and claw to get a weekend show, and he was about to ensure they’d probably never get another Saturday gig. He jerked his chin in Simon and Deak’s general direction. “Nine o’clock. These guys will hook you two up with the setlist.”
Before Gray could get a word in, Nick grabbed his guitar and strode toward the door. Delayed shakes had set in, but he’d be damned if he let them see them.
“Wait a fucking second.” The scrape of Gray’s chair over the linoleum razored down Nick’s back like a blade. “Audition for you? You’re short a drummer. Your band’s going nowhere without us.”
Nick flashed a grin over his shoulder at Jazz, who watched him from behind the kit with a quiet certainty that caused his jeans to shrink in direct proportion. Fuck, she was hot.
And off-limits. Which made her even hotter.
“Talk to your guard dog, Jasmine. Sounds like he needs some convincing.” Nick shut the door at his back before anyone tried to stop him. He needed to get some air, and he sure couldn’t do it there.
Taking the steps two at a time into the basement, he set down his beer and grabbed his cell phone off the table where he’d left it. He punched in Cinder’s number and held the phone to his ear, already eager for her crushed velvet voice to flow into his head and take away all the shit that wouldn’t leave on its own.
“I forgot I heard she’s seeing someone.”
Not his problem. He wasn’t the damn morality police. If he was, they were all screwed.
“Hey baby,” Cin purred after about five rings. “What’s doing?”
Nick eased a hip against the wall and flipped open his wallet to make sure Simon hadn’t thiefed his rubbers again. Nope, both were still there. Perfect. His car keys were missing in action, but that didn’t matter since Cin just happened to be in walking distance. “You. I hope.”
“You know it. Come on over. I’ll leave a light on.”
The amusement in her tone made him grin as he hung up. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob, falling still at the images playing behind his eyes. Jazz and her smile, those unforgettable eyes seeing way too much. Gray stepping between them, all fury and passion and need.
He hissed out a breath between his teeth and stepped into the hall. Need was something he understood.
Way too well.
* * *
Saturday night came much faster than Nick wanted it to. Day after day working his ass into exhaustion at The Fit Fiddle didn’t stave it off. Neither did the two late nights/very early mornings he spent with Cin, losing himself in her body. The strained rehearsal he’d sat through with his band Friday night definitely didn’t, since the guys were beyond pissed at him.
Deak claimed only someone who wanted to fail would march into a gig and attempt to practically play cold with two new people just to prove he had bigger balls. Because letting Deak believe that was better than telling him the truth—that he didn’t know if he could get through Saturday night, let alone a couple of practice sessions beforehand—Nick just smoked and smirked and generally played his asshole role to the hilt.
Sometimes he thought he played that better than guitar.
Simon and Deak weren’t completely oblivious to his issues with performance anxiety, though even they didn’t realize how deep it ran. He was good once the house lights came on and he got out of his head and into the music. Unfortunately he was pretty sure the guys wouldn’t be down with practicing in the dark with Gray. And Jazz, who would probably sparkle from her freaking glittery barrettes.
Nick slic
ked his hand over his head, grimacing at the gel that shaped his blond hair into its usual show style, and slipped out the back door to the parking lot of the Blue Rhino to get in one last smoke. Damn anti-smoking militants were everywhere nowadays, and even clubs frowned upon lighting up. Just as well, since it was a warm and breezy night and for once the smog wasn’t on full choke alert.
The whisper of palm fronds competed with the muted laughter coming from inside the Rhino. The crowd hadn’t reached capacity yet—not even close. Another half hour or so, the people milling around out front and the scattered few wandering between the cars would stop slapping hands and make their way inside. And the members of Oblivion plus optional add-in accessories would either fly or crash and burn.
He didn’t know which option he preferred.
Cupping a hand around the end of his cig, he flicked his lucky lighter. He’d had it almost as long as he’d had his Taylor, since twelfth grade. It had taken him three summers of part-time work to save up for that used guitar—well, that and the junk car that he’d dubbed the pussywagon, considering it had been that vehicle that had finally allowed him to get some.
