“Sorry.”

I turned around and found Dee behind me, scuffing his toe against the carpet. I knew he was talking about the coffee incident, and seriously, it was such a small thing to be upset about I’d already let it go.

“Whatever,” I said. “Don’t apologize for my totally insane social issues.”

We were backstage at the venue hanging out until it was time to go on. The Gold Coast was actually pretty nice if you could get past the whole ‘Hollywood on the Gold Coast’ slogan. It was packed with theme parks, wildlife sanctuaries, casinos, and kilometers of white beaches. We had a photo shoot scheduled for the next day down by the surf, and I was actually looking forward to it for once.

“It was a stupid thing to do,” Dee said.

“It’s a stupid thing for me to get worked up about.”

He smiled then, and it reminded me of when we were kids and he had something devious planned. “I’ve got a present for you.”

“Really? What’s the occasion? I mean, other than you being a doofus.”

He chose to ignore me. “It’s eight months today since we started the band.”

“Really?” Went to show how fast things had turned around.

He put his hand into the back pocket of his battered jeans and pulled out a copy of our album, Do Me a Favor.

“Uh, thanks Dee, but I’ve already got one of those.”

“Not this one,” he declared, shoving it into my hands.

I opened it up, but it was exactly the same. “What am I meant to be doing with it?”

“Open the booklet up, Zo Zo.” He looked extremely pleased with himself, and I knew he’d done something while I was in the car with Simone.

I took it out of the cardboard cover and opened it up. It was full of black and white photos of us on stage, promo photos, and candids. All the lyrics were written out in longhand, which gave it that photocopied punk zine look. Toward the back, there were a few mostly white pages with bright photos. In the spaces, there were little messages written. One each from Dee, Frank, and Chris.

To Zoe, The raddest chick and guitar player I know. Without you, we wouldn’t be here today. You are The Devil’s Tattoo, babe. Love Frank.

Zoe, honored to have met you and count you as a best mate. Never change. xx Chris.

And below, was Dee’s message. To my best friend, Zoe Granger, aka hot legs. The day I met you was the day my life began. You’re my sister and my family, and I love you more than you’ll ever know. To quote Bryan Adams, ‘Everything I Do, I Do It For You.’ Thank you for making my dream come true. And to quote Chris, ‘NEVER CHANGE.’ xxxx Dee

I felt a tear slide down my cheek, and suddenly, Dee had me in his arms.

“Stop it,” I said. “You’re ruining my makeup.”

“Love you, Zo Zo.”

“Love you, Dee.” I wiped the back of my hand underneath my eye. “You apologize for the stupidest shit, you know.”

“Best I apologize for everything in case I fuck up and don’t know it,” he replied. “Then I’m always in the good books.”

* * *

Thankfully, the gig that night was one of our best to date.

Seemed that making me angry made for a better show. You know, more raw emotion to filter into our songs. It didn’t help that they were all about love and sex, but I was sure the audience got their money’s worth, so much so, I wondered what the review was going to be like.

Dee was so excited about the photos he was running around like a two-year-old high on sugar, refreshing our Facebook page on his phone a million times.

For the first time since the tour began, I didn’t stick around to watch The Stabs. Instead, I disappeared into the crowd where I was accosted by people telling me how awesome I was. I spent the rest of the night with Simone at the merchandise table, and I was even asked by a few people to sign their albums and take selfies. If someone had asked me a year ago if I could see myself here as I was right now, I would have told them they were mad. No, scratch that. I would’ve turned red and run away. The Devil’s Tattoo was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Period.

After the gig, the venue turned into a quasi-club that didn’t close until three a.m., so we all decided to stick around and have a dance and a few drinks. We were all riding high after our performance, and for the first time, I didn’t care one iota about Will Strickland. I felt like I could rule the entire bloody world.

We were all gathered around a table—Dee, Frank, Chris, and I—laughing and talking up a storm when I looked up and saw Dee’s eyes darken in annoyance.

“What?” I elbowed him.

“It really pisses me off the way he does that.” He scowled, and one look confirmed I knew what he was on about. Will was up to his old tricks again taking advantage of the string of female fans who had hung around for the club.

It was no use hiding my ill-advised crush from the guys anymore since everyone seemed to know without me telling them. “I need to get over that like last century.”

“You should get one up on him,” Dee said, turning his back on the performance.

“Why?” I asked with a grimace. “It’s not like he’s got a crush on me.”

“Totally does,” Frank said. “How are you the only one who hasn’t noticed?”

“Probably because I’m firmly planted in reality,” I said with a dramatic eye roll.

The Naked and Famous’s song ‘Young Blood’ came on, and Frank’s eyes lit up with a wicked sparkle. “Come and dance with me, Zoe.” He grabbed my hand and began to tug me toward the dance floor. “I know you like this song.”

“And you can get one up on manwhore,” Dee said, nodding toward the one place I didn’t want to look.

“If you can’t dirty dance with your band brothers to make jerk-offs jealous, then what are we good for?” Frank whispered in my ear.

