Текст книги "Hot Ticket"
Автор книги: Olivia Cunning
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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 22 страниц)
Chapter 16
Aggie stood beside the stage on the stadium floor. Roadies and all five band members milled about in the darkness. It was almost time for Sinners to take the stage. She longed to grab Jace and plant a big wet kiss on his lips. He’d more than made up for that bail-me-out-of-jail incident, and she was primed to show her appreciation. After hours of apologies, she figured he’d be relaxed in her company. Just the opposite. As soon as she’d arrived at the arena, he had become withdrawn and skittered away if she even touched him. She blamed it on nerves. He didn’t seem to enjoy performing live.
“Are you sure you can sing, Sed?” some dark-haired roadie, adorned with more tattoos than all five band members combined, asked. Everyone was treating the vocalist like fragile glass. Apparently, no one trusted his throat was well enough for a show.
“Yeah, my doctor said singing was not a problem. I’m supposed to limit my screaming though, hence the violin.” He lifted a black, electric violin and drew a bow across the strings. It screeched in protest. “I’m still not sure how I’m supposed to hold a microphone and a violin at the same time.”
Someone squeezed Aggie’s shoulder. She turned to find Jessica beaming like a lighthouse beacon. “Aggie! It’s been ages. How are things?”
“Great. Anything new with you?”
She thrust her left hand in Aggie’s face and did an excited little dance while Aggie examined the small diamond engagement ring on her finger. “Sed and I got engaged last night.”
Aggie hugged her and didn’t mention bailing Jace and Eric out of jail because they’d helped make her over-the-top proposal happen. “I’m happy for you, sugar. I knew you and Sed still had a thing for each other.”
Jessica released Aggie and snagged her fiancé around the waist. She kissed Sed passionately before chastising him about taking it easy while singing and screaming onstage. Sed assured her that he was fine—his doctor had cleared him to do this concert—though no one looked convinced, least of all Jessica.
Someone cued the band. Jace pecked Aggie on the cheek as he passed her. She decided that was the most affection she’d get from him until they were alone.
A bass drum thudded repeatedly. The low, rhythmic sounds of a bass guitar filled the undertones of the song. Aggie held her breath in anticipation of the stage lights coming on so she could see Jace. Now all she could see were four sets of feet in a blue light that shone across the stage floor. A guitar wailed. The crowd cheered. The carried note of an electric violin screeched through the speakers. An astonished hush fell over the crowd. Bright lights bathed the stage. When the note came to an end, Sed held the violin and bow in one hand and plucked the microphone off its stand with his other to sing. The crowd’s enthusiasm increased throughout the song until Sed took to his violin again, grinding one long note against the strings, and the audience fell silent in shock. Aggie wasn’t sure what was going on.
Jessica stood beside her with both hands clutched against her chest as she watched Sed muddle his way through the song, alternating his singing with violin playing. “What’s going on?” Aggie asked her.
Jessica tore her gaze from her fiancé onstage. “Poor baby. I’ve never seen him so nervous.”
Nervous? The guy was unequivocally dynamic. How could anyone think he was capable of nervousness? Jace, on the other hand, had inched so far toward the back of the stage, Aggie rarely caught a glimpse. She could hear him though. The low pitch of his bass guitar throbbed through her entire body—the sound rich and alive and incredibly sexy.
When the song came to an end, the crowd cheered and then fell silent as Sed spoke into the microphone. “I guess you noticed the violin.”
Fans whispered to each other.
“Doc says I’m not allowed to scream for a while. So I’ll replace some of my vocals with the violin. If you hate it, blame Eric Sticks. It was all his idea.”
“I think it sounds cool!” a fan yelled.
“Yeah, cool!” someone else yelled.
The crowd broke into enthusiastic cheers.
Sed grinned. “Sinners fans are the best. You know that?”
“Oh shit,” Trey said into his microphone. “I think Sed’s gonna cry.”
