Part 1 (2/2)

”You b.i.t.c.h!” she shrieked.

I didn't expect her to hit me. But she did. Hard. An open hand slap right across my left cheek. It stung like h.e.l.l. I'd never been slapped before and didn't realize how badly it could hurt. I think my lip was cut as well because I could taste blood in my mouth. I glanced down at her hand and noticed the solid silver rings on her hand. The b.i.t.c.h had turned them in.

”Hey,” one of the security guards shouted, ”If you're going to fight take it outside.”

A little crowd started to form around us. The scent of blood always got teenagers' attentions. We were like animals in that regard. I don't know how many times I'd been in one of those crowds watching as two or three or more people beat the c.r.a.p out of each other for pathetic and irrelevant reasons.

I could read the lips of the guys standing closest to us as they pa.s.sed the word on about the b.i.t.c.h fight about to happen. What was it with guys wanting to watch two girls fight? I really hated to be in the middle of one, all eyes watching, ready for the scratching and hair pulling that usually entailed in a girl fight and hoping for blood.

Usually a loner, I didn't like a lot of attention. Preferring to stick to my three or four good friends, I didn't much like being in a crowd, except at a gig. But then when I came to a Malice concert, it was always just between me and the band. The crowds never bothered me. I just came to hear the music and watch the s.e.xy guys on the stage-I came for the rock fantasy.

So standing in front of a fuming blond bimbo out for blood in a fighting circle surrounded by twenty or thirty people wasn't making me feel all that good. Again, I felt like I was going to barf. I didn't want to fight. I wasn't big on violence; I didn't even play fighting games on my DS. But I was not the type of person to back down either. My mom had always taught me to stick up for myself. Although I'm sure she didn't mean that I should punch the s.h.i.+t out of this girl. Even if I wanted to.

Rubbing my cheek, I tried to appeal to the girl's reasonable side, a.s.suming she possessed one. ”I think for that you should give me your backstage pa.s.s. We'll call it even.”

She laughed. ”Not likely.” Then she shoved me hard. I stumbled backwards into the murmuring crowd. Two sets of hands pushed me back into the circle. Hey, thanks guys!

It was obvious I wasn't going to walk away from this easily. Or at all by the murdering look in the blond's eyes. But no one ever said being a groupie was easy.

Not sure what to do, I glanced up and locked gazes with Thane. He was standing near the side of the stage looking down at me; the microphone stand gripped tightly, his dark eyes piercing me. Heat blossomed inside of me. I'd never been looked at like that by a guy before. As if he wanted to devour me from the toes up. I put a hand to my stomach where b.u.t.terflies started to flip flop around like beached fish.

A rush of something I couldn't name shot through my body. Adrenaline or l.u.s.t, I didn't know which, but whatever it was made me feel really good. Powerful even. s.e.xy. Like one of the female members of the X-Men. Storm maybe, or Rogue, maybe even Dark Phoenix before she went insane and killed everyone.

Whatever it was, I liked it.

Putting my attention back on my blond nemesis, I decided I needed to act if I was going to get out of the situation. Faster than I knew I could move, I reached up and s.n.a.t.c.hed the bull ring from her nose.

She screamed and grabbed her nose with both hands. Blood seeped between her fingers to drip on the floor.

The sound of her skin and cartilage ripping made me s.h.i.+ver. Even above the music I had heard it ring in my ears. I felt bad for liking the sound, but she had it coming.

Her two friends gathered her in the safety of their arms but they both stared at me with a mixture of venom and apprehension. I suspected no one saw that coming. I certainly hadn't.

In a daze, I looked around me, and noticed that she'd dropped her backstage pa.s.s onto the floor. Leaning down I s.n.a.t.c.hed it up and smiled. I finally got my backstage pa.s.s.

As I hung it around my neck, my gaze met Thane's once again. He was singing the last lines of their last song but he was watching me. And he smiled.

I smiled in return.

Chapter 2.

The fat smelly security guard shook his head. ”You have one pa.s.s. That means only one of you can come in.”

Chloe and I stood at the back entrance to the club with several other girls and guys eager to get in and party with the band. The only problem was, they weren't letting us in. Well, they weren't letting Chloe in because she didn't have a pa.s.s.

”C'mon man, give us a break. We've been standing out here for over an hour to get in and now you won't let us in?”

He pointed at me. ”I'll let you in, but not her. She doesn't have a pa.s.s.”

”C'mon, can't you just break the rules this one time?”

”No. Now move out of the way so the others can get in.” He shoved us off to one side.

Dejected, we moved out of line and leaned against the wall of the club. I kicked a rock on the ground. I couldn't believe this was happening after having been slapped around by some blond bimbo and stealing her backstage pa.s.s. It just wasn't fair.

”You go,” Chloe said after a couple of minutes of staring at the moving crowd of people.

”No, not without you. We always said we'd go together.”

”I know, but you have the pa.s.s, Salem. You got it after that b.i.t.c.h decked you. You deserve to go to the party.”

”Are you sure?” I asked, hope filling my chest. I hated to think it but I know I would've been p.i.s.sed if I couldn't go and meet the band after all the gigs I'd been to and yeah, getting slapped by s.k.a.n.kenstein had been the icing on the cake.

”Yes, I'm sure.” She sighed. ”This is your big thing, not mine. Besides you earned it and some.” Her eyes widened and she laughed. ”I can't believe you ripped that girl's nose ring out. That is so gross.”

”Yeah, me either.” I s.h.i.+vered. ”I didn't plan to, it just kinda happened.”

Chloe fiddled with her nose ring, likely subconsciously thinking about what that would feel like. ”She had it coming, I'm sure.” I saw her shake a little.

She dug out her car keys from her pocket. ”Are you sure you'll be okay alone?”

I nodded. ”Yeah, I'm cool. I've got money for a cab home.”

”You should call your mom and tell her.”

”Nah. She's forward thinking and all, but I'm not sure how she'd react if I told her I'm going to a band party on my own with the intentions of having s.e.x with the lead singer.”

Chloe eyed me carefully. ”You're sure about that stuff?”

I rubbed my hands over my arms. A cool breeze swirled around me giving me the chills. ”Yeah, I'm good. I'm on the pill. I have condoms. I won't do anything I'll regret in nine months.”

”Okay.” She opened her arms and moved in to hug me.

I squeezed her back, then stepped away feeling a bit unsure about what I was about to do. Was I really going to have s.e.x with some guy I really didn't know just because he was a rock G.o.d?

I figured it was something I could tell my kids. Just like how my mom told me about some of the musicians she'd partied with over the years while she toured in her own band in the eighties.

”Be safe.” Chloe handed me a piece of mint flavored gum. ”And don't accept open drinks from anyone. It could be roofied.”

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