While It Lasts

by Abbi Glines

  Brett Cortwright was one of the closest guy friends Josh had in high school. When he’d walked up to the table I’d been so happy to see a familiar face. Cage had gone off dancing with yet another blonde. I shouldn’t be mad at him because he’d asked me to dance and I’d said no out of fear. All the same, I was mad. I was hurt. I was jealous.

  “I’m slowly starting to get out again. Jeremy is leaving next month for LSU.”

  Brett frowned, “Really? You okay with that?”

  Why was that everyone’s immediate reaction? Did they all think I couldn’t survive without him?

  “I’m happy for him. It’s time he got back to his life. We’ve both been on pause for a while now.”

  Brett nodded his head in agreement. A slower song started to play. “You up for a slow dance? I won’t bite,” he teased.

  I’d only ever slow danced with Josh. I started to say yes when Brett took a step back from me. Confused, I looked up at him and he was focused on something behind me.

  “Good idea. Go on. Get the hell away from her.”

  Cage’s angry snarl startled me and I spun around to see him glaring at Brett. What was he doing? “CAGE! Stop that,” I demanded. “Don’t go anywhere, Brett.”

  Cage’s furious expression shifted to me. “You’re on a first name basis now? Is this what you’re looking for? A preppy momma’s boy with good fucking manners?”

  My blood was boiling. I’d never been this mad in my life. I stalked over until I was as close to being in Cage’s face as I could get.

  “It isn’t any of your business who I dance with. You can apologize to Brett or I’m leaving,” I yelled.

  Cage smirked but the angry gleam still flashed in his eyes. “I ain’t apologizing to anyone, sweetheart.”

  I wanted to scream and punch his chest and cry because he wasn’t who I thought he was. He wasn’t the sweet guy I’d gotten to know the last couple of weeks. I should tell Brett goodbye but I couldn’t. I was too close to tears. So, I ran.

  I heard Cage call my name as I pushed through the crowd but I didn’t look back. He’d shown his true colors tonight. I’d fallen for his act but not again. My chest ached and the lonely feeling I’d slowly been overcoming was seeping back in. I pushed out the first set of doors I came to and ran out into the parking lot. This wasn’t where my Jeep was parked. The tears I’d tried to hold back had finally started to fall and my vision was blurry. I hated this. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to cuddle into my covers and be safe. No more pain. No more being let down.

  I started walking. I’d just walk around the building until I found my Jeep. Maybe I could find it before anyone came out here and saw me like this. I hated looking weak.

  “EVA!” Cage’s voice called out from behind me. I wanted to run but I was wearing heels and walking on gravel. I’d just end up falling into a heap if I tried. Even so, I didn’t have to stop. If he wanted to talk to me then he could do it while I walked. It would be easier to ignore him that way.

  “Eva.” He repeated my name again as he caught up to me. I didn’t turn my head to acknowledge him.

  “I’m sorry. I saw you with that guy and I snapped. I didn’t think about your feelings; I just cared that he was touching you. I didn’t want him touching you. I was wrong.” The pleading sound to his voice was a little more powerful than I’d have thought. I stopped walking but I kept staring straight ahead. I was afraid to look into his eyes just yet. If he was as sorry as he sounded then his eyes would tell me and I’d melt. Damn his pretty face.

  “Brett was a friend of Josh’s. He wasn’t some strange guy in a bar.”

  Cage let out a heavy sigh. “Fuuuck.”

  “You were dancing with some girl. I don’t see how me dancing with some guy was any different.”

  Cage’s fingers wrapped around my arm, “Please look at me, Eva.”

  He was really good at the begging thing. His voice even dropped to a low sexy rumble. Danggit.

  I shifted so that I was facing him. His pale blue eyes looked desperate.

  “I’m a jackass. I know that. I’m sorry. I should have never treated you that way.”

  “Me? What about poor Brett?”

  Cage frowned, “I didn’t touch him.”

  “But you were rude to him.”