I laughed the first genuine laugh since the tour had started and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go, bro.”

We disappeared into the mass of people on the dance floor, and Frank positioned us under a blue spotlight. Grabbing me around the waist, he pulled me against the length of his muscled body, and I didn’t care in the slightest. I wrapped my arms around his neck as we moved to the bouncy song and sang along to the words, having the time of our lives. When it inevitably slowed down, he twirled me around and pulled me closer so that we were cheek to cheek.

“Death stares at two o’clock on the rocket clock,” he murmured into my ear, and I knew he loved it.

“You’re such a bad influence, Frankie,” I murmured back, and he spun me around again like we were doing some kind of mashed up ballroom dance.

“I’m all about being used for my body.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

I threw my head back and laughed, and he took the opportunity to dip me low to the floor before pulling me back up.

“These arms can do more than just drum, Zo Zo.” He smiled wickedly. “You know what they say about a good beat.”

“Gross,” I exclaimed.

“Feel the beat, Zo.”

“I can feel something against my thigh, and it ain’t the beat.”

When the song came to an end and melted into another bubbly electro number, Frank pulled me off the dance floor. “Let me get you another drink.”

“You’d better.” I laughed. “After that dance, I think I might be pregnant.”

“Because I’m that good.”

Thoroughly disgusted, I pushed him toward the bar. “Get a move on, smartass.”

Dee shook his head at me as I stood next to him, my face flushed. “Mission accomplished.”

“Was I on a mission?”

“You totally were. Don’t deny it.”

I shrugged. “Okay. Maybe it was a little satisfying. Now we can all move on.”

“If you were aiming to get one up on the sleazebag, I think you just got a hundred up.”

“I never knew Frank could dance like that.”

“How is that man single?” Dee agreed like we were girlfriends chatting about cute boys.

I didn’t really care about what Will thought. Dancing with Frank was fun, and we were friends, and no matter what they thought, I just wanted to make the most of this tour with them because who knew what would happen next.

What I didn’t want to acknowledge was that deep down I actually wanted to make Will fumingly jealous. I wanted to see steam coming out of his ears. I wanted him to know what it felt like.

I still didn’t believe what everyone was saying about Will being into me, but even Simone had noticed. Was he really trying to make me jealous? If he was, he was going about it the wrong way.

“That guy is shameless.” Dee shook his head, reading my thoughts. “I mean, I’m all for a good time, but that’s a new level. I don’t string ’em on.”

Frank came back while I was daydreaming. “Will came up to me just now, and I swear he was gonna punch me one. You’ve pussy-whipped him, Zo.”

My lip curled as he set another bottle of cider on the table for me. “What are you on about?”

“I don’t think he liked the idea of someone else touching you.”

That made me madder than I thought it would. “He’s hardly spoken to me this entire week and spends his free time flirting with randoms and probably fucking them, too. Like it’s his business what I do. I can dance with whoever I want, however I want.”

“Calm down, Zoe.” Dee threaded his arm through mine. “You’re drunk.”

“No, I’m not,” I protested.

“If he’s trying to make you jealous, looks like it backfired,” Frank said, trying not to look me in the eye.

“Can’t say I want to be him right now,” Dee agreed.

Abruptly, I jerked away from him and ducked into the crowd before he could pull me back. Truthfully, I was a little drunk by that stage, so when I walked up to the bar and saw Will waiting to be served, I scowled at him with such force I even scared myself. When he turned around and saw the look on my face, he actually looked surprised.

“What the hell is your problem?” I asked, thumping down my empty bottle on the bar.

“Frank told you.”

“Of course, Frank told me.”

“This is the most animated I’ve seen you off stage.”

“What’s your problem?” I asked again, and suddenly, I felt incredibly turned on at how riled up he’d made me from this one little thing. Frank said Will had it bad? I had it worse.

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Why the hell do you care?” I exclaimed. “On second thoughts, don’t answer that. I couldn’t care less.”

“I could care a lot.”

I was too angry for his cryptic remark to register. “Oh, go fuck your random skank over a toilet, and leave me the hell alone.”

Will stared at me dumbfounded, and for once, he seemed like he was lost for words. I didn’t stick around to wait for him to snap out of it. I turned sharply on my heel and elbowed my way back to where I’d left my next drink with the boys.

“You sure put him in his place,” Dee sniggered as I approached.

“Oh, go jump, Dylan.”

“Your name’s Dylan?” Chris asked.

“Now see what you’ve done?” he exclaimed. “You’ve ruined my mystique.”

“Is that what you call it?” I asked.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Never mind. I’m taking you back to the hotel if you’re done defending Frank’s virtue.”

“Hey,” Frank exclaimed. “I don’t have any virtue to protect.”

I didn’t have the strength to protest as Dee slipped an arm around my waist and guided me from the venue. Going back to the hotel was a good idea. I was so worked up, who knew what I’d say to Will next. Hell, what would I say if I saw him with another girl? Yeah, going back to the hotel was a great idea.