Shake, Rattle and Roll: The Baxter Boys #4 (The Baxter Boys ~ Rattled)

by Charles, Jane

  “I always knew you liked sucking dick,” Christian says.

  “Especially when they are as delicious as this.” The guy grins and twirls the sucker.

  “Zach, this is Bethany. Bethany, Zach, my obnoxious roommate.”

  Mary said that Dylan lived with six guys and I already knew that Christian was one of them and the sax player. What I don’t know is if Zach is the tattoo artist, photographer, constructions worker or drag queen.

  Dylan comes in next, followed by three guys and a girl. One has a camera so if I’m introduced to them all, I might be able to figure out what Zach does by process of elimination, since photographer is now off the table. Not that it matters. I’m not interested in Zach or the others. Just Christian, and he won’t tell me a damn thing about himself.

  They all stop at the table and Christian makes the introductions, except to Dylan since I’ve already met him.

  So, Ryan is the photographer and I assume Sean is the construction worker, since he’s kind of burly, though I shouldn’t make that assumption. Alex is holding Kelsey’s hand and since the one guy with a girl living with him is the tattoo artist that leaves Zach as the drag queen.

  Really? I sure as hell can’t see it, but it makes more sense than Sean being one, though I could be surprised, and often am.

  “Mary’s shift is about over and we were going to head out,” Dylan says.

  Christian glances at me and I’m not sure if he wants to stay or is ready to leave. Maybe he didn’t like what I said about myself, or my plans, or whatever, and is ready to go. He sure didn’t share anything with me so maybe he was just being polite until he was rescued.

  As disappointed as that may be, I’m not really surprised. Why would Christian Sucato be interested in a nurse from Kentucky when he could probably have anyone he wanted?

  “Sure,” he finally says and stands. “It was nice talking to you, Bethany.”

  Except, I was the one doing all the talking, not him. Shit! He was just being polite.

  I watch as they head out of the food tent, wishing I could be more interesting or attractive, but Christian is not interested in me or he would have stuck around.

  Just as they reach the exit he stops and turns, then starts heading back in my direction.

  My pulse picks up. Maybe I haven’t screwed this up.

  “Hey, my band is playing at the Poison Apple tonight. Why don’t you come by?”

  Hell yes.

  “Mary will be there too,” he says before I can answer, as if I need Mary as incentive to see him perform.

  “Sure, I’ll be there. Looking forward to it.”

  At that, he gives my elbow a little squeeze and looks kind of a relieved like he was afraid I’d say no.

  Maybe I do have a shot at the sexy saxophone player.

  4

  What the hell was I thinking? Bethany is so not for me, no matter how much I want her. She’s a privileged Kentucky girl, raised on a horse farm. A family, mom and dad included, and an uncle who lets her live in his loft. She may want to work in clinics and help those not as lucky as her, but that doesn’t mean she wants to be involved with someone who came from that world.

  It’s probably best that she didn’t show tonight. Of course, she still could, but we’ve already played half of our sets and the chair Mary has been saving for Bethany is still empty.

  Bethany is not coming and I don’t blame her. I didn’t exactly impress her today with my conversational skills, and I sure as hell wasn’t forthcoming about myself. She wanted to know more about me, which was nice for a change, but what the hell could I tell her? As soon as she learns I grew up on the streets she’ll be long gone.

  Hell, she’s already gone because she sure as hell isn’t here now.

  I’m not the only one watching the door, but so are Mary and Alyssa, who is behind the bar. Not that Alyssa knows what Bethany looks like, but Alyssa lives with Mary and my guess is that Mary told her that I’d asked Bethany to come here tonight. That information must have spread like wildfire since Mia, their other roommate, is also at the table with Mary, along with Joy, Kate and Zoe, the rest of my family from high school. Even if they hadn’t planned on being here tonight, they would have canceled all plans to meet the girl I invited.

  I should have just kept my mouth shut, then if Bethany did show, Alyssa would be the only one who knew and assume I just picked up a girl at the bar.