  Cage gently tugged on my arm to pull me closer to him. “The girl I was dancing with was Amanda Hardy. She’s Marcus Hardy’s, Low’s fiancé, little sister. She was trashed and that is not normal for her. I danced with her because I was worried about who she might grab up if I turned her down.”

  So, he was being kind. Not what I was expecting.

  “Okay. I understand that.” I replied.

  “Will you come back inside?” he asked as he cupped the side of my face with his hand.

  “Will you apologize to Brett?”

  Cage’s soft expression went hard but only for a moment. Then the corner of his mouth tilted up, “Probably not.”

  “Then I’m not going back inside,” I replied.

  Cage’s face fell, “But I never got to dance with you.”

  Now that Brett had broken me in to dancing in that mass of people I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t been able to dance with Cage.

  “Okay, but just one dance.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cage

  The tightness in my chest had finally eased by the time I got Eva back inside the doors of Live Bay. Seeing her tear streaked face had only made the panic worse. If she’d really pushed it I’d have come back in here and found the guy and apologized. I was ready to do whatever she wanted me to in order to get her to forgive me.

  I’d taken her to the Jeep so she could get her purse and fix her face before we came back inside. I’d also made sure to get a good long kiss out of her too. Just to feel her safely in my arms and not running away from me had been the biggest relief. The fact she tasted like the cotton candy lip balm she’d put on was an added bonus.

  I noticed a girl that I was pretty sure I’d screwed awhile back making her way toward us. I really didn’t want any more of my past to be exposed to Eva tonight. She’d had her quota of Cage shit. It was a miracle she hadn’t insisted I take her home already. Reaching down I took her hand and threaded her fingers through mine. The simple fact that she let me do this made me feel like one lucky son of a bitch.

  I lifted our joined hands and spun her around as she giggled then pulled her up close to me. “Mmmm… you smell good,” I whispered in her ear as I fit her body as close as I could against mine. Her hands trailed up my chest until her left hand felt the barbell under my shirt. Smiling up at me she ran her thumb over it before slipping both hands behind my neck.

  “Is it just piercings that get you hot or do you like tats too, because I got a killer one just under my boxer briefs that I’ll let you feel later if you want,” I teased. Her head snapped back in shock until she saw the teasing smile on my face. Her laughter was just what I needed to make the disaster the night had been so far better.

  “You are such a bad boy.” She tugged on the hair that brushed my collar.

  “I can be real bad. You haven’t seen anything yet,” I murmured, bending my head so I could take a nip at the soft skin on her neck.

  “I’m not sure I could keep up with you. I’m extremely inexperienced. We are in completely different planets when it comes to sexual experience,” her breathing was labored as I licked and kissed different sweet spots on her shoulder and collarbone.

  “I didn’t say anything about sex, Eva,” I grinned before kissing her jawline. “You’re the naughty one who brought up sex.”

  Watching her chest rise and fall quickly was making me get a little carried away. I wanted to dance but damned if I didn’t also want to get her ass back to my bed.

  The groove to the music changed and I spun her around and pressed her back up against me. I took both her hands and wrapped them around my neck. “This is a really good view,” I whispered into her ear.

  She had sti
ffened up from the new position. This was something new for her. I slid my hands down her rib cage and moved my hips against her to the beat of the music. Slowly she began feeling the music. Her eyes closed and I pressed my hands against her hip bones and moved her body with mine.

  Her head tilted to one side and I took advantage of her exposed neck. Forgetting the room full of people and the band playing one of my favorite songs, I enjoyed holding Eva as she let go and just went with what she felt. No thought or caution. It was beautiful to watch.

  Eva thought she was the inexperienced one but she wasn’t. I was. Eva knew what it felt like to hold someone in her arms that she cared for. She knew what it felt like to hurt when they hurt and want to make them happy. She knew what it felt like to be touched and kissed by someone that wasn’t a one-night stand.

  Sex with Eva wouldn’t be just sex for me. I’d never had that. It would be … more. So much more than I’d ever imagined. Was I ready for that?

