gets off stage I am.”
He leaned forward and the eerie blue light hit him directly in the face, casting a radiant reflective beam off his sunglasses. “You shouldn’t be alone. There are a lot of weirdos walking around. Didn’t you notice all the men staring at you?”
“Yes, I did. And I’ll be fine.” Was he jealous?
Instead of feeling glad for his concern over her, Scarlet felt resentful. She didn’t belong to him. Who was he to tell her what to do? “I don’t need anybody to look after me,” she said flippantly.
“Then leave.” He slouched against the seat and looked past her to scan the pool game. “You’re obviously a self-sufficient woman, able to take care of—”
“I am,” she cut him off abruptly, having no intention of letting him win this round.
Without so much as a glance back, she left. But she knew he was watching her, following her every step as she marched away. Only when she had turned the corner and was sure that his table was out of view did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Maybe I’m not so interested in him, she thought, deciding that the bewitching attraction she’d felt for him before had been a fluke. It was obvious that the violent side she’d seen on their first date was his most dominant attribute. And to think he would suggest that she couldn’t handle being here by herself. Who did he think she was? Some shy little maid that needed protection?
She squeezed through the mass of gyrating limbs and pushed her way to the balcony railing where she could watch Wild Child. Women and men danced aggressively on the floor below. Young men, most with long hair and earrings, banged their heads in time to the beat like woodpeckers out of control. Seductively dressed women paraded about, and already a line had formed around the front of the stage—a wall of hungry fans.
She watched Vince for a while. His head sprayