Chapter 8
Chester
Twenty minutes later, I hurriedly stepped out of the limo, not waiting for Jenkins to open my door for me.
As I buttoned my suit out on the sidewalk, I noticed the bystanders in line sending curious glances my way.
They were probably wondering who the hell was arriving to a show in a blacked-out limo.
I straightened my suit and nodded a thank-you to Jenkins, ignoring the murmurs of those I approached in line.
I was overdressed in comparison to the jeans and ripped t-shirts I spotted in the river of people wrapped around the venue.
The line went around the club to a back alley, and I had no intention of waiting in it.
Will was already impatient as it was. I could just see him pacing backstage nervously, and didn’t want to make him wait any longer.
I approached the front of the line where a very large bouncer crossed his arms as he eyed me up and down.
I was six feet tall, but he was still a good head taller than me and had quite a bit more weight on him.
He puffed his chest out, but I ignored his intimidation tactic.
These guys were all bark and no bite, and there was nothing they wouldn’t do for a little cash incentive.
I slipped my wallet from my jacket pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill.
His eyes widened slightly and his tough guy facade fell, just as I knew it would.
With a slight smirk, I tucked the bill into his still crossed arms. “Thanks,” I said, walking past him without another word.
I could hear the people behind me cursing and groaning, which made me chuckle.
It wasn’t my fault they couldn’t afford to pay the door guy.
I walked through the club’s small lobby and through the two open doors leading to the dimly lit bar and dance floor, just past that the stage.
To my pleasant surprise, the stage was empty of the loud, horrendous music I had heard over the phone and was now being set up for the next act. Will, I supposed.
I squinted as I peered toward the side stage, pushing my way past people trying to get the best spot for the show.
I tried to get a glimpse of my friend and soon spotted him tuning his guitar just behind the black curtain of the side stage.
I headed for the stairs to the right of the stage and was about to walk up when security stopped me.
Another roided-out dude on a power trip.
I rolled my eyes as he stepped in front of me, arms crossed.
“Talent only,” he said gruffly.
“I’m with the talent,” I said impatiently. I was about to slide out another hundred, although I was growing tired of handing these lowlifes money, when Will peeped his head out from behind the curtain.
“He’s with me!” he called out.
The security guard turned to face him, annoyed that he couldn’t continue with his tough guy act, before looking back at me.
He let out a satisfying “harumph” and stepped aside.
I walked up the steps and joined Will backstage.
He picked up his guitar and gave it a strum, listening to the notes with a look of concentration before a content smile spread across his lips.
“Not bad, huh?” he asked, nodding past the curtains that separated us and the club.
“It’s bigger than you let on,” I said, raising a brow as I thought about how he told me it would be “small” and “intimate.”
“How else was I going to get you out here?” He laughed as he ran a hand through his unruly light hair. His musician hair, I liked to give him shit for. He said it went over well with women.
“Tell me you have drinks back here,” I said, looking around the dark space of the backstage area.
“Beer. Bourbon. Vodka.”
“Bourbon,” I said.
Will set down his guitar in its stand and walked toward a small blue cooler. Lifting the lid, he rummaged through its contents, ice sloshing, and plucked out a small bottle of bourbon. He grabbed a red cup from a stack on the table beside him and poured me a generous amount before handing it to me.
“Classy,” I muttered, looking down at the red cup and having flashbacks of college, all the nights we stayed up late playing beer pong or flip cup.
“It’s the musician life.” He shrugged, replacing the bourbon in the cooler and pulling out a beer. He flipped the tab, and it hissed as the air escaped.
“Cheers,” he said, holding up his frosted silver can.
“Cheers,” I said, tapping my cup to his beer.
We both took a long sip.
“How was your first day?” he asked, leaning against a nearby pillar and eyeing me curiously.
“Long,” I replied with a sigh.
“Think you still made the right move with the merger?”
“I always make the right moves,” I said, taking another sip of the amber liquid. The warmth of it burning down my throat immediately relaxed my tense muscles and overworked brain. “But it’s a hell of a lot of work.”
“You’re the right man for it,” said Will confidently. “You always were.”
I shrugged.
“It’s true. You were made for the suit and the high rise and meetings with corporate yups. This…” Will gestured his arms out. “This is much more me.”
It was true. This was the life Will always talked about when we were younger. It took him longer to get here, trying out the corporate life first and helping me build an empire, but he was here now. It looked good on him. He looked happy.
“Good for you, man,” I said with a nod. “Good for you.”
He smiled and took another sip of beer before nodding toward the black curtains.
“Hey, take a peek, will you?” he asked. “What’s the crowd like?”
I could tell his nerves were creeping up on him, but I obliged and peered past the curtains.
The dance floor was pretty packed, with more people still streaming through the double doors.
My eyes drifted toward the bar, which was also crowded, and landed on a familiar face.
I did a double take as I peered out in concentration.
Juliet was sitting at the bar with two other women, chatting and smiling, while four other men lingered nearby.
I frowned at them before bringing my attention back to her.
She looked beautiful, laughing vivaciously as the bartender handed her what looked like a shot.
The men were cheering her on as she tilted her head back and knocked the shot back, before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Well?” Will asked, breaking me from my gaze.
“It’s a full house,” I said, turning toward him.
