Give Me Strength (10 page)

Jared perched on the edge of the desk as I made
a second, more cautious attempt at sitting down, taking in his
subtle differences to Travis. Jared’s hair was golden brown and not
as long, he was a little leaner, and a cheeky glint hovered in his
green eyes.

“How’s your first day going?”

“Good.”

“You worked at Jettison Records before
here?”

“Uh huh.”

“Did Mac show you where everything—”

His phone rang, interrupting the rapid fire
questions, so I focused on the computer screen while he took the
call.

“Travis. How’d the AFP meeting go this
morning?”

Just hearing his name was a rush of pleasure
that had my mind losing its train of thought.

Jared’s eyes widened as he listened. “What?”

I glanced at him when his eyes slid my way with
a frown. Silently, he mouthed he’d come back, and with the phone
glued to his ear, he strode from the room.

After about twenty minutes, Jared poked his head
in the door. “Lunch?”

I hadn’t had time to think about food, but my
stomach gave an angry growl at the mention.

“Okay. Thanks,” I said with a smile, thinking
that was really nice of him to offer.

My mistake.

He came back in with a tuna and mung bean salad
and a small dark brown roll that was riddled with what looked like
bird seed. I didn’t want to offend him after the effort, but tuna
was something that had my stomach churning. I picked at it
carefully, pushing the food around a little as he told me about the
house he’d recently bought in Bondi with Evie.

“So you’re staying here until the renovations
are done?” I asked.

He swallowed a mouthful. “No. We’ll be here for
just a couple of weeks. I wanna do most of it while we live
there.”

I put my fork down gratefully when Mac sent
through a message with their location, telling me to head over when
I was able. With Jared finished, I cleaned up and grabbed my bag.
When my stomach gave another angry growl, I soothed it with
promises of a drive through burger on the way.

We both left the house at the same time. Jared
told me he wanted to check in with Evie before heading to his own
office. Striding out the door, his eyes raked over Suzi-Q parked
kerbside and offered me a lift.

Fully prepared to say no—there was burger out
there with my name on it—the beep of a car unlocking drew my
attention to a sexy, vintage black Porsche currently dominating the
driveway. So I arrived on set in style, albeit hungry, just in time
to see everyone break for lunch.

Mac waltzed over to greet me, taking in my
appearance with a crisp nod. “Look at you, Quinn! That hot pink
lipstick looks fantastic, you lucky bitch. I try to wear shades
like that and it washes me out,” she moaned.

“Wow, look at the colour of your hair,” Evie
muttered, reaching out to finger a rogue wave that had escaped my
knot. “It was all tucked under a hat yesterday, but that’s your
real colour!”

Fidgeting under the scrutiny, I snatched up the
phone with relief when it rang. Jared came up behind Evie, sliding
his arms around her waist and they chattered for a moment while I
spoke into the phone and made notes in the schedule. The call took
a little while to deal with, and Jared strode off to talk to Henry
as Mac and Evie waited for me to finish.

“Have you had lunch yet?” Mac asked when I hung
up. She nodded in the direction of a buffet style table of food
currently surrounded by guys. They were all talking and laughing
loudly, confident and cavalier, and my inner social douche
shrivelled with anxiety.

Mac grabbed my arm, oblivious to my freak out,
and started to drag me towards them. “Let’s go push all those
wankers out of the way and grab something before there’s nothing
left but shitty salad. I’m bloody starving.”

I stopped, halting Mac mid-drag. “Um…actually
Jared made me lunch back at the house, so uh…” I trailed off
because my stomach was still feeling slighted.

Mac let out a shout of laughter.

“Jesus,” Evie muttered. “You didn’t actually eat
it, did you?”

My cheeks heated. The man was Evie’s boyfriend.
Offending her on my first day of work was not on my to-do list.

Mac slapped me on the back, and I stumbled
forward. “Come on. Let’s get our girl a burger. God knows you must
be starving. We can put it on my plate so Jared doesn’t see.” She
winked conspiratorially.

