Текст книги "Hot Ticket"

Автор книги: Olivia Cunning

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

Chapter 13

Jace shifted the case holding his bass guitar to his left hand and rang the doorbell. After a moment, Sed opened his front door and beckoned Jace inside. “Eric isn’t here yet. He’s on his way.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” Jace said. He’d been holed up in his apartment for almost three weeks waiting for Trey to get better so they could go back on tour. When Sed had invited him to help work on the new album, Jace had almost pissed himself with excitement.

“Why are you thanking me?” Sed said. “I’m putting your ass to work.”

Which suited Jace just fine. This was only the second time Jace had been inside Sed’s condo. The first had been Sed’s housewarming party, probably the wildest in the history of man. Jace didn’t remember most of the evening. He’d passed out on the rooftop patio in nothing but a pair of women’s blue satin panties, and Eric had drawn flowers all over his back with an indelible marker. Jace didn’t recollect where he’d gotten those panties.

Sed’s place was huge and extravagant. Maybe it was time for Jace to buy a place of his own. His little apartment didn’t get much use, but Brownie would probably like a balcony she could sun herself on. It just seemed a waste to spend all that money on something so rarely used. Normally, Jace was on the road far more often than he was at home, but since Trey was out of commission until his finger mobility improved, they’d had to cancel a bunch of tour dates.

Jace followed Sed through the huge, open living room with its twenty-foot ceiling and red, white, and black decor. The second floor of the condo had a master bedroom and an open loft equipped with everything from a wet bar to a pool table. On the first floor, there were two additional bedrooms. One served as a guest room, but the other had been converted to a recording studio. They entered the studio, and Jace set his bass behind the black leather sofa. He took his jacket off, tossed it on a chair, and went to inspect the amps and other equipment.

“Wanna beer?” Sed asked.

“Yeah.”

Sed opened a minifridge in the corner, pulled out a couple of cans, and tossed one to Jace. While Jace sipped his beer, he fiddled with a soundboard. He couldn’t guess what all the knobs and sliders and switches did. “Do you actually know how to use this thing?” he asked Sed.

“No fucking clue.” He laughed. “I think Eric might. I dunno.”

The doorbell rang.

“That’s probably Eric now.” Sed left to answer the door.

Suddenly nervous, Jace perched himself on the edge of the sofa. Eric would give Jace shit for being there. For intruding in his creative process and for trying to take his best friend Jon’s place. Eric and Jon had composed Sinners’ last three albums together. As a band, they were diving into new territory, and Eric was sure to resent Jace for not knowing what the fuck he was doing. Jace wanted to learn—wanted to help and to share his ideas—but feared he’d just get in the way and somehow make Sinners less.

Eric entered the studio, examined Sed’s equipment setup, and then sat in the chair across from Jace. “Hey, little man. Been keeping busy?”

Jace rubbed his earlobe, fiddling with the ring there. “No. I’m ready to get back on the road.” Or make a run to Vegas to see Aggie. So far he’d been able to resist her pull and intensify his misery, but he knew he wouldn’t hold out much longer.

“Yeah, no kidding. I hope Trey gets better soon.”

“He won’t get better until he starts trying. Lazing around by his parents’ pool all day isn’t helping.” Sed scowled. “I guess I’ll have to go straighten him out.”

Jace hoped Sed wasn’t too hard on Trey. He knew Sed meant well, but he wasn’t too easy on a person’s feelings.

“Let’s get busy,” Sed said.

“This should be cool.” Eagerness getting the better of him, Jace sat up straighter so he could see all the scraps of music on the coffee table. Maybe if he just stayed quiet and tried not to interfere with Eric’s genius, they wouldn’t make him leave.

Eric rifled through the stack of guitar music he’d brought with him. Stuff Brian had composed while fucking Myrna. Jace wasn’t sure how anyone could think well enough to write music while having sex, but it seemed to work for their lead guitarist.

