He pulled his mouth away first, and I was utterly disappointed at the loss. I was so turned on that I would have stripped right there had he asked me.
Dropping my hands, I watched as he took a step back. My eyes roamed his body and landed on the stiff erection in his pants. I looked up at him with a slight grin on my face. I needed a cold shower to cool my skin off.
“You need to get out of here before I cancel the show and fuck you all night instead,” he said with heavy eyes. “I have to meet up with the guys before the show. Brent reserved you a table at the front by the stage.” I could tell by the look on his face that he was flustered and didn’t want me to leave. He was so sexy. I don’t know how I thought I could have pushed him away. That was definitely not going to happen.
I glanced at the clock and noticed it was after nine thirty. “What time is the show supposed to start?”
“Ten,” he said with a smile.
“And you asked me to be here at nine?”
He smiled down at his feet and then looked up at me. “I needed to see you first.”
I smiled at him and started walking toward the door. “Scarlett.” I turned and looked at him before grabbing the doorknob. “Don’t leave after the show. I want you to meet the band.” He grinned as he grabbed a shirt by the black leather couch on the other side of the room and started putting it on. It was a shame to cover up such a masterpiece.
I nodded at him and left the room. I was sure he wanted to do more than just introduce me to the band.
On the walk to the table, I put my hand up to my lips. That kiss definitely changed things.
Chapter 8
Walking to the front of the stage, I spotted our table. Jules was sitting with Brent on one side and Jess on the other. I was sure she did that intentionally so Jess wouldn’t hit on Brent. There’d definitely be a catfight if that were to happen.
Jules watched me approach with a smile on her face as I took my seat closest to the stage. “Why is your mouth all red?”
I lifted my hand to my mouth while everyone stared at me. Making a trip to the restroom to see if Kade’s scruff did anything to my face probably would have been a good idea. I didn’t even think about it. Not knowing how to respond to her question, I ignored her and turned to Brent.
“Are the waitresses taking orders tonight, or do we need to go to the bar and get drinks?”
“They’re walking around, but don’t worry about it. We ordered you a beer.” He smiled.
“Okay great.” Looking around the room, I noticed it was filling up with mostly women. I wasn’t surprised in the least, and I was even less surprised at how some of them were dressed.
I could feel Jules staring at me. She wanted to know what happened in the back, but there was no way I was opening my mouth in front of Jess or Brent. I turned to Brent to get her attention off of me because there was something I wanted to ask him anyway.
“Hey, Brent, I wanted to ask you something. Why do you have so many rooms in the back by the office?”
He turned to look at Jules then looked back at me, warily clearing his throat. “Those rooms are for VIP members to use.”
I looked at him, having no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean use?” Jules leaned over and gave me a pointed look that said to drop it, which I was going to do until Jess put her two cents in.
“They’re for sex, Scarlett. Duh!” Jess giggled. “Are you really that dense?” Okay, that was it. I was going to ignore her for the rest of the night. If not, I was going to punch her in the face.
“Jess!” Jules yelled.
“What?” Jess said, acting innocently. “I’m just saying it only takes common sense to figure it out. Why else would a VIP member want to use a private room? They need some place to get their fetishes out of their system since they can’t get them taken care of at home.”
I looked back at Brent with wide eyes. Fetishes? As in BDSM? I wasn’t stupid. “Oh” was all I could say as I turned to see the waitress with our drinks. Thank goodness Brent ordered me a beer. My mouth was dry. I thought I needed another shot of tequila too. I wasn’t a prude, but, wow, letting people have sex in a club was something I’d never heard of or even read about before. And I read a lot.
Brent turned toward me with Jules at his back. “The rooms are used discreetly. Your everyday club goer doesn’t know about the rooms, and in order for anyone to go back there, he has to be a VIP member, which you have to pay for. They’re pretty common in LA.” He shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal.
I was looking at him with my mouth wide open. I knew I looked appalled, but I was just trying to comprehend someone paying for a room at a club just to have sex. That would have made me feel like such a whore.
“And now you look disgusted,” he said with a laugh.
“No, not at all.” I lied. “I’m just surprised there really are rooms in clubs for that.”
“Yeah, it’s not a preference for everyone, but it’s there for them if they want it.” He turned toward Jules with a smile, and just like that, the subject was dropped. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore anyway.
I looked over at Jess, who was texting away on her phone. I really wished I would have told the bouncer outside that I didn’t know who she was so she wouldn’t have been admitted. I really didn’t like her. Then I started to wonder how she even knew what those rooms were for in the first place. Obviously she’d had her fair share of experience in that department.
Hearing a commotion over in the left corner of the club, I turned my body away from the table to see what was happening. Kade and three other guys were headed our way toward the stage. My heart was palpitating. All four of them were sexy. It was as if they were hand-picked for their hotness to be in the band.
“Holy shit! That man is sexy,” Jess said, drooling, as Kade walked toward the stage.