The phone rang again and my eyes widened on Mac.
“It doesn’t ever stop, does it?”

She shook her head gravely.

All eyes fell on me curiously as we neared the
table, the phone glued to my ear. Mac elbowed her way into the
group, putting together a huge plate of food while I hovered on the
fringes. When I was done she strode over with two forks and shoved
one at me. “Eat. Then I’ll introduce you around.”

I ate furtively until I saw Jared fold himself
back in that gorgeous Porsche and drive away, no doubt to his own
office—where Travis probably was, at his own desk, legs propped up
as he reclined casually in his chair, his deep voice reverberating
across the room as he spoke into the phone—

“Quinn? …Quinn?”

“Hmmm?” I murmured, blinking.

“You remember Henry from yesterday, don’t
you?”

Henry slung an arm around my shoulders, the
weight heavy and warm, and winked at me. “Of course she does. Who
could forget this gorgeous face?” he asked teasingly.

Mac arched a brow. “Quinn was only joking when
she said that yesterday, so keep it in your pants, Henry.”

He looked down at me, brows drawn in a wounded
expression. “You wouldn’t joke about something like that, would you
Quinn?”

“Well, I uh…”

A hand grabbed mine and I was jerked out from
beneath Henry’s hold.

“Quit hogging the new girl,” the guy now holding
on to me said to Henry. His hair was black and silky. Eyes like
midnight were raking me over. Tattoos wound the entire length of
his right arm, and my eyes were drawn to them as he pulled me
towards him and pressed a light kiss on my cheek.

“You smell like strawberries,” he murmured
softly, making me shiver before pulling back to look me over again.
“I’m Cooper,” he announced.

Another guy’s shoulder bumped Cooper, and he
stumbled, letting go of my hand. “I’m Jason,” the shoulder bumper
told me, taking my hand and his own turn at kissing my cheek, “but
you can call me Frog, or whatever you like, really.”

I shook his hand, looking between the two of
them. Frog had silky dark hair too, but his eyes were light hazel
and tattoos wound around both his arms. “Oh… you two are
brothers?”

“Not by blood,” Cooper told me.

“Stop flirting with Quinn, assheads,” Mac
ordered them.

I recognised Jake, even with him wearing a
shirt, when he stepped into our huddle.

Mac waved a hand. “This is Jake,” she said
flatly, her narrowed eyes glaring daggers towards him.

His nostrils flared, yet his eyes followed her
retreating back when the set director called her over. After a
moment eyes the colour of liquid scotch returned to mine. “Nice to
meet you, Quinn,” he said, and held out a hand.

I took it in my own. “You too.”

“You coming back to the duplex for a drink when
we wrap?” he asked as he let go of my hand.

Henry folded his arms. “Of course she is. We
haven’t seen Mac so stress-free in ages. That’s cause for a
celebration.”

Our eyes fell to Mac. She was wearing deep blue
skinny jeans, brown boots, and a fitted, red sweater. Hands on her
hips, she still looked all class as she glared at the set director
in the obvious throes of a disagreement.

“See?” Henry grinned. “She’s practically
giddy.”

Evie snorted.

“Actually, I-I can’t,” I stammered.

All those eyes fell to me and once again, I felt
my face get hot.

“Sure you can,” Cooper said.

They were acting like I was their new best
friend, and it was simply too much. I didn’t understand it. The
need to retreat back to my little townhouse with its reality
television and comfy sweatpants was overwhelming.

“I uh…have something going on,” I lied, averting
my eyes to gaze intently at my navy shoes. “Maybe next time.”

Mac returned. “Everyone working hard?”

“Hey! We were only asking if Quinn was coming
back to the duplex for a drink this afternoon,” Frog told her.

“Are you?” Mac asked me.

The backs of my eyes burned, and my voice was a
little thick when I explained again that I wasn’t able to make
it.

Jake slid an arm around my shoulders and leaned
in to peer at me. “You okay?”

“What did you do?” Mac growled at him.