Eric arranged bits of guitar music and sheets of paper that contained Sed’s lyrics. Jace’s heart rate accelerated. Few things excited him. The talent of this band was at the very top. A set of sexy red lips smiled at him in his mind’s eye. Well, and Aggie, but she excited him in an entirely different way.

Eric rearranged the sections several times and then nodded. “Okay, I’ve got the guitar music worked out. Now we need the bass line.” He glanced at Jace. “Did you bring your guitar?”

Jace retrieved his bass from its case and looped the strap over his shoulder. Eric tapped a rhythm on the table with two pairs of drumsticks. “Match it.”

Jace more than heard the beat, he felt it. He’d listened to Sinners’ songs so many times that he instinctively knew what the bass line should sound like. It echoed in his mind. Complimented the beat. Filled it. Enriched it.

He plugged his bass into a small practice amp and played the series of notes running through his head.

Eric smiled. “Not bad.”

That was almost a compliment. Jace couldn’t help but grin. He noticed Sed watching him with an introspective look on his face.

Eric glanced at Sed. “You ready to sing?”

“I’m ready.” Sed cleared his throat.

Eric related his vision of how the lyrics should sound, and Sed tried to copy him. It took several tries to figure out that Eric should sing it, and Sed should do his typical rumbling screams in accompaniment. Jace’s heart thudded as he listened to the unique duet. That was it. That was the sound that would get them to the next level in their music. To grow. Together. Jace couldn’t believe he was finally a part of this. When they stopped singing, Sed and Eric stared at each other in surprise. They knew it too. Jace’s only regret was that Brian and Trey weren’t there to share the moment.

“That was awesome,” Jace said. “Holy shit. Do it again.”

When Eric broached the possibility of using an electric violin in some songs, Sed was less accommodating to his vision.

Electric violin? Did they really need another stringed instrument? Something like a piano would be better, but Jace was too intimidated to say it. Eric obviously knew what he was doing. Jace needed to curtail his eagerness and let the man work.

“Just try it,” Eric said to Sed. “I’ll be trying something different. You should too.”

Jace leaned forward. He couldn’t help it. He wanted to participate. “Do I get to try something different?”

“No,” Eric said.

Jace’s hopes plummeted.

“Well, maybe,” Eric amended. “You should add more embellishments to the bass lines to complement Brian. You’re a better bassist than Jon was. I think you need to push your skill level on the new album. You must be bored as fuck playing that repetitive shit Jon composed before you signed on.”

Better bassist than Jon was. Eric recognized that? He was probably just jerking Jace around, but hope insisted on floating back to the surface. Jace grinned until his cheeks hurt and glanced from Eric to Sed and back to Eric. “Okay.”

“I’m going to call Trey,” Sed said unexpectedly. “He needs to be here a lot more than I do. Lyrics last.” Sed climbed to his feet. “Carry on. I’ll be right back.”

“Hey, I can’t wait around all day. I’ve got shit to do,” Eric said.

Sed left the room.

“Like what?” Jace asked.

“None of your business,” he said. “Go get me a beer.”

He didn’t have to be such an ass about it. And Jace was not going to get him a beer.

Eric stared him down for a few moments and then reached for another set of music. “Okay, little man. I’ve got another beat for you. Match it.”

He listened to Eric’s tapping on the table, and like before a complementary bass line sounded in his head. He started playing before Eric had completed his progression.

“How do you do that?” Eric asked. “Have you been writing music behind our backs?”

Jace shook his head. “I don’t know. I hear your beat, and I just know what goes there. I think because we’ve been playing together for a couple years now.”

“I guess it has been that long, hasn’t it?” Eric looked nostalgically sad. “Here’s the next one.”

They continued that way for a while. Eric producing a beat. Jace matching it with bass lines. Eric scribbling down the notes Jace played. Sed still hadn’t returned.

“I wonder where the fuck Sed went.”

Jace shrugged.

Eric left the room. Jace scanned the score sheets on the table until Eric returned a few minutes later. “He’s going somewhere with Jessica.”