I had to agree. He had his hair spiked up, and it was sexy as hell. His band mates were dressed similarly to Kade in low worn jeans and tight t-shirts that showcased their muscles. Obviously, these guys felt that image was everything. I was pretty sure they’d spent all their spare time at the gym. The only difference that I could see between Kade and the rest of the band was the amount of tattoos and piercings.
Kade looked at me and winked as he walked by. I grinned like a little girl going to her first concert. No one at the table noticed because Jess was busy checking out the rest of the band, while Brent was whispering something in Jules’ ear that had her giggling.
The guys walked on stage to their instruments, while Kade picked up his microphone and sat on the stool that was beside him.
“How the fuck is everyone?” he yelled. Everyone started cheering. I couldn’t help but smile. He was definitely in his element.
“I’d like to thank all of you for coming out to watch these assholes play tonight, while I grace you with my awesome voice.” Everyone laughed while his band mates let out a series of boos.
“As most of you know, I’ll be filming a movie soon and the band is taking a break from touring so we can focus on writing some more music. This will be our last show for a while.” He grinned at me, and I threw my arms up cheering for him.
If he kept looking at me with that sexy grin, I wasn’t going to be able to sit still. I was still fired up from our encounter in the back office. Biting my bottom lip, I tried to stop the smile that was inching across my face, thinking about earlier. This man really got my blood boiling.
I watched as he pointed to the waitresses walking in between the tables. “Ladies,” he purred into the mic to get their attention, “can one of you bring us some beers.” He flashed that signature grin of his, and they all scurried off. I was sure they’d be fighting over who would hand them out.
“Okay, I want to introduce the band before we start rockin’ the club. On the drums, we have the killer Maximus,” he said, gesturing behind him as Max started banging away, showing off his skills. We all cheered for him. He was really fast. I wasn’t that far away
from the stage, so I could see his arms as he rounded every beat, arms that were straining with muscle. YUM! He had longer black hair that spiked out, framing his face, and he wore thick black-framed glasses. He was definitely sexy in a nerdy kind of way.
Max ended his drum roll and stood up to take a bow, egging on the cheers he was receiving with a smile. Then he leaned down to his mic, which was attached to his drum set. “Thank you. Thank you very much. I’ll be here all night.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Shut the hell up and sit down, Max. Nobody came here to see you.” Kade laughed.
“You’re a jackass,” Max said as he took one last bow to the women over in the corner who were still cheering for him.
Kade laughed and turned toward the guitar players. “Over on the guitars we have the twins, Lucas on bass and Jaxon on electric.” More cheers erupted. I didn’t notice when they first came out, but they did look like twins. Definitely not identical, but you could see the resemblance. They both had blond hair, but you could tell by looking at them that their faces were shaped differently.
They walked over to each other and stood back to back and played some riffs together. It was such a turn on to watch men who actually knew what they were doing strum their guitars. I leaned over Brent and tapped Jules on the leg to get her attention. “Seriously, can I have someone who can move his fingers that fast?” We both started laughing while Brent politely ignored my comment.
Lucas and Jaxon ended their riff and put their hands up to the crowd, and the women went nuts. Obviously I wasn’t the only one mesmerized by their finger skills.
“And, of course, I’m Kade. I’ll be singing for you tonight.” He smiled to the crowd while all the ladies swooned.
After the cheers settled down, they immediately started playing the intro to one of their songs while Kade addressed the crowd again. “We are going to play some old and new songs, so I hope you enjoy.”
The lights above dimmed while Kade started singing a song I had never heard before. It must have been an older song. I was pretty familiar with his newer albums. Sitting back in my chair, I studied the way he performed. You could see he had such a passion for it, and his voice was amazing. It was definitely better hearing him in person than on the radio. I’d never heard a voice like his before. It was soft and sexual, but had a higher pitch with a raspy sound to it. So sexy.
During one of his faster songs, I noticed that Kade kept looking to the right. I followed his gaze and noticed two good-looking men wearing suits. They were too far away to get a really good look at their features, but one of them had brown or black hair, the other had blond. They would talk to each other and then look toward Kade. They were talking about him, and you could tell from Kade’s expression that he didn’t like it very much. No one else here was wearing a suit, not even the bouncers. They dressed to fit into the crowd. There was something about these two guys that seemed a little off.
Then the blond guy started looking in my direction, maybe sensing that I was looking at him. I knew he was looking at me because there wasn’t anyone behind our table. He was looking at me as if he were trying to figure out who I was. It seemed very creepy to me, so I averted my eyes back to Kade. About ten minutes later, I looked back in their direction, but they were gone.
An hour had gone by before I even realized it. Kade picked his mic up off the stand to address the crowd. “I have one more song that I’d like to play for you tonight, but I won’t need the rest of the band, so you assholes take a hike.” He laughed into his mic as the band headed to the back while some of the women tried to follow behind them. Good thing they had body guards in here or they would’ve been trampled.
Kade walked to the side of the stage to Keith, who handed him an acoustic guitar. He pulled the strap over his head and walked back to his stool. He took a seat and adjusted his mic.
