I looked at him puzzled. “Work babe!”
“Oh, Nah, that’s okay?” I fidgeted nervously, highly ashamed that he had witnessed my earlier behaviour.
His head cocked to one side. “…Yes thank you Jax!” he encouraged with a lift of his eyebrows, referring to our conversation Saturday night.
A small smile lifted my lips. “Yes thank you Jax” I rephrased. He smiled and winked before turning towards the kitchen and returned with his keys. His head nudged to the door, a gesture we should leave now.
“E” Cam’s hand settled on my arm “You think you should go in tonight?”
I smiled back at him, trying to reassure him with a simple gesture “I’m okay.” He frowned but nodded.
“I’m not late” I growled at Jax, who was currently trying to display how fast his car could move. He glanced at me with a puzzled expression. “Slow down” I encouraged quietly.
He shrugged but lifted his foot off the accelerator slightly.
“You get many?” he suddenly asked and I shrugged. “Clue me in babe” I retorted cheekily.
“Panic attacks babe” he clarified, either disregarding my sassy imitation or it didn’t register “Cam said…panic attack.”
I gave him a bewildered glance before I realised Cam had covered for me again.
“Oh.”
I shifted my gaze out of the window “A few.”
Silence filled the car for a few moments as he pulled up in front of Z Bar. I turned to him with a forced smile “Thanks.”
His fingers curled around my arm as I went to open the door, my eyes rose to his and he floored me with his intense look. Locking on, he held me immobile for a few moments before he spoke and I closed my eyes in horror.
“My Father used to have a problem. Had terrible cravings E, racked his whole body when the tremors started. Couldn’t breathe.” His rough tones filtered through the dense heat of the car.
I pulled my bottom lip behind my teeth and swallowed heavily. I needed to get out of the car, the air was rapidly disappearing but he refused to release his hold.
“I know it’s not drugs babe, so what is it?”
I shook my head, keeping my eyes closed tightly. I couldn’t see him so he couldn’t see me, that’s how it works right?
“Please” I begged on a hoarse whisper.
After a heartbeat his fingers relaxed their hold on my arm but they grasped my jaw and he turned my face towards his. I could feel his breath breeze across my cheek.
“Open your eyes babe” his voice no more than a rough growl and the emotion in those four words stole my breath.
I did as he asked and opened them, gasping as I found his near black iris’s.
“Life is what we’re given to live E. Own it, use it, work it babe. Make it what you want it to be.”
I frowned at him. His eyes tracked his thumb as he brushed it across my bottom lip, releasing it from my teeth as he did so.
“Don’t bite your lip babe. Makes me wanna do things to you that I think maybe you don’t want me to do…yet”
A breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding escaped my lungs in a swift gush and he smirked as he pulled back.
I practically fell out of the car, my heels not very supportive of my unsteady legs as I struggled to walk into the bar.
“Hey E” Rachel, the afternoon bar attendant greeted.
She frowned and tipped her head “You okay girl?”
Shaking myself off, I nodded and smiled “Yeah, tired.” She nodded in agreement “Yeah, first day of classes is always hard.”
Nodding in agreement I noticed Austin sat at a solitary table at the back of the room. “How long’s he been here?” I asked Rach as I indicated who I meant with a tip of my head.
“Good Few hours. To be honest he’s giving me the creeps. Keeps staring at me. Makes me appreciate how busy it is tonight.”
I nodded in agreement as I scanned the room “God, where did they all come from?” Each and every table in the room was occupied and I smiled brightly as I caught the members of Room 103 sat at their usual table in the corner.
“Spanner!” Romeo shouted in greeting. I lifted my hand and grinned.
Boss bounced up, his ever present energy feeding the room “Get us a beer hot stuff.”
I was already on it, popping the cap off his regular beverage. He grinned as I passed it him and handed me the cash “Keep the change baby.”
Fran appeared beside him and I noticed his slight stiffness on her approach. “Fran” he greeted blandly. She tipped her head and smiled at him “Where’s Jax?”
“Home” was all he said. She nodded and left. I ignored the slight clench in my chest now I knew where she was headed.
“I take it she’s not your favourite person?” I chuckled as he faked a gag “Fuck no, can’t stand the bitch. Shark with tits!”
I laughed loudly at his description and he grinned at me “That’s better hot stuff; you seem a bit down tonight.” I scrunched up my nose and shook my head “I’m good.”
He nodded and then reached across the bar and planted a tender kiss on my cheek. I regarded him with warm bewilderment. He just shrugged, a slight red tinge on his neck, and beamed at me happily then returned to the others.
He was growing on me.
***
Walking across the village after my shift, I was chuckling to myself when a group of drunken lads were rocketing down the driveway on a shop storage cage singing what seemed to be a football chant, when a hand gripped my shoulder.
Squealing loudly I spun round to stumble upon Austin.
Jeez this guy was weird.