“And if Sed starts crying, you know Jace will soon follow,” Brian said.
At the mention of Jace’s name, Aggie’s ears perked. She climbed a step at the side of the stage and craned her neck to see him. No luck.
“Better get a mop ready, Travis,” Trey said.
The excessively tattooed roadie tossed a sponge onto the stage. It skittered to a stop at Sed’s feet. The crowd roared with laughter. Sed picked it up and pretended to mop up tears then threw it toward the back of the stage. A discordant bass guitar note rang through the speaker and then a sponge hit Brian in the back of the head. Aggie wished she could see better.
“You shouldn’t stand on the steps,” the roadie, Travis, said. “You’ll block traffic flow.”
“But I can’t see.”
Travis’s pierced eyebrow wrinkled in confusion. “You’ve got the best seat in the house.”
“Jace,” she clarified.
“Oh.” He took her by the elbow and led her up the steps, around equipment on the edge of the stage.
When Jace came into view, her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled. Perfectly attentive to his surroundings, yet lost in his own world, he was an expert at pretending disconnection. Aggie knew better.
“Thanks,” she whispered to Travis just before the next song started.
Now that she could see Jace, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. His concentration was absolute, every note given equal care and precision. He was caught up in his music, as if nothing else in the world mattered. He played his instrument with the same care and attention he showed her when they made love. Her heart gave a painful lurch when she realized that music was his entire existence. His purpose in life. His reason for being. She would never matter to him as much as his band—these songs, this stage, any crowd. She tore her eyes from Jace and forced herself to watch the rest of the band, terrified by the direction of her thoughts. Why was she so hung up on this guy? Why did she care that she’d never be the most important thing in his life? It wasn’t as if she was contemplating a future with him. She didn’t contemplate her future at all. There was no point. If fate wanted to take her for a ride, it was beyond her control. Why even worry about it?
When her eyes drifted back to Jace, she found he was watching her. He offered his sexiest, gentlest smile, and she had the inexplicable urge to flee. She forced herself to stay put—to face these alien feelings swirling through her heart. To come to terms with the idea that he was important to her. It didn’t matter if he reciprocated her feelings. She wanted him to be happy, to be with him in any capacity he allowed—devoted and dedicated so he could pursue his first love. Music.
Oh God, I’m a groupie. Pathetic and needy. Over a guy.
What in the world was wrong with her? The foreign idea of putting someone’s needs before her own, especially a man’s, had her head spinning. So much so that she didn’t recognize the band had left the stage until an arm slid around her back and a firm pair of lips brushed her neck beneath her ear.
She shuddered and clung to Jace’s T-shirt with one hand.
“Enjoying the concert?” he murmured.
“Is it over?” she asked, astonished.
He chuckled. “Are you distracted?”
That was an understatement.
“We’re taking a short break, but Sed has a surprise for Jessica that we’re all involved in, so I can’t stay long.” Jace had left her alone in the hotel for a couple hours to practice for this surprise, but he hadn’t shared what it was. Not even when she’d taken her flail to him until he came.
The side of the stage where they stood was bathed in shadows. Aggie was certain that privacy was the only reason Jace claimed her mouth in a toe-curling kiss.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered against her lips. “That I can share this part of me with you.” He kissed her again, sucking at her lips gently. “Like you shared your passion for the dungeon with me.”
Well, that had been sort of different. He’d watched her make grown men cry, and strangely, had been okay with her twisted nature. His passion, his music, was so much more than either of them. It touched millions of people around the world. She cupped his face, his beard stubble rough against her fingertips.
“I’m glad I’m here too.” Even though it meant she had some troubling feelings to sort through.
He smiled, his even features just visible in the dim light. Jace touched his fingertips to Aggie’s cheek and then returned to the stage.
Sed took Jessica by the hand and led her toward center stage.
“What are you doing?” Aggie heard Jessica’s tremulous voice through Sed’s microphone.
“What I planned to do before you one-upped me and proposed before I had the chance.”