“Something wrong?”

“She looked upset, but what’s new? Drama follows her like a little lost puppy. But Sed loves her, so what can we do?”

“We can keep writing while he’s gone.”

Eric considered him for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. What do you think about the electric violin idea?” Eric asked. “Brilliant, huh?”

Jace lowered his eyes. He knew Eric just wanted affirmation, but he still didn’t see the point of adding yet another stringed instrument to a band that already had three of them. “Maybe a piano instead,” he said quietly.

Eric stuck his finger in his ear and wriggled it around. “I swear I need a hearing aid. Too much drumming, I guess. What did you say?”

“I said, maybe we could do a song with some piano music.”

“Piano?” Eric sat there for a moment. “Well, that’s a swell idea, little man, but Sed doesn’t play piano, and I can’t play while I’m drumming.”

“I play.” The moment it was out of his mouth, he wished he could take it back. He’d given up piano over a decade ago when his mother had died. That had been the thing they had always done together, and he never felt right playing without her.

“You do?” Eric said, shifting forward in his seat. He had that thinking look on his face, and Sed wasn’t there to talk him down.

“No, I—”

“You’ve been holding out on us? Are you any good?”

He was, but he sure didn’t want Eric to know it. “No, I suck. Forget I mentioned it.”

Eric refused to be deterred, and after much berating, pleading, and bullying, got Jace to play something on the keyboard. It wasn’t a piano technically. At least that’s what Jace told himself as his fingers moved over the flimsy keys.

“Well, there you go,” Eric said. “You get to try something different.”

“I’m not really comfortable playing the piano.”

“Why not? You rock at it.”

Jace lowered his eyes. “My mother—”

“Don’t have one of those, so can’t relate, sorry. Can you play a guitar riff on the piano?”

Jace shrugged. “I guess.”

Eric had piano music embedded into a song in a matter of minutes.

“How do you do that?” Jace asked.

“Do what?”

“Put all that together so quickly.”

Eric shrugged. “Don’t know. The layers just mesh in my head. Where the hell did Sed go? I have this thing I need to go to.”

“What kind of thing?”

“Some program to keep kids off the street. I was hoping Sed would come with. Brian used to go and give the kids guitar lessons. They loved that shit, but he’s MIA—probably lost between Myrna’s thighs. So I figured Sed could take his place. He’s great with kids, believe it or not.”

Jace didn’t find that hard to believe at all. Sed kind of took a father figure role with everyone around him. Jace included.

“You wanna go?” Eric asked.

Jace’s heart thudded. “Me?”

“Yeah, why not? The kids probably won’t have any idea who the fuck you are, but we can still have fun with them.”

“I’m not good with kids.”

“It probably would be a pain in the ass to have to look up to eight-year-olds all the time.”

And they were back to making fun of Jace’s height. “Yeah, it does put a kink in my neck.”

Eric laughed and pounded him on the back enthusiastically. “So you’re coming with, right? I don’t want to go by myself, and you’re the only one here.”

Jace was surprised he asked, even if it was because no one else was available to coerce. “Yeah, fine. Whatever. I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Awesome. You’ll look real special in the purple dinosaur costume.”

“What?”

* * *

Thank God for small favors; there was no dinosaur costume. Jace had a great time showing underprivileged kids how to thumb a bass groove, but he had even more fun watching Eric, the human jungle gym, make a total and complete ass of himself for their amusement. When Eric finally got around to his reason for being there, he gifted each kid with a set of drumsticks. Jace considered telling Eric about the drumstick he had treasured for the past ten years. How Eric had changed his life without even knowing it. Jace just couldn’t find the words. His one-sided connection with Eric was too personal. Too stupid. Embarrassing. So he accompanied Eric’s obnoxious table-drumming with an improvised bass line instead.

To keep time with Eric’s beat, the kids drummed each other more than solid surfaces, but everyone was laughing and having a good time. Even Jace.

