Page 27 of The Devil's Tattoo
Chapter7
Needless to say,the next day I was feeling a littledelicate.
I managed to get on the bus and sink into a seat toward the back, sunnies on, hoodie pulled up over my head, and earphones jammed in my ears. Thankfully, Dee claimed the seat in front of me creating a humanbuffer.
We were off to Newcastle, just north of Sydney, and had a few hours of travel ahead of us. As everyone piled into the bus, they looked just as bad as I felt. When Will climbed on, bringing up the rear, I turned my head and stared out the window to where Simone was closing the back of the 4WD, boxes piled up high. I was so aware of him passing it took all my willpower not to turn back. He was like a bloody magnet of pent-up sexual tension, and I wanted to stick myself against him, but he made me so furiously mad it would be a cold day in hell when thathappened.
He didn’t make a move to talk to me, and once the bus began to move off, I managed to close my eyes and drift off tosleep.
It seemed like only a second later that I woke to Dee poking me with a finger from his seat in front. “We’ve stopped, Zo. Do you want anything fromtheshop?”
“Yeah.” I sat up, stretching. “I’llgetout.”
We’d pulled up to a roadhouse at the side of the highway. Bob was filling the tank with petrol, and most of the guys had gotten off to stretch or had disappeared into the servo for drinks and chocolate. It sounded like a good idea. I could benefit from a bottle of water for the cotton wool stuffed inmyhead.
As the automatic doors swished open, the first thing I did was pull off my sunnies. The next thing was my gaze colliding with Will. He stood right in front of me in the middle of the servo looking sheepish, his hair falling into his eyes in that annoying way that made me want to brushitaway.
With a dramatic sigh, I stepped around him and made for the fridge at the back, determined to get my bottle of water and get out, but Will had other ideas. I felt his aura follow me down the aisle, and I could’ve turned around and yelled at him, and I did turn around, but I hesitated at the last second. He looked ten times worse thanIfelt.
“I’m— I didn’t—” He shuffled nervously, looking at thefloor.
I looked him up and down. I should have noticed the change in his demeanor, but I was still annoyed. He was jealous of Frank? Well, I was jealous of all those random girls who seemed so much better than I was. To him, I was worth less than a onetime fling, and he had the audacity to get up into Frank’s face about dancing with me?Way to go making a girl feelspecial.
Pulling a bottle of water from the fridge, I stalked away toward thecounter.
“Zoe,” he called out after me, but I keptgoing.
Pete was standing at the counter already and turned when I came upbehindhim.
“He is sorry, you know,” he said kindly from under hishoodie.
“I’m not overityet.”
“He’s a good guy, he’s just…” He shrugged. Even Pete didn’t know what wasgoingon.
Louie appeared from behind the magazine rack with a copy ofRolling Stonein his hand. “Strungout.”
“You’re gonna make him snap,” Peteagreed.
I was going to make him snap? In what world was I the one Will Strickland was agonizing over? I sighed and paid for my water. Sliding my sunnies over my eyes, I went to walk back out to the bus. Turning back at the last second, I hoped the feeling I had in my gut wasright.
“He’s got a funny way of showing it,”Isaid.
Louie glanced at Pete, but before they could offer any more commentary, I went outside, the automatic door swishing closedbehindme.
High-fiving Bob as I climbed back on the bus, I noticed Will sitting sideways in his seat toward the back, his knees curled up against his chest. His head was leaning back against the window, eyes closed. Some kind of feeling passed through me at the sight of him looking so beat, but I wasn’t sure what it was yet. With a sigh, I slid back into my spotbehindDee.
He poked his head over the seat and wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Pussy-whipped.”
* * *
Ridingthe high of another great show in beautiful Newcastle, we hung out at the bar as the venue began toempty.
I was determined more than ever to focus on the band and monopolize the wealth of knowledge that each venue presented. New tech guys, new support bands, and new sound guys. I asked them questions about everything, as much to ignore my rising attraction and anger toward Will as to learnsomethingnew.
It was a Thursday night, so a lot of the people who had come out to see the show were leaving. In real life, people still had day jobs and couldn’t hang out all night like we could. I was watching the crowd mill around the merchandise table and trail their way to the door, absently rubbingmyarm.
“Is your arm bothering you?” Dee asked, appearingbesideme.
