Play (Stage Dive, #2)(47)

“Get a room,” groaned Ben.

Mal handed me his drumsticks. “A memento of your first Stage Dive concert.”

Someone laughed, but I didn’t care. I held the sticks tight to my chest. “I’ll treasure them always.”

“She heard us play last night.” Jimmy hung back from the group, arms crossed. His good mood was apparently gone.

“That was acoustic,” said Mal. “And I’m not going to give my love a set of flimsy f*cking brushes, am I? Only long, hard, phallic shaped things will do for a girl of her appetites.”

“I heard about you two.” Carefully, David set his wife back down, keeping an arm around her.

My head snapped up. “What?”

“Ooh, what happened?” asked Lena, ears practically perking up, puppy style.

“They broke the bed.” The look on Ev’s face—-hell, we were never going to live this down. “Can you believe that?”

“Of course we broke the bed. They’re just lucky we didn’t break the building,” announced Mal proudly, taking a bow.

David shook his head. “You two do anything interesting and I get Lauren calling at the crack of f*cking dawn to tell my wife. Move already.”

“Anne likes it there,” said Mal. “No rush.”

“You got shit security. People get to know you’re in the area, you’ll have no privacy. And how f*cking small are those apartments?”

“Relax, Davie. We’ll think about it. You guys, all so addicted to your mansions and fancy livin’. Why, Anne and I could live in a cardboard box and we wouldn’t even notice, our love is so epic. Isn’t that right, pumpkin?”

“Um, yes?”

“See?” Mal crowed. “She’s insanely psycho crazy about me. Material things mean nothing in the face of such worshipful adoration.”

David just shook his head.

“Whatever.” Ben ran a hand over his short hair. “I’m starving. We finding somewhere to eat and drink?”

“YES.” That was Lizzy. A very loud and determined-sounding Lizzy.

The bass player’s eyes moved over her with sudden interest. A slow, salacious smile curled his lips. “Well, okay then.”

Red alert. So not okay. My baby sister was not hooking up with a player who had to have eight or more years on her. If I wanted to be stupid with my heart, that was on me. I’d let Lizzy get hurt over my dead body.

“Don’t you have to get back to school, Liz?” I asked.

“No, I’m fine.”

“I thought you had an assignment to do?” I communicated much with my eyes.

She ignored it all. “Nope.”

“Lizzy.” I forced her name out through gritted teeth.

“Ladies, ladies,” Mal said, sensing the rising hostilities. “We got a problem here?”

A woman who’d been hanging with the record company executives approached, her high-heeled boots tapping across the floor. Her smile was tentative. The woman was gorgeous, breasts about a billion times the size of mine (granted, not hard to do) and blond hair in a cool pixie cut. “Mal?”

He turned and his entire face lit up at the sight of the girl. My insides knotted. Yes, fine. I might have been a bit jealous.

“Ainslie, when did you arrive? Looking good.” He sounded super happy. They hugged. Then they hugged some more. The girl giggled and sighed, pressing herself against him. Holy shit, was that bitch actually feeling up my fake boyfriend in front of me? She was practically humping his leg. Given the dynamic between the two, there could be no doubting what their relationship was about. I’d finally met one of Mal’s f*ck buddies. It had to happen. Surprise was stupid and I had no real right to hurt feelings. Pity that didn’t make the pain disappear.

I could feel the other women’s eyes on me, boring holes into my skull. No way was I returning their stares. Mal had obviously found someone to scratch his itch. Meanwhile, my face was heating up. The entire scene was f*cking horrible and embarrassing.

“Hey, Mal,” said Lizzy, interrupting the lovers’ reunion. “Should we invite Anne’s friend Reece along to eat? He often does stuff with us on Sundays.”

Oh the wonderful loyal little shit stirrer. I appreciated the thought, but her intentions were misplaced. I didn’t need protecting.

“I think Reece said he’d be busy,” I said.

My sister played the wide-eyed innocent so well. “No, really? Why don’t you give him a call and check, Anne?”

I shook my head. “Maybe another–”

“Fuck no, Lizzy. I mean, I don’t think there’ll be room.” Mal’s arms remained around the woman. Then he noticed the faces of his friends, the disapproving and the curious both. For a moment he looked confused, blinking, his forehead creased. Then he stepped back from her, shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. Talk about compromised. Our fake relationship had entirely slipped his mind. His Chucks shifted restlessly.

Also, apparently the thought of making Reece jealous no longer appealed to him. But I hadn’t wanted to call Reece either. I’d been perfectly happy as things were. Either way, right now, it didn’t much matter. This woman had changed everything.

Ainslie put a hand on his arm. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s cool,” I said, not on the verge of tears. The air was just really dusty in the old building. “Why don’t you go for a drink with your friend and catch up?”