Their hour with the kids flew by. Eric had more energy than all twenty kids put together. On their way out the door, Eric pounded Jace on the shoulder. “Let’s go grab a beer or two. What do you say?”

Jace smiled. Was he finally making that elusive connection with Eric? “Yeah. Sounds great.”

Two beers turned into ten or twelve. Jace lost count. Being a quiet drunk, Jace stared into his magically refilling mug while Eric chattered enough for five people with everyone in shouting distance. He kept himself and half the bar entertained. Jace wasn’t sure that Eric was even aware of his presence. He wondered what Aggie was up to. Three weeks was long enough to let his pain fester. Maybe he’d drop in on her the next day. Assuming he didn’t die of alcohol poisoning or asphyxiate on his own vomit in the night.

“You drunk, yet?” Eric asked near midnight.

Jace closed one eye to get rid of the three or four extra Erics in his line of sight. “Define drunk.”

“Wanna go get a tattoo with me?”

Jace nodded.

“Let me pick it out. I promise it will be wicked awesome.”

Jace shrugged.

“Then you’re drunk enough.”

Apparently, Jace was also drunk enough to get his nipple pierced, which hurt less than expected. And too drunk to stay conscious through the tattooing, despite the evil grin Eric sported as he talked to the tattoo artist who was preparing the skin on the top of Jace’s foot for Eric’s idea of a “wicked awesome” design.

Chapter 14

Aggie checked the peephole and grinned, her heart thudding with excitement. She threw the door open and tossed herself into Jace’s arms with a happy squeal. She hadn’t seen him in almost a month and had been starting to think she never would again.

“Sorry to just show up like this,” he said. “I should have called first.”

She kissed him hungrily, clutching the sides of his open leather jacket and pulling him into the house. She slammed the door closed and pressed him against its surface, still kissing him as she fumbled with the dead bolt. She eased away and gazed at him, her cheeks aching from smiling so broadly.

“I take it you aren’t mad at me,” he murmured.

“I missed you,” she said, kissing him again. “I thought you were on tour again.”

“We were, but it looks like we’re going to have to cancel more tour dates.”

“I thought Trey was okay now.”

“Yeah, he’s fine. Sed injured his throat a couple days ago. Blew a vessel in the middle of a concert. Passed out. Fuckin’ blood everywhere.”

“Jeez, are you all on a bad luck train, or what?”

“Eric thinks the album is cursed.” He laughed and lowered his eyelids to conceal his chocolate brown eyes. “I brought you…” He flushed as he reached into a pocket inside his jacket.

Oh God, adorable.

He pulled out a single rose and presented it to her. He didn’t look at her as she accepted it. What had once been a perfect blossom was now squashed from her enthusiastic hug. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Her heart gave a little pang.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

His eyes shifted to hers for a moment and then back to the floor. “Do you like it?”

She could just picture him buying it for her, embarrassed and uncertain. A flower had never meant so much to her. She touched his stubble-rough cheek, and his gaze finally met hers. “I love it, Jace.”

He grinned, his eyes softening as he looked at her. She melted and leaned closer to kiss him. His firm lips commanded every sense to full attention. She moaned softly, her eyes drifting closed, her free hand curling into his chest. He was just as good as she remembered.

“Uh… Mistress V?” a hesitant voice said behind her.

Shit! She’d totally forgotten she had a client waiting in the sanctum. Reluctantly, she pulled away from Jace.

“You’re busy. I’ll go,” Jace said. His gaze focused over her shoulder at the huge, tattooed man at her back.

Good ol’ Larry. One of her few regular customers.

“I don’t want you to go. Will you wait? He’s my only appointment tonight. It’ll only take me three minutes.” She kissed him again. “Three minutes.”

“I paid for twenty,” Larry said gruffly.

Aggie grinned. “Three minutes,” she whispered.

Jace nodded. “I’ll wait.”

