“He has a girlfriend, Lila. And it seemed like they really love each other.” I sidestep a Dumpster and emerge onto the busy sidewalk. Cars drive up and down the road and bright graffiti decorates the metal exterior of the neighboring buildings.
Pausing in front of the entrance, I pull my hair out of the ponytail and it falls to my shoulders. Letting go of Lila’s arm, I quickly tie the lace of my boot, then unfasten two of the top buttons on my plaid shirt and smooth out the wrinkles on my denim skirt.
“Wow, I’ve never seen you this fussy before,” Lila comments as she refastens the ribbon lacing up the front of her maroon shirt. “It’s very entertaining.”
“I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel really nervous,” I admit, tousling my hair with my fingers.
“It’s because you love him.” Lila bats her eyelashes and I shove her gently. “Relax. It’s because you haven’t seen him for, like, a month. Honestly, I’m a little afraid to be in the same room as you two. You’ll probably have your clothes off and on the floor in a matter of seconds.”
Rolling my eyes, I enter the club where a bouncer with snake tattoos on his muscular arms and a scar on his lip blocks the path to the table area.
“IDs please.” His tone suggests we don’t have them.
Lila and I take our fake IDs out of our pockets and hand them to him. He evaluates them carefully and gives them back to us, stepping aside to let us through.
We walk into an open room filled with tables and chairs. The air is musty, the bar is crammed with people, and the music is loud, but the sound of the singer’s voice is more familiar than the beat of my heart.
“Aw, look at him up there all hot and sexy,” Lila says, but I barely hear her.
All of my concentration focuses on the stage near the far back wall. Beneath the low lighting, Micha sings one of his own songs, playing the guitar with his head tipped down and his hair hanging in his sparkling aqua eyes. My hands ache to touch him, tangle through his hair, feel the softness of his lips.
The band plays in the background and it takes my breath away as his lyrics flow over my body.
The silence in your eyes is more than I can take.
Look at me for once and see how my heart aches.
You keep me alive. You keep me breathing.
All I want, all I need is you.
The room blends away and it’s just him and me. I hear Lila move away from me, probably heading to the bar to order a drink. It takes Micha only seconds to find me in the middle of the crowded room, like our hearts sense each other. He tries to maintain a straight face as he spills out the lyrics, but a trace of a smile reveals at his lips.
He finishes out the last set with a final chord, and then quickly turns to Naomi, who’s wearing a tight black dress and knee-high boots. Micha says something to her as he hands her the guitar. She nods, tucking her black hair behind her ear, and he hops off stage, and his long legs stride for me as he shoves through the crowd. He doesn’t slow down until he scoops me up in his arms, not caring that there are a ton of people watching us.
I fasten my legs around his waist and he kisses me intensely, stealing every ounce of oxygen from my lungs. Our bodies and tongues conform together, and the heat of him sears my skin. His lip ring scores into my bottom lip, but I want more. Begging him closer, I breathe him in, tasting him, wanting to feel him as much as possible before we part again.
When he leans back, a fire flares deep inside his aqua eyes and my stomach somersaults with excitement.
“God, I’ve missed you, pretty girl.” He kisses me again and his hands wander all over my body. Reluctantly, he pulls away, breathless. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. Lila said I needed to come see you before you left.” I trace my fingers along the back of his neck and he shivers from my touch. “She said that she was sick of my bad attitude and that I needed to get you out of my system, at least for a day or so.”
He bites at his lip, stifling a smile. “You know you could never get me out of your system. It’s not possible.”
“I know, but I can try,” I tease. “In fact, I could try a lot.”
A naughty look dances in his eyes. “I like the sound of that.”
He moves in for another kiss, deliberately this time, but with equally as much passion as all our kisses. “I have two more songs to play and then you and I can leave.”
I blink dazedly. “Where are we going?”
He lets out a breathy laugh as he presses up against me. “First things first. We’re going to go back to the hotel and take care of some much needed business.”
I try not to smile, but it’s impossible. “And then what are we going to do?”
“Then we’ll go out and do something fun,” he promises, setting me back on the floor. He kisses my forehead, and then moves back through the crowd to the stage.
I find Lila at the bar and plop down in a barstool next to her. My gaze locks on Micha on stage as he starts to play a cover of his sad-turned-happy song—our song, as he tells me all the time.
“Oh thank God.” Lila stirs the red fruity drink in her hand. “You’re happy again.”
Forcing my lips together, I suffocate my giddiness, but eventually it surfaces. It’s terrifying, feeling this way. I didn’t realize how down I was until now.
Micha
It’s the first time I’ve ever been excited to be done performing. I can’t wait to get out of the club and take her back to the room. The entire time I’m singing, my eyes are fixed on her. Deep down, I’m singing only to her.
