Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
He’s paying me. He believes in me . Thea had never felt quite like this.
People said happiness was like walking on water, but she felt like she walked inside the gooey, warm bubbles of a lava lamp. Or maybe that was just the sensation of a part of her melting.
The self-doubt part of her heard her parents repeatedly tell her to “be realistic” in what she asked for in life so she wouldn’t be “disappointed.” Funny how she—the deaf daughter—was the only child in the family to receive that logical speech.
Draven thinks I can do it. Draven wants to help me do it .
She floated around the apartment, packing up makeup that she bought from the store in preparation for tonight’s Halloween show.
“ Wait, you mean the Halloween concert at Judas Maximo’s mansion ?” Mallory texted in her friend group chat after Thea typed out her recent exciting news.
“ Judas Maximo of Maximillian Records?!? ” Fifi messaged back.
Wait, what? Thea’s breath caught in her throat. She thought Draven’s band was just performing a nonchalant “gig” at one of his favorite bars the way the band sometimes did between world tours. A no-pressure, “for fun” gig.
She was going to do horror monster makeup on the famous band Medusa’s Tears of Maximillian Records in front of the infamous Judas Maximo and all of his A-lister guests? Wasn’t Judas Maximo friends with Hollywood’s most renowned, well-known directors, producers, actors and actresses?
Shit , she cursed to herself. I totally cheaped out on the Halloween makeup .
“ I didn’t realize that was what it was. ” Thea texted, “ Guys, I’m not ready for this. Oh God, I’m going to crash and burn .”
“ Stop, you’ll do great! ” Elisa texted.
“ Elisa ,” Thea messaged back. “ You only use exclamation points when you’re lying about something .”
“ I do not! ”
Thea dropped her face into her palms and groaned.
Mallory tried to comfort her. “ Thea, you are a natural artist. Remember all those paintings you did in college? You want to do this because you’re good at it. It’s more than a passion you’re trying to pick up. You already have the talent .”
“ It’s been inside you the whole time! ” Elisa added.
Mallory texted, “ Elisa, stop using exclamation points. You’re freaking out Thea .”
“ Sorry! ”
“ Dude, calm down ,” Fifi messaged. “ At minimum, just put some eyeliner on the guys. At most, cover their sexy faces until they are completely unrecognizable and look like freaky badass monsters .”
“ What if I accidentally poke one of them in the eye with eyeliner? And then they lose sight and quit the band forever ?” Thea texted.
“ Oh geez, she’s spiraling ,” Mallory replied. “ Thea, this will be amazing exposure. You could meet someone important in the movie industry tonight and literally show them your talent! ”
“ Yeah! ” Elisa added.
“ Elisa, what did I say about the exclamation points ?” Mallory wrote. “ Thea, offering to do Halloween makeup on the guys for this show was a genius idea .”
“ Draven’s the one who offered. He hired me .”
Elisa texted, “ Yeah, he did! ”
“ Elisa! ”
Thea put her phone down and gazed longingly at Draven’s bedroom door. He had been in there for nearly two hours without coming out. She sat on the couch in the living room, trying to act like she wasn’t waiting to see him and absorb more of his self-confidence and faith in her.
She blinked at her sudden realization. He makes me feel good about myself .
After five more minutes of nerves and daydreams of Judas Maximo kicking her out of his mansion after she accidentally ruined the entire Halloween party, Thea strode to Draven’s bedroom and knocked.
The door opened to reveal a smooth, chiseled chest near eye level. Draven had not been his usual shirtless self around the apartment over the last two days. Her retinas had missed this magnificent sight. She nearly wept at the tantalizing beauty before her.
He smirked at her, shaking out his shoulder-length black hair and running a hand through it. The tattoo under his upper arm flexed and called out to Thea.
Delicious man .
Draven pointed to her, then he flattened his hands to his chest and made upward circular motions, signing, “ Are you excited ?”
Her heart pittered and pattered all over the place. He is still learning sign language . She signed, “ I’m nervous .”
He watched her hands and expression closely, nodding like he understood her. How much more sign language does he plan to learn ? She wanted to know.
He turned to grab a notepad and a pen from his bed stand to write, “ Thea, you’ll do great. Those bruises you did yesterday gave me nightmares .”
She scoffed out an awkward, nervous laugh. He handed her the pad and pen. “ That’s because you’re a scared-y cat ,” she shot back with a grin so playful that it felt like a time portal to elementary school recess.
Instead of appearing amused, a sad smile curved his mouth as he reached out and dragged his thumb over the middle of her chin. She exhaled, her lungs clocking out for their lunch break as she struggled to breathe under his touch.
He let his arm drop, and he took the pad and pen to write. “ When I thought you were really hurt, I was terrified .” Then, he added, “ And so damn pissed, I could have murdered anyone who dared to touch you .”
There goes my heart , she thought. Pitter pattering . Melting and slacking on its vital function of simply pumping blood . The man was affecting her crucial organs.
“ I know you’re nervous about tonight, but it’ll be great. Don’t worry ,” he wrote.
She took the notepad from him, holding it in one shaky hand as she hastily wrote, “ What if I stab one of you guys in the eye with eyeliner or something? What if I make you all look ridiculous? What if —”
He pulled the pad from her, shaking his head. She hugged herself as the self-doubt wrung her stomach.
Draven ushered her forward, wrapping his arms around her and holding her to his chest. His wide, warm palm rubbed circles on her back, soothing her and turning her on simultaneously. His smell. Pure man.
She assumed he cooed to her, shh ing her concerns because she felt his breath fluttering pieces of hair against the side of her neck. Those lips brushed the spot she wished he would kiss.
He pressed their foreheads together once more, blanking her thoughts, before he wrote, “ You really think you’ll stab one of them in the eye? ”
She bit her lip, hoping the band had good optical insurance.
He tsked her nerves and patted her head to comfort her as he wrote, “ You’ll do Wren’s makeup first .”
* * *
“What the Hell? I did not agree to this,” Tomi griped as Thea brushed more black and white liquid over his jawline and mouth.
“Shut up, you’re going to look badass,” Draven replied.
His annoyance spiked as his band members did not sit down with utter enthusiasm for Thea to paint their faces. If these assholes make her question whether she is doing a good job, I will kill them .
Draven added, “She is making our lead singer have stitched lips. It’s ironic and awesome. She is a freaking genius.”
Wren, Tomi, and Yin all stared at Draven as Thea jittered around, perfecting each line she created like the artist she was. Unable to hear the griping, Thea was completely ignorant to the fact that the band whined about Draven agreeing to cover their faces in makeup for the Halloween show.
“She’s going to make me look like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas ,” Tomi complained.
“Yeah, and you’re going to fucking like it,” Draven said.
Wren pointed to his face. “She gave me diamond clown eyes.”
“So?”
“So, she knows Mal is terrified of clowns! The second she sees me, she might burst into tears.”
Draven’s eyes widened before he burst into laughter. His chest shook with it. Warmth and amusement tainted his airways until all he could do when he caught his breath was stupidly grin at Thea like she was the best thing he had ever seen. “God, she is hilarious.”
When he refocused on his band, they all stared at him again in that “ what the hell is going on ” way.
“I don’t care what you say, Draven,” Yin remarked. “She will not—I repeat—she will not put eyeliner on me.”
“You assholes are lucky she can’t hear you,” Draven said, his tone sharp enough to be lethal. “If any of you make her frown tonight, I will draw a dick on your face in permanent marker and record you having to explain to your wife and kids why your face looks like genitalia. I will then play that recording at your funeral.”
Yin pointed out, “Drave, the only reason you’re not complaining too is because she made you look like a badass tiger.”
Draven pursed his lips but couldn’t deny it.
On the drive to Maximo’s mansion for the party, Thea had sketched ideas for each band member on her notepad and written to him, “ You’re going to be a tiger .” When he asked why, she had blown out a breath and written, “ Because you remind me of a tiger .” What the heck did that mean? Hopefully, something good.
He had asked aloud, “Do you find tigers sexy, you Lion-King-loving minx?” Even though she could not hear him, she smiled at him as if she trusted, based on his lips moving, that he had said something fun. Something playful. He wanted to say something downright dirty when she kept staring at his lips.
Like telling her how good she looked in her Halloween costume.
Tight black leggings cased her legs and looked like fake leather pants. Her upper arm sported a fake tattoo. She wore a T-shirt that had a printed graphic of muscular, masculine abs down her torso. Her dark hair was slicked back into a ponytail, but from the neck down, she was supposed to be “Draven the drummer.”
Gone were her modest, pastel dresses. Thea was dressed as Draven in faux black leather pants.
Upon first seeing her, Draven’s chest felt like a tight balloon without the capacity for more air. Could anything else fill him up more than watching her giggle to herself as she modeled the costume and attempted to copy Draven’s well-known smirk?
Playful and sexy. The combination that brought a man like Draven to his knees—or maybe just kicked his legs right out from under him until he laid, stunned, on his back.
“Great, he zoned out, staring at her leather pants again,” one of the guys said, causing Draven to blink and refocus on his current surroundings.
“They’re fake leather,” Draven replied, giving a good, long look at the way the fabric clung to her thighs and ass as she bent over Tomi while she worked. “Because she cares about animals and the environment,” he added proudly.
Tomi rolled his eyes. Thea caught this and stepped back, pausing in her task. She glanced around the group of men, and everyone flashed her fake, wide smiles, full of teeth. She nodded politely, smiling to herself, and went back to applying makeup to Tomi.
“What part of off-limits do you not understand, Draven?” Wren growled from his seat next to Yin. “Stop staring at her ass.”
“How am I supposed to not stare at an ass that perfect?” Draven snorted but became serious. “But if I catch any of you staring at her perfect ass, I’ll poke out your eyes with her eyeliner.”
Wren shook his head and warned, “We talked about this. She was supposed to live with you, and you would not try to hook up with her. You promised.”
“I had two fingers crossed behind my back when I promised that.”
Red-faced and frustrated, Wren threw his arms up in the air.
Tomi came to Draven’s defense. “In all fairness, you should know by now to check his back when he makes promises.”
