Page 8 of Legal

Hmm… I suppose it would have been hard to miss, given the intimate arena. I shook my head. “It had nothing to do with the music. I can see Hallowed Realm making it, and I’m not just saying that. A unique sound that also appeals to the masses? That rare combination will take you places.”

He tilted his head and smiled, making me question if I’d overdone it again. I was not some crazed fan hoping to have my strings plucked by a skilled, cute guitarist. There were plenty of perky women trolling these grounds who’d fill that role in a heartbeat.Come to think of it, why is he standing here conversing with me when there is no shortage of beautiful girls around who share his age bracket?

Unless he’s gay too…. He’s certainly hot enough for it. Wait, did I just think of him as hot? Perry must have possessed my mind for a second.

“They deserve it,” he said. “You’ll never meet a more decent group of guys. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to help out.”

I raised my eyebrow. “That’s why?”

He laughed hard, and I couldn’t help but join in. “Well, the huge thrill didn’t hurt either. Where else can a relatively unknown get such a massive audience? It’s fucking amazing.”

That it was. I scanned the ground below me, marveling at the massive amounts of ears and eyeballs who shared a love of music. How many bands over the years had started here as a blip, but had blown up to a zeppelin? It was a place for dreams to come true.

“You know,” I said, finding him fun to talk to, “I never bought into the whole ‘modern music sucks’ theory. No originality, same few chords repeated over and over to keep people from thinking too hard, blah, blah, blah. There’s always been bad music; it’s just not remembered as well as the good.”

The way his lips curved made me zero in on his mouth for a second too long before darting my eyes away. All his attention appeared to be straight on me. Maybe I was coming across as a babbling idiot, but I had the excuse of not getting out much.

“You don’t believe creativity’s dead?”

“Never. You just have to know where to look for it. You have to be willing to go outside the mainstream sometimes.” I laughed. “But I suppose I’m preaching to the choir here.”

“How about we continue this somewhere less crowded?”

“We are somewhere less crowded.”

He pointed to the Sky Glider. “We could take a ride.”

I barely had a moment to process his suggestion when Perry popped up, scaring the shit out of me. I leaped back. “Geez, Perry.” She had a huge grin on her face, neon pink emanating from her hand. “Let me guess—strawberry shortcake.”

“Nope, raspberry marshmallow. Hey, you should totally go for that ride.” She winked at me. I love her, but seriously? I wanted her to disappear right now. If she thought she was being subtle, she was failing miserably. “You know you want to. You brought it up when we got here.”

“No, Perry. That was you.”

“Same thing.”

“No, it’s not.” I turned to Chase, who looked amused. Things were taking a bizarre twist. “I don’t even know you.”

“Jillian, I’m not suggesting you follow me into a dark alley. There’re cops swarming all over this place. What do you think I’m going to do to you?”

Well, for starters, if he was a psycho, he could push me off the thing and plummet me forty feet to my death just for the fun of it. But then I suppose nothing was stopping him from throwing me off the roof. Maybe I was the deranged one for even thinking it was a possibility.

“He’s right, you know,” Perry said. I smiled sweetly, and she knew how to interpret it. “I’ll just be going now. I’ll be here when you get back, hanging with Stuffleupagus.”

Chase was staring at me, and I couldn’t help thinking how my night was worlds different compared to the day before. “Okay.” I shrugged. “Why not?”

I followed him out, avoiding Perry’s gaze. She didn’t need to make a big deal about a silly ride, and neither did I.

As soon as we were down the stairs and out the building, he grabbed my hand and steered me through the crowd. It was so unexpected. My blood surged, pumping hard into places it hadn’t bothered to reach in a while.

Please be gay.

We didn’t speak as we weaved through all the fairgoers holding cups and plates of food above their heads. It wouldn’t have been possible to hear, anyway. Not without getting right up into each other’s faces, and that was not an avenue I wanted to explore. Not while my brain was on overload trying to deal with the way my skin reacted against his. Just because he was wildly attractive didn’t mean it was appropriate for my body to respond to him. Unless he liked men. Then it’d be okay.

The fast-moving line for the glider was short, and as soon as we stepped into it, I detached my hand from his. I deliberated: Should I or should I not lay into him for taking my hand without permission? It seemed petty to do so; it really was a practical gesture considering the amount of people. I just didn’t appreciate the way he made me feel when he did it. But if he was into cock, I’d definitely overlook it.

“Jillian?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” The woman on duty was trying to keep things moving along quickly, and I wasn’t helping by having my personal dilemma.Just a short ride, Jillian.You can handle that.

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