Sweet Forty-Two(9)

“Great set, Ceej.” Georgia met us on the stage, kissing CJ on the cheek.

“Thanks, kid.” He smiled as he held her waist for a second.

It was then that I got a better look at the tattoo on the back of her neck. It wasn’t just a rocking horse. It was one with wings. More confused than I’d been before, I shook my head and slung my violin case over my shoulder.

She and CJ were engaged in quiet conversation about something CJ appeared to take seriously, given he was paying attention at all. I wandered to the bar and sat next to Ember.

Ember bumped her upper arm into mine. “That was good, Kane. Real good. You’re back on top of things, I’d say.”

I grabbed her beer and took a sip. “It felt good. Two weeks and we start recording, right?”

Bo laughed from the other side of Ember. “I knew the bug would bite you in due time.”

Even though I’d agreed to come record, I wasn’t sure if my heart was in it. But, Bo and Ember could see the desires of my heart written across my face. I was all in.

Ember tilted her chin to where CJ and Georgia were still talking. “What’s with her? How does CJ know her?”

I filled them in on what little details I knew.

“Dunes?” Ember crinkled her nose at the mention of the bar Georgia’s dad used to run. “That place is such a hole.”

“Yeah, she’s been out here for a few years. I don’t know anything about her, really.”

Ember raised her eyebrows. “She really does leave little to the imagination, though, doesn’t she?”

I leaned to the side and saw Georgia and CJ walking toward us. Georgia’s breasts bouncing as she moved.

“Be nice,” Bo mumbled.

“I intend to,” she shot back.

Georgia cocked her head to the side as she wiggled her way between Ember and me. “What’s the matter, Regan? You look ... lost.” She bit her lip. Her eyelashes swooped down for a fraction of a second before she looked back up, red in her cheeks.

She was flirting with me.

No.

“Just tired.”

A tiny groan of a noise fled from her throat as she smiled. “Well, rest up. Janice wants you back here tomorrow.”

“Janice?” I asked.

“The owner. Customers told her they want more.” Then she looked at me in a way that was so intimate, I felt like we should be alone. “I want more, too.”

“I don’t know...” I looked between my friends, who all seemed eager to accept.

Bo shrugged. “It would be great practice before we hit the studio.”

Ember eyed me cautiously before nodding in agreement with Bo.

CJ slapped me on the shoulder. “Come on, dude! I’m only in town for a week. Then how much will we get to play together?”

“What the hell...” I sighed as CJ cheered. He was easy to please.

“See you tomorrow, then.” Georgia smiled, and for the first time since I met her a few hours before, it reached her eyes.

I nodded. “Tomorrow.”

I ordered a drink from the 6-foot, too-skinny bartender with spiky black hair. She set the Guinness in front of me while looking me over, suspicion lazily forming her lips into a half-grin.

“What?” I asked, the noise of Bo and Ember asking Georgia for details about tomorrow lost in the background.

She just shook her head, looking behind me for a split second before looking back at me with a full smile.

“Enjoy the ride.”

“What are you talking about?” I shook my head.

“You’ll see.” Her eyes flickered behind me once more. I knew Georgia was still standing there. I could smell the brown sugar perfume I remembered from earlier in the afternoon.

“I doubt it,” I challenged.

She chuckled, and as she walked away she said in a sing-song voice, “We’ll see.”

Turning around, I found Georgia linking arms with what had to have been the fourth or fifth customer I saw her get that cozy with over the course of the night.

No, I thought.

We won’t see.





Regan

The gang and I had some sound-check issues we wanted to correct before Sunday night’s gig, so we showed up at E’s around six o’clock. CJ had insisted on staying until closing to catch up more with Georgia, and I didn’t see him until he rolled in around five in the morning. Needless to say, he was moving slower than I would have liked for someone that needed to move a multi-piece drum set across the stage to accommodate our set-up.

“Come on, Ceej, you slept till we woke you up to drive over here. Get your ass in gear or get off the stage.” I set a coil for sound cable on the stool and went over to his set, pushing the bass drum with my foot.

“Pull the bow out of your ass, Regan. And, don’t touch my f*ckin’ drums.”

Bo shook his head with a smile, moving stools to the side. But, Ember wasn’t about to let me get away with my attitude.

“You’ve been kind of bitchy all day.”

I loved when she used the word bitchy to describe Bo’s attitude, sometimes. But not mine.

She was right, though.

“Sorry,” I sighed, “I guess the stress of trying to find a place to live is grating on me.”

“No luck last night, huh?”