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He looked like he was going to question me but I held my hand up.
“Lesson’s over,” I said. “Now, scram.”
Chapter 12 Gina
THE BAR WAS ALMOST empty when I walked in. They’d only just opened and only a few people sat at one of the tables. I glanced over but Jackson wasn’t there. My heart sank. I wondered if I’d done the wrong thing, going on the date with Drew, but Jackson had rejected me and he had no claim over what I did.
Even so, part of me had wanted him to step in, to say that he didn’t want me going out with Drew. I wanted him to play the hero. He’d done that before. Once, when a guy had me up against the wall being a total jerk. I’d wanted to fight the guy off but couldn’t move. That guy said the most disgusting things to me and he had his hands everywhere, but I’d frozen. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t even scream. I just stood stock still, trying to shrink into myself and disappear while he pawed me.
Then Jackson had appeared out of nowhere. He’d pulled the guy off me. When the jerk had been kicked out of the club, Jackson noticed I was shivering and put his jacket around me. He’d sat beside me, not saying anything, just stroking my hair.
Of course, I hadn’t wanted him to be like that with Drew. I definitely didn’t want Drew getting punched or roughed up. I just would’ve liked Jackson to have stepped in and staked his claim. That sounded kind of caveman-like, but sometimes that’s what a girl wants. With the right guy.
“Where’s Drew?” I asked.
“Upstairs, in the band room practicing. He’s up there every chance he gets. He says Jackson will kill him if he doesn’t practice enough but I said I’d kill him if it interferes with his work.”
I raised my eyebrows. Jackson had kept up his end of the bargain? I’d thought he’d try to get out of it. Not that I expected him to go back on his word, just that Jackson hated the guitar. He hated any mention of it. But then, maybe, this was a good thing. By teaching Drew, some of that bitterness and pain might be resolved. It would be as good for Jackson as it was for Drew.
“So,” Carlie said, “how did the date go? I haven’t seen you to ask.”
I smiled. “It was really sweet. We went to a movie and ate way too much, then played air hockey.”
“Did he kiss you?” she asked.
Of course, he hadn’t. We were friends. There was no chemistry at all. It wasn’t like that.
“You’ll have to ask him that yourself.” I laughed. That would bug the hell out of Carlie.
Carlie disappeared out the back to check on some stock with Alex. The music played, the place smelt the same. Even the picture of Holden with horns drawn on his head behind the bar looked the same. Yet the bar seemed a different place without Jackson. I had no idea why he wasn’t around and I had no intention of asking.
After a while, Drew came down from upstairs. “Gina, I’m learning guitar,” he said. “I have a lot of practicing to do but it’s fun.”
“Keep at it,” I said.
He showed me the calluses on his fingers with an obvious pride. “And that’s only after a few days.”
Carlie and Alex came back in. They were arguing over something.
“If you want it done that way, do it yourself — holy shit!”
Both Carlie and Alex stared at the doorway with their mouths hanging open. I swung around to look.
Razer walked up to the bar. “Is Violet here?” he asked.
Carlie snorted. “You don’t know her very well if you have to ask that. She’s in her office.”
He walked through the bar to the back room.
Alex looked at Carlie. ‘Does she know he’s back?”
“Well, she’s not said anything to me. She was just bitching like crazy about not having sex for so long. She said the tour was for five weeks and it’s only been four so far.”
Alex grinned. “Do you think he’s been kicked off the tour?”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”
“Hell yeah, I would. His ego is way too big.”