Just then, Will’s name was announced over the speakers. He took a deep breath.
“Here goes nothing,” he said before plastering on a wide grin and walking on stage with his guitar in hand.
The crowd erupted in applause and cheers, only silencing at the beginning strums of his guitar.
I looked past where he stood at the microphone, searching for Juliet once more.
She still sat at the bar with one of her friends, a redhead, while the other, more punk-rock-looking one made her way to the stage.
Pleased by this stroke of luck, I grabbed the bourbon from the cooler and took three good, long sips straight from the bottle before exiting the side stage just as Will began singing.
I recognized the song from our college days, though the lyrics had changed some, the melody was still the same.
I pushed through the crowd as it swayed to the music, annoyed by how difficult it was to move through it.
This was exactly why I didn’t want to come.
I could have stayed backstage, but not with Juliet here.
Something was pulling me toward her, and I couldn’t stay away.
As I got closer, my eyes took in just how sexy she looked up close.
She wore a thin-strapped black top that hugged her ample breasts and was tucked into a pair of high-waisted jeans that did wonders for her hourglass figure.
Was there anything this woman didn’t look good in?
Naked. Suit. Jeans. Hell, she’d make a onesie look sexy.
I wanted to see it all. Her hair was down, its pale blonde strands reflecting the overhead bar lighting as she moved her head to the music.
I noticed a blond guy in an ill-fitting suit standing a little too close for my liking, his back to the bar and his eyes lingering on Juliet’s cleavage as he tried to hold a conversation with the men he was with.
One of them had his arm draped around her red-headed friend.
I wondered if they had all come together.
Possessively, and without thinking about it, I picked up my pace and knocked his shoulder, causing him to spill his beer.
I kept walking though, acting oblivious, all while stepping closer to Juliet.
“What the hell?” he called after me in annoyed surprise.
I turned and put my hands up in defense. I did my best at faking remorse. “I’m so sorry, man. This crowd is pushy,” I lied.
He brushed at the beer on his suit, not realizing I was doing him a favor by hopefully ruining it.
He seemed to buy my excuse, rolling his eyes and turning to complain to his friends.
I saw the encounter had caught Juliet’s attention, her eyes working their way from the blond guy to landing on me.
I saw it register behind her cool, blue eyes.
“Y-you…” she said, half as a question and half as a surprised comment.
“You,” I countered, feigning surprise.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, sitting up a little straighter on her stool, the look of surprise still on her face. Her lips were parted in a perfect O.
“That’s my friend up there,” I said, nodding toward the stage, tearing my eyes away from her mouth.
“Really?” she asked, her eyes darting to Will, who was starting his second song, and back to me.
“Will is my best friend,” I said casually, signaling for the bartender and purposefully placing myself between Juliet and the blond guy who was still dabbing at his suit, and shooting me irritated glances. I noticed he wore a silver wedding band and scoffed.
What a winner.
“Bourbon. Neat,” I said to the bartender, before looking to Juliet. “Can I get you anything?” I asked her, tilting my head slightly and trying not to let my eyes wander past her neckline.
She hesitated before shaking her head. “That’s okay.
” She looked back toward the stage distractedly.
I realized she had every right to think twice about having a drink with her new boss, especially after this morning’s awkward introduction.
But something in me hated that she didn’t feel comfortable with me being there.
I wanted to see the same laughter and smile I had seen from backstage, when she wasn’t aware the CEO of her new job was here.
“Hey,” I said, getting her attention again as I touched her forearm gently.
She looked at me expectantly, her arched brows high on her forehead as her eyes searched mine.
“I’m off the clock, so you don’t have to worry,” I said.
She tilted her head curiously, like she wasn’t understanding what I was trying to say.
“Right now, I’m not your boss,” I clarified, running my thumb against the soft skin of her arm where my hand still lingered.
She looked down at my hand, heat reaching her cheeks, before looking back up at me.
“So, who are you then?” she asked, a small smile hinting at her lips.
“Tonight, I’m just a guy at a show talking to an attractive woman,” I replied, regretfully removing my hand from her arm and taking my drink from the bartender who had approached. I took a sip before giving her a smile.
She bit her lip, the pouty flesh breaking free after only a second of being captive to her teeth. It completely distracted me from anything and anyone else. “Then I guess I’m just a woman who is willing to let an attractive man, who’s not her boss, buy her a drink.”
The way she said it and the way her eyes narrowed in on me made my cock twitch in my pants.
I didn’t know if it was the liquor talking, or if she felt the same sexual tension I had since that morning, but there was something there.
Something in this dimly lit club moving to the music that pulsed between us.
I grinned. “I might just have to buy the whole damn bar then.” I signaled for the bartender again, eager to give this woman anything she wanted just as long as she kept looking at me that way.
She giggled slightly as she eyed the bar. “It would take a long time to drink everything.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, raising a brow.
She nodded before leaning in closer, her breasts dangerously close to brushing against me. “It would probably take all night,” she said, her voice dropping an octave. “I might just have to spend the night.”
Her boldness took me off guard, and I felt the start of an erection press through my pants at the way the words rolled off her tongue and the way she looked up at me through her dark lashes.
This night was taking a twist I hadn’t seen coming.
I made a mental note to thank Will for forcing me to come.