“What?” I sputtered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jared.”
“Is he another one of your geeks? Does he get a name too? How about Tetris Tate?”
Tate chose that inopportune moment to come over as I finished the last of my drink. “Walk you back to your dressing room?” he asked me, looking around at the crowd. “It’s a crush in here.”
Jared glared at Tate. Tate ignored Jared. I was just relieved to be making my getaway.
“Thanks, Tate.”
I placed my empty bottle on the table, and he took my hand and guided me through the throng of people to the side of the stage. “I’ll see you after?” he asked.
I could see him struggling to be polite and not stare at my chest.
“Sure,” I replied.
As he walked away, I saw we were still being watched avidly by all. I laughed at Mac when it was her turn to give me a frosty glare. Jared simply raised his eyebrows, so I childishly poked out my tongue before I headed through the back door.
The band was already backstage and waiting for me.
“What’s going on out there, Evie?” Cooper asked as I came through the door. We saw you in a Tough Guy Sandwich.”
“It’s her top,” Henry muttered. “It’s causing riots.”
I powdered the shine off my face and re-did my lipstick before pulling at my top, trying to lift it up to cover my boobs a bit more without success.
“I keep worrying that they’re going to just pop out in the middle of a song.”
“Awesome,” said Frog with a laugh. “It’s no wonder every male in the room seems so focused tonight. Maybe if one did pop out it might get us a good write up in the paper.”
Henry whacked him up the head. “It’s not a live sex show, Frog.”
Frog looked suitably chastened. “Jesus. I was only teasing. Sorry, Evie.” He frowned at Henry.
“Hey, guys.” Jack, the entertainment manager, poked his head around the door. “How are you all going?”
“Great!” I answered with a smile. “I’ve never been to this bar before. It’s really beautiful. Thanks so much for having us play here, Jack.”
“My pleasure, Evie.” He gave me a winning smile, his eyes shining brilliantly. “Can I get you anything? I’ve left you some fresh bottles of water by the side of the stage. You just let me know.”
“We’re all good. Thanks, Jack.”
“Okay, well you’re on five.”
I gave him the thumbs up, and he shut the door.
“Can I get you anything, Evie?” Cooper mimicked in a high pitched voice. “What are we, invisible?”
The guys all laughed.
“We may as well be while Evie’s wearing that.” Jake snorted.
“Shut up, assheads, and stop picking on me because I have boobs. You’re all just jealous.”
“Yeah,” Cooper muttered. “We all wish we had boobs right now.”
Jake laughed.
“That is not what I meant.” I gave them all a glare as I tried not to laugh. “Let’s go and if you don’t let up about the boobs, then when I get on that stage, I’m going to announce that you’re all gayer than an Easter Parade. Then you’ll be wrestling with male groupies rather than female ones.”
That seemed to shut them up, and we hit the stage to the cheer of the crowd, playing the final forty minutes of our last set. The last song was a slow acoustic song I wrote after my break up with Wild Renny. It was one of our most moving songs, and the crowd didn’t disappoint by going silent and listening intently.
Standing at the microphone, I let my voice hang on the notes as Henry hunched over, plucking at his guitar, the corners of his lips turned up. I loved seeing the look on his face, his eyes downcast and completely absorbed as he floated somewhere along cloud nine, immersed in the bliss of doing something he loved more than anything.
My eyes picked out Mac in the crowd. Mac was a sucker for this song. I hid a grin, knowing she would be teary and that would piss her off.
My voice rang out huskily on the final note, and Henry stood up from his stool and gave me a hug as the crowd went crazy and roared around us.
The spotlights went off and the stage went black.
“Okay?” Henry asked.
He always asked me that after that song.
I was more than okay. We might not have been on fire like we were for a bigger crowd, but the intimate setting felt more personal, and that was a rush as much as a massive wild crowd was.
“Are you kidding?” I waved my hand towards the crowd surrounding us. “Look at this shit, Henry. We are so hot right now.” I grinned.
