Southern Rocker Boy (Southern Rockers Book 1) (16 page)

She met my gaze. “For now.”

I grabbed the bag and headed downstairs. Lacy followed me into the dressing room, where I deposited my new computer. “Well, you still have some ass left,” she said as she got close enough to grab a handful. “I’ll take that as good news.”

I turned her into my arms. “She wants me to play single,” I told her. I knew it would hit her right in the gut, given what had happened with her ex.

Lacy, however, didn’t seem shocked at all. “I could have told you that.”

“I won’t do it,” I promised as I held her. She kissed me softly.

“Yeah, you will,” she said. “We both will,” she added as she pointed toward the mirror, where a photo of Leah and Cody was stuck in between all the other photos that had been put there over the years. If she hadn’t have pointed it out, I never would have spotted it.

I glanced down into her face. She kept her private life private, but close enough to remind her why she made the sacrifices she made. I kissed her softly. “As long as you know the truth,” I said.

Her hands slipped down between my jeans and my skin. “I dunno,” she mused with a sexy glint in her eye. “You may have to do something to convince me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. I lifted her up and carried her to the shower.

Despite what Gay had said about the crowds we’d pull in by the weekend, I was stunned by the SRO crowd that filled the club to capacity. Apparently Gay had hired a handful of new security personnel, as they lined the edge of the stage to make sure everyone stayed a safe distance from the talent… and this time that included me.

The minute I stepped onto the darkened stage that Friday night, girls immediately squealed when they saw my silhouette. I had never had a group of women screaming my name before, and I have to admit it was a heady experience. I glanced at Lacy in the darkness, but her face was stoic. She was already in the zone, ready to perform.

It was really kind of amazing to watch her work. Her stage presence, even when it was angry and full of attitude, was so different than the girl I got to know away from the club. It was like she channeled another person entirely, as if she were possessed by the spirit of rock goddesses like Janis, Ann, Pat or Debbie.

In honor of the latter, we launched into “
One Way or Another
,” which she sang primarily to me. I wasn’t sure if the girls in the crowd liked this or didn’t. The decibel of their screaming competed mightily with the sounds coming from the stage.

I didn’t have a song in Thursday’s or Friday’s sets, which only made the girls in the crowd hungrier. Gay made sure there were fliers all over the place that promised I’d get a solo on Saturday, as well as my own set on Monday.

When Saturday came, the crowd was even larger, with several familiar faces pressed as close as they could get to the stage.

Gay arranged another romantic set with the Henley/Nicks duet “
Leather and Lace
” following Lacy’s country-rock solo. My song was “
Shameless
,” which was a lot easier to emote now that I had met Lacy. We had stayed on the phone rehearsing most of Friday night, and she insisted that I sing for her as well. With every lyric, it rang even truer. I’d never been the kind of man to make a fool of myself for a woman.

Lacy Abernathy had changed all that.

During the rehearsal on Saturday, however, Gay was firm when she instructed me to share the love to my fans in the audience.

“They came here to see you,” she said. “They could have picked any bar in Austin. Show them how grateful you are.”

During our duet, I sang mostly to Lacy and she to me. When she introduced me and stepped aside so that I could lead the next song, it forced me to look out into the screaming audience, which was now filled with more female fans than male admirers.

I opened my mouth and glanced down at the crowd, to sing to a different girl for every verse. But I nearly choked on my own tongue when my eyes fell on a very familiar face indeed.

It was Courtney Adams, as beautiful as I had ever seen her, dressed up for her night in the city.

And she was right in front of me, looking up at me with those hopeful eyes that searched my face for any clue if I meant the things I sang.

I could barely force the words out of my mouth before I moved gratefully on to the girl to her left.

Just as Gay predicted, the crowd loved the set. The girls were screaming my name as we trotted off stage to make room for the next act to perform. It was almost a relief to close the dressing room door behind us, locking away all the noise and the crowd.

Now that modesty was no longer an issue, we both changed together. I took off my shirt as she slipped out of her dress, revealing that delicious body standing before me in nothing but some tiny lace panties. “You did great,” she said as she reached for her jeans.

