by Ashley Blake
Claire smiled at him. “That sounds like fun, Jonny, I like her.”
I looked at my mom. “Mom, what are you guys doing this weekend?”
“Your father and I are going to a benefit at the Met with uncle Jake and Aunt Lauren.”
“Yes, and hopefully we won’t be there all night like we were last year at this same benefit.” My dad winked at my mom, teasing her.
“Honey, we were not there all night, maybe just a little longer than we normally stay. It was fun!”
“Yeah, dad, loosen up and let mom have some fun. She deserves it!” I loved to give my dad a hard time about having fun. He was so serious sometimes and I loved it when he just let loose. My mom had really helped him soften over the years. They liked to tell the story of how serious my dad was when he met her and how she was able to help him loosen up. Their story was really cool and I had never seen two people more in love.
We spent a couple of hours with our family and then we went home and crashed. We were so exhausted from the trip and we had an early practice the next morning that was scheduled to go all day, so both of us could barely keep our eyes open when we got home.
Chapter 2
Practice had been grueling the day before and I could barely contain myself that Sunday as I got ready for my date with Zane. We were meeting them at the restaurant because it was halfway between where we all lived. We were running a little bit late because traffic was a nightmare for our driver, so the guys were already at the restaurant when we got there. Zane’s face illuminated when I breezed into the restaurant and he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
“Hey, beautiful.”
I was reduced to a shy teenager as I grinned at him.
“Hi.”
Logan’s lips were turned up into a sexy half smile as he looked at Claire. “Hey there, stranger.”
The way she looked at him was so cute, her feelings for him were written all over her face as she beamed at him. “Hey.”
We all exchanged hellos and, thankfully, were seated right away. As the conversation flowed, I noticed how we all just slipped into the comfortable rapport we had in Mexico. The guys had a show in the Village that Thursday and they wanted us to come.
Claire looked at me and her eyes were bright as she told them that we would be there.
“We have long rehearsals this week, Claire, remember?”
It’s not that I didn’t want to go see them play, of course I did, but our next show was coming up and we practiced until 1:00 a.m. some nights.
She looked at me and I could see that she was annoyed.
“Oh, I forgot about that.” She looked at Logan and furrowed her brow. “Abby’s right, we might not be able to make your show. We go until almost 1:00 a.m. most nights the week before a show and we won’t know until that night how long we’ll be. But if it’s not late, we’ll definitely be there.”
He winked at her. “All I can ask is that you show up if you can. I’d love to see you.”
Zane looked at me. “That goes for me too.”
We had a good time chatting and laughing that evening and after dinner we all went to a bar that was a couple of blocks away. As soon as we walked in people were saying hi to Zane and Logan.
Claire and I glanced at each with puzzled looks on our faces as we were led to a table in the back corner of the bar. Was that what I would have to deal with dating a guy in a band? I looked at Zane.
“You guys must have said hi to almost everyone here! Are these your fans or something?”
He laughed and gently placed his hand on my shoulder. "No, I work here on the weekends sometimes and most of the customers are regulars.”
“Oh? I didn’t know that you worked at a bar.” I wasn’t trying to sound like a snob, but I was worried that it came out that way.
He looked at me, his eyes dancing a bit as a smirk turned up the corner of his mouth. I think that I offended him. "It's an honest day’s work. Is there something wrong with working in a bar?”
"Of course not, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I'm just surprised because I thought the band was how you made money.”
He smiled at me and then glanced at Logan before looking back at me. “It is.”
“Oh.” I felt super uncomfortable so I decided to drop it. I didn’t want to make a big deal about money, especially because he still didn’t know the whole story about me and Claire, so I tried to change the subject. I looked around the bar and noticed that the setup was pretty cool and it was packed, especially for a Sunday night. Before I could say anything else Claire, thankfully, jumped in.
“So is it always this crowded here? The scene is crazy busy!”
Logan answered her. “Yeah, it’s a pretty popular bar, for now.”
“For now?” Claire and I both look puzzled again. Bars were not really our scene so we were not current on all the bar scene stuff.
Zane looked at us. “Oh yeah, bars usually have a pretty short shelf life but this one has been going strong for a while, so we’re happy about that.”
Claire looked at him. “We?”
Zane glanced at Logan again and I was starting to get the feeling that there was something they weren’t telling us.
“Yeah, we both work here sometimes so it’s good that the bar is still around.”
I looked at both of them. “Wow, you guys are full of surprises!”
I took a sip from my drink and I was going to ask how long they had been working there when two really pretty girls walked over to our table, completely ignoring me and Claire.