“You okay love?” One of the drunken lads shouted and I raised my hand in confirmation, smiling at his chivalry.
“Walking back?” he asked and I frowned at the question. It was pretty obvious where I was headed but I gave him a smile and nod, just to be polite. “How you settling in Austin?”
He shrugged and pulled a grimace “Okay, I suppose.”
He seemed to be a bit of a loner. I had never seen him with any friends or come to think of it….anybody. “Next time you’re on your own in the bar, grab a stool and talk to me” I suggested.
He looked at me and smiled at my offer. I noticed the faint glimmer in his eyes and I felt a little sad for him. “It’s hard isn’t it?”
He nodded, understanding what I was talking about “I’m lucky really. I have Luce and my brothers so…”
“I just…miss…” he didn’t finish, looked as though he couldn’t and I rested a hand on his arm “You left a special someone behind?”
His face tightened severely as his eyes darkened “Not someone worth a fuck!”
His abrupt change of mood prickled at my senses. He seemed to immediately be angry and the fury he was radiating made my alarm bells ring.
“Fucking bitch doesn’t deserve to reside in my fucked up head” he actually spat as he snarled.
Okayyyyy!!!
“Right” I nodded; thankful we had reached our dorm.
His face spun round to me so quickly I actually thought it was going to snap his neck, his eyes narrowed and I noticed his knuckles were tight against his clenched fist. “You know you shouldn’t really be out alone E, some real bad people about…”
His tone sent a shiver down my spine. I didn’t know whether to take his statement as a warning or advice. I just nodded, simply nodded.
Oh, and I may have involuntary wet my knickers!
CHAPTER 7
The week passed in a blur of lectures and ever mounting essays and as my shift Saturday night came around, I was lagging.
We were packed out again, the atmosphere in the crowd reached fever pitch by the time Room 103 began their performance and Trish and I were struggling to keep up with the demand.
Austin had took my word literally and perched on one of the stools but as the night progressed and it got busier, the less I managed to talk to him the more his demeanour seemed to grow darker.
Trish k
ept shooting me a concerned look as Austin refused to remove his stern glare from me. I just kept giving him apologetic smiles, hoping to mollify him but I grew anxious as he drank more and seethed a little more.
“How we all doing?” Jax’s voice filled the room “We fucking good?”
The crowd roared in reply and Jax nodded.
“I want to change tonight’s sequence a little” The horde cheered their approval and I cringed when Jax’s face rotated to mine with a shrewd grin.
Oh Shit!
“I have a little something to share with you all.”
I started to back away, my intuition telling me that I wasn’t going to like what he was going to do.
“I had the pleasure of spending a few hours in E’s company and you know what Guy’s…”
“WHAT!!!” the mass chanted.
Jax beamed widely and pointed his finger at me. All heads rotated in my direction “…that fucking girl…CAN FUCKING SING!!!”
I groaned.
The crowd cheered.
Trish whistled.
“E! Get that hot little ass up here babe.”
I shook my head and glared at him. His lips lifted into a mischievous grin as he stomped his foot on the floor and began a chant.
“E, E, E, E, E…..” the room joined in, and the walls appeared to vibrate with the din.
I soon found myself swooped up by Romeo and hoisted up onto the small stage.
Jax walked over to me and took my hand in his, pulling me into the centre of the platform as the crowd roared with excitement.
“Just give me a reason?” Jax whispered in my ear, his eyes bright and hopeful.
Giving him a slight shrug, Bulk thrust his mic into my hand and I nervously stared out at the mass of people.
Oh Goddd!
I had never sung in front of an audience before and I gulped away the nausea as my stomach groaned with nerves.
Jax’s hand squeezed mine and I gazed up at him. He smiled with a small nod and as the music started I swung round and noticed Bulk had whipped out a keyboard from somewhere.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I came in on time.
“Right from the start,
You were a thief you stole my heart,
And I your willing victim…”
I opened my eyes.
“I let you see the parts of me,
That weren’t all that pretty,
And with every touch you fixed them…”
I relaxed and began to rock my hips to the beat.
“Now you’ve been talking in your sleep,
Oh Oh,
Things you never say to me,
Oh Oh,
Tell me that you’ve had enough,
Of our love, our love…”
Emotion from the song coursed through me and my voice steadied out as I continued and gave it my all. The crowd rocked out, whistling and joining in with the words and when Jax came in he locked my gaze and connected with me as he sang.
By the time the track peaked, we were both singing to each other with so much passion that I struggled to hold the pitch and all too soon it was my lines that finished the song.
“Oh we can learn to love again,
Oh we can learn to love again,
Oh oh,
That we’re not broken just bent,
And we can learn to love again…”
The room was silent when I came to a close and I cringed at the quiet but Jax was grinning widely.
Then… the whole of Z Bar erupted in what I can only explain as pandemonium. The air pulsated, the walls shook and the mass of students approved with a roar of whistles, whoops and chants of “E, E, E, E…”
Pure undiluted energy surged through me, I felt alive…utterly and powerfully euphoric and I turned to Jax. He was laughing and whistling with the throng.
