Chapter 4 The Stealer of Apartments, Disturber of Peace & Ruiner of Relaxing Baths #2
She was solidly in blood oaths and left kidney territory.
Phoenix
“Thanks for coming out.” Phoenix aimed a forced smile at the last two women in line, his already aching cheeks protesting the movement more with each slightly overzealous fan. “If one more person grabs my ass during a ‘quick pic,’ I’m wearing a barbed wire butt protector from here on out.”
Phoenix shot a tired glance toward East, who was sitting on his left. The gargoyle, wearing his human skin suit since their last song, looked as thrilled to be there as he did.
“You good, man?” Phoenix asked East when his friend glanced at his text screen for the fourth time since the meet-n-greet’s start.
“Worried about Nai. Having a wedding so close to her finishing school wasn’t the brilliant move we first thought it was.”
“Anything I can do?”
“Nah. We got it. Just wish these vendors would call us back with updates.”
Phoenix glanced around the room, searching for a certain gorgeous redhead. To say he’d been shocked seeing his neighbor pressed flush against the stage with a VIP badge around her neck would be an understatement.
More like stunned … and hopeful.
East paused to sign another autograph before shooting him a curious look. “Scoping out emergency exits? I’m pretty sure Marcus learned from the last time and has all routes blocked with security who could probably bench press two of you.”
“He does. I already checked.” Phoenix finally admitted, “So there’s this woman…”
Easton howled in laughter. “I fucking knew it! I told Naiomi that you had a sex fog look in your eyes for the last few days. She said it was probably constipation.”
Phoenix narrowed a glare at him. “It’s not sex fog … or constipation.”
“But you just said—”
“I met a woman. I’m not fucking her … or anyone.” But it wasn’t because invitations hadn’t been dropped in his lap … or shoved into his pockets.
When the Stone Talons first started out, he’d been nearly as eager as Gavin to bask in the glorified title of rock stars. It’s how he’d been slapped with the Naughty Nix persona. But unlike the griffon shifter, the label got old for him quick.
East smirked. “Okay, Sexless Nix. Who’s the woman?”
“Woman? What woman?” Naiomi popped up like a jack-in-the-box, taking advantage of the brief lull in their line.
“Your sibling has been scanning the room looking for a certain woman.” East studied his fiancée carefully and pulled her into a brief hug. “You okay, babe?”
“Yeah. Just wedding stuff.” Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “We can talk about it later, at home. Right now, I want to hear more about this mystery woman.”
Nai wouldn’t let this go until Phoenix gave her what she wanted.
“You remember me telling you about the gorgeous redhead from the wedding a few nights ago?” Phoenix asked.
“The one you accidently doused with fire extinguisher muck,” Nai reminded him. “Yep.”
“That would be the part you remembered.” Phoenix rolled his eyes. “I couldn’t shake thoughts of her out of my head, and that night I went home, fully expecting never to lay eyes on her again, and guess who knocked on my door and told me to turn down my music?”
For a split second, both his sister and East looked confused, but his best friend put two and two together first. “No fucking way.”
“Fucking way. I swear.”
“What am I missing?” Naiomi’s gaze bounced between them.
East draped his arm over his fiancée’s shoulder. “Phoenix is saying that the hottie from the wedding is the neighbor who’s been pounding shit against his walls, and whose ass he’s been staring at walking out of their building.”
Naiomi’s eyes widened in realization. “Your building crush is also the wedding crush?”
“I wouldn’t call it a crush, but—”
“Do you get all warm when you think about her?”
“I don’t see how—”
“That’s a yes. What about tongue-tied? Do you stumble over your words, nerves making you say stupid shit that you know will probably piss her off?”
“It’s not stu—”
“That’s also a yes,” East added, Naiomi nodding in agreement.
Phoenix’s sister grinned broadly. “That, my dear brother, is a crush.”
Auburn, silky hair he could picture entwined between his fingers. Curves for fucking days and perfectly designed for a firm grip. And fucking-A, her mouth. Those sinfully kissable lips and the words that came flying out of them, all sassy snark with a bit of bite.
“Fuck,” Phoenix cursed.
East chuckled. “He realizes it now … but a neighbor? Remember what happened when Gavin got friendly with that yoga instructor from his gym and it blew up in his face? He bitched for months about switching to the studio across town.”
“First, I’m not Gavin. And second, it’s just a fantasy because I’m pretty sure she can’t stand me.”
East clutched his chest in feigned shock. “You? Mr. Charismatic? How the hell is that possible?”
“I’ll have you know that I can be a charismatic light show when I want to be.”
His friend scoffed. “So you played your music too loud a few times? That’s not completely irredeemable.”
