My shoulders were shaking with unshed laughter. Jane was openly laughing out loud with Jackson, and when I brought my attention to the rearview mirror, I caught Reid staring at me. Once he saw that he had my eye, he tilted his head and squinted. I wanted to ask him why he was looking at me like that, but he quickly shuffled his gaze to the traffic.
“So, where’s your date?” I asked, turning to look at Jackson who was casually sitting in a dark-blue suit with his one leg looped over his other.
Jackson sighed dramatically, running his hand through his tawny beard. Before he could answer, Finn piped up from the front seat. “He can’t get a date.”
I giggled and looked at Reid who had a ghost of a smile playing along his lips. As soon as he made eye contact with me, he jerked his attention elsewhere and replaced that smile with his typical, brooding scowl. My brow furrowed, and I stared at downtown Atlanta out the window as Jane and the guys talked about all things music related.
Before long, we arrived at the venue, and the longer I sat in silence, wondering why Reid kept eyeing me so strangely, the more my nerves spiked like iron spears on a warrior’s helmet. Feeling out of place wasn’t exactly new to me, but this was taking it to a whole new level, even if my best friend was with me. I was the date of Reid King, kind of. I wasn’t really his “date,” but more like his occupant. When we’d all gathered to climb into the Escalade, he barely even looked in
my direction.
But it was fine; it wasn’t like I was hoping for a fairytale entrance where Reid took one look at me with my sexy cocktail dress and had to fan himself. He was only doing this to get his ex out of the spotlight, and I was doing this for a big, fat paycheck. So take that, feelings!
“Are ya ready?” Reid asked, cocking his head over his shoulder before he gave the valet his keys.
Jane’s brow furrowed. “How are there, like, only three presses here?”
Finn answered, “It’s Jamison Bayne’s birthday party. Jamison. Bayne. Come on. Whatever press he wanted was what he’d get.”
Jane seemed pleased with the answer, whereas I had no idea who Jamison Bayne was. She unclicked her seatbelt and smiled. “Alrighty, then. Tonight, I’m off the clock. Tonight, I’ll just be the date of Finn, the drummer of the infamous Reid King.”
Finn winked at her and I chuckled, turning my head once again.
My head snapped over to the driver’s side when I heard Reid ask, “Are you ready, Brooklyn?”
“Does it matter?” I shot back.
Reid narrowed his gaze once again and then shook out his dark locks as he climbed out of the vehicle. I opened my door and hopped out on my own, annoyed that Reid was treating me so oddly. As soon as my heels clicked on the pavement, I took one step forward and ran straight into Reid’s firm chest, banging my face off what I assumed were his pecs. God, why is this so awkward? Why were we so comfortable with one another in the privacy of the tour bus, or in a lonely hotel room, working on music, yet the second we were thrust into something like this, we both became different people? I was acting like an idiot and walking on unstable legs, and he was acting like we were nothing more than simple acquaintances—not even that; it was like we were strangers. Was he embarrassed that he actually had a heart for once and did something kind, like surprising me with Jane? Was he regretting being nice?
I puffed air out of my cheeks as I brought my eyes upward, zooming in on Reid’s defined Adam’s apple and his cut jaw. My heart simmered between my ribcage, and sweat started to break out along my cleavage. I tore my eyes away from him and his sexy, all-black suit which just so happened to bring out the shimmering gold specks of his eyes like the very stars above our heads.
Okay, note to self: Reid King was handsome in a suit—even with that grimace on his face.
“You ready?” he asked again, sounding almost bored. He wouldn’t meet my eye for more than a few seconds, which only put a spark in my fire that was slowly burning.
I nodded curtly, my nerves washed away by the irritation I felt being near a different Reid.
Glancing above my head quickly before being ushered inside by the group, a few flashes of the press’s cameras momentarily blinding me as I gripped onto Reid’s arm, I realized we were at a fancy-looking club. The glowing neon lights shone above the entrance as I walked through. It took my eyes a few minutes to adjust, but inside seemed just like any other club I’d been to in New York—lights streaming in every other direction, a lavish bar in the distance. The only difference between the clubs back home and this one was the fact that this one had a lot of space and it wasn’t crammed like usual.
“Why isn’t it busy in here?” I asked Finn who was walking beside me with Jane hanging off his arm.
He smirked. “Because Jamison bought the place out for the night. It’s an exclusive birthday party held at one of the finest clubs in the United States.”
I whispered, feeling stupid. “And who is Jamison? And how is this a charity? It looks pretty birthday party-ish to me.”
Reid snorted from beside me, and I almost took my heel to his shoe.
Jackson grinned. “He’s asked everyone who got an invite to donate to the charity, and you ever hear of Jami’s Band?”
I snapped my head up. “Jamison is… that Jami?!”
He threw his head back and cackled. “You’re adorable.”
“She’s hot, not adorable,” Jane said, winking at me.
I rolled my eyes as we continued to walk through the club. Reid found a cozy, secluded spot near the back, and I was thankful because I was too stressed to run into anyone famous. I briefly saw Dax Thatcher, one of the oldest rockers that I could remember, being cool in all his glory, and then I saw Chase Brooks give Reid a nod of his head. That was enough famous people for me.
The second I slid into the booth after the rest of the group, Reid stood up and finally looked down into my eyes. They lingered there for a few beats before he sighed and asked, “What do you want to drink?”