“Hey Zane, hey Logan, it’s good to see you guys.” The brunette bimbo flipped her hair over her shoulder, placed her hand on Zane’s arm, and zeroed in on the guys, trying to give them her best sexy look. I knew girls like her and I knew their game. I wasn’t going to let her disrespect me and Claire.
I looked right at the vocal one and narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you serious right now?”
She looked totally confused and annoyed that I spoke to her as she put her hand on her hip.
“I’m sorry?”
That pissed me off. “I know you didn’t just walk over to this table of four and only acknowledge two people. My sister and I are obviously here with Zane and Logan.”
I could see a gleam of appreciation in Zane’s eyes as I glanced at him before returning my focus to her. She looked totally taken aback by my bluntness and then switched on the saccharin.
“Oh, how rude of me. I’m Amber and this is Nikki, and you girls are?”
Really? Amber and Nikki? With the napkins they tried to pull of as dresses barely covering their asses, I thought they were more suited for the strip club and their names matched them perfectly.
“I’m Abby and this is Claire.” Claire barely acknowledged them as she whispered something to Logan.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Amber stuck out her hand to me and I looked at it for a full five seconds before dragging my eyes to meet hers.
“Have a nice night ladies.” I turned my back to them but not before I saw the pissed look on Amber’s face as they walked away and smiled to myself. I looked at Zane, Claire and Logan. “I’d love a drink, how about you guys?”
They all burst out laughing and Zane put his hand on my knee and gave me a quick kiss.
“I knew you were my kind of girl. She was rude and I was going to say something, but I saw that you had it covered.”
Claire looked at Logan. “Who were those girls anyway?”
He waved it off. “Just some girls who hang out at the bar. We’ve seen them a few times.”
Claire’s gaze was steady as she questioned him. “They sure seemed overly friendly toward you guys. Ex-girlfriends?”
He seemed to be annoyed by her question. “No, Claire, I told you we know them from the bar.”
Claire pouted as she sat there, I mean full on pouting like a child, and Logan’s tone softened.
“Baby, you have nothing to worry about. Chicks come up to us all the time, it’s been happening for yea
rs. We have to be nice to our fans because without them we’re nothing, but I don’t want anyone but you. You believe me, don’t you?”
His eyes were sincere as he held her gaze and I felt like I was intruding on a private moment between those two, so I turned to Zane who was checking his phone.
“Did your little girlfriend send you a text?” My tone was teasing and he cracked that sexy smile at me.
“No way. Our manager sent me a list of tour dates.”
“Tour dates? Like out of town?”
“Yep.”
I looked at the ground and then looked up at him, trying to hide how bummed I felt. “You guys just came back.”
“I know, but it’s part of the gig. We won’t be gone long this time, just a couple weeks.”
My heart sank. A couple weeks? I was going to miss him like crazy.
“How often are you guys out of town? What’s the norm?”
“It depends, I’d say we’re on the road 60% of the time, but Abby, I make time for the things and people I want to make time for. We’re not usually gone for more than a month at a time. The average is probably 4 to 5 days.”
That’s not so bad, I can deal with that.
"Oh, okay, well that's not so bad. So what is it that you guys want from this whole thing? Are you looking to be the next Coldplay?”
"We've had some interest from a few record companies but nothing really serious yet. Yeah, we would love to have that kind of success, but we also love what we do. So, to answer your question, of course we would love to be as big as Coldplay and be able to make good money doing what we love, but we’re pretty happy with where we are right now, too. Our time is coming, I just know it. I really do feel that it’s going to happen for us one day.”
I gently held his face in my hands. “I believe it too, you guys are extremely talented.”
Even though I meant the words, I felt a twinge of dread in the back of my mind that reminded me my dad was not going to like his situation one bit. It sounded like Zane was content being a part-time bartender and a singer in a band which he hoped would one day make it big. His story was almost an exact repeat of Jeremy’s story and my dad would never approve. I did my best to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach and tried to focus on how great it felt to be with him.
I could see the appreciation in his eyes as he smiled at me and then gave me a soft peck on the lips. “Thank you for that.”
I was so caught up in us I completely forgot that Claire and Logan were sitting a couple of feet away from us. I glanced over at them and their faces were so close to each other I don’t think they knew we were there. Zane looked over at them, glanced at me and smiled before sliding his gaze back over to them.
“Hey, lovebirds, remember us?”
Claire giggled and looked at us with a sheepish grin on her face.
“Sorry, you guys.”