I launched myself at him, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck; he caught me and spun me round.
“Fucking Ace babe.”
His mouth crashed down on mine as he took me in a kiss so passionate and intense that I never even resisted and I kissed him back with as much vigour and hunger. Electricity coursed through me as he deepened his caress and raided my mouth with his tongue, sweeping it over my top teeth as he explored me.
A moan rumbled up my throat as his large hand palmed the nape of my neck and pulled me further in, devouring me thoroughly.
A groan of his own erupted into my mouth and I pulled away suddenly, anxious of the desire swelling in the pit of my stomach.
A coy smile radiated his face “Epic kiss babe.”
I snorted at his choice of words, then smiled, then grinned, then laughed, a full on hearty laugh “You have such a way with words Jax.” I winked and jumped off the stage, struggling to get through the throng of people wanting to compliment or congratulate me.
“Boyfriend?” Austin asked with a growl and a tip of his head towards Jax, when I took my place back behind the bar.
He was really quite scary and something about him was disturbing me wildly.
Shaking my head at his question I took the order from the girl next to him. I recognised her from my stylistics class “Melissa right?”
She nodded and grinned “E!” she smiled with recollection as she pointed her finger at me. I smiled and returned her nod with my own. “V and redbull.”
She glanced at Austin as she gave me her order and I shivered when his eyes scanned the whole of her body. She seemed to nudge towards him and I wasn’t sure if I was grateful she was diverting his attention from me or if I was worried for her. There was just something about him that…
Oh give it up E; he’s probably a great bloke when you get to know him!
Boss sank onto a stool and rested his chin in his hands on the bar, his eyes tracking every move I made. I smiled to myself when he remained silent but continued with his eye stalking.
Eventually relenting, I went over to him “Can I get you something Boss?”
His wide smile made me chuckle. I was really warming to him.
He was like a cheeky big brother and I knew instinctively that underneath all his innuendo that is exactly how he saw me, not saying he would refuse a roll in the sack if I offered though.
“Hot stuff…party at mine. You up for it?”
I lifted a shoulder “I dunno Boss, I’m knackered.”
Romeo settled onto the stool beside him.
“Fucking awesome performance Spanner.”
I smiled my thanks as I popped the caps on their beers and passed them across the counter. “Seriously, you ought to duet one of our songs with Jax. Crowd would love it.”
I shook my head at his offer “Nah, I’m good but thanks” he pursed his lips but hunched his shoulders in resignation.
“I’m trying to convince her to after-party at ours” Boss nudged Romeo. I rolled my eyes.
“Boss, you go on ahead and if after my shift I discover some hidden energy then I will come over” I relented marginally.
He squinted at me “Promise?”
Huffing in frustration I made a cross over my heart with my finger and nodded, before heading to the other side of the bar.
I cocked my head to the side when I realised Austin and Melissa had disappeared.
Must have pulled!
By 2am I was officially worn out and in no mood for a party. My feet ached, my back pulled and my head was pounding so instead of partying, I made my way back to my dorm texting Cam that I wouldn’t be making it after all.
He text back to let me know that Luce and Kaylee were at his and that the guys were having a barbeque tomorrow afternoon and Boss wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Replying that I would be there, I entered my dorm, changed into the G N’ R T-shirt that I always slept in and fell into bed.
BANG BANG BANG
A muffled “Please stop.”
BANG BANG BANG
“Take it bitch!”
BANG BANG BANG
What the hell?
Jolting upright and rubbing my eyes, I frowned at the sounds coming from the room next to mine.
BANG BANG BANG
“I Ca…can’t…”
BANG BANG BANG
“I said fucking take it…”
I froze as I listened to what was unfolding through the wall, my breath held in my lungs as I frantically tried to work out what was happening.
“Please…Stop…Austin…”
“FUCK!!”
BANG BANG
Then I heard a faint crying.
SHIT!!!
I flung myself out of bed and into the hallway, relieved to see a sleepy Gavin also struggling to make out what was going off in Austin’s room.
“E!” he whispered and I nodded.
“I don’t like the sound of it!”
He nodded in agreement then tiptoed over to Austin’s door, resting his ear against the wood to listen.
His eyes widened before he pulled back and knocked on the door “Austin! That you man?”
I held my breath as I waited for a reply but all was quiet. Gavin knocked again as I noticed Josh’s door open before he appeared in the hallway, sporting just boxers.
Quickly diverting my gaze back to Gavin I cringed as Austin shouted “Fuck off Gav!”
“I don’t like this” Gavin divulged before placing his hand on the door handle. His eyebrows lifted at me in query whether he should open or not.
I nodded, worried now for Melissa.
Slowly pushing open the door I fought with myself whether I wanted to look inside or not but relented and peeked in.
Shocking Heaven Page 5