The band played a sweeping intro to a ballad. All three guitarists used bows on their instruments, so the music sounded more orchestral than metal. It was hauntingly romantic. When Sed started singing the tender words of a love song to Jessica, Aggie’s breath caught in her throat. The pair was so lost in each other that the twelve thousand other people in the arena were forgotten. Watching them gaze at each other brought tears to Aggie’s eyes. She’d never witnessed anything like it—unmistakable, unconditional love flowing between them—and she’d never thought she might have something like that. Never even wanted it—until now. She tore her eyes away from the couple at center stage and watched Jace, again caught up in his first love, his music. As scary as the idea was, she couldn’t deny it. She wanted that—what Sed and Jessica had. And she wanted it with Jace.
Chapter 17
Aggie tossed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her mother, who was sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar. “So when are you leaving?”
“When it’s safe,” Mom said, sprinkling Tabasco sauce on her eggs and then digging in.
Standing, as it would take actual effort to climb onto a stool, Aggie yawned and picked at her own eggs. She’d had a rough night at the club. Some drunk dickhead had climbed on her stage and gotten fresh. Well, fresh was putting it lightly. The bouncers had to mace him to get him off her. She hated men. Well, most of them. At the moment, Jace was the only exception, and as he was touring the Northeast, she hadn’t seen him for several weeks. He was always gone. They kept in contact via text message. He didn’t like to talk on the phone. She missed him and worked hard not to feel bitter about his touring. Or that he was never out of her thoughts for a moment, while he was undoubtedly having the time of his life. Sinners were on their way home to LA today. Maybe she could see Jace sometime this week. She didn’t handle these long stretches away from him well. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Most people sleep at night, you know.” Mom waved a hand at the early morning sunshine streaming through the kitchen window.
“Most mothers don’t visit their daughters for three fuckin’ months, you know.”
Mom pointed at her with her fork. “Watch your mouth, Agatha Christine. I’m leaving soon.”
“You’ve been saying that every day since you moved in. The least you could do is admit that you’re here to stay.”
Mom shook her head. “I’m waiting for the all clear.” She reached into the neckline of her baggy sweatshirt and pulled a necklace free. “Here, I want you to have this.” She lifted the long chain over her head and handed a hideous, heart-shaped locket to Aggie. It attempted to be gold, but the paint was flaking off to reveal the white plastic beneath. Aggie had never seen it before.
“Gee thanks, Mom. Did you pick this up from Goodwill or the dumpster behind Dollar General?”
“I found it in an old shoe box the other day. Your father gave that to me.”
Aggie rolled her eyes. “The deadbeat Elvis impersonator?”
“Don’t disrespect your father.”
“I don’t think I can call a man I never met my father. He doesn’t know I exist.”
“Oh, he knows. I told him I was pregnant. That’s why he split.” Mom smiled nostalgically. “He was really handsome, doll. You look a lot like him.”
“Yes, my legacy is to be the greatest female Elvis impersonator to ever live. Too bad I sound like a strangled ostrich when I sing.” Aggie slipped the locket’s chain over her head. It wasn’t like her mother gave her things of importance on a regular basis. She did appreciate the gesture. She was just… tired. And really wanted her life back. And to be able to make love to Jace on the kitchen floor whenever the urge struck her. Not that he was around enough to appease those urges, but if he had been.
“Be proud of who you are, Agatha.”
Aggie nodded and squeezed the gaudy locket in her hand. “Thanks for the necklace, Mom. It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, but I’ll treasure it.”
Mom smiled one of those rare smiles that touched her tired eyes. She’d had a hard life. It showed in every line of her face. Hard to believe the woman was only forty-seven.
Mom grabbed Aggie around the waist and pulled her next to her side. “Are you happy, baby?”
For some reason, her mother’s question made an image of Jace dominate her thoughts, like it did every twenty seconds or so. Aggie smiled, examining the locket more closely. “I’m working on it. Is there a picture inside?”