I grabbed her hand. She didn’t resist as I pulled her against my half-naked body. “Chalk it up to sexual frustration,” I drawled as I reached for a kiss. I was so hungry for her, for another taste, another touch, that it colored everything I said or did with unspent intensity.

I lifted her up and she closed her legs around my waist. “Come home with me tonight,” I muttered into her mouth.

“You know I can’t,” she whispered back.

“Why?” I asked as I nuzzled her neck. “You live with your mom, right?”

She pulled back a little. “How did you know that?”

It was true. This information had not come from her at all. In fact, she was still decidedly closed-mouthed about her private life. She told me certain things about her son, but most of the things we talked about revolved around music.

But in all fairness, I hadn’t told her much about my past either. She had no idea that my last girlfriend was just on the other side of that wall, likely waiting for me to emerge so she can talk to me about my newfound fame and all the gossip that came with it.

I sighed as I rested my head against hers. “Jacinda,” I finally answered.

She climbed down my body and I didn’t stop her as she slipped into a pair of jeans.

KAPLOW. Way to stomp on that mine, Jonah
.

“I’m sorry, babe,” I said but she shook her head.

“I’d rather have a harsh truth than a beautiful lie,” she said without looking at me. She shrugged into a T-shirt without even bothering with a bra. “So what else did she tell you?” she asked, before instantly changing her mind. “Never mind. I can figure it out.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her back into my embrace. “It doesn’t matter what she said,” I told her, forcing her to look at me. “You hear me?”

Her eyes searched mine. When I pulled her up for a kiss, she didn’t resist. Her arms clutched my neck as I devoured her mouth with mine. We barely heard the knock on the door a second before it opened.

“I’ve got a surprise for you, Jonah,” Gay said as she entered.

Lacy pulled away and grabbed her robe to cover herself. I turned to Gay, ready to bawl her out for interrupting. I was struck mute when Gay pulled Courtney through the door frame.

“Courtney,” I breathed.

Her blue eyes scanned the scene, taking in all the details, including my half-dressed, aroused state. She knew it well from our history, but usually she was the one who got me that way. Her disappointment was palpable.

“Surprise,” she offered with a small smile.

Indeed
. I reached for a hug anyway. “What brings you to Austin?”

She hugged me tight. “You, silly.” She pulled away first, to introduce herself to Lacy. “Hi, I’m Courtney.”

“Lacy,” she said as she shook her hand.

“You were great,” Courtney complimented her, and I knew it was sincere. She turned back to me. “Far cry from Mount Olive, huh?”

“Mount Olive?” Lacy echoed.

“Baptist Church,” I filled in. “Courtney and I used to sing together,” I trailed off.

“Oh,” Lacy said. She grabbed her clothes to change.

I indicated that Gay and Courtney and I should head outside to give her some privacy, grabbing a shirt for myself as we exited. Gay patted my arm. “I’ll leave you alone to catch up,” she winked before she headed back out into the chaotic club. Girls were gathered around the door and squealed when they spotted me. That I was shirtless only added to their fervor.

“Jonah, I love you!” I heard someone scream before the door slammed shut.

“Wow,” Courtney said as she looked up at me. “Who are you and what have you done with my farm boy?”

I laughed. “Long story,” I said as I shrugged on my shirt.

“I’m in town all night,” she offered hopefully.

I sidestepped the obvious offer. “Yeah, what are you doing here anyway? I thought you didn’t like Austin.”

She laughed. “I never said that. I said Austin was good in small doses.”

I chuckled. “My apologies.”

She leaned against the wall. “I figured it was the only way to talk to you since you no longer answer my calls now that you’re some big rock star.”

I guffawed. “Rock star. Right. Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. It’s been kind of chaotic.”

“So I hear,” she said. “Club dates. Videos. New famous girlfriend.”

She meant Ariel. Clearly she had heard the gossip, which meant most of my old neighbors and friends had as well. Lord only knew what they were thinking.

“Don’t believe what you hear,” I told her with a wink.

