Page 57 of The Fire Walker
“Man, she wants you.” Stu clapped me on theshoulder.
Ishrugged.
When they wandered off to get ready for their set, Jessie sidled up to me, handing me a beer. “Making friends?” she asked, her too perfect fucking smile pulling at herlips.
“You know what I’mlike.”
She frowned. “Not really, but I canimagine.”
With a shrug, I turned around and watched the guys I’d just met plugging in their guitars. A third guy had joined them, picking up a bass. As soon as Dave tapped on his mic to test it, the crowd seemed to mellow and press toward the stage. They must be well known around here because people seemed to be amped to hear them play. This place was a tiny pimple on the ass of the world, so any band must be a good band when there weren’t anyothers.
When they started playing, I kinda ate my words a little. They were pretty good. They played a few old-school rock songs from The Rolling Stones and Deep Purple and some newer stuff like Nirvana and even The Killers. A bit of a mix of styles, but they seemed to know enough to pull it off. Jessie moved about next to me, swaying to the music while sipping on her beer, and I was aware of every little thing she did. Her lips around the glass of the beer bottle, the scent of her trademark vanilla perfume, the way her eyes closed as she listened to themusic.
When the crowd thickened down front, I angled myself partially behind her, pressing against her back. She said nothing and just kept on moving with the music, rubbing against me, driving me totally batshit crazy. It made me wonder if this was a part of her plan to make things up to me. Or rather, get back into my bed, but my head was too fuzzy to even think about thatcoherently.
When the song finished and people around us began clapping, I leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be rightback.”
She looked up at me over her shoulder with her big fucking Bambi eyes andnodded.
Standing in front of the mirror in the men’s room, I looked at my reflection. My face was flushed, and I cursed the fucking day Jessie Ware had walked into that recording studio. It would be so easy just to take her home and fuck her senseless because that was the only thing my body wanted, but I knew she wanted more. If I did that and then dumped her at her door tomorrow, then I wouldn’t be any better than she’dbeen.
Fuck, she hadn’t even explained to me why she did it. Wasn’t that why she came all this way? To apologize and try to win me back? I assumed so because why would someone fly cross-country to say they were fucking sorry? Either that or she was scared I would get her fired fromGalaxy.
It couldn’t work between us. We lived worlds apart, and I couldn’t get over that thing. Her fuck and run. That had scarred me deep enough that I could never forgetit.
Looking at myself in the mirror I thought,Get a fucking grip, Cosgrove. Don’t fall for it. That was the game, wasn’t it? Planting a seed of doubt, cracking the ice, and whatever other fucking metaphorsapplied.
Waiting another minute, I went back out into the bar and looked out across the crowd, instantly finding Jessie where I’d left her. How could I not notice her in a sea of people? She was like magnetic north in a fucking blizzard. But when my eyes fell onto her delicate body, my blood began toboil.
A guy stood beside her, talking in her ear, and she was shaking her head, moving away. I could almost read his lips. Trying to buy her a drink, trying to pick her up, and trying to convince her to go for a round out back behind a dumpster like a dirty fuck. She was having none of it. Her expression was calm, but she was saying no. Trying to be polite about it when she should’ve slapped himone.
I began to move forward, weaving through the crowd, trying to keep my temper from boiling over. Every now and then, I would lose sight of her, and this overwhelming pool of jealousy simmered in my gut. When I finally made it back, what I saw almost made mesnap.
He was a fucking redneck hick, all up in her personal space, probably rubbing his disgusting cock against her leg, and it made me sick. Sick that a pervert could have the fucking gall to pressure himself on a woman likethat.
“I said no,” Jessie exclaimed, trying to push him off, her voice beginning to soundpanicked.
“C’mon,” the guy said, his hand fumbling for herbreast.
A synapse must have snapped in my brain because I strode forward and pushed him off her with a violent shove. Before he had a chance to recover, my fist connected with his face, jarring through my bones. He fell backward on his ass, parting the crowd like fucking Moses at the RedSea.
“She fucking said no,” I said, stepping forward to pull the asshole up, but hands were on my arms, dragging me back. It took me a moment to realize that the hillbilly fuck had a couple of mates, but by that time, the guy was on his feet, sinking a punch into mygut.
Doubling over with a groan, I wrestled my way free and launched myself forward. I landed on top of the guy and started punching, blind with anger, the sound of flesh cutting into flesh ripping through the alarmed cries of punters aroundus.
“Dee!” Jessie shrieked at me, but I didn’tlisten.
The other guys hauled me off their stupid fuck of a friend, and I was on my back, a boot sinking into my side. Then a fist to the face and the coppery tang of blood in my mouth as my lip split against myteeth.
I vaguely heard Jessie yelling at me, then silence as the band stopped playing. Dave and Stu were pulling the three hicks off me but not before the one that had tried to feel up Jessie grabbed the front of my shirt and lifted me half off the floor, getting in another punch right over my lefteye.
I fell backward on the beer-soaked floor, spots dancing in my line of vision, but I was too angry to give a fuck. When a woman said no,it fucking meantno.
I tried to get up again, to find the fucker who felt her up so I could beat his ass some more, but hands were coiled in the front of my shirt. Long, almond, toned, and delicate fingers pulled me to my feet. I would have gone as far as to say an angel was pulling me to heaven, but that was probably from the repeated blows to thehead.
Then she spoke, “Fuck, Dee, we’ve gotta get out ofhere.”