  The music changed and Eva turned back around in my arms and stood on her tiptoes to place a kiss on my lips before threading her fingers with mine. “That was fun.”

  I lowered my head to give her a deeper kiss. Having that connection with her was even different for me. “Yeah, it was fun,” I replied after getting her taste on my lips. “You interested in meeting the band?”

  She glanced up at the stage as Jackdown was announcing their break. “Yeah, sure.”

  “I’m warning you now, Krit is your typical lead singer. He thinks all he has to do is smile and girls will drop their panties. I’m gonna make sure he understands that you’re off limits but he may still make suggestive comments. I’ll take him outside and beat his ass if I need to.”

  Eva just laughed. She thought I was kidding. She’d obviously never met a lead singer before. I just hoped Krit really didn’t piss me off. Depended on how high he was.

  Eva

  Cage led me back over to the table we’d been at earlier. There were a lot more people around it now. Another table had been pulled up beside it. The band members I’d noticed earlier where all gathering around the other table and yelling their orders to the bar tender. Trisha was laughing and shoving the shirtless lead singer. He was sitting in her lap shaking his sweaty hair on her. I was a little surprised that her badass-looking husband wasn’t upset by this. Then the lead singer lifted his head and his eyes met mine. I saw the resemblance instantly. His eyes were the exact same color and shape as Trisha’s. They also had very similar mouths.

  “I may beat his ass just because of the way you’re looking at him,” Cage growled beside me. Startled by his sudden angry tone I turned my attention to him.

  “What?”

  He was snarling at the shirtless guy with long sweaty hair.

  “Cage?”

  He finally tore his intense expression off the lead singer and looked at me. “Yeah?”

  “I was looking at him because I was surprised he was sitting in Trisha’s lap like that then when I saw his face and I figured out the resemblance. That was all.”

  His frown eased, “Okay. Good.”

  “The convict is ba-ack,” the lead singer said in a singsong voice.

  “Eva, the thug in Trisha’s lap is her brother, Krit. And Krit, this is Eva, stay the fuck away,” Cage said in way of introduction.

  Krit’s blond eyebrows shot up and he jumped out of his sister’s lap gawking at me. “Shiiiit. Cage York has been collared? Say it ain’t so bro. Say it ain’t fuckin’ so,” the amazement in Krit’s voice was a little disturbing. Was it really that hard for everyone to believe that Cage was on a date? With a girl he didn’t want to share?

  “What’s this I hear?” The shirtless bass player who’d sang a couple songs leaned over on the table with a shot of something in his hand. His entire chest and arms were covered in tattoos.

  “That one,” Krit said pointing toward us with the hand that held his beer, “Cage won’t share her. Your ugly mug won’t be basking in the advantages of Cage’s pretty face tonight. He has his woman. He ain’t gonna be snagging a couple to share with you.”

  Cage tensed up beside me. I didn’t have to ask why.

  “Eva, that idiot is Green. He plays bass and he gets to sing when Krit will share the spotlight.”

  I’d noticed him earlier when I’d been sitting at the table. Watching someone that actually knew how to play the bass well was always intriguing to me.

  “You’re good. I’m impressed by the fact you can actually pull off Flea’s stuff.”

  Krit and Green both froze.

  “You know who the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers is?” Green asked me. The shock on his face made me smile.

  “Yes, I do. Flea is one of the greats in my opinion. But Jon Paul Jones is my all-time favorite,” I replied.

  Green slammed his still full shot glass on the table and some of it splashed over the side. “Holy shit! She knows the bassist for Led fucking Zeppelin!”

  He shifted his awed look to Cage, “I’ll do anything man. Just let me have her, please?”

  Cage’s arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me closer to his side. “Not happening. Back off.”

  “Fuck man, do you know how many girls I’ve met that don’t even know what the hell a bassist is? NONE! Fucking NONE! Where’d you get her? I want one too.”

  Cage chuckled beside me, “Sorry, man. It’s not happening.”

  “You could maybe go to a music school and actually meet girls who know how to play the bass. Typically the ones you pick up in bars only know how to unzip your pants.” I informed him.

