Chapter 6
Ignoring you – a skill Jett excels in
Jett
W here are you?
I ignore Aurora’s message. The same way I’ve been ignoring the messages from the band’s manager, Mike, for the past hour as I drive from Denver to Winter Falls.
This fan appreciation day is the perfect way to avoid Aurora. I probably should have woken her up before I left but she knows me. I’m not the kind of guy who stays.
I’m also not the kind of guy who sleeps in the same bed with a woman after having sex with her. But I couldn’t help myself. Feeling Aurora’s curves against my body was heaven. I’ve never slept as well as I did with her in my arms.
The driver pulls to a stop in the alley behind Bertie’s Recording Studio. I reach for the door, but he stops me.
“Let me check the area first.”
I scowl. “This is Winter Falls. Nothing bad happens here.”
“There are over a hundred fans waiting to meet you,” he reminds me.
Fine. I flick my hand for him to go ahead and do his thing.
He returns a few minutes later and knocks on the window. “You’re all clear if you aim directly for the back door.”
Despite his words, he accompanies me to the back door and through the studio until we reach the sound room. The door to the live room where my bandmates are waiting is open, and Mike is bitching at the band.
“Love has ruined all of you,” he mutters.
“Love hasn’t ruined me,” I declare as I saunter into the room.
Gibson, the rhythm guitarist for Cash & the Sinners and my best friend, rushes to me. “Where have you been?”
He slaps me on the back and I wince.
“Are you hurt? I told you the surfing competition wasn’t a good idea.”
I smirk. “It wasn’t a good idea. It was an excellent idea.”
He rolls his eyes. “Did you finally find a woman to lower her standards for you?”
“Don’t be jealous I’m winning.”
Gibson and I have a bet going about who can sleep with the most women. Even though Gibson stopped sleeping around when he met Mercy, he’s winning. He can get a woman to drop her panties in two seconds flat.
And I haven’t been sleeping around as much as I pretend. Not when there’s only one woman, I want to bury myself in. I shove those thoughts away. Aurora and I had our fling. It’s over. I don’t do permanent, and she’s got wife-material written all over her.
“What the hell, Jett?” Cash asks. “We were worried about you.” Cash is the lead singer for Cash & the Sinners. The name kind of gives it away.
“With good reason.” Dylan waves toward my head. Dylan is the lead guitarist for the band. He’s also the peacemaker. It’s funny he thinks he can stop us from causing hell. His efforts only make me want to cause more trouble.
Gibson steps closer to study my face. “What the hell happened? And why didn’t you contact us?”
I waggle my eyebrows. “I had company.” And I didn’t want them to give me a hard time about getting hurt yet again. Getting hurt is my superpower.
Gibson crosses his arms over his chest and glares at me. “You still should have contacted us.”
“It was fine. One night in the hospital was all.”
“You were in the hospital and didn’t let us know? What the hell, Jett? I’m your emergency contact. I should have been informed.”
Aurora is actually my emergency contact, but I don’t want to bring her name up. They don’t need to know what Aurora and I got up to. Since they’ve all fallen in love – gag – they’ve become matchmakers. Nobody’s matchmaking me.
“Do I need to repeat myself? I wasn’t alone.”
Fender grunts. Fender is the bass player for the band. He’s also in competition for the grumpiest person alive. Love has mellowed him somewhat but he’s still a grump.
“What happened?” Dylan asks.
“I hit my head.”
He sighs. “I can see you hit your head. How did it happen?”
“I fell while surfing. I got a new scar and a concussion as a participation prize.”
“Are you trying to break the record on how many concussions a person can get?” Gibson asks.
“Nah. I don’t play football.”
“If you’re done gossiping, can we start the meet and greet?” Mike checks his watch. “Which is now officially thirty minutes off schedule.”
“I thought Aurora was the one who had a hard-on for schedules,” Gibson jokes.
Aurora . Damn it. I really screwed things up with her. I wish I could be what she needs. But I can’t. There are no picket fences in my future. And there certainly won’t be any children. I don’t know how to be a dad.
Mike ushers us forward and we line up behind him. We walk through the sound room. “Ready?” He doesn’t wait for an answer before opening the door.
Immediately the crowd starts to chant. Sinners! Sinners! Sinners!
I throw my hands in the air in the sign of the devil’s horn. “Who’s ready to meet and greet me?”
Women rush toward me and the security team forms a circle around me to protect me from being crushed.
“Shouldn’t you take it easy after your concussion?” Gibson shouts.
A woman bats her eyelashes at me. “I can take care of you. I’m a nurse.”
I ignore the gurgle of disgust at the idea of any woman other than Aurora touching me and waggle my eyebrows. “I always did enjoy playing doctor.”
I spend the next 90 minutes pretending not to be repulsed by the idea of touching another woman while signing autographs on all parts of women’s bodies.
I glance over at Gibson and notice he has his hands raised as he steps away from a fan who’s eating him with her eyes. “Not interested.”
“He’s boring now because he has a girlfriend,” I holler over at them.
Naturally, the press hears. The paparazzi aren’t allowed at our meet and greets but there’s other press in attendance to document the day on social media and in news stories. They begin to bombard Gibson with questions.
“You have a girlfriend?”
“Who is she?”
“Does she live in Winter Falls?”
I should have kept my big mouth shut. I know better than to give the press information about our private lives. I’m an asshole.
Mike claps his hands to gain everyone’s attention. “The band members will not be entertaining personal questions today.”
This is new. Normally, Mike jumps at the chance to use our personal issues to gain press coverage. And he doesn’t bother to contain his glee either.
I go to stand with the band who have gathered around Gibson.
“I spoke to him this morning,” Cash mutters. “We don’t need a repeat of what happened with Virginia.”
Virginia is Dylan’s fiancée. She’s also a shy librarian. When the paps surrounded her, she had a panic attack.
“Or Leia,” Fender grumbles.
He has nothing to worry about. His fiancée wasn’t intimidated by the paps. She chased them out of town with a shovel.
A reporter points at my forehead. “Can we ask how he got the new scar?”
I grin. They can ask me questions about my injury all day long. Anything to get their attention off the women my bandmates have fallen in love with. Those women are part of our family and need to be protected.
“You noticed? How sweet.”
“What happened?” Another reporter shouts.
“All I can say is you can’t fight off a shark with a punch to the nose. It’s an urban legend.”
“You fought with a shark?”
I shrug. “I’m sworn to secrecy.”
Gibson chuckles. “Did the shark make you sign an NDA?”
“They’re called sharks for a reason.”
The DJ from the radio station out of Denver sponsoring today’s event stands on a table to gain everyone’s attention. “I hope you enjoyed the first portion of today’s event. If everyone will proceed to the door, the limos are ready to drive us to lunch.”
We retreat to the recording studio while the fans and press leave.
Gibson sighs in relief. “I’m glad we’re done.”
I scowl at him. “You used to enjoy these events. But since you’ve been dating Mercy, you’re boring.”
“I’m not boring for not wanting to sign a woman’s pubic.”
It takes effort but I keep my scowl on my face. I don’t want my bandmates to realize I’m not as excited about the female fans as I pretend to be. If they sniff out my obsession with Aurora, they’ll nag me until I give a relationship with her a try.
They don’t understand. I can never be in a relationship with a woman.