“It was more than a few times,” Phoenix admitted with a wince. “At first, it happened by accident. Inspiration strikes when it strikes, you know? And then … I started pumping the volume up on my amp on purpose, hoping she’d either bang on the wall again or come over and yell at me in person.”
“Wow.” Easton smirked. “You just admitted to the adult equivalent of pulling a girl’s pigtails on the playground. Even Gavin has more game than that, man.”
Naiomi studied him carefully, her dark eyes narrowing. “But that’s not everything, is it?”
Phoenix grimaced as he thought of what he considered the final nail in his crush coffin. “I’m pretty sure she was the ‘other applicant’ who wanted my apartment. The one the building manager told me not to worry about when I applied.”
Easton whistled. “And you got the apartment she wanted? In New York City? Yeah, she’s not getting over it. Ever. Congratulations, you now have an enemy for life.”
“And she’s here?” Naiomi’s head swiveled. “I’ll find her.”
Nai was off on a mission, moving too quickly to be stopped.
Turning his back, Phoenix focused on anything other than his sister hunting down his mystery woman, even subjecting himself to a few more pictures and ass-grabs.
“Just out of curiosity, what does this sexy wedding neighbor with a hate-on for you look like?” East asked fifteen minutes later.
“Petite.” Phoenix’s lips twitched. “In heels, she’d probably come up to my chin. All curves. Dark red hair. Freckles. Fucking gorgeous.”
Phoenix’s cock twitched in his leather pants as the mental image of his neighbor infiltrated his imagination.
“Green eyes?” East asked.
“Yep. Like heated jade.”
“A world-class glare with the ability to shoot daggers from across a room?”
“Definitely.” Phoenix signed another autograph and sent the fan on their way before looking to his best friend. “Why?”
“Looks like Naiomi hunted her down—and they’re coming this way.”
Phoenix whipped around and sure enough, there she was. Walking alongside his sister, she looked anything but thrilled to be there, unlike the two others trailing behind them who flashed friendly smiles.
They came to a stop a few feet away, and Naiomi threw herself into East’s arms. “Adalyn, Bailey, and Maxi … this statuesque stud is my talented fiancé, Easton Knox.”
East, issuing a polite smile, nodded. “It’s nice to meet the three of you.”
Adalyn smiled politely at the gargoyle and waved awkwardly. “Hi.”
Naiomi turned toward Phoenix. “And this is my brother, Phoenix.”
There was no denying his sexy neighbor recognized him.
Instantly, his lips twitched into a smirk, and the second they did, Adalyn’s frown dipped lower, her arms crossing over her lush chest that looked fucking spectacular in the low-cut tank.
Phoenix failed to contain a chuckle. “Adalyn. Finally. A name. It’s very nice to officially meet you.”
Adalyn’s two friends gawked at her. So she hadn’t told them about him.
He held out a hand, and she glanced at it like she expected it to bite her. When she didn’t take it, he dropped it, chuckling. “Couldn’t wait to see me when I got home later tonight, sparkles? I get it. I am pretty difficult to stay away from.”
Nearby, Phoenix heard his sister mutter something about Gavin’s lame-ass pickup lines rubbing off on him, and excused herself to answer her ringing cell.
Adalyn smiled sweetly. “Whoever told you that, fibbed. It would be quite easy to avoid you if you kept your music to polite decibel levels. Not everyone wants to live in a club every night.”
Adalyn’s friend with the stylish pixie cut and red suit—Bailey—cleared their throat. “I’m feeling a little lost right now, but you’re the Stone Talons.”
Phoenix flashed a genuine smile. “We’re fifty percent of them.”
Bailey’s gaze bounced from him, to Easton, to Adalyn. “Addie … my dear cousin. How do you know the Stone Talons? And why wasn’t I notified of that little tidbit? That seems like information that a cousin bestie should know.”
“Or a sister,” Maxi, the blond, added.
“Oh, we go way back, don’t we, Addie?” Phoenix teased, relishing the redhead’s glare.
“We don’t go way back.” Addie nudged her chin toward Phoenix. “That one is Mr. Sarcasm from the Kinkaid wedding. He’s also the apartment-stealing neighbor who has absolutely zero regard for the sanctity of quiet-time hours in an apartment building.”
“Definitely never forgiving or forgetting, man,” Easton whispered to Phoenix before excusing himself to check on Nai.
Phoenix smirked. “Oh, come on, sparks. We’re more than that, aren’t we? I did offer you the role of my Muse, and I’m still hoping you’ll reconsider and make me the happiest musician by saying yes.”
Bailey’s mouth opened and closed comically as she glanced toward Addie as if she’d sprouted a second head. “You turned him down?”
“It was probably the saddest day of my life,” Phoenix added.
Addie rolled her eyes. “Something tells me that you’ll get over it just fine.”