When I finish, the band clears the stage. I hold up a finger at Ella, letting her know I’ll be a second, and then go into the room where our instruments are.
“Someone got a nice surprise,” Naomi comments as she pulls her long, black hair up into a bun and glances at herself in the cracked mirror on the wall. “Looks like you won’t be going out with the band tonight.”
“I think we’ll come out with you.” I put my guitar into the case and clip the locks. “But I’m going back to the hotel room first and you guys might want to steer clear of it for a while.”
She rolls her eyes and Dylan, our drummer, lifts up his hand to give me a high-five. Dylan likes to call himself “The Ladies Man” and spends a lot of time bragging about his hookups while we’re on the road. It’s annoying as shit and I dismiss his high-five.
“Take my guitar with you and I’ll text you later.” I hand Naomi the case and walk backward for the door. “Oh yeah, and would you mind if Ella’s friend hung out with you guys for a while?”
She shrugs as she puts on some red lipstick. “I guess… but is it that blonde one? Because she doesn’t really look like she’ll be too happy hanging with us lowlifes.”
I open the door. “She just looks stuck-up, but she’s cool.”
When I walk back out into the club, Ella and Lila are at the bar. Ella’s drinking a beer, with her endless legs crossed, and Lila’s sipping on some girlie fruit drink. They’re talking about something and Ella’s got a huge smile on her face.
Interrupting the conversation, I squeeze between them and press my lips to hers, giving her a deep kiss. When I draw back, her eyes are big and glassy and I love that I’m the one who put the look on her face.
“Oh great, now the clothes are coming off.” Lila crosses her legs and laughs, exchanging a look with Ella.
“What’s up?” Dragging a finger across her collarbone, I step up behind Ella and circle my arms around her waist.
“It’s nothing.” Ella rests her head against my chest. “She’s just making an inside joke.”
“Speaking of inside.” I take her hand and pull her to her feet. “We need to go.”
She hauls me back toward the bar as I try to pull her through the crowd toward the exit. “What about Lila? We can’t just leave her here.”
Lila finishes her drink and slides the empty glass onto the counter. “I can hang out in the car or something.”
I shake my head. “That’s not a good idea. Not in this kind of neighborhood. But Naomi said you can hang out with her and the band.”
Lila glances at Ella unsurely and when Ella nods, she sighs. “Alright, I’ll hang out with her… I guess. But where are they going?”
“Just to dinner, I think,” I tell her as Naomi exits from backstage and makes her way across the room toward us.
“Ready to go?” Naomi asks Lila in a formal tone and gives Ella a tight smile. “Hi, Ella, how are you?”
“Great,” Ella replies nonchalantly and her jaw spasms.
There’s an awkward silence that only girls can create.
“Okay then, I guess we should get going.” Naomi raises her eyebrows and motions for Lila to come with her as she leaves for the back.
“Please hurry,” Lila says pressingly and trudges after Naomi toward the back area.
I tug Ella eagerly toward the front door, shoving people out of my way. When we step outside, I grab her arm, whirl her around, and pick her up.
“Where’s your car?” I ask as she hitches her legs around my waist and my dick instantly gets hard.
She loops her arms around the back of my neck and her green eyes sparkle underneath the streetlights. “It’s parked out back.”
I stumble blindly down the dark alley as I kiss her fiercely and tangle my fingers in her long, auburn hair that smells sweetly of vanilla. I trip over the curb at the end, but regain my balance without breaking the kiss. My hand cups her ass and the other one explores the soft skin of her thigh.
“Did you wear this skirt just for me, so I’d have easy access?” I murmur against her lips as my fingers inch up her leg.
Laughing against my mouth, she pinches my ass. “You at least have to get us in the car before you start doing stuff to me.”
“Yeah right.” I caress her tongue with mine, savoring her, before moving away. “I’m planning on throwing you down on the hood right here, right now.”
She restrains a smile. “No way. There are people everywhere.”
My eyes skim the dark parking lot and a few perverts sitting on a dropped tailgate of a truck are watching us. “Fine, point taken… Where’s Lila’s car?”
A guilty look crosses her face like she’s done something wrong. “I guess I forgot to tell you, but Lila’s dad towed her car away a little while ago, so we had to borrow a car.”
I glance around again. “Which one is it?”
She points over her shoulder at a car parked toward the back. “The red Mustang right there.”
I eye her over suspiciously. “Where did you two find someone who would let you borrow their Mustang?”
“Someone I know from school.” She shrugs coolly. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Was this person a guy?”
“Um… yeah… it’s Blake’s, but it doesn’t mean anything. In fact, we dropped him off in Riverside at his girlfriend’s house.”