She stared at him for a second and finally shook her head. “No, I suppose you didn’t do any of the stuff the other guys did.” She glanced down, and he saw her cheeks turn pink.
He still had an effect on her. Good.
“But you still had your fair share of girls hanging off of you at school.” She smiled and then laughed, but it sounded forced.
“Of course I was into puss…” He cleared his throat. “I was into chicks, the drinking, and of course making music.” But I was more interested in you.
“So you knew the whole time she wanted Beats?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I mean I assumed since I never actually asked her. I saw the way she watched him play though, and those little giggles she made every time he said a joke.” He grinned. “We all know Beats’ jokes are pathetic as fuck.”
She started laughing and nodded. “Yeah, they were pretty bad.”
Jacks couldn’t help but feel his dick twitch at the sound of her laughter. “But the other guys were oblivious, that much was clear.”
“Good. I’d hate for Zoe to have her feelings known like that when clearly she didn’t want them out there.” She was watching Zoe and Beats again. “I feel bad though, because I know he only saw her as a friend. She was—is—head over heels in love with him still.”
“It’s probably better this way. I mean I don’t think Beats could have given her what she needed. Not then and really not now.” Jacks wasn’t going to talk about all the girls that thrust themselves at the band on a nightly basis. At first it had been exciting, but now it was so common that Jacks didn’t even blink when a set of big fake tits were thrust in his face.
He watched Tanner’s profile as she looked around the room again and drank her beer. She had a stray piece of dark hair that brushed along her cheek, and he had to curl his fingers into his palm to stop himself from reaching out and brushing it away. He wanted to talk to her, to ask her why she had left the way she did, why she hadn’t reached out to him all these years, and tell her that he had also held a torch for her this whole time. But then she’d probably fire back her own string of questions.
“If you love me so much, loved me all this time, why have you been linked countless times to those Hollywood women?”
“Why didn’t you call me if you felt this strongly?”
“Why did you never tell me how you felt?”
All of those questions, and more, would come from her, because he didn’t think if he spilled his guts like that that Tanner would just shrug and be on her way. But what he feared the most was if he did tell her that he cared for her, that she would laugh at him, and tell him that what they had done five years ago was only about sex. They were friends, nothing more. He considered himself a strong man, but she could have crushed him with a few words. He was weak in that regard.
Changing the subject sounded like the best move right now. “Over there is our opening act, Black Pearl. They are a band out of Detroit that started in the lead singer’s basement.”
“Just like Twisted Feather.” She turned and looked up at him, this small smile playing across her face.
He nodded and smiled. “Yeah. They’re touring with us, and I just know that they’ll be hitting it big. They have this original sound to them, like a mix of metal, folk, and classic rock. It’s crazy good shit.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but before a word could leave her mouth there was this little squeal that came from behind him.
“Oh. My. God. I cannot believe I am standing right in front of Jacks Lorde.”
He turned and looked down at the blonde girl, probably fresh out of high school. She was wearing the same outfit as the majority of the women here: cropped top, no bra, and shorts tiny enough that her ass was probably nearly hanging out. “Hey.” He smiled down at her. She may not do anything sexually for him, but she was a fan, and he didn’t snub them.
“Oh. My. God.” She said again, and her cheeks started to turn red. “I just seriously can’t believe I am here right now. I’ve seen like every concert Twisted Feather has performed in Colorado.” She started waving her hands in front of her face and glanced over her shoulder.
Jacks followed her gaze and saw a group of three girls whispering to each other and acting like typical teenagers that he saw countless times at these parties. Where they even found the majority of these people was beyond him. But he never turned his back on them, even if some got a little fanatic.
“Listen, I’m a little embarrassed to ask for this, but,” she glanced over at her friends once more, “can I have your autograph?”
“Sure.” He reached in his back pocket for the Sharpie he always carried, and uncapped it. Before he could ask her name, she had her top pulled down over her chest. Her tits bounced free, and he heard Tanner choke on her beer. Looking at her over his shoulder, he gave her an apologetic smile. God, she was totally not used to these blatant actions, and he had thrust her in it because he had been a selfish bastard. He didn’t have to ask her to come back to the hotel, and didn’t have to mention her staying at the hotel.
“Can you make it out to ‘your number one fan, Brittany’?” The blonde moved her finger over her breast. “Right here.” She thrust her chest out, and he quickly scribbled his name and the message on her boobs. She squealed loudly and launched herself in his arms. Before he could react she was moving away from him and bouncing over to her friends.
He looked over at Tanner who had her attention on the girl that just left. “Sorry about that. I guess I should have warned you that tits and asses are one of the main autographed body parts at these parties.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck and looked around. All out debauchery was happening. Girls grinding their shit on guys, booze being drunk in copious amounts, and this was only the beginning.
Tanner finished off her beer and cleared her throat. “I think I’ve only seen that stuff actually happen in movies.” She still had those wide blue eyes trained right on him, but then she started laughing and shook her head. “That was crazy. I mean she just whipped those suckers out like there weren’t a hundred people crammed in here.”
Jacks was glad she was at least smiling over it. But he had to remind himself that she didn’t know that he was uncomfortable with that shit because she was around. If she wasn’t here and that happened he would have signed, and maybe even taken the girl up on an offer for a quick fuck in the bathroom if the opportunity presented itself. But having Tanner standing right beside him, smelling that floral scent of her perfume even more than the spilled alcohol and sweat that mixed in the air, made him feel off kilter and almost embarrassed by the blatant sexuality thrown his way. Yeah, he would probably be called pussy-whipped, but he didn’t give a fuck.
“Lap dance. Lap dance. Lap dance.” The loud chorus of people calling out the same thing drowned out the music.
“Body shot. Body shot. Body shot.” The other half of the party seemed to be calling out something else. It was like a damn Westside Story brawl on what groupie would do the next sexual act.
A girl with pixie cut light hair stood in the center of the room, several guys around her, all hollering out one of the two suggestions that had gotten the crowd worked up.