A smile glimmered as he flicked the lighter again and waited for the flame to catch. Forget some. He’d gotten a lot in that piece of shit car.
The sound of an argument snuck into his consciousness, and he turned his back to force the sound out of his head. He just wanted to smoke and get ready for his spectacular failure in peace.
“Come on, sweetheart. You’re too pretty to act like such a bitch.”
“I said no. Fucking no. Are you hard of hearing?”
Nick shut his eyes and a sigh escaped him. He didn’t need to play anyone’s savior tonight. Not until he figured out how to save himself.
An eerie silence descended. Now it was too quiet.
He pivoted and surveyed the darkened parking lot, trying to make out the shadows between an old van and a sedan. A sharp scream broke the silence and he ran, pitching his cigarette and lighter on the way. He caught a glimpse of pink between two looming men, both of them about twice her size.
Christ, this wasn’t some random female. It was Jazz.
Their ham-sized hands jerked up the frilly little skirt Nick had sneered at earlier. They were pawing at her patterned leggings like her ass had been put on the clearance rack and they wanted to sample the merchandise before they bought.
“You better fucking let her go,” Nick said in a low voice, stopping close enough that they could hear him and far enough back that he could pick up something to use as a weapon to split their skulls open. The old chrome bumper of the vintage sedan beside him would work.
No response. The groping didn’t stop, and she stopped struggling long enough to shoot him a single panicked glance. The sheen in her eyes ripped his gut open. He might not like the girl or her guard dog, but that didn’t mean anyone had a right to lay a goddamn finger on her.
Especially when he was around to put a stop to it.
“I mean it,” Nick grated, stalking closer. If they didn’t release her in about ten seconds, one or both of them was going to lose some vital appendages. Even if he wasn’t exactly sure how, since they looked about five inches taller than him and had the body mass of redwoods. “Back the hell off.”
The bigger of the two whirled on Nick, his craggy face contorted in a grimace. “Who’s she to you?”
“The drummer in my band. We’re playing here tonight.” Nick strode forward to snatch hold of Jazz’s wrist while he had the power of surprise on his side. The glassiness he’d glimpsed turned to actual tears, creating silvery threads down her cheeks in the moonlight. His chest gave one hard twist before he turned his glare on the second guy. He’d dropped his hands from Jazz the moment Nick had mentioned his band.
Magic words apparently. Now if only he had some for the woman at his side—who’d curled into him as if he’d just fought a bear and barely survived to tell the tale—he’d be all set.
The guys mumbled what sounded like apologies and lumbered off toward the club, looking back at Nick every other step. Jazz had completely disappeared from their radar.
They hadn’t disappeared from hers.
“I don’t know why I’m crying.” She shook her head, her sobs leaving her throat on shuddery gasps. “I can handle fuckers like them. I have before, so many times. But they caught me off-guard, and they grabbed me from behind. That always reminds me of…God, it reminds me.” She stopped there, shuddering.
Of what? He almost asked, then decided it wasn’t his business. She wasn’t. Even if the idea of anyone touching her like that—sneaking up on her from behind—scorched through his show nerves and left his muscles quivering for a whole new reason. He wanted blood.
Tucking it away, Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulders and lowered his face to her hair. She was shivering so violently her jaw kept clicking. “Hey, hey,” he murmured, stroking all those wild curls he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind. She sparkled, even in the dark. “It’s okay. You’re okay. They’re gone.”
She only shivered harder. “They didn’t have any right to t…touch me,” she said through clenched teeth. “I told them no and they did it anyway. I said no.”
“I know you did. I heard you, loud and clear.” Nick took a risk and touched her cheek, tilting her heart-shaped face upward. Her cheeks were sheened with moisture. Even her lips were trembling. His heart lurched again. “Hey, look at me. Jazz.” It felt weird to call her that, when he found himself calling her Jasmine more often than not. How could he resist when she’d tossed such an irresistible opening line at him? He was an asshole, and she was as beautiful and delicate as jasmine. Too delicate for a bastard like him. “Jazz, look here.”