His fingers tightened on my shoulder. “Excuse
me?”

Henry took hold of my hand, pulling me away from
the bubble of rising tension until we were out of ear shot.

I glanced back, finding everyone’s eyes on us.
They all looked away, Mac saying something that had them
scattering.

“Is there something wrong? I know Mac can be a
bit overwhelming when you first get to know her, but deep down,
somewhere in there, she does have a heart.” His brows furrowed. “I
think.”

“Mac’s been great,” I told him. “Really,” I
added when his brows rose. “It’s just been a big day, you know?
First day and all.”

“I’m sure it has,” he agreed, his eyes watching
me and taking in the sincerity because it really had been a big
day. “Alright. We’ll take a raincheck on tonight,” he warned me.
“
But
, if there
is
something wrong, we’re all kind of
like a big family. One you’re now a part of.” He waved his hand in
the direction of Jamieson. Evie was shoving at Mac, Cooper was high
fiving Frog with a laugh, and Jake was talking intently with the
sound technician. “If something upsets one of us, it upsets all of
us. That’s how we roll.”

***

“No! No, don’t put me
on hold—” Mac huffed. “Goddamn effing asstards,” she muttered under
her breath.

I looked over the length of my desk at Mac. She
was sitting opposite me at her own. Her lips were flattened and her
knuckles white gripping the phone. It only took two weeks to get
used to her feisty, take charge attitude, maybe because she
reminded me a little of Lucy. Lucy could be a lioness, but
apparently it was only me that brought out that particular quality.
When Mac put her foot down the other day, forcing Evie to change a
particular pair of shoes for an upcoming interview, Evie had
bitched that Mac was like the blonde equivalent of Ellen Ripley
from
Alien.
Right now, I could see it clear as day.

“Mac.” Her eyes, narrowed with frustration,
found mine. “Transfer the call to me and put the phone down.”

She exhaled through flared nostrils and nodded
slowly, putting the phone down.

An annoyed voice came through the line when I
picked it up. “Mac? Look, the best I can do is next week and
that—”

“Robin,” I said and forced a smile. I was told
in a training session a while back that when you’re on the phone
and you smile, it carries through into your voice. “It’s Quinn
here, Mac’s assistant. We spoke last week?”

“Oh, hi, Quinn.”

“Look, I know you’re under the pump, and it’s
completely our fault for not confirming you received approval for
the T-shirt artwork sooner.” Mac glared at me for taking the blame.
The artwork was approved long before I came on the scene, but
apparently Robin had missed that. “We have a huge show this
weekend, and we really need these shirts ready by then. If you can
arrange to have them delivered by Friday, I’ll send out a couple of
tickets to the show and give Jettison Records some of your business
cards.”

I heard an indrawn breath and papers being
shuffled madly echoed down the line. Robin cleared her throat. “You
know, Quinn, I think I might just manage that. Leave it with me and
I’ll ring you to confirm the delivery details.”

I finished up the call and looked at Mac’s
expectant face. “T-shirts will be here by Friday.”

“Yes!” Mac fist pumped the air. She jumped up
and grabbed me from my chair. I was twirled in an impromptu waltz
that left me both giggly and dizzy. “I love having you here, but
that bitch doesn’t deserve tickets.”

“I agree, but it’s a small price to pay.”

Mac twirled me around one last time, and I
smacked my hip into the side of the desk. “Oh shit, Quinn. You
okay?”

I chuckled. One hand peeled up my shirt and the
other pulled the top of my pants down, exposing a fair amount of
skin in order to inspect the damage. “See? Nothing but a small red
mark.”

“Working hard I see?”

My heart kicked wildly at the deep voice from
the doorway, and my eyes found Travis. He was wearing a pair of
grey and black pinstripe dress pants and a collared navy shirt with
the sleeves rolled up, exposing his tanned, sinewy forearms. His
jaw was tight as his eyes focused on my exposed hip in a way that
left me breathless. I snapped my clothes back in place, and his
eyes flew up to mine.