  Except, Mary and Dylan always planned on coming. Dylan only cancelled when he found out the others were going to be here and didn’t want to be the only guy at the table.

  “Sure you don’t want anything in that orange juice?” Alyssa asks me.

  She knows I don’t really drink when playing. “I’m good.”

  She glances around at the crowd. “Are you sure she’s not here? The place is packed.”

  “I’m sure.” There could be twice as many people here and I’m sure I’d still be able to find Bethany.

  “Maybe something happened,” she offers sympathetically.

  I so don’t need her feeling sorry for me or the girls suddenly thinking that they need to take care of me. And, if Bethany doesn’t show, that is exactly what they will be like. Thank God I’m leaving town on Monday. Their mothering is the last thing I need.

  “Or, maybe it didn’t.” Alyssa slowly starts to smile and nods past my shoulder.

  I turn and see Mary standing and waving toward the door. I hold my breath and turn toward the entrance. There she is! Beautiful Bethany is here and is now walking toward Mary.

  How come every fucking time I see her my breath is sucked from my body? Damn, she’s beautiful tonight. Her thick auburn hair is loosely pulled back and she’s wearing what is like an off the shoulder peasant-like blouse, belt and colorful flowy skirt that comes almost to her ankles. Even though her entire body is covered in loose fitting clothing, she is still sexier than the other girls in this place who are either exposing good portions of their anatomy or are wearing skin tight dresses.

  I try not to grin, but can’t help myself and I duck my head.

  “Cute,” is all Alyssa says.

  Bethany is a hell of a lot more than cute.

  I grab my wallet and shove a twenty toward Alyssa. “Whatever she wants. If she goes over, I’ll cover it.”

  The left side of her mouth quirks. “Tip included?”

  “Of course.” With that I down the orange juice, grab a bottle of water, take a drink to rinse my mouth and then drink about half of the bottle as I head toward the table where the girls are sitting only to be stopped by a girl who wants an autograph.

  Damn! I made a beeline to the edge of the bar after the last set, the section for waitresses only to avoid the fans, unlike the rest of the guys in the band who are embracing, literally, the girls who came to see us. One after another asks me for a selfie and autograph, keeping me from getting to Bethany.

  “Hey, Sucato,” one of the guys yell. “Get your ass up here.”

  Shit! With a last glance toward the table I meet Bethany’s eyes and kind of wave, then shrug. Hopefully she doesn’t think I was just ignoring her, but I couldn’t get through the crowd without being rude and I’m never rude to the fans. I can’t afford to be. Not if I want to try and make it on my own or with another band one day.

  Turning away, I push myself back through the crowd and to the small stage, but as soon as I take my place with the other guys my fucking hands begin to shake. Shit, I haven’t been this nervous since the first time I played in front of an audience. This is so not the night to be missing notes.

  Seth O’Leary, the asswipe and lead guitarist with the band, steps to the mic. I can’t stand him, but I only have a month left before I quit and I won’t have to be around him, or any of the band, again. Not that they know that yet, but these guys want more than I do. They want to make it big and travel the world. I want to just play, write my songs, and stay local. If I wasn’t looking for Scarlett, I wouldn’t have even considered the tour coming up, but since they a
re playing where I think she is, I have to go.

  “Thank you,” Seth says as the clapping dies down. “And now, to start off the next set we are going to play the hit song written by our very own sax player, Christian Sucato, called Sleeping Alone.”

  Shit! We’re playing that now?

  “Sit back and enjoy and ladies, I can guarantee that once he’s done, there won’t be a dry pair of panties in the place.”

  I glare at him as I pick up my sax. What the hell? Why does he say shit like that?

  I answer my own question before I even finish asking it. Because all of the guys love to play, love the attention, and especially love the groupies. Not one of them will sleep alone tonight, unlike me. Actually, they probably will sleep alone but not until after they’ve fucked one of the willing ladies in attendance tonight.

