CHAPTER NINE
Reluctantly, Jewel pulls into the parking lot in front of The Phoenix, the club where Seven Ravens are going to be rocking out tonight. She’s way early. There are only a few other cars around. After Jewel parks, she texts Alyssa and lets her know that she has arrived. By the time Jewel gets to the door, Alyssa lets her in. When Jewel sees her, she’s in a different dress than before. This one is beige and more revealing than the last one. It leaves little to the imagination, but that doesn’t really surprise Jewel.
“I’m so glad you came!” Alyssa and gives Jewel a hug.
Jewel hugs her back, but mostly to be friendly. The expression on her face doesn’t match. Seeing Alyssa brings back a bit of the annoyed feelings from before, but Jewel does her best to dismiss them.
“Where’d you get the dress?”
“Oh, Vincent got it for me this morning. Come on, they’re doing the soundcheck,” Alyssa says as she grabs Jewel. She drags her through the large pink front door and toward the side of the stage.
“Alyssa, I was wondering. Why wasn’t there a band that opened for them last night? Will there be an opener tonight?” Jewel inquires.
“Actually, I asked Vincent that, too. He said that other bands are pussies and are scared of Seven Ravens. Maybe they have a reputation?”
Jewel can already hear the instruments before she gets onto the floor, but once she’s there she can hear Ash testing out the mics. She can’t help but to be impressed. His voice is raspy and soulful, enough to make her want to melt all over again. Enough to bring back some of the same desires as before, and knowing how he made love to her last time, she has to swallow hard to escape the feelings.
Once the band is satisfied they head off to the dressing room. Jewel and Alyssa follow. This room is just as fancy as the last one, but when they enter, it’s clear that the last band had partied a little too hard and someone had punched a hole through one of the walls. There is fresh plaster covering it, but the rest of the clean-up hasn’t been completed yet, so it stands out from the rest of the wall. This room, like the last one, has a fully stocked refrigerator.
As the band starts to relax, Alyssa gravitates toward the man she slept with last night, Vincent. It doesn’t surprise Jewel. Alyssa likes to get the most out of a man before he inevitably moves on to the next city. The big acts always move on. Alyssa, much like Jewel, is mostly into musicians, but unlike Jewel, Alyssa isn’t very picky.
While Jewel stands back she realizes that the man Alyssa has been with is the lead guitar player, but the rest of the band doesn’t refer to him as Vincent. Instead, they call him Hunt or Huntsman. Jewel can only raise her eyebrow at it. It’s peculiar, but she shrugs it off. It’s not unusual for members of a band to have nicknames.
Once Ash makes his way into the dressing room, his eyes don’t get past Jewel. He immediately comes to her. He grabs her plump behind as he draws in her in for a kiss. He smells like cigarettes and beer, but she can’t help but keep her lips pressed against his until he pulls away.
Shit… she thinks as she takes a deep breath in, trying to get her wits about her. I can’t sleep with him again. I have to stand my ground.
It’ll be difficult because she already knows what a giver he is in bed, but she silently reassures herself that has the willpower to stay away.
For the rest of the time in the dressing room, Ash stays near Jewel. Only occasionally, but with confidence, does he brush his hand across her bosom, or her behind. Each time he does so it sends shivers up Jewel’s spine and she has to bite her tongue. While the banter continues with the rest of the guys, she tries to focus on their words instead of the feelings that Ash elicits.
A few groupie women come in, flirting heavily with the guys. Each time she sees the skinny, slutty women she feels disgust, as if these girls have a total disregard for themselves and others. In a moment of clarity, Jewel reasons with herself that her disgust is probably just due to her recent breakup. Hanging around this band, though, she has to admit that there are more bigger women that get backstage with the Seven Ravens than the other bands she’s hung out with. Usually, she’s just an exception.
While the members of the band are starting to get rowdy with each other, Wolfe walks in. They all stop what they’re doing and they seem to straighten up a bit at his presence. Ash hasn’t left Jewel. Currently, his arm is around her back with his hand on her waist. She can’t help but to think of the night they had. It makes it all the much harder for Jewel to mentally reinforce her need to not sleep with Ash again. While the guys straighten up the young females start to get bored. They begin to play and bicker with each other on the other side of the room.
Just shut up, she thinks to herself. She knows they’re just doing it in a lame attempt to get attention from the men. Sometimes, groupie girls are so obvious.
Jewel turns her attention to Wolfe, who is wearing a biker vest. It has a darkly designed grim reaper on it, which seems familiar. As she looks at it longer, she begins to recognize it from somewhere, but she can’t quite place where. It takes a few moments before it comes to mind, but then it clicks that that she’s seen it on the news before. Then it hits her… she had scrolled passed this same image earlier today while she was Googling Ash Steele!
Jewel glances at Ash, but now he’s busy looking at Wolfe. Occasionally, his hand moves from her waist to her back, then to her breast and back to her waist. Each time it caresses her body she gets goosebumps and a weakness in her knees, letting her know that she may have gotten in over her head once again.