Page 89 of Play Fast (Brooklyn Dawn 2)

When the fans swarmed around us, I clutched her by the thighs to steady her. She rode my shoulders as I slogged my way through the shocked audience. Lindsey crooned a little impromptu “Papa Don’t Preach” to keep with the Madonna theme.

“Couch?” I asked.

“Hell, yeah.”

I grabbed my bottle on its way by. There was little more than a swig left, but it was enough to clear out the war wounds and echoes of Daisy’s voice.

People parted for us, as if they knew we needed the space.

Jamie

jammed her long, bony fingers into my shoulder and vaulted herself up and off me onto the leather. A guy caught her as she wobbled back since the cushions were not made for that kind of bouncing. He curled his arms around her to help straighten her out. The dude’s hand slid over her taut middle. Jamie grinned back at him. “Careful.”

The dude immediately unhanded her.

She sat down cross-legged on the sofa. “I wasn’t complaining, but I gotta make sure you’re cute before you get to cop a feel.” She gave him a feral smile. “You’ll do.” She jerked him down by the T-shirt and planted a hot kiss on him before pushing him aside. “Now I gotta work.”

The bark of a low, rumbling voice behind me demanding people move out of the way made me look over my shoulder. “Just in time, Chuckles.”

Jamie peered around me, her eyes narrowing as she spotted Noah. “Great. He always ruins the fun.”

I sat down next to Jamie and pulled the microphone from my jeans pocket. “Mind if we do a little ‘Dear Agony’ from over here?” I glanced at Jamie. “Duet.”

“Shit. We haven’t done that in years.”

I flexed my sore hand before curling my fingers around the microphone. “Scared?”

She gathered her hair over her shoulder. “Fuck no.”

“This is not a secure area.” Noah’s voice was firm and loud over the boos of the crowd.

“We’re just hanging with our friends, right?” Jamie leaned back against the guy she’d kissed. He was more muscle than brains, and I was pretty sure he had a death wish.

Noah crossed his arms and nodded toward three other members of his security force to make a semi-circle perimeter around us.

I twisted enough to see the stage. Lindsey had pulled out her acoustic. “Mind if we give you a break, Lindz?”

She settled on the stool we’d be using for the acoustic set. “Go for it.”

Evidently, we’d be starting the session early. Phones were up and recording while nerves jumped in my belly. It had been a damn long time since I’d sung. I was much happier with the bass and the occasional backup vocal. But the song suited my mood.

The lyrics were a little too close, but I leaned into the acoustic notes Lindsey offered as Zane’s manipulated electric guitar gave the song an extra layer of epic to match my darker, lower register.

Jamie’s voice wasn’t as pure as Lindsey’s. It was more Joan Jett with a rich, silk overlay that set the people around us back a step. A hush fell over the crowd as the acoustic version of the song built, and we sang into the microphone together until we forehead to forehead.

When the last notes of Lindsey’s acoustic guitar floated out into the surprisingly quiet room, I finally opened my eyes.

Jamie slapped my chest, her face split with a wild smile. “Fuck. That was amazing.”

I laughed, a little lighter now that some of the pain had been released into the song. It wasn’t nearly as effective as Daisy’s sweetness, but I finally believed I could make it through the rest of the show without ending up as a passed-out drunk.

Jamie popped up from the couch and stole the microphone. She slipped through the thirty or so people that had managed to snake around the security guards and stared right at Noah as she did a trust fall into the screaming fans.

They lifted her high, handing her over the crowd to surf through the general admission pit. She sang “I Love Rock and Roll” as she drifted toward the stage.

Noah growled and barked orders to his staff to keep people back and get some order.

I took a few selfies with fans before I made my way to the barrier to get back onto the stage.

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