  The drummer, Joey, taps out the beat and we all lift our instruments. I close my eyes and just listen to the music and play and try to pretend that Bethany isn’t sitting at a front table watching and listening.

  Christian doesn’t even have to play a note for my panties to get damp, not that I tell Mary that, of course. Maybe if we were alone, but the other girls are strangers to me.

  The waitress stops by our table and I order a glass of Moscato. I’m not really a drinker, especially when I go out at night. Too many bad things can happen to girls when they are on their way home alone. I’ll have the one glass and then switch to water. Besides, the last thing I want to be is tipsy when Christian is around. I talked enough today as it was. If I drink more than one, who knows how much more I will say or what will come out of my mouth.

  The song is mesmerizing, haunting, and I wonder what inspired him to write it. Did it come from someplace deep in his soul, or was it something that just came to him? It’s a favorite and I downloaded it to my play list as soon as it was available. It speaks to something deep, like a longing for something. But, there’s nothing I really long for. The song just makes me feel like I do. When it comes time for his solo, I can’t look anywhere else but at Christian, with the way his fingers move on the keys, the intensity of his face, his closed eyes, and dark hair falling forward and then back when he arches to play through the strength of his song.

  Damn, wet panty moment definitely. It’s the sensitivity and sexiness of the song. A guy that plays sax like that has got to be one hell of a lover. Even my breasts are reacting, getting heavy as my nipples tighten. If this keeps up, I’ll be giving myself some loving once I get home, that or a cold shower, or both.

  When he’s finished, it’s all I can do not to blow out a sigh and fan myself, but I don’t want to give away how much Christian’s playing affects me.

  The waitress stops and puts the glass of wine on the table before me. I’ve never been so happy to see a cold glass of wine in my entire life.

  “How much?” I pull out some cash.

  “Christian’s got it.” She winks and then walks away.

  Now my face is on fire and I look over at him and mouth thank you.

  He just winks as the patrons in the bar cheer at the performance.

  Forcing myself to sip and not guzzle the drink, I listen to the rest of the songs as the band plays and try not to focus on Christian alone, but how can I help it? And then, he sets his sax aside and picks up a trumpet.

  “He told me he only played the sax, and the keyboard badly,” I say to Mary.

  Each of the girls at the table look at me as if I’ve lost my mind.

  “Why would he lie to me?”

  “Modesty.” Mia snorts. “He so doesn’t get his appeal or talent.” She looks around. “But every female in the room does.”

  5

  The waitress hands me a large bottle of water as soon as I step off of the stage. I’m dripping in sweat from that last set. The temperature in the room just keeps getting hotter with all of the bodies and the playing we’ve done. Plus, I’m pretty sure my temperature started going up as soon as Bethany sat down and watched me play. Thank God I didn’t miss any notes tonight because that would have sucked.

  As soon as I start to head in Bethany’s direction a girl steps into my path. I sign an autograph as she snaps a selfie, and before she’s done, others have crowded around me and the other members of the band. They love the attention. I just want to get to Bethany, but I can’t be rude to the fan base either. All they want are autographs and pictures, and not doing anything annoying, except they are keeping me from the only girl I want to talk to.

  Looking over the heads of the fans I spot her watching me from the table. All I can do is smile and shrug again. She just shakes her head and I’m pretty sure she’s laughing at me. It’s better than being pissed because I’m not talking to her, but I’m still not certain it’s a good thing.

  A girl pushes her way in front of the others and lifts her shirt. Beneath is a skimpy red, lace bra that barely covers anything and I’m pretty sure it’s too small for her, and hands me a pen.

  I push her shirt back down. “I don’t sign boobs.” Especially with Bethany sitting and watching.

  “I’ll sign your tits, baby,” Seth calls, and she pushes her way in his direction.

  That’s the part I no longer like. The girls practically stripping and offering themselves up. The ones that just want pictures are great and to be honest, they feed my ego, because it’s about the music and liking the music and I just happen to make it. The groupies that want to jump in bed I can do without.