The crowd continued their whoops of delight, and Henry chuckled as he picked me up in a big hug and carried me off the stage.
“You know I love you, Evie.”
“Don’t turn into a sappy bastard.” I mock groaned as he set me down on my feet backstage. “I love you too.”
“Damn straight you do. Now go get us all a drink while we sort out our equipment,” he ordered with a slap on my bum.
“Bossy bastard.” I saluted him.
I smiled happily because I didn’t mind being the drinks lady, better being at the bar than stuck sorting out cables and amplifiers.
Mac enveloped me in a hug when I arrived at the bar, which was high praise for our performance, before standing back to wipe a little tear from her eye.
“Damn you, Evie. Playing that stupid song. I didn’t put it in the set list because you know I freaking hate it.”
Mac, of course, loved the song. She just hated being teary.
I patted her shoulder in sympathy and placed a drink order with Vince while Mac pestered me for details about what was going on with Tate.
I looked at my shoes. “Tate’s nice. He’s going to teach me how to play online Halo.” He hadn’t said this, like I’d told Jared earlier, but I assumed it would be a given.
A smug smile danced across Mac's lips. “Well, that settles that then.”
“Settles what?”
“Tate doesn’t do it for you. Nothing to worry about there.”
Mac opened her mouth to speak, but Travis interrupted our verbal tussle.
“Great show, Evie,” he said, stifling a yawn.
Coby nodded in agreement as he tucked me into his side. Coby might have been seven years older than me, but apart from being almost a foot taller, we could be mistaken for identical twins.
Coby had the same dark chocolate eyes, dark brown hair tinted caramel from the sun, and the same rosy olive skin. Unfortunately, he was the one that ended up with the long black eyelashes which he selfishly complained made him look too girly.
“Thanks, Travis. You two look wrecked. Going home?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Coby looked disappointed. “Sorry to bail.”
“That’s okay.” I patted his back. “Dodging bullets and bombs exploding into towering inferno’s of hell must really take it out of a guy.”
“Are you kidding?” Travis muttered. “That’s the best part. It’s the paper work that is slowly killing us.”
I nodded. “So I’ve heard.”
I waved them off, had Vince put the drinks on our tab, and Mac and I hit what was left of our table, which was Henry, Mitch, and Tate. I wasn’t sure where Jared had gone to.
“You have an amazing voice, Evie,” Tate murmured close in my ear.
“Thanks, Tate.”
My eyes flicked to Mac who watched our exchange unhappily. The DJ cranked her next song, loud and eager to escape the tense vibes, I took Tate’s hand. “Ready for that dance?”
“Sure, lead the way.”
I turned a smug gaze to Mac before I headed towards the dance floor, and I felt her death ray eyes burning into my back. It was a wonder they didn’t laser a giant hole through my middle.
I found Jared on the dance floor wrapped around a blonde who looked like she’d been busy that day maxing out her credit card at Skanks ‘R Us. I stumbled in my haste to look away because what he did and who he did it with w
as of no consequence to me.
“Are you okay?” Tate asked.
“Sorry,” I murmured. “These heels are a death trap.”
I leaned in and put my hands around his neck. Tate felt warm and comforting.
“They look sexy on those beautiful legs of yours, Evie,” he whispered in my ear.
The compliment had me flushing with pleasure, making Tate seem a bit smoother than Hairy Parry or Beetle Bob.
I murmured a thank you while I avoided all the eyes I could feel watching us.
“What are your plans tomorrow?”
“No plans except to maybe hit the beach,” I replied.
“I’m on call with Mitch tomorrow, so we really should get going. I told him we had to stay so I could have a dance with you first.”
My eyes flicked to Mitch as we turned around. He looked a little bit impatient as he glanced at his watch.
“Okay. You two better get going then so poor Mitch can get his beauty sleep.”
“Walk us out?”
He didn’t wait for a reply, simply took my hand and led me over to Mitch.
“Ready to go?” Mitch asked.
