Page 41 of The Devil's Tattoo
“Yeah, well, we all can’t get whatwewant.”
The bartender leaned toward us as he put our drinks down. “But you can fight bloody hard forit,love.”
Simone let out a loud laugh, her eyes crinkling in the corners. “See? At leasthegetsit.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at him and handed over a twenty. “Keep thechange.”
“Nah,” he said, handing back some coins. “The advice is for free. Lookin’ forward to the show tonight, girls. Have a goodone,eh?”
“What was that all about?” Dee asked as we satbackdown.
“Secret girls business,” I shot back with a small smile atSimone.
He eyed the bartender and said, “Somehow, I don’t think bigfoot over there isagirl.”
I snorted, almost choking on my drink. “Let it go, Dee. Letitgo.”
After a round of drinks, people started moving off until it was only Simone and I left at the table. We were happy sitting there in silence just enjoying a little peace and quiet when she suddenly sat up straight and hissed, “Incoming.”
By her reaction, I knew exactly whoitwas.
Will slid into a seat next to me and said, “Hey.” I found my mind wandering to the way he said that simple word. It sounded like ‘hey, I want to undress you.’ I shifted in my seat, and Simone caughtmyeye.
“Hey,” she said. “I was just gonna go check a few things with Dean. Sorry torunoff.”
“S’ok,” hereplied.
I watched Simone as she walked off, not believing that she had just bailed so blatantly, and when she turned back, I mouthed the wordtraitor. Her only response was to smileandwave.
“Want another?” Will asked, amusement rippling through hisvoice.
“Nope,” I said, looking back. “One’s enoughforme.”
Unfortunately, this seemed like the answer he was looking for. With a grin he declared, “C’mon, I’ve got something toshowyou.”
To my surprise, he grabbed my hand and began to lead me toward the stairs. I was so dumbfounded that I would’ve let him take me anywhere. The feeling of his hand in mine was so comforting, safe, and mind-numbinglyhot, it was all I could thinkabout.
“You okay?” he asked with a little laugh. “You lookterrified.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not going to murder you,” he said, pointing to the roof where a security camera was positioned in the corner. “They’ve got me oncamera.”
“Somehow, I don’t think itworks.”
He shookhishead.
“Have you seen this place?” I exclaimed, earning myself another laugh. “Glad to see my awkwardness is so amusingtoyou.”
Stopping on the landing out of sight of the bar below, he asked, “Why do you feel awkward?” The smile dropped from his face, and I was more than aware of the darkened corner he’d backedmeinto.
Determined not to jump him then and there, I took a step away, my back hitting the wall. “It’s a DNAthing.”
He stared at me with such intensity I wasn’t sure if he was going to kiss me or tell me off for lying, but a split second later, the lopsided grin I’d come to know tugged at his lips, and he grabbed my hand again, pulling me up the last flight ofstairs.
Dropping my hand to unlock the door to his room, I suddenly felt disappointed. Groaning inwardly, I scolded my rambling thoughts. I was trying to get to know the guy, not throw myself at him. I stepped into the room, closing the door as he went to retrieve his laptop fromhisbag.
“Before the band got going, I was studying filmography,” he said, and the way his voice lit up, I knew it was something special to him. “I want to make a clip for one of our songs but haven’t had the chancesofar.”
