“That’s a fucking Victoria’s Secret angel,” Jace muttered as the chick walked by. “How the fuck are we in the same club with that chick?”
“Dude, I don’t know, but I’m gonna go talk to her.” I moved to walk around him because she was still giving me that come-fuck-me look, but he grabbed the back of my shirt, stopping me.
“We’re here to talk to Harris, not hook up.” He popped his neck, his face tight, and I wondered if he was missing Kin.
Maybe I should have felt bad for having told him to break it off with her, but we both knew that it was the best thing for him to do. Long-distance relationships didn’t last long. Breaking it off with her would let the chick get over him and move on. Plus, I knew that, if he had to make the decision later down the road rather than before we left, he wouldn’t have picked the band. He would have gone home, tried to make it work with her, and fucked up his music career. I might not have liked him half the time, but I wasn’t about to let him fuck his future up. Jace had a voice that was going to go places. And I selfishly wanted him to go places with Tainted Knights.
I blew out a long sigh and straightened my shirt. “Fine. Whatever. We’ll talk to Harris, and then, when that’s finished, I’m going in search of the VSA.”
He muttered something under his breath, but I chose not to hear it as we took in the rest of the upper floor of the club. There was a bar off to the left that was overflowing with people getting drinks and a single bartender to fill the orders, but even from where I was standing, I could tell he didn’t need any help. He was moving from one end to the other, getting beers and mixing drinks like it was second nature to him.
I was dying for a beer, and so was Jace. Ten minutes later, we had our second beers in hand and I was itching to get this meeting over with so I could find something a hell of a lot more fun than standing around with Jace’s ass. Long leather couches were spread out around the top floor as well as ottomans. Most of them were taken, but there was a group in the back-right corner of the room that caught my eye.
I nudged Jace with my beer. “There’s the new boss.”
He followed my gaze. “That’s fucking Zander Brockman and Liam Bryant with him.”
“Dude, they play with his dad. Did you think they wouldn’t come to his club from time to time?”
He grimaced. “Hell. I’m just nervous. If Axton Cage is back there, I might piss myself.”
I wasn’t about to admit that I was just as nervous. On the inside, I was quaking in my shoes, but on the outside, I was completely calm. Having spent the first twelve years of my life having to pretend like my home life wasn’t a fucked-up, scary nightmare had come in handy for something at least.
Back in Bristol, we were local celebrities, playing at a few of the popular bars in both Virginia and Tennessee. Here, we were nobodies. Yet. I had promised myself that the world would know who Tainted Knights was one day, and this was just the first step to making that promise a reality.
“Let’s go,” Jace muttered, taking a long swallow from his beer to give himself courage.
Like I had been so far that night, I followed after him, letting him take point. Jace was the face of our band. He was the voice and, at times, the sanity. I knew how I was, always running my mouth and getting in trouble. I also knew that if I wanted this career to go anywhere, then I needed to let others do the talking.
Although, if I had to pick between him and Cash getting us out of trouble, I would have picked Cash. The guy could have easily have become a lawyer, followed into the family business, and gone into politics. That wasn’t where his heart was though. But he was back in Virginia, and I was on the other side of the country, so I followed behind Jace.
Harris Cutter spotted us before we’d even reached them. A grin made his dimples pop out, and he stood, ready to shake our hands as we grew closer. The guy was just as tall as I imagined his father was, right at six and a half feet tall, which put him a few inches taller than either me or Jace. He was lean though, just like his dad. Fuck, the dude could have passed for Devlin Cutter’s clone except for his short hair.
“Glad to see you two made it. Everything okay at your apartment?”
“It will do,” Jace said with a grin of his own. “Thank your stepmother for us for the stocked fridge. Pretty sure we would have been living out of cardboard boxes if she hadn’t.”
Harris’s eyes brightened. “I’ll make sure Nat knows her work was appreciated.” He turned to the two rock gods still on the couch in front of him. “Liam, Z, meet Jace St. Charles and Grayson Knight. They are two of the guys from Tainted Knights, the band I hired to play live every Thursday night for the next year.”
“Good to meet you, boys. It takes a lot to impress Harris, so I figure you guys must have some real magic,” Liam Bryant said as he stood, his hand already extended, ink all the way up his arm. His handshake was firm, his eyes clear and focused.
I had heard the stories of how he had once been, before a car wreck had nearly taken his life and he had married Gabriella Moretti. The tabloids still liked to keep an eye on him, but as far as I had seen, he hadn’t slipped back into bad habits.
Jace shrugged, able to hide his nervousness since he was able to talk about the one thing that had saved both of our sanities over the years. “You’ll have to come in one night and check us out.”
“Oh, plan on it,” Zander Brockman said with a chuckle as he shook both of our hands next.
The ink on his hands grabbed my attention, but it was the Anna written across his throat that had always caught my eye whenever I had seen him in OtherWorld’s music videos.
“My wife is always looking for more talent to represent,” he said. “I’m sure she will be dragging me down here sooner or later.”
We sat and then talked for over an hour. Hanging out with two of my idols, talking music and life, laughing and drinking beers with them, was a high I didn’t think any drug could replicate. When Liam got a text from his wife saying his kids were still awake and their daughter wanted him to tuck her in, his entire face changed. He had been laughing and joking around with us, but when he read the text, his face lit up and he got to his feet.
“I hate to bail, but Piper wants her daddy.” Harris stood and hugged the other man. “I’ll see you soon, boy.”
Zander climbed to his feet as well. “I better get back too. My daughter is arriving tomorrow and I need to be up early to meet her at the airport.” He shook our hands again. “Good meeting you, guys. Anna and I will be in soon to check the band out.”
Once they were gone, Harris showed us around the club. The place was huge so it took a while, but I wasn’t as bored as I’d thought I was going to be. I could tell that this was where his passion was, that First Bass meant everything to him. That he was entrusting Tainted Knights to make his successful club even more popular was a compliment all of its own.