  By the time I’ve finished the water and signed the last autograph it’s time to go back on stage for our last set and I didn’t even get close to Bethany. I hope to hell that she hangs out afterward or she’ll think I just asked her to come here to see me perform. Well, I kind of did, but that is because I didn’t know when I’d get a chance to see her again before I head to the west coast.

  Maybe the decent thing would have been to see if she was doing anything tomorrow, where we wouldn’t be in a bar surrounded by people, but I asked her to the first thing I thought of.

  At least she seems to be having a decent time with the girls, though that worries me too. Who knows what the hell they are telling her. Once Mia, Zoe, Kate and Joy are done telling stories, I might not ever see Bethany again.

  To think I’ve always wanted a family. This is one of those cases I’d rather not have my pseudo-sisters around.

  My eyes pop open. “Did that girl just want Christian to sign her boobs?” I have to laugh, but I’m surprised that he declines. Is it because I’m here, because what guy turns down boobs?

  “Happens all the time,” Mia acts like it’s no big deal. “The girls love him though.” She gives me a pointed look as if to ask if I’m one of them. I’m sure as hell not confessing anything. Something tells me that these girls would eat me up and spit me out, in a nice way of course, and then never let me forget it if anything did develop between me and Christian, though I’m not counting on that happening.

  And, once again I have to wonder why he asked me here. He’s surrounded by dozens of girls who apparently want him, and if it’s like this always, he didn’t need another groupie hanging out. Not that I’m a groupie.

  The waitress comes by and puts two plates of cheese bread slices on the table and then fresh drinks in front of everyone.

  “We didn’t order this,” Mary says.

  “Alyssa did.” Then the waitress grins. “She put it on Christian’s tab.”

  “Crap, I hope he doesn’t think I did that.”

  “Don’t worry. She’ll fess up.” Joy laughs. “You’re the last person he’d suspect. The rest of us however…” she laughs again.

  Well, if I’m going to drink another glass of wine, I’m going to have some of that cheese bread. After grabbing a piece, I sink my teeth into the warm, cheesy, yummy goodness only to notice they are all looking at me. Was I not supposed to eat one?

  “There goes that theory,” Kate finally says as if she’s disappointed.

  “What theory?”

  “We thought
you were a date. Christian’s date.”

  I’m not sure date is exactly right. Maybe guest to watch him play since they didn’t charge me a cover at the door.

  “If it was a real date, you wouldn’t go near garlic,” Kate explains.

  “But, I love garlic.” It may be one of my favorite things.

  “So, you aren’t into him, hoping for maybe a little more fun tonight?” Mia pins me with a look and I set the bread down and take a sip of my wine.

  “I just really met him today.”

  “Actually, she met him a few weeks ago,” Mary corrects.

  “We barely talked.”

  “I know.” Her lips quirk. “But, Christian watched you walk away until you disappeared while talking to me. It was kind of rude.”

  My face starts to heat. “Really?”

  “I was just waiting for him to see you again to see what happened. And he did. And it did. And here you are.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask her quietly though I’m sure everyone else heard.

  “Because it was like you couldn’t wait to get away from him that day, and I didn’t get it.”

  “You could have asked.” Then I wouldn’t be having an uncomfortable conversation in front of his friends.

  “Well, why did you run away?”

  “Because he is who he is.” Didn’t they get that?

  Maybe they didn’t since he was their friend, not mine.

  “I didn’t want to embarrass myself by going all fangirl on him.” Grabbing my wine, I take a drink hoping it cools me down, including by face. “Why would he want to have anything to do with me when he has all of this?” I gesture around the room.

  “Because they are empty,” answers Zoe. “He got bored of them real quick.”

  “What makes you think he won’t get bored with me?”

  Joy snorts. “He spent the afternoon following you around the health fair and then asked you here. He’s far from bored.”