Page 44 of The Devil's Tattoo
Deliberately ignoring it, I closed my eyes. If this was all I was going to get, then I was going to take it and remember it fondly. I just wanted to hold on to the one little thing that made me feel warm inside. That Will had taken notice and listened to me. That’s all Iwanted.
Deep down, I could tell myself that as much as I wanted, but it wouldn’t override the fact that I still wanted Will Strickland every which way I could get him, and that thought was too much tohandle.
I woke to my phone vibrating in my pocket. Sitting bolt upright, I wasn’t sure where I was for amoment.
“What time is it?” Will asked sleepily. It was then I realized I’d fallen asleep against him, and my stomach flip-flopped.
Looking at my phone, I saw a text from Dee.Where youat?Xx
“Five.”
“Shit.”
I scrambled off the bed, my entire body aching to be touched. “I needtogo.”
“Zoe,” he began, but I was already outthedoor.
There was one thing I didn’t want to be and that was a notch on Will Strickland’sbedpost.
* * *
“Zoe Granger,”Dee declared as I walked into the band room. “I never thought I’d seetheday.”
“I don’t want to know,” I grumbled, my head thoroughly scrambled with thoughts of Will’s armsaroundme.
“Simone told me you went off with Will.Upstairs.”
“I didn’t,” I began to protest, but the door opened letting in Louie and Frank, and my mouthclampedshut.
Dee gave me a knowing look and began hauling the gear out to the stage. Before anyone else could have a go, I picked up my guitar case and leads and followed him. When I went back for my hard case of pedals, the room was empty save for the one person I wasn’t ready to seejustyet.
“You okay?” Will asked, leaning againstthewall.
“Yeah,” I said quietly, moving an amp out of the way to get to mystuff.
“You sure? You bolted outtathere…”
“I’m okay. It was just late. I didn’t mean to fallasleep.”
“It’s okay, Zoe. I don’t mind.” The amusement in his voice irritated me more than it should have, and I felt the ice queen inside of me rear heruglyhead.
“I’ve gotta set this up,” I mumbled, hauling the hard case into the middle oftheroom.
“Sometimes, I don’t know whoyouare.”
I glanced up at him, my heart twisting. He was watching me with a confused look in his eyes, and I couldn’t say that I blamed him. I wasn’t sure who I was anymore,either.
“You’re one thing, and then a split second later you’re another.” He shook his head, looking slightly anguished. “Up there on that stage? You sing from your heart. Everyone believes everything you say because you mean it. Every girl in the room wants to be you, and every guy wants tofuckyou.”
All I could do was stare at him. The way he said the word fuck stripped me bare, and I felt desire burning inside of me. It took all my strength not to fling myself across the room andkisshim.
“Whatever the hell you do on stage, do that now. Do it all the time. That girl up there is Zoe. I don’t know whoyouare.”
And just like that, he threw a bucket of metaphoric ice all over me. Anger rose inside my guts and burned a trail right through my body, distorting myexpression.
“What happened to you?” he asked with a frown like I was some kind of apuzzle.
Ishrugged.