“This song I’m about to perform isn’t one that I usually play, but a beautiful woman asked me to play it, and I couldn’t tell her no.”
He was looking at me with those intense eyes the whole time. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I didn’t even care if anyone else was watching us stare at each other. I was having a hard time comprehending that he didn’t normally play this song, but that he was making an exception because I asked him to play it.
“I wrote this song back when I was a kid, but never thought about putting it on a track until just recently. It’s received some great feedback from all our fans, which is great because writing it helped me get through some bad times in my life. So tonight I bring you ‘Lifeless.’” I was amazed that the crowd was so quiet.
I turned and looked at Jules, who was looking at me questioningly. Obviously, I forgot to tell her he texted me and asked me if I had any requests. I knew I’d have to explain that one later.
I turned back to look at Kade as he started strumming his guitar. It sounded different being played this way, but I could tell it was the same song. He brought his lips up to the mic and started to sing softly. Closing my eyes, I listened to his voice. I could hear the feelings of hurt and sadness in his words as he sang. I opened my eyes to see that he was looking right at me. Then the chorus hit. He closed his eyes, strummed his guitar faster, and belted out the words.
“I’m reaching out. I need a hand
To get me out of this quick sand.
No one knows the pain I feel.
I try to forget, but this is real.
I’m all alone. I’m in this mess.
I’m reaching out. I’m Lifeless.”
Watching him sing this song with so much feeling brought tears to my eyes. As he started singing softly again, I wondered what happened in his life to make him feel this way. It made me want to go up there and give him a big hug and comfort him.
All too soon, the song came to a close. He bowed his head and made one final strum of his guitar. Everyone went crazy. The ones that were sitting all stood up and clapped for him. I actually had to wipe the tears from my eyes. He stood up and thanked everyone for coming. Then he looked at me with that grin as he made his way off the stage with his body guard.
“Are they coming back out here?” Jess asked Brent.
“No, they’re staying in the back, but don’t worry, we’re going back there to meet them.”
Jess shrieked, and I wanted to smack her across the face. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I will not let her ruin my night. I will not let her ruin my night.
We got up from our table and followed Brent to the back. Jules came over to walk beside me. “What was that all about?”
I looked at her as if I had no idea what she was talking about. “What?”
“You know what, Letti. Did you ask him to play that song for you?”
We actually stopped walking, and I turned to her to answer, but Brent noticed we had stopped and asked if everything was okay. Jules told him to go on ahead and that we’d meet him by Keith who was waiting for us.
“Well?”
“What’s the big deal? I forgot to tell you that after I left Lou’s he sent me a text asking if I had any requests. That’s my favorite song. It reminds me of how I used to feel living with my mother.”
“Yeah, I can see that. I’m just in shock that he played it. He’s been asked numerous times why he would never play it live, and he always said the same thing: ‘It’s too personal.’ And he wasn’t very discreet about who he was playing it for. He was staring at you like you were dinner.”
We both laughed, but I really didn’t know what to say to her. I had no idea why, after all this time, he decided to play the song at my request.
The subject was dropped and she hooked her arm through mine and led the way to Keith so we could go meet the band.
Chapter 9
We walked into one of the back rooms that were used for meetings with the staff. As we made our way back, I was getting kind of worried as to which room we were entering. I was hoping we didn’t accidently walk into a play room for the VIP members. After having read
about how the band used to throw its parties, I didn’t know what to expect.
We made our way in and were greeted by a room full of people. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones privileged enough to meet them. The room was bigger than I expected it to be. They even had a little mini bar up against the wall. There had to be at least fifty people or more there.
The others dispersed, leaving me by the door. Looking around, I spotted Kade holding a bottle of beer, talking to some women that were fawning over him. He had a big smile on his face. I was sure he loved all this attention. He must have felt my stare because his chocolate brown eyes looked straight into mine.
He didn’t even excuse himself from the women who were talking to him before he started stalking toward me. I was frozen in place. I felt the heat creep up to my cheeks. If this was going to happen every time I was near him, I wouldn’t have to wear makeup.
“Hey, gorgeous.” Kade grabbed me by the waist to pull me close and kissed me on the cheek—well, not really the cheek, more like the corner of my mouth. My lips were disappointed. I looked around to see if anyone was watching, and sure enough, the girls he’d just left were giving me the death stare. I didn’t know if I could ever get used to that.
Being so close, I breathed in his scent. He smelled so good. I could tell he hadn’t taken a shower, because he was wearing the same clothes he’d worn on stage. It meant that Kade being sweaty was a good thing. My mind drifted to ways I could keep him sweaty. I smiled to myself.
“Do you want to meet the band?” he asked as he held my waist close to his.
Smiling, I nodded, and he led the way over to where the three other band members were talking to a group of women.
On the way over, I saw Jules and Brent in the corner of the room, having a make-out session with not a care in the world. That was just like her. I, on the other hand, was not into the whole PDA thing.
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