We all stayed there for a couple of hours and then we had to say goodbye to the guys. Claire and I had early rehearsal the next day so we couldn’t stay out too late, even though we both wanted to. Zane and Logan walked us out to get a cab and as Logan was saying goodbye to Claire, Zane gently held my face in his hands and his eyes searched mine.
“I had such an amazing time with you tonight, Abby. I’ll give you a call tomorrow night, okay?”
I smiled and nodded, my words caught in my throat as I marveled at how gorgeous he was under the New York City street lights. He leaned down to me and I wanted to melt into him as his lips touched mine. His tongue slid over mine and my fingers raked through his hair as I pressed my body closer to his. I didn’t care that we were giving passersby a show because all I could think about was how good it felt to be held and kissed by Zane. In that moment, he was my everything.
Chapter 3
Claire and I weren’t able to make the band’s performance that Thursday because we were at the dance studio until well after 1:00 a.m., but since Zane was working at the bar the next night, I decided to surprise him and go say hi. I thought it would be nice to do that because I hadn’t seen him all week and I missed him. Claire had a date with Logan that night so I went to the bar solo around 11:00 p.m., excited to see Zane.
It was super crowded and it took a while for me to spot Zane, but I eventually saw him busily pouring drinks for a group of girls who were leaning against the crowded bar. Since there was literally no room at the bar I couldn’t go over there just yet, so I decided to walk around and check out the place. I didn’t see very much of it on Sunday so I took my time walking around. The space was pretty big so I was surprised that there was only one bar. They could have easily fit another bar on the other side of the room and then I realized that must be where there put a stage. As I was walking back over to see Zane, a sleezy guy blocked my path and gave me what I could only assume was what he thought was his sexy face.
“You are simply gorgeous, can I buy you a drink, sweetheart?”
I tried really hard not to roll my eyes at him, but I don’t think I was successful. I plastered on a fake smile and stepped around him.
“No thanks.”
He reached out to stop me and tried to pull me back to him, and I felt my body instantly stiffen.
I looked down at his hand that was holding my arm and slowly raised my eyes to his, daggers shooting out of my eyes.
“If you don’t want to lose that hand, you better let go of me right now.”
His hand dropped away and he raised them in the ‘hands off’ position.
“Easy darlin’, I mean no harm. You might want to lighten up a bit.”
For some reason he really annoyed me. “You might want to listen when a woman says ‘no thanks’.” I spun on my heel and headed over to the bar. I hated when guys like that approached me.
I shimmied my way in between two guys near the end of the bar and when they saw who was trying to squeeze her way in, they smiled and made room for me. It really amazed me sometimes what I could get away with because I was a pretty girl. I smiled at them and my smile quickly faded as I saw a gorgeous blonde at the other end of the bar whispering something in Zane’s ear. I could tell she wasn’t ordering a drink because they were both grinning ear to ear and she was in his ear way too long. I decided to back away so he wouldn’t see me and I stood in a dark corner for a few minutes watching them.
He was really busy taking orders and making drinks but I saw him look over at her periodically and wink at her, and she was flirting back like crazy. A wave of sadness fell over me as I watched them. How I could have been so stupid to think that he didn’t have other girls? I watched them for about 20 minutes and she didn’t move from her spot. Zane was swamped but he always made time to glance at her or wink at her. My sadness turned to anger as I thought about the time we had spent together over the past couple of weeks and all of the things he’d said to me, and instead of leaving I decided that I was going to confront him.
I marched over to the bar and slid in right next to blondie. I wanted Zane to see me and know that I had seen him flirting with her. I could feel her eyes boring into me as I made room for myself, but I ignored her as I waited for Zane to look in my direction. He handed a guy his drinks then came to the end of the bar and bent down to wipe his hands on a towel, then glanced up at me and did a double take. He nervously looked at the girl next to me and then smiled at me and kissed me on the lips.
“Hey, what a nice surprise! I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” I motioned to the girl next to me without looking at her. “Who is your friend?”
Someone yelled for him at the other end of the bar because the other bartender was swamped.
“Be right back!”
He dashed down to other end of the crowded bar and blondie turned to me.
“I’m Kelly by the way, since you asked Zane. Are you a friend of his?”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Are you?”
“Yeah, we’re friends. We’ve been out a couple of times.”
I
knew it! “Oh really, how long ago was this?”
She seemed a little taken aback by my tone but I didn’t care.
“A little over a month ago. I stopped in tonight to say hi since I haven’t seen him in a while. Is there something going on with you two?”
I turned to her and squared my shoulders as I raised one eyebrow. “As a matter of fact, there is.”
“I thought so. Let me guess, you guys met about three weeks ago, right?”
My pissed-offness started to subside because I wanted to see where she was going with this.