“Yeah. Evie’s gonna walk us out.”
Mitch nodded and downed the last of his beer.
“Be right back,” I said to Mac and Henry.
I felt the cool fresh air wash over me as we approached the loud chatter of the cab line, and I pulled Mitch in for a quick hug. “Thanks for coming, Mitch.”
He hugged me back. “Great show. Killer voice. Sexy outfit. The pleasure’s all mine, beautiful.”
“Sweet talker,” I muttered and he chuckled. I turned to Tate. “Call me?”
“Sure,” he replied and placed a kiss on my cheek.
I winked at them both and headed back inside.
Chapter Five
When I returned to the bar after being waylaid for several conversations along the way, Jared, Mac, and Henry were well on their way to complete inebriation.
Mac was trying to sing (she can’t), Henry was laughing at her singing (when he usually cringed), and Jared looked a little unsteady. Mostly though, the empty shot glasses on the table were a dead giveaway.
“Without me? You started shots without me?” I whimpered in mock sadness when I reached the table.
“Evie’s back!” Jared shouted. “Another round of shots, Vince!”
Vince didn’t seem to mind the shouting. He looked at Jared like he was God and rushed to do his bidding. He placed our drinks on the bar, and I told him to put it on our tab as I reached for them.
Jared appeared beside me and handed over money. “I’ll pay.”
“Thanks, Jared, but it’s okay. We have a tab. Put it on the tab please, Vince,” I said.
Vince waited, undecided about picking up the money.
There was a tense pause that appeared to indicate Jared wasn’t backing down, his determined stance speaking for him.
Vince took the money.
“So you and Tetris Tate, huh?”
I grabbed the shot and downed it fast.
“Yep.” The words burst from my mouth when the alcohol’s vertical burn travelled to my toes.
“We need to talk,” Jared muttered.
I felt a sense of déjà vu, and I looked at him with surprise as we walked back to the table. “We do? I thought you said I wasn’t ready to hear what you had to say.”
“Yeah, but that’s about something else. Later, okay?”
In the early, messy hours of the morning, I decided that Drunk Jared was fun. In fact, everyone was fun. Even Mac managed to lose her Tate snit, and I laughed uncontrollably as she tried to do an exaggerated imitation of how I sang on stage, but only managed a pathetic drunken warble before stumbling in an embarrassed heap on the floor. She tried to make a recovery, pretending she was just showing us the worm dance, but the bar's owners were likely not fooled, and I imagined that an eviction was imminent.
Jared and Henry managed to pick her up off the floor before she made too much of a spectacle of herself, and on that high note, the bar closed, and we found ourselves stumbling out onto the dark streets to find a cab and head home. The cab driver politely chatted to Jared the entire way, and Henry drunkenly threw some money his way when we reach our duplex, insisting on paying because Jared kept buying all our drinks.
After staggering inside, Mac and Henry made a beeline for the fridge, and I hit the stairs, Jared following behind. He flopped down on my bed with a sigh, and I had to physically restrain my body from flinging itself on top of him by grasping hold of the dresser. I then decided that Drunk Evie around Drunk Jared wasn't a terribly smart idea.
I poked his shoulder because that was as close to Jared I was willing to allow myself. “You’re not sleeping in my bed.”
He rolled over and blinked at me sleepily. “I’m not sleeping with Henry, and I'm definitely not sleeping in a bed with my sister.” He winked. “That leaves you.”
I blinked at him drunkenly as I tried, unsuccessfully, to focus. “We have a couch.”
“It’s too late to walk down the stairs now, Evie. What if I fall?”
This was true. Drunken stumbles down stairs never ended well.
“You have an answer for everything. Fine.” I wondered how Drunk Jared managed such feats of logic while I’d lost all mental faculties. “No wandering hands,” I added.
I grabbed my usual sleeping attire from my drawer, lemon striped silk with ivory lace trim set, and went to the bathroom to change and perform my nightly skin routine. When I came back, Jared was under the covers and sleeping peacefully.