She leaned away from him and went to punch in the code to disarm the alarm. She opened the door to her personal home and ushered Jace inside. “Make yourself at home,” she said. “There’s some leftover soup on the stove if you’re hungry. Wine in the fridge.” He stepped across the threshold, glancing around anxiously. Probably on the lookout for her mother, who was not home. Supposedly, she was at a job interview—her first in a month. Aggie drank in the sight of Jace in her home. God, he was fine. She’d forgotten how attractive he was. “Or you can get naked and wait for me in my bedroom,” she whispered into his ear.

He grinned. “Go take care of your friend. I’ll be fine.”

She turned to find her customer watching her with a dark scowl. “Did I tell you that you could come out of that room, you fucking wuss?” she yelled.

“No, Mistress V.” Trembling, he stumbled back into the sanctum.

“I’m going to beat your ass for disobeying me!” she added for good measure. She turned back to Jace and brought the rose to her nose, inhaling its delicate fragrance. “Will you take this to the kitchen so I can put it in water?”

He nodded, accepting the rose. She planted a tender kiss next to Jace’s amused lips. “See you in a few, baby.”

She closed Jace into her home and locked herself in the soundproof room with her customer. She found these big, tough guys were always the easiest to break. Easy because they wanted to submit, but never had the opportunity to do so in their daily lives.

“Why are you still dressed?” she asked. “I told you to strip. I am not pleased.”

“Forgive me, Mistress V.”

“I will not! Your discipline will be strict and painful.”

It took him longer to get his clothes off and the restraints on than it took her to make him cry and beg her to stop. She gave him a little time to pull himself together before she took his money and escorted him out the front door.

“Same time next week?” he asked.

“Are you going to make it the full twenty minutes next time?”

He chuckled. “Probably not, but I’ll still pay for it, just in case.”

She smiled and patted his cheek. Her favorite kind of customer—ones who wasted a lot of their money and little of her time. “I’ll jot you down, Larry. Now go home, and fuck your wife. Consider bringing her with you next time.” Aggie loved to work with couples.

He chuckled again. “Maybe I will. Our sex life has never been better. She loves it when I come see you.”

“I’ll bet she does.”

“Maybe I’ll surprise her with one of those corsets you make. Do you think she’d like that?”

“You won’t be able to surprise her. She’ll have to be fitted.”

His face fell. “Oh.”

“But we’ll let her pick out the design.”

He grinned. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, doll.”

Aggie winked and locked the door behind him. And now, a little pleasure for herself.

She found Jace sipping reheated vegetable soup at the breakfast bar. Her magnificent, squashed rose was in a blue plastic tumbler of water on the counter beside him. She smiled at the sight. She’d love him to be in her kitchen every evening, but knew he was skittish about relationships. She didn’t mind taking it slow. But, God, she’d missed him. His monosyllable phone conversations and occasional text messages weren’t nearly enough.

He started in surprise when he caught sight of her. “I thought you were joking when you said three minutes.”

“I think he made it all the way to four this time. He’s a regular of mine.”

Jace lowered his gaze, slurped another spoonful of soup into his mouth. Every line in his body strained with tension.

She’d thought he was cool with her profession—she’d shared it with him and showed him what it entailed—but apparently, she’d been wrong. Was that why he hadn’t come to see her? She’d gotten tired of inviting him and getting turned down over and over. Maybe he wasn’t skittish. Maybe he was embarrassed by her. She refused to put up with that bullshit. She needed to know what his intentions were. If he was only here to feel the bite of her whip, he was going to pay for it just like everyone else. She wasn’t a fool. Aggie leaned on the counter across from him and ducked low until she entered his line of vision. “Does it bother you?”

“What?”

“What I do for a living?”

He shook his head.

“It doesn’t bother you that I hit men the way you like to be hit?”

“No.”

“That I watch the welts rise on their naked skin and listen to their cries of agony, night after night?”

“Nope.”

“That I beat them until they beg for mercy because it gives me some sick sense of empowerment to make them cry?”

“Not at all.”

“Really?”