“It doesn’t open. Never did. It’s not really a locket.” Mom elbowed Aggie in the ribs affectionately. “We’re okay, right?”
Aggie nodded. “We’re okay.”
Mom kissed Aggie’s arm and patted her butt. “Go on to bed.”
“I have someone coming to pick up a corset this evening,” Aggie said. “I have to get it done before I even think about sleeping.”
“No, you don’t,” Mom said with an ear to ear grin. “I finished it for you.”
Aggie felt the blood drain from her face. “Please tell me you didn’t.”
“I did a bang-up job.”
Aggie dashed into her dining room and stopped dead in her tracks. Spread across the surface of the dining room table beside her sewing machine was the corset she’d been working on before she’d headed to the club the night before. Her mother had done a bang-up job all right. If bang-up was a synonym for fucked-up. The stitching was uneven. One cup of the garment was the premeasured D, the other a lopsided A. The Forget-Me-Not embroidery pattern didn’t match because Aggie’s practiced stitches decorated one side, and her mother’s kindergarten project disgraced the other. It wasn’t like Aggie could remove the misplaced stitches and fix it. Unlike cloth, if you poked a hole in leather, it stayed there. She’d have to completely start over.
“Mother!”
“Not bad for my first try. Maybe we could go into business together.”
Aggie picked up the corset and tugged at it to see if by some miracle it would straighten itself out. The ribbing was sewn in so that any woman unlucky enough to put it on would have her rib cage punctured and suffer a collapsed lung. “It’s ruined.”
“Don’t be such a drama queen, Aggie. It’s fine.”
She couldn’t make out her mother’s expression through her tears of frustration. “It isn’t fine. Nothing you touch is fine.”
Her mother took a deep, shuddering breath. “You’re right. I’m the biggest fuckup on the planet.” And now she was crying. Great, just fucking great. She destroyed Aggie’s work and then somehow managed to make her feel guilty about it.
“You need to not be near me right now, Mom,” Aggie said. “I have a lot of work to do.” She grabbed a seam ripper and tore the garment into sections, praying that she might be able to salvage some of the panels—especially the one she’d embroidered—and just replace those her mother had messed up.
“I’m sorry,” Mom said in a shaky voice. “I thought I could help. I know how hard you’re always working, and I’m a huge burden on you. I make up stories about the Mafia so you’ll take me in, and I eat your food and borrow money out of your purse to buy cigarettes. I know I deserve to be kicked out, but I don’t have an-anywhere else to gooooo.” She was wailing now.
Aggie paused in her angry retaliation against a helpless corset. “Wait. What? You made up that story about borrowing money from the Mafia?”
Mom probably should not have revealed that while Aggie had a sharp object in her hand.
“Are-are-are-are you mad at meeeeee?”
The woman should go into acting. She was a natural.
“Un-fucking-believable. Well, at least I can stop working overtime, since I no longer have to save money to pay off your stupid loan.”
“So you’re not mad at me?” Mom turned off the waterworks like a plumber with a pipe wrench.
“No. Just go away. You’ve done enough.”
“Now you’re just being bitchy.”
Aggie stiffened. Bitchy? “I need a freakin’ vacation,” Aggie said under her breath, shredding the ruined half of the corset with her seam ripper so she didn’t attack her mother with its deadly point.
Chapter 18
Sitting in the studio on their first day off-tour in three weeks, Jace smiled when he saw who the text message was from. Aggie. He couldn’t wait to see her again. He had plans to see her in Vegas that weekend, though he hadn’t shared those plans with her. As he read her words on the screen, his smile faded.
I’m in LA. Text me your address. I thought I’d stay with you for a few days. Mom is driving me insane. I had to get out of Vegas.
His place? He’d never invited her to his place for a reason. He lived in a dump in a bad neighborhood. That was sure to cause a barrage of uncomfortable questions. Jace needed to intercept her and convince her that they should spend a romantic weekend in some expensive hotel. He turned to the producer, Chris. They were sitting outside the booth where Eric was recording drum tracks for their upcoming album.