Not really sure what the hell I was doing, I sighed and slipped under the cool sheets, blissfully closing my tired eyes and trying to pretend that Jared wasn’t there. It wasn’t working. I could feel the heat emanating from his body, and I wanted to roll over and wrap myself in it.
When I felt him shift and whisper my name, I considered playing possum, but I didn't know what the outcome would be, and I wasn’t willing to risk it.
Mac and Henry stomped loudly up the stairs after their fridge binge, and I heard a bang as something hit the wall, then a muffled “ouch” before the bathroom door slammed.
“Yeah?” I whispered quietly to Jared. If Mac opened the door and saw the two of us here together, I would be screwed.
I opened my eyes and found Jared on his side, watching me in the dark. “It was Asshole Kellar that broke your heart, wasn’t it?”
The man was far too smart, but even as drunk as I was, I was still not prepared to share. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The geek parade that Mac talks about, Evie. It’s because they’re safe, isn’t it? It’s obvious. You can talk to me.”
I huffed, annoyed at Mac for her loose lips, and rolled over so I was facing the wall. Jared reached over and put a hand on my hip. The heat from it burned so hot I was sure I would wake up in the morning with an imprint on my skin.
“Do I need to go break his face? Will I find it? He’s not another hairy one is he?”
My breath hitched and I let out a giggle as he chuckled.
“Jared,” I whispered. “I’m not talking about this, okay?”
“Okay. Not now, but you’ll tell me eventually.”
His fingers gripped my hip tightly before pulling away, and when I woke the next morning feeling completely exhausted, the bed was empty.
Jared was gone.
The disappointment in my belly was too great to ignore. My heart wasn’t just heading south, it was also heading north, east, and west too, scattered to all four corners. Maybe going out with Tate would be the best thing to do to help slow down its direction.
Snoop Dogg, I reminded myself.
I let out the breath I’d held in with a loud whoosh and rolled over to stare blindly at the litter of framed photos on my wall. Most were black and white prints in thin black frames of varying sizes. My favourite was a huge photo of Henry and I on stage, a birthday gift from Mac. A giant fan was whipp
ing my wild hair across my face, and I was laughing into the microphone and pointing at someone in the crowd. Henry, guitar slung over his shoulders, was plucking a string and grinning at my antics. There was something about that photo that made me feel full whenever I looked at it.
“Morning, baby.”
My eyes whipped to the door, and I watched a shirtless Jared walk in and place a mug on my white vintage bedside table.
I hadn’t seen a shirtless Jared before. My breath packed its bags and headed for higher ground. His shoulders were wide, abs hard and tanned. A treasure trail of golden hair led from his navel down to where I could see the top button of his pants still left undone.
“I made you some tea because I know you don’t drink coffee.”
“Thanks,” I croaked out and cleared my throat. “I thought you must have gone.” It would have been the best idea, but being deprived of a vision like him in the morning was surely some sort of crime.
“No, I slept in.” He looked surprised. “I never usually do that.”
He stretched and yawned noisily, and I caught another peek of the tattoo on the underside of his right arm.
“What does it say?” I asked, pointing to it.
His bicep muscle flexed as he lifted his arm for me to see. “To thine own self be true.”
“Hamlet? To be reminded not to lie to yourself?”
It sounded like something I needed inked on my skin.
“No, not lie,” he said patiently. “Be true. There’s a difference.”
“So explain it to me.”
The intensity of his gaze lessened until it almost felt like he’d left the room, but he was still there with me because he finally spoke. “It means not giving myself to someone else at the cost of who I am. Not allowing someone else to define me. It means letting go of personal misconceptions so I can be a better person…not just for me, but for others.”
His words set in and my gaze softened on his face because I knew he was someone who would only mark their skin for something that held deep personal meaning. I could sense there was more to it, but before I could ask the question he continued, his eyes regaining their passion.
“It’s too easy to suffer under mistaken beliefs, Evie. There’s already far too much suffering in the world.”