“Draven,” Wren continued, “You aren’t her type. And she’s not your type.”
Yin snorted.
“What?” Wren asked.
“Does no one remember Serene Santiago from college?” Yin asked the group. “The girl with two binders for each class, five pens, wore sundresses, and pearl earrings? Draven drooled over her for three years.”
“So?”
“So, Thea is exactly Draven’s type,” Yin stated.
Wren frowned. “What? Prim and proper? The good girl stereotype he can corrupt?”
Yin’s eyebrows furrowed and his lips curved down as he addressed Wren. “No. Serene Santiago was more than just prim and proper. Women have layers . She was in a comedy club, did improv and standup, and was hilarious. Draven’s type is a good girl in the worksheets, an absolute goofball on the streets, and I would assume a freak in the sheets, but that’s more for Draven to clarify.”
“Thea is my future wife’s best friend,” Wren grated. “Even if he actually liked her, we all know how it would end. In tears and heartbreak. And Mallory would murder anyone who hurt Thea.”
“What if I didn’t hurt her?” Draven asked.
Wren scoffed. “What if? Great choice of words, man.” Wren stood to approach Draven, who also stood from his seat. Wren over-punctuated each word as he said, “Don’t. Fuck. This. Woman.”
“I wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want me to do.”
Wren snarled. “If you hurt her in any way, I’m going to have to choose.”
Pain. An emotional sucker punch. “What the hell does that mean?” Draven asked, voice wavering. “If Mal asks you to kick me out of the band, you will?”
A little too calmly, Wren crossed his arms and stared at Draven. “Tell me right now if you think Thea is the one. Tell me you know for sure that your attraction to her isn’t just because I told you she’s off-limits.”
“You can’t kick me out of the band over a woman,” Draven shouted, caught up in the feeling of betrayal.
“Wrong answer.” Wren’s words turned everything around them to stone as he said, “Judas told me you were asking for more money. Why? Is it drugs, Draven? Are you hooked on something?”
Draven’s mind blew into a nuclear mushroom cloud. “Ex- fucking -cuse me?” His friend found out Draven asked for a raise, and his first thought was drugs ?
It’s like they don’t even know me anymore. Like I’m a caricature to them .
Wren stabbed a finger to Draven’s chest. “Stay away from Thea. She doesn’t need to get her heart broken by some drummer who can’t survive a year off the last million he made on tour.”
Without waiting to hear Draven out, Wren stomped out of the room and into the hall, where he was sure to be mobbed by celebrities who were obsessed with his music and maybe even some groupies, depending on how well Maximo’s security team was.
Draven silently gaped, opening and closing his mouth for several seconds. He turned to Tomi and Yin. “You guys know I don’t do drugs, right?”
Yin waved off his concern. “We know.”
“What did I do that made Wren crawl up my ass these last few years?”
“I’d say it’s the hookups,” Tomi said. “Once he had Armie and he saw what a manwhore you were, he started getting on your case. Having a daughter changes a man.”
“I sleep around just as much as you guys did before you found your wives.”
“Look, we’re not judging you, Draven, but you’ve never actually had a long-term, serious relationship,” Tomi said. “Even if you like Thea, the fact that she is Wren’s soon-to-be wife’s best friend means you should keep your distance.”
Draven ran his fingers through his hair, roughly gripping and pulling the strands. “He threatened to kick me out of the band. A band I helped build. ”
“Judas has been whispering in his ear the last few years,” Yin shared.
Judas Maximo . Owning his band was not enough for the bastard; he had to control it, too. That asshole thinks of everyone as his personal puppets .
“Apparently, Maximo’s newest kick is telling Wren about how he could find a more ‘manageable’ drummer for Medusa’s Tears.”
Draven’s mouth opened so wide, a fist could have fit into it. It already felt like he was choking around one. “Maximo hates me that much?”
“You shouldn’t have slept with his assistant, dude,” Tomi said, shaking his head, which caused Thea to tsk and flick his cheek, making him stay still for her to do the finishing touches on the makeup.
Draven remarked, “I didn’t know she was his assistant!”
“I’m just saying, make sure you don’t cross the line with Thea. You two can be friends, but if you sleep with her—if she cries to Mal about you—God help you.”
Yin added, “Wren has been a groomzilla planning this wedding. You’ve never seen a man more anxious to get a marriage certificate and gold ring on a woman. Any minor thing that could mess with Mal and him might make him blow.”
“What if she wants me? I’m supposed to just tell her no?”
Tomi rolled his eyes again. “Yes, Draven. If she—for some reason—decides to sleep with you, you keep your dick in your pants and say ‘ no .’”
Wide-eyed, Draven stared at Tomi and Yin, shocked that both felt so strongly about the subject. Then, he looked back at Thea, who pushed a stray lock of chestnut hair behind her ear. She licked her red lips as she worked, seeming to zone everything else out.
He liked that about her. The intensity and passion of granting one hundred percent of her focus on one thing at a time. He liked it when that potent attention was on him.
Just friends . Right.
Unable to stop himself, his gaze fell back down to her perfect, black legging-sculpted ass.
One of his bandmates grunted. “He’s screwed.”