“Do you know any five-star hotels in Los Angeles?” Jace asked.
Chris lifted an eyebrow. “I dunno. That big pink one where all the celebs go. What’s it called?” He snapped his fingers. “The Beverly Hills Hotel.”
“Where’s that?”
“Sunset Boulevard. Where else?”
Jace didn’t hang around Beverly Hills. He did know Sunset Boulevard though. “Do you think I can get a reservation there?”
Chris chuckled. “If you can’t, I’m sure Trey can.”
Unlike Jace, Trey hung around Beverly Hills regularly. He’d been raised there and had social connections with the rich and famous. Jace texted a message back to Aggie.
Why don’t you meet me at The Beverly Hills Hotel? It’s on Sunset Boulevard. We’ll spend the weekend there together.
He decided to sweeten the deal.
I’ll bring my suitcase and spoil you.
Waiting for her response, Jace gave Eric a thumbs-up in the booth when he came to the end of his track.
“Perfect,” Chris said to Eric through the mic.
Eric shook his head. “I stumbled over a beat at around three minutes. Is Jace breaking your concentration?”
Jace’s cell phone beeped with the arrival of another text.
I’d rather just stay at your place.
I’m not prepared for company, he returned.
I’m not company. I’m your girlfriend.
If you see where I live, you might change your mind.
I’m not that shallow, Jace.
Jace supposed there was one way to find out if she could handle the real him. He texted his street address.
I’ll meet you there.
“I’ve got to go,” he said to Chris.
“You’ll be back later, won’t you?” the producer said. “You’re up next.”
“I don’t know. I might be back later today. Tell the guys I’m sorry, but I have unexpected company.”
In the parking garage, Jace climbed onto his bike and started the engine. He headed toward home with demons on his heels. He had to beat Aggie to his place and hide his dirty laundry in his closet. Put clean sheets on his bed. Scrub the toilet. Then he’d have to take her grocery shopping. He’d just returned from touring for three weeks, and his refrigerator was empty. Maybe if he made her a nice dinner, it would make up for the fact that she had to eat it off a paper plate.
He parked his motorcycle on the street and headed up the stairs to his apartment. He was stripping the sheets off his bed when his cell phone rang.
“I’m here. Will my car be safe parked on the street?” Aggie asked. “This neighborhood looks a little shady.”
Little shady? Maybe. If she considered a dense forest a little shady. He glanced around his bare-walled apartment. She would not be happy here. He was embarrassed that he even lived here. “Let’s go to a hotel.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m already parked. Come help me with my luggage.”
“I’ll be right down.” He kicked the dirty sheets under his bed and headed down to help her with her bags.
By the time he reached the sidewalk, a couple of men were already helping her with her bags. Or rather, trying to help themselves to her bags.
One tossed her suitcase into the back of a pickup. Another tugged on her purse, which she was clinging to with both hands. “Give me your purse, bitch.”
“Let go, you fucking jerk.” She kicked him in the shin and gave her purse a hard yank. Contents spilled across the cement, but she was unwilling to give an inch in their tug of war. Not even when the man pulled a gun.
“I’m going to shoot you if you don’t let go.”
“Get a job, you fucking loser,” she bellowed. “This is mine. I worked hard for it.”
Apparently, Jace’s woman was lacking a fear gene. He knew fear though. It hadn’t gotten its claws into him in years, but it did now. His blood turned cold in his veins, and all he could think was to get her away from danger.
Jace charged forward and shoved Aggie aside, sending her scrambling to maintain her balance and still keep a grip on her stupid purse. Before he could turn to confront the mugger, two successive gunshots sliced through his body. The back of his right shoulder. Through his right arm. Tires squealed. The ground tilted beneath him and rose up to meet his face. Someone screamed his name. Everything went black.