He lifted his gaze and pinned her with a hard stare. “No, not really. I fuckin’ hate that they give you joy, but that’s my problem, not yours.”

He was jealous. Oh my God, she loved him.

Unable to keep her hands off him any longer, she climbed over the counter and tackled him to the floor. He tumbled off the stool onto the hard tile. “Ow.” Aggie landed on top, tugging his shirt up his body.

“Wimp.”

He laughed. Her heart melted. She couldn’t get him naked fast enough. She wanted to fill herself with him. Not just her dripping wet pussy—her hands, her mouth, her gaze.

Everything. Filled. With him. All him. Jace.

He laughed again as she worked at removing his jeans. Was this all it took to make him happy? Pouncing on him in the kitchen?

“Do you have a condom?” she asked.

He pulled an entire strip out of his pocket.

“Did you think you were going to get laid tonight?” she asked with a teasing grin.

He chuckled. “I was hoping more than once.”

“You got another date later?” she asked, looking at him with a fabricated scowl.

“Just with you.”

“Good,” she whispered.

She bent her head to kiss his belly. A spasm wracked his entire body. She trailed open-mouthed kisses over his stomach, just above the low waistband of his jeans.

His fingers sank into her hair. “Aggie.”

Well, hello there, erogenous zone.

Nibbling, licking, sucking on his lower belly, she located his most sensitive spots inside the ridges of his hip bones, indicated by his outrush of breath and the sucking of air between his teeth. When her fingers brushed the growing bulge in his pants, he shuddered and cried out. She grinned with sudden realization.

She kissed her way up his body until they were face to face. She waited for him to open his eyes and then asked, “Have you had sex since we made love on your bike?”

He stared at her forehead and shook his head.

“Me neither.”

His gaze shifted to hers. His smile could have lit the heavens.

“Why haven’t you come to see me sooner?” she asked.

“I didn’t think… I thought it was best…” He took a deep breath. “I have no fucking clue. I wanted to.”

“Do you mind if I think of you as my boyfriend?” She wasn’t going to let him brush her off. If she had to do the pursuing, so be it. She’d always gone after what she wanted in life. And she wanted Jace Seymour.

He paled and moved his gaze from her eyes to her forehead again. She waited for him to find his voice. She wasn’t going to give him an easy out. If he wasn’t ready to commit, that was fine, but he would have to say it. She wouldn’t.

“Okay,” he said finally.

“Okay?” She grinned at him.

“I don’t mind.”

She cupped his cheek. “Do you think of me as your girlfriend?”

He hesitated. “I think of you. Constantly. Is that enough?”

She chuckled. “It’s a start.” She kissed him gently.

He looked guilty. “I’m sorry. This is new for me.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

He touched her face. “It was so hard to stay away. I want you to know you mean more to me than just awesome, awesome sex.”

“Only two awesomes?”

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and drifted closed. “A thousand awesomes.”

She slid down his body, kissing his throat. She pulled his shirt up and caught sight of the new addition to his sculpted chest. She flicked the small silver ring in his nipple with her fingertips.

“What’s this?”

He laughed again. “Bonding moment with Eric.”

She sucked the ring into her mouth, and his body stiffened. Ooo, fun. She flicked it with her tongue. “Who’s Eric?”

“Our drummer.”

“Anything else I should know about?”

“Hmmmm. The wicked awesome tattoo on my ass?”

She stripped his jeans and boots off and inspected his cute, little butt to find nary a mark on his perfect ass. “I don’t see anything.”

“Look closely.”

She ran her hands over the smooth cheeks, up and down. “Nothing here.”

“That’s right. It wasn’t on my ass, was it? I swear I got a new one somewhere. I doubt you’ll find it.”

She remembered he had a few on each of his upper arms, one on the left side of his chest. Problem was she wasn’t sure if she could pick a new one out of his collection. She coaxed him onto his back and pulled his shirt off, leaving him naked except for his socks, and started with the tattoo on his upper arm. A skull engulfed in flames. “I remember this one.”

