Bad Moon (BBW Paranormal Romance) by Jackie Sexton Page A

guys,” she said
as she pulled away, a wistful gleam in her hazel eyes.
    “You still can!” I reminded her. “We can
squeeze you in the back, you can be my assistant manager/roadie!” I
was half-joking, but it was still a really nice idea.
    “Maybe next time. If only I didn’t have to
repeat that stupid stat course,” she groaned with a roll of her
eyes. I patted her lovely red hair, tucking a stray strand behind
her ear. It was hard graduating without her. I had expected that we
would achieve every milestone together, the three amigos, all for
one and one for all. But her mathematical challenges combined with
Trent’s total disinterest in school left me alone in that frumpy
black cap and gown that day, wishing I could be with them in the
stands instead of in that hot sea of impatient graduates in the pit
of that giant convention center.
    “Well, we’ll still see you in Atlanta, right ?” I said, giving her hand a final
squeeze.
    “Right,” she nodded, squeezing my hand back.
“Now go kick ass as the best band manager ever,” she said, throwing
her arms around me one last time. I squeezed her as tightly as I
could, realizing that it was the longest time I would be without
her since I graduated college.
    “Also,” she mumbled in my ear before pulling
away to give my outfit a disapproving glance. “That leather jacket
is ridiculous. It’s over ninety degrees right now.”
    “Now go before I change my mind and take you
back,” she said with a mock-threatening look.
    I laughed as I pulled opened up the van's
side door and plopped down next to our lead guitarist, Marin.
    "Ready?" he asked me, giving me a grin as I
buckled my seat belt. "Ms. Goodie-two-shoes?"
    "Hey, if we get pulled over I'm not helping
you with the ticket," I said, snapping the belt proudly against my
ample chest. Martin chuckled and shook his head, causing his dirty
blonde mop to flop over his eyes. I had known Martin since middle
school but we became friends in high school, when he and Trent
started playing guitar together. It was then that they started
their first band (SoFlying), and I had my first management gig,
getting them little shows at punk venues and alternative coffee
shops throughout South Florida. I was good at it and I liked it, so
when Trent asked me to manage his new band, Bad Moon, I was totally
in, even if I didn't know the other two guys, Nick and Brandon.
While Nick was still a mystery to me, little more than the
Rastafarian in the corner of parties smoking weed and banging on
anything that could make a beat, Brandon was so outgoing and
flamboyant that I couldn’t help but fall for his eccentric
charm.
    "God, look at them. Doesn't it make you want
to puke?" Martin said, nodding his head to the view out the window
on my side, where Trent and his girlfriend, Lola, were passionately
kissing goodbye.
    "Oh, not really," I said as my heart sank a
little in my chest.
    ' He's always been a really good friend,
and that's it ,' I reminded myself. It was easy to forget about
the massive crush I had on Trent in high school, but it was times
like these where I relapsed.
    "Come on, she totally sucks. She's a soul
sucker," Martin said, waggling his fingers in front of his face
like a magician. I laughed. Most of Trent's friends hated Lola, but
I tried to remain neutral, especially since I felt like my dislike
of her stemmed from a place I really didn't want to revisit. It was
that sad, woe-is-me-I-hate-myself place. But really, it was hard
not to feel that way when she was kind of everything I wasn't.
Thin, blonde, and absolutely in control of every situation. When
she walked into the room all eyes were on her, and she made sure of
it. To be fair, it was kind of impossible not to look at her, with
the pink highlights framing her face and the belly-ring on her
constantly showing midriff.
    It also kind of sucked that Trent was
everything I wanted in a guy: tall, lean, with broad shoulders and
a shock of black hair that constantly fell