The door opened and Lacy appeared. Courtney turned to her. “If y’all are available, I’d love to take you for a late night supper somewhere.”

Lacy shook her head. “I can’t. I have to get home.” She looked at me. “You’ll just have to have all the fun for me.”

I wanted to say something but I knew I shouldn’t. We had already agreed to abide by Gay’s PR rules and play it cool in public, especially around the club.

I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t just my career on the line. It was Lacy’s too. And if she was willing to play it this way, then I’d follow along.

I fully planned to make it up to her on Tuesday, when I got her all to myself.

“See you tomorrow,” I said, without the kiss and hug I wanted to give her.

“It’s a date,” she said with a half-smile. She turned back to Courtney. “It was very nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” Courtney said. “I really did enjoy the show.”

“Thanks,” Lacy said before she walked over to the bouncer who was assigned to escort her to her car. The door opened again to screams of, “Jonah!”

She put her hoodie up and didn’t even look back.

Courtney turned back to me. “So how about it? Supper?”

I sighed as I looked down at her. “Sure,” I finally said. We stepped back into the dressing room so I could grab my keys and throw on another shirt. Before we opened the backstage door, two bouncers flanked us on either side. Out of instinct I pulled Courtney close into the crook of my arm before we made our way through the screaming crowd.

We got knocked about a bit as we made our way through the club. Girls were screaming, offering me fliers to sign but the bouncers pushed everything back as we tried to cut through the crowd. The 15,000-foot building seemed even larger as we had to fight the crowd to leave. Finally we exploded through the outer doors. A car was waiting and the bouncers loaded us in.

“Wow,” Courtney said as she stared out the rearview mirror at the chaos we were leaving behind. “What was that?”

I rested my head on the back of the cushion. “You got me,” I said.

“You okay, Jonah?” she asked softly.

“I’ll let you know when I wake up,” I told her. My eyes met hers. “How ‘bout you? You doin’ okay?”

She shrugged. “It’s been kind of quiet up north. Been thinking about a change of scenery.”

My eyes opened wide. She hadn’t really talked about moving away from the country in all the years I had known her. “Is something wrong?”

She shrugged. “You’re not the only one searching for a dream, I guess.”

The car pulled into the parking lot of an all-night restaurant. We were seated and ordered our Tex-Mex. “So where is this search going to take you, Court?” I asked as I sipped a beer. I needed it after the night I’d had.

Again she shrugged. “Not sure,” she said as she nursed an iced tea. “I was thinking about California.”

I nearly choked on my beer. I expected maybe Houston, or Dallas, or San Antonio. But California? She might have well said she was moving to Mars. “California? Why?”

“My aunt lives out there. Orange County,” she explained. “She has all these pictures of blue skies and palm trees. I don’t know. Just seems like something to do while I’m young and unencumbered.”

A silence followed her comment, as if she was giving me one more chance to change that last part. I didn’t rise to the bait so she plastered a smile on her face and went on.

“You’ll probably be out there in no time, if all this keeps up.”

I chuckled. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do,” she said softly. “You were magic up there, Jonah. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Me, either,” I said. “They needed someone to play guitar. That was all. A few weeks later…,” I trailed off, marveling myself at how quick it was happening.

“Maybe that’s how it is,” she contemplated, swirling the ice in her tea. “If it’s meant to be, it happens fast. Like a bolt of lightning out of the clear blue sky.”

Immediately she regretted her choice of words.

“I’m sorry, Jonah.”

I shook my head. “It’s okay,” I said. “Hell, Daddy would have said that, too. He was all about fate and destiny. He’d have gotten such a kick out of this,” I trailed off.

She put her hand on mine and we shared a familiar smile.

We stayed at the restaurant for at least two hours, talking about the past, talking about the future. It was comfortable and it was easy. It had always been easy because our friendship came first. We had a lot of history. We came from the same place.

The car returned us to the club an hour after it closed and the parking lot was all but abandoned. I took her into my arms for one last hug goodbye.

“Thanks for coming,” I said into her hair.

She grinned. “Thanks for making time in your busy schedule to see me.”