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My sister was right. He didn’t want anything more from me than sex. And I had to be certain that was the only part of me I gave him.
Sound check wasn’t productive.
No instruments were played, only voices, and those just to yell accusations at each other. No one wanted to take the blame for the previous night.
I tried not to listen. But the bar was only partially filled, and their voices carried.
Apparently, Andy had unilaterally decided that he and Collin were the integral members of the group, and that they deserved a bigger cut of the songwriting royalties that were currently being negotiated by the lawyer that everyone had chipped in to pay for. That didn’t go over well with my sister, Barry, or me.
Not that I had a say.
Not reaching a consensus, the members of the band each went their separate ways.
I held my position behind the bar until showtime, then I went to Martin. In another dark custom pinstriped suit, he was in our usual spot for ABCR’s performances.
I wore an expensive dress he’d chosen, this one black with spaghetti straps and a sheer mesh skirt. The bodice was low, and the slit in the skirt nearly revealed the juncture between my thighs.
Martin had also given me a fancy tube of lipstick that I’d dutifully applied. The bold red coordinated with his tie. I wasn’t even that concerned about being his matching companion. I was too worried about the potential for the band to unravel, and what that might mean for my sister and Barry.
Leaning forward, I twisted my hands while Andy went off on a microphone-amplified tirade onstage about his disappointment with Rachel and Barry. He said that they should be grateful to be in the band, and that they were greedy and out of control. The opposite was true.
My stomach churned.
“I saw this coming a mile away,” Martin said. Leaning forward, he slid his arm around my waist. “I hired them back for you, my dear, but I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t good business.”
I started to stand. “I need to—”
“Sit down.”
He pulled me back. My ass hit the leather cushion hard, and the mesh panels of my skirt flipped in the air, giving anyone who might have been looking an eyeful of my new Saint Laurent lace-and-satin panties.
“They aren’t your concern this evening, remember?”
“Yes.” I stilled in his hold, and he relaxed it.
Staring straight ahead, my eyes burned as I watched the implosion of the band I’d once managed. Barry threw down his sticks and exited the stage. My sister walked off with her bass.
Andy and Collin attempted to continue the show, just the two of them. Way back when, they might have been able to pull it off, but Andy couldn’t hit the notes right, and Collin seemed indifferent to the instrument he usually made love to.
The crowd began to murmur discontentedly. One poor song finished, the duo attempted another, but Martin lost his patience.
He beckoned to Arturo, who stood nearby. “Get them off the stage now.”
“You got it, Boss.”
“One more thing,” Martin said, and Arturo stopped in midstride and glanced back. “Make sure they understand that they aren’t welcome to return.”
Arturo nodded, and uneasiness swirled within me. Did Martin mean my sister and Barry too?
“It seems our entertainment for the evening is concluded.”
“Right. Well, I guess I’d better get back to work.”
Martin stood and offered me his hand. “You have only one item on your agenda.”
Debts to be paid, I gathered is what he meant. “But who will manage the bar?”
“The bar will manage itself. You had everything in hand before I arrived. You please me in more ways than one, Addy.” He swept his gaze over me before crooking his fingers. “Shall we go?”
