don’t have time to babysit you, and the fuckers around this bar will be all over you girls.”
“I sure hope so,” Jillian murmured, casting her eyes again in my direction.
Trent looked back over at Justin and me. “You guys need to get on stage.”
“Relax your cacks,” I grumbled over my shoulder as we headed towards the stage, “we’re going.”
“That was close,” Justin said, following me up the stairs. “The fucker had his jeans around his ankles and the chick on her knees.”
“He wasn’t just doing pot back there,” I said. “What the feck is he on?”
“I dunno,” Justin shook his head. “I’ve not seen this chick before, and she had a wide variety of things to choose from. Tried to get me to take something, too, but he was already so fucked that I figured I’d pass.”
As we climbed up on the stage and took our places with instruments in hand, I looked through the lights to see Fliss standing next to Trent like a scolded child. Phoebe was right. Trent was being a dick to her. I hadn’t really seen this side of him before, and it annoyed and worried me. He didn’t even realize what he had in Fliss. Not in the slightest.
As the night wore on, the tension between them remained. I became more and more cheesed off at my ‘ friend’ and the way he treated Fliss, and ended up doing a few shots to take the edge off. Then I did a few more, wishing it was me beside her. Or that I could at least stand up for her without raising suspicion about my true feelings for this girl.
But it got worse when Trent started getting all touchy feely. Apparently, he’d forgiven her for showing up and ruining his fun out back. Or maybe he figured on having her finish the job. Fliss didn’t seem too into it, but clearly tried to get over it. At the very least, she quit pushing him away as he brushed her hair back and started kissing down her neck and shoulder.
She had been watching me sing when he started that, eventually closing her eyes. I wanted to think that she was imagining me there instead of my friend, but it still planted a sickening jealousy in my gut.
When we took another break, Fliss’ friend Jillian all but sprinted across the bar to plant a determined kiss on my lips, and I kissed her back. I was angry and frustrated and envious… and just drunk enough to think she might be able to wipe all those traitorous thoughts from my mind.
So I took everything she gave me. I brought her back to the house, to the after party that Trent and Fliss skipped out on, and I allowed her to distract me from the raw pain I saw in Fliss’ eyes. From the sad longing I’d seen on her face after coming up from Jillian’s kiss in the Copperline Bar.
Present day
Fliss shifted in her sleep, jolting me awake. I’d completely zonked out, and it took a bit to get my bearings, remembering the flight and the visit with my family. I lay there for a while listening to the rain outside and wondering what life had in store for me at this point.
And wondering why fate kept tempting me with Fliss.
The rumble of motorcycles from the street below must have woken her. I could feel the gradual change in her awareness, the careful taking in of her surroundings. She stiffened with a faint indrawn breath, perhaps realizing she wasn’t alone, then rolled to her side away from me and pushed up to sit on the edge of the bed. Her hair seemed to be a thick dark veil around her shoulders, hiding her from me in the gray early morning light.
“How are ya feelin’?” I finally asked.
She looked back over her shoulder at me, her arched brows drawn together, looking vulnerable and despondent. “Why are you in bed with me?” Her voice quavered, making her sound fragile and lonely.
“Not really in bed with you as much as just layin’ here beside ya,” I replied and sat up on the bed. “It was either that or the floor.”
She swallowed and pensively bit her lip. “But why are you here at all?”
Reaching
“I sure hope so,” Jillian murmured, casting her eyes again in my direction.
Trent looked back over at Justin and me. “You guys need to get on stage.”
“Relax your cacks,” I grumbled over my shoulder as we headed towards the stage, “we’re going.”
“That was close,” Justin said, following me up the stairs. “The fucker had his jeans around his ankles and the chick on her knees.”
“He wasn’t just doing pot back there,” I said. “What the feck is he on?”
“I dunno,” Justin shook his head. “I’ve not seen this chick before, and she had a wide variety of things to choose from. Tried to get me to take something, too, but he was already so fucked that I figured I’d pass.”
As we climbed up on the stage and took our places with instruments in hand, I looked through the lights to see Fliss standing next to Trent like a scolded child. Phoebe was right. Trent was being a dick to her. I hadn’t really seen this side of him before, and it annoyed and worried me. He didn’t even realize what he had in Fliss. Not in the slightest.
As the night wore on, the tension between them remained. I became more and more cheesed off at my ‘ friend’ and the way he treated Fliss, and ended up doing a few shots to take the edge off. Then I did a few more, wishing it was me beside her. Or that I could at least stand up for her without raising suspicion about my true feelings for this girl.
But it got worse when Trent started getting all touchy feely. Apparently, he’d forgiven her for showing up and ruining his fun out back. Or maybe he figured on having her finish the job. Fliss didn’t seem too into it, but clearly tried to get over it. At the very least, she quit pushing him away as he brushed her hair back and started kissing down her neck and shoulder.
She had been watching me sing when he started that, eventually closing her eyes. I wanted to think that she was imagining me there instead of my friend, but it still planted a sickening jealousy in my gut.
When we took another break, Fliss’ friend Jillian all but sprinted across the bar to plant a determined kiss on my lips, and I kissed her back. I was angry and frustrated and envious… and just drunk enough to think she might be able to wipe all those traitorous thoughts from my mind.
So I took everything she gave me. I brought her back to the house, to the after party that Trent and Fliss skipped out on, and I allowed her to distract me from the raw pain I saw in Fliss’ eyes. From the sad longing I’d seen on her face after coming up from Jillian’s kiss in the Copperline Bar.
Present day
Fliss shifted in her sleep, jolting me awake. I’d completely zonked out, and it took a bit to get my bearings, remembering the flight and the visit with my family. I lay there for a while listening to the rain outside and wondering what life had in store for me at this point.
And wondering why fate kept tempting me with Fliss.
The rumble of motorcycles from the street below must have woken her. I could feel the gradual change in her awareness, the careful taking in of her surroundings. She stiffened with a faint indrawn breath, perhaps realizing she wasn’t alone, then rolled to her side away from me and pushed up to sit on the edge of the bed. Her hair seemed to be a thick dark veil around her shoulders, hiding her from me in the gray early morning light.
“How are ya feelin’?” I finally asked.
She looked back over her shoulder at me, her arched brows drawn together, looking vulnerable and despondent. “Why are you in bed with me?” Her voice quavered, making her sound fragile and lonely.
“Not really in bed with you as much as just layin’ here beside ya,” I replied and sat up on the bed. “It was either that or the floor.”
She swallowed and pensively bit her lip. “But why are you here at all?”
Reaching
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