Page 105 of Hush (Fighting Fate)
Jace rubbed his arm. “Jesus, sorry. Fine. Any girl except the ones in this room. Better?”
I couldn’t argue with that. “Much,” I said gruffly.
A dark head appeared from around the corner. “What the fuck are you all doing hanging around the door for? Get the fuck in here.”
The guys laughed, and we all moved into the other room, sinking down on a big modular lounge that almost took up the whole space. Kaeli stayed standing and squeezed my hand.
“I’ll just go grab some drinks. Be right back.”
I watched her go before turning back to see a couple of the guys eyeing me. One of them with light brown hair thrust his hand out to shake.
“Hey, I’m Dean.”
I recognized him as the lead singer from the band. “Noah,” I said, taking his hand. “I’ve heard you guys play. You’re good.”
Dean nodded like he was happy to hear it. I noted he didn’t seem cocky like I thought he’d be. Most front men were. “Thanks, man. We appreciate that. This is Matt, our drummer.”
I looked to his side to see the dark head that had called out around the corner
before. As soon as I saw the grin on his face, I knew where all the cocky went, ‘cause it was written all over the dude’s face.
He reached out to pump my hand and quirked his eyebrows. “Nice tatts, man. Did Dan do those?”
I frowned in surprise. “Yeah, man. You know him?”
Matt grinned. “Fuck yeah. I grew up with him. He’s friends with my older brother, Paul.”
I was impressed. “He does awesome work.”
“He’s a fucking legend.”
Matt ripped the shirt over his head and turned so I could see a piece of work that spread over the whole top of his back. It was a swirl of flames, music notes and script, with the name of their band woven through it. It was pretty bad ass.
“Nice.”
“Oh for god’s sake, Matt. Put your freaking shirt back on. No one wants to see your stupid tatt.”
I looked up to see a gorgeous brunette walking in with a couple of beers in her hand. Well, she would’ve been gorgeous if she wasn’t wearing a scowl.
“Shut up, Lila. No one asked for your opinion,” Matt snapped. There was clearly no love between these two.
Dean smacked Matt on the back of the head. “Watch it.”
The girl, Lila, smirked at Matt before sinking down beside Dean. Matt threw Dean a feral look before sliding right away from the two of them.
“Yeah, well at least I have the balls to do what I want, unlike someone else I know.”
Lila glared at him. “Just because Dean’s not following your stupid little band ritual doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any balls. It means he’s smart.” She flicked her gaze my way, looking over my arms like they were diseased.
Fucking really?
Matt scoffed and Dean sighed. “Lila…” he warned.
“Whatever. You know I’m right,” she said snootily. “I don’t know why you don’t just stand up for yourself already.”
I gawked at the girl, then I gawked at Dean. She was a massive bitch. And he was just taking it. What the hell? I was with Matt on this one. Dean really needed to grow some balls.
I studied Kaeli as she waltzed back in with Mia, Jace and Aiden, remembering the slightly glazed look she’d gotten in her eyes when she’d looked over my tatts the night before. That’s what Dean needed. Not Kaeli, but someone who’d look at him like that.
