The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men #7)(21)

I scowled at him for bringing her up.

“What chick?” Sticks asked, suddenly too curious for my comfort.

Ignoring him, I scowled at Gally. “You’re the one who refused to even listen to her play.”

“Like you wanted a girl in the band either.” Gally glared back.

I gave a dismissive shrug. “Never know. She might’ve been good. But yeah, one of us—meaning you—probably would’ve nailed her, and she would’ve taken off within the week. Then we’d be back at square one, looking for another drummer.”

Sticks opened his mouth to say something, but I lifted a hand to stop him. “Doesn’t matter, anyway. We’ve got Sticks now.” Smiling congenially at the new guy, I added, “Problem solved.”

Sticks didn’t seem so flattered, though. He lifted a censorious brow. “So...you didn’t even let someone try out just because she was a girl?”

I heaved a sigh, and pointed meaningfully at Gally to pin the blame on him. “He didn’t. Not me.”

Gally scowled at Sticks. “Oh, shut up, queer. No one asked you.”

I was about to snap at him for being so offensive, but Sticks frowned right back. “I never said I was gay.”

Gally lifted his hands. “Well, do you prefer cock over * or not?”

Sticks winced. Then he ducked his chin and mumbled into his chest, “Yeah, I guess I do.”

Hating how Gally was making the newest member to our group feel ashamed, I slapped the bass guitarist hard in the chest with the back of my hand and told the drummer, “Ignore him; the rest of us do. He never did find the wizard to grant him a brain.”

As Sticks sent me a small, grateful smile, Gally frowned in confusion, mumbling, “Huh?”

“Never mind.” I didn’t have time to explain the Wizard of Oz to him. “I gotta go. See you guys tomorrow at Forbidden.” When I glanced meaningfully Sticks’s way to make sure Gally hadn’t scared him off yet, he nodded, and relief bloomed in my chest.

The band was back.

Thank God.





I slid into a parking spot with ten minutes to spare before we were set to open, but I was surprised to find as I hurried inside that I wasn’t the last to arrive. Everyone but Mason milled about, doing assorted tasks.

It was Thursday, ladies’ night, so aside from the doorman and cooks in the back, only us bartenders worked, waiting tables and tending the counter. Knox and Noel prepared things behind the bar, while Ten and Quinn took chairs off tables.

“About time you decided to show, rock star,” Ten called to me.

“Oh, hey, Ten,” I called back, snapping my fingers, then pointing at him. “Before I forget, could you let Caroline know she left one of her shirts at my place last week?” When Ten narrowed his eyes at me for bringing up his wife, I grinned. “It’s that tight, white little number with all the red lips on it. You know the one I’m talking about, right?”

“Fucker, I’ll cut you.”

I laughed. No one was as fun to rile as Oren Tenning. So I had to mess with him pretty much every chance I got. He had a comeback for everything I said too, which only amused me more.

Right on cue, his scowl morphed into a grin. “Besides, I peeled that very shirt off her last night, so ha. I know you’re lying.”

Then he was off, whistling under his breath, to move a table that had shifted too far into a major walkway. Chuckling, I turned to the bar where Knox was behind the counter, replacing a CO2 canister at the tap.

God, I loved working with these guys.

“Hey, man.” I sent Knox a head bob greeting. “How’s Felicity? She give up on you yet, so I can have a turn with her?”

Brown eyes lifted to sear me with a deadly glance. “I won’t just cut you,” he said in a voice that made me want to piss myself, because I knew he wasn’t mere talk; this one backed his words up.

Yeah, Knox wasn’t nearly as entertaining to tease. But I still liked him, regardless, because he was a good man to have on your side when you needed help.

I cleared my throat, sent him a tight smile, and quickly escaped to help Ten prepare the customer area.

As soon as I pulled a chair off the table, however, Harper admitted three people into the club. Only VIPs—aka, people close to us bartenders—were allowed inside before opening and after we closed—new rules—so I glanced over, curious to see who’d stopped by to visit. It had to be someone I liked, because I adored all my coworker’s other halves. My friends had found the most awesome women to fall in love with.

The lucky f*ckers.

The gorgeous brunette in the lead of the trio marched straight to the bar, her face wreathed in anger. The first boy directly behind her hung his head in shame, while the younger one behind him, gaped around him in starstruck wonder.

Aspen Gamble stopped in front of the counter opposite where her husband was counting out bills before he slotted them into the cash register.

“Your brother,” she snarled, making Noel’s head come up. “Is in so much trouble right now, I can’t even deal with him.”

Noel immediately scowled at the older boy as the kid slumped onto a stool and glumly set his elbows on the bar top and then his chin in his hands.

“Brandt,” he growled. “What the hell did you do?”