  The entire table burst into laughter. Cage placed a kiss on the top of my head and squeezed my side.

  “Okay, hell now I want one,” Krit chimed in.

  “You are bringing her around more often Cage. I like this one,” Trisha said smiling at me.

  “What do you mean by ‘this one’?” Green asked before draining his shot glass. “There ain’t ever been another one he kept more than a couple hours.”

  “That’s enough you two. I’m not in the mood to keep your asses from being strung up by Cage tonight. If he decides to shut you up I’m gonna let him,” Rock spoke up for the first time.

  “He knows we’re kidding,” Krit shot me a cocky grin and winked.

  “Fuuuck, I ain’t kidding. I want her,” Green said before turning to take another shot glass from a waitress.

  “MATTY!” Krit called out over the crowd. I noticed girls with too much makeup and not enough clothing hovering around us like vultures. Were they waiting on one of the band members to notice them?

  A guy with long hair that stuck straight up in the air and really tight jeans sauntered up with a girl on each arm. Neither of them looked older than seventeen. I was more than positive they weren’t legal.

  “Please tell me you checked ID,” Green moaned in annoyance.

  “I trust them. They’re both eighteen, aren’t you girls?”

  The girls bobbed their heads in unison.

  “Sure they are,” Cage muttered beside me.

  The new guy finally looked our way and his focus shifted from Cage to me back to Cage. “You already picked one for the night?”

  Cage made an aggravated sound in his throat. “Eva, this is Matty the drummer. Matty, this is Eva, my date.” The warning look in Cage’s eyes wasn’t lost on me.

  Matty’s surprised expression was something I was getting used to. If it was really this crazy for Cage to date just one girl then why was he out with me? If we slept together would that be it? Would he be done with me? Had I kidded myself into thinking he was a nice guy? Because I knew he wasn’t exactly a good guy.

  “I’ll be damned,” was Matty’s reply.

  “Yeah, we already knew you were damned. Even before you decided to have a go with two high school freshman.” Krit drawled in an amused tone.

  “I told you they’re eighteen,” Matty insisted.

  “We’re up in two,” Green interrupted them and took one last swal
low from his newest shot glass. How many had he drunk during his five-minute break?

  “Bring her back,” Green called out to Cage and then winked at me.

  “Sorry about him. But you did unleash some stellar knowledge of famous bassists. That’s like porn for Green,” Cage said with a smirk.

  “They were entertaining,” I assured him.

  He pulled me around to face him and studied me a moment.

  “Want to tell me how you know about bass guitarists?”

  Was I ready to share this with Cage? I’d only played my acoustic once the other night. Sharing more of Josh with Cage almost felt wrong. If Cage was just in my life for the summer then did I want to give him too much of me? If I had imagined that there could be more for us that had been killed tonight. Cage didn’t do commitment. I was just a summer fling.

  I shrugged, “I like guitars I guess.”

  He didn’t buy it. I could see it in his eyes but he didn’t push me either.

  “You ready to go?” he asked

  “Yeah, I think I am.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cage

  I hadn’t said much on the drive back to my apartment. Eva was cautious. I knew this. I’d known it from day one when she’d basically called me a man whore. It was one of the things I liked about her. Up until tonight I had been making progress. She’d told me about Josh. I’d been able to hold her while she cried. I thought that had formed a bond of trust between us.

  Taking her into my world had undone everything I’d worked damn hard to prove to her. If I didn’t have girls throwing themselves at me and talking about our threesomes, I had my friends acting like I used girls like disposable objects. I’d wanted my friends to meet her. I’d wanted her to know me until she got a real taste of my life. Now, I wanted to get her back to the country so we could live in our little cocoon where my past wasn’t there to haunt me.

  “Are you mad at me?” Eva’s question snapped me out of my thoughts. I lifted my eyes from the spot in the floor I’d been staring at to see Eva standing in the doorway wearing a pair of tiny pink polka dot pajama bottoms and a matching tank top. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.