Her eyes stayed resolutely closed. “It’s…Jasmine to you, asshole.”
Just like that, he knew she was okay. That she’d faced worse in the past and survived. Survivors came in all kinds of packages. Sparkles or grime, giggles or growls.
Chuckling, he stroked his fingertips along her jaw. Lightly, to give her something to focus on. And maybe to satisfy his curiosity if her skin would feel as satiny as it looked.
Knowing that it did didn’t exactly give him comfort.
Her big eyes flashed open and locked on his, and he let out a long breath at the punch of awareness. What the hell was it about this girl that worked him over so thoroughly?
She didn’t swoon in his arms or even thank him for his chivalry. No, she squished up her cute nose and made a face. “You smell like smoke. Ugh.”
“I didn’t even get it lit,” he muttered, glancing over her shoulder as he remembered his lucky lighter. The chances of finding it before some jerk ran over it with their car ranked in the negatory region.
“So? You chain smoke. How many others have you siphoned into your lungs today?” Shaking her head, she pushed him gently but firmly away. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m ruining my voice. Not that it’s anything special anyway.”
“Not your voice, silly, your lungs. Your body. Don’t you care about your health?” Letting out a dramatic sigh, she lifted the item she’d crushed against her chest, her small, pale fingers smoothing the mangled fabric.
Unsure how to respond to her unexpected concern—hell, his dad had bought him his first cigs in high school, so what the frick did she care if he lit up or not?—he nodded at what she held. “What is that?”
“Gray’s hat.” Her smile warmed her voice as she glanced toward the club. “He keeps forgetting to bring it in with him, but it’s lucky so I wanted him to have it tonight.”
Nick wasn’t sure which part of that equation bothered him more. That Gray also had a lucky item or that Jazz was stroking his fedora with more love than a woman had ever touched him with. Then there was the whole Gray thing, period. He was really beginning to hate that guy.
What was the deal with Gray and Jazz anyway? He’d laid claim to her in the laundromat, and she hadn’t disputed t
he assertion, but something was off there. Nick hadn’t seen them touch more affectionately than friends. She’d never done more than ruffle Gray’s shaggy dark hair or pat his back. They hadn’t kissed. He hadn’t grabbed that fine ass, and she’d never leaned up to latch those plump, wet lips around his earlobe to give it a sexy tug. Either they’d been together so long that comfort superseded heat or there was more to the story.
Testing them both, Nick gave in to the urge to run his thumb along her jaw again. She deliberately moved her face away, but not before she confused the hell out of him with a flirtatious flutter of her lashes.
“So you come out here alone for a stupid hat?” Nick asked gruffly, his thumb still vibrating from the feel of her skin. If she hadn’t slipped back, would he have tried to touch more of her? Yes. No. “Damn shame your guard dog’s more interested in his guitar than you.”
Jazz frowned, her wet eyes drying in a blink. “No, that’s not it at all. He doesn’t even know I’m gone.”
Right on cue, the back door of the club banged open and a shout sounded across the lot. “Jazz? Baby, where are you?”
Baby sure sounded like a term of endearment. They were hooked together, one way or another, and a smart guy didn’t get caught in someone else’s net.
Nick set his hands on Jazz’s shoulders and turned her toward the club where his future awaited in the form of a man who voluntarily wore a velvet hat. Fuck me.
“Guess he knows now,” he said in Jazz’s ear, registering her shudder when his warm breath skittered down the side of her neck. It would be so easy, too easy, to lick her there. To see if her vanilla and brown sugar scent flavored her skin.
And then to just keep right on going. To that slash of collarbone, to the gentle rise of her cleavage. Over the tight points of her nipples through her fuzzy top. Unless he was crazy, he was almost sure her nipples had tightened further since he’d touched her.
All he had to do was slide his hands down a few inches, and those soft swells would be in his palms. For such a little thing, she was frigging built. He’d gladly spend a couple of hours just exploring every sweet nook and cranny in that lush, lithe package.