“You sure?”

She wasn’t. “Yeah.” The dagger and roses beneath it looked familiar. “This one’s old too.”

The demon horse and the Grim Reaper on his left pec? Old. She did like playing with his new nipple ring though. She flicked it with her tongue until he squirmed. On his other arm he had a tribal pattern in red and black from shoulder to elbow. She definitely remembered that one.

“Where is it?” she asked.

“Lower.”

She kissed his nipple… his ribs… his belly. “Am I getting warm yet?”

“You are getting warmer,” he murmured. “It doesn’t have anything to do with how close you are to finding that tattoo though.”

She sucked on the skin around his belly button. He laughed, squirming sideways across the floor.

“I had no idea you were so ticklish,” she murmured.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

That was true. Was he ready to share? She looked at him. “So tell me something.”

“After you find that tattoo, I’ll answer any question you ask.”

She searched every inch of visible skin and found nothing. Her interest was rapidly shifting to his thick shaft, which was far more fascinating than any tattoo had ever been, but she did want to ask him a question. She searched his scalp.

“Okay, I give up. Where is it?”

“Maybe you should look under my sock.”

Well, of course, that’s where it would be. She peeled off his socks and found it. Her eyes opened wide, and she fell on the floor laughing. An animated daisy with a smiley face in its bright yellow center decorated his skin at the base of his left big toe.

“The moral to this story is never pass out drunk when Eric Sticks is picking out your wicked awesome tattoo.”

“And it’s permanent?”

“Yeah, until I get it removed.” He grinned. “Or maybe I’ll keep it. No one will see it there. Unless I go to the beach.”

She was surprised he seemed so cool with it. Shouldn’t he be upset that a friend had tricked him into getting an embarrassing tattoo while he was too drunk to stop it?

“Didn’t you get mad?”

“Nah. I should have known better. The last time I got that drunk with Eric, he drew flowers all over my back with black magic marker.”

“Yeah, but that washed off.”

“After a week.”

“Great friend you have there.”

Jace lowered his eyes. “Yeah.”

She saw something in him at that moment that she’d never seen before. Vulnerability. Could she get him to open up? She knew if she pushed him too hard, he’d completely shut himself off.

“So what’s the story with the Eric guy?” she asked.

He didn’t speak for a long moment. “He’s the reason I became a bassist.”

“What, is he like an old guy or something?”

Jace shook his head. “Not even five years older than me.”

“And he had that much influence over you?”

“I saw a Sinners show when they were just starting out. I was fourteen and in a bar with a fake ID.”

“How did you pass for twenty-one when you were fourteen? You’re so cute, you scarcely look twenty-one now.”

His scowl told her she’d said the wrong thing. She could practically see his wall of defense rise.

“Are we gonna fuck or what?” he said.

She wasn’t going to let him change the subject that easily. “So you saw Sinners when you were fourteen. Then what? How did that make you a bassist?”

More silence. She waited.

He took a deep breath. “They were amazing even then. Brian and Trey have always been completely in tune with each other—two halves of a whole. Sed’s voice is unbelievable, and Eric is the best drummer on the planet. I just stood there. Stunned. I couldn’t move. All I could do was listen. I could scarcely breathe. The four of them were so incredibly talented. And then there was their weak link. Jon Mallory.”

“Let me guess. Their bassist?”

“The band deserved better. He’s totally average. Not horrible. Just not as good as the rest of them, and I think he was high or something. He wasn’t into the music. He was into himself.”

“So you decided to become their bassist.”

“No. I didn’t know how to play bass. I’ve always loved music and had some talent, but it never occurred to me to make a life of it. At the end of the show, Eric tossed his drumsticks into the crowd, and I caught one. I didn’t even reach for it. It sort of connected with my hand. It was a wake-up call for me. I’d spent the previous four years getting into trouble, but right then, I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life—what I had to do. It was fate. I had to become part of Sinners.”