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Rhys Collins, Heartache Melody’s keyboard player, and well-known party boy sat hunched in one of the chairs, head bent as he looked at the ground. His leg bounced like he was nervous and his elbows rested on his knees. His dark hair hung in his eyes, and there was a faint line of stubble that the rockstar didn’t usually have.
There was something about Rhys today, something vulnerable that squeezed her heart.
This wasn’t her first time meeting him, but when he lifted his head to look at her, Shay felt the same lightning bolt to the chest she had felt every time his haunting amber eyes had clashed with hers across the bar, or at a gig.
Rhys looked ...healthier... like he’d added some weight and that just made the sharp angles of his face more arresting. She could understand why fans went crazy when Rhys got on stage with just a tight pair of jeans and a leather jacket.
But Rhys Collins wasn’t the kind of guy Shay should be feeling lightning bolts about. His amber eyes looked haunted, even more so than before. He was too handsome, no, handsome wasn’t even the word to describe him. Rhys was pretty, with sharp cheekbones and full lips that promised seduction. Even his dark brown hair looked like he’d just gotten out of bed.
Shay knew guys like Rhys - cocky, arrogant, self-assured. A rockstar who was used to women and probably men throwing themselves at him on an hourly basis. Even now, his eyes roamed over her like he was sussing out what his chances were.
Despite the way her body reacted to the rockstar, Shay would keep her feet firmly on the ground and she promised herself she wouldn't end up like her two best friends and fall for the charms of a drop-your-panties gorgeous rockstar.
And hell if that promise didn’t taste like ashes on her tongue.
ChapterFour
Rhys
Rhys feltthe weight of someone’s stare on him and it forced his head up, and also forced him out of his thoughts. For the briefest of moments, he had actually considered doing a runner while Luna was getting all lovey-dovey with Cathal. He was minutes from a number of bars and clubs that he could lose himself in the moment he entered.
But he was trying to stick to his word that he would see the ninety days out before he decided to dive back into his old life. Rhys would be damned if he broke his word after a mere couple of hours of freedom.
When Rhys lifted his head, his eyes crashed with green eyes that were dark and haunting. Shay Gleeson was the kind of woman who made men look twice, her slim frame almost too slim but Rhys knew it was down to genetics rather than her feeling like she needed to not eat to stay attractive. She had an array of piercings and ink, and a no-nonsense attitude that made Rhys want to see how long it would take to get her naked.
But that had been before he had royally fucked up.
Rhys knew that Shay ran the shop with an iron fist and like most of the women in his life, she would take no shit from him. Besides, if the Rebel Ink lads were as protective of Shay as the band was of Luna, then they would no doubt chase Rhys off with a hurley if he showed even the slightest interest in Shay...hell, Luna had already warned him off from pursuing Shay.
The woman in question leaned on the counter after setting down what Rhys assumed was a sketch pad and pens, her eyes giving him a once over before she pressed her purple-painted lips closed in a firm line like she was trying to figure out what to say to him.
Running his fingers through his hair, Rhys sat back in the chair. “Luna ask you to keep an eye on me?”
Shay just shrugged her shoulders noncommittedly and Rhys wondered if she was actually gonna speak to him at all or were they gonna sit in awkward silence while waiting for Luna. Rhys watched as Shay pulled herself up on the counter, leaning against the wall for support.
“Family worries,” She offered, her tone dark and husky, like whiskey and Rhys leaned forward a little just to hear her a little more. “You should be glad to have people around that care for you even after you’ve been a dickhead.”
Rhys barked out a laugh, shaking his head. “You just gonna take shots at me when you don’t know me?”
“I learned long ago that it’s best to be upfront about things. I wasn’t gonna sit here and pretend that I didn’t know what happened and you should appreciate the honesty. Are you saying you haven’t been a dickhead?”
Without meaning to, Rhys found himself smiling. “I’m not denying anything. I’ve been a dickhead. But I’ve never been a dickhead to you so you don’t get to call me on it. You make a habit of judging people on what others have told ya?”
Rhys wanted to be annoyed, hell, he wanted the right to be pissed at Shay for calling him out like she was, at their first proper interaction, and yet, the conversation was making him feel, well, Rhys wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but it was invigorating.
To be fair, Shay looked shocked at herself for whatever reason and Rhys wished he could read her thoughts. She reached for her sketchpad, obviously done with her involuntary babysitting of him, and began to focus on her drawing and avoid all eye contact with him.
“What are you drawing?” Rhys asked when the silence became too much and Shay shifted her gaze to his.
“Nothing much. Just some tattoo ideas.”
“So if you manage the shop, when do you get time to tattoo...you’re an artist too right?” Rhys asked, genuinely interested, because while he wasn’t too keen on the pain of a tattoo, if Shay was tattooing him, Rhys would certainly consider it.
A faint flush darkened Shay’s pale skin. “I’m not a tattoo artist...yet. But maybe one day.”
“What’s holding you back?”
The gorgeous woman glared at him like he had just asked her to strip naked and dance on the counter for him, and while Rhys wasn’t exactly opposed to that idea, as someone who was hiding his own talents out of fear, he wanted to know if Shay was a little like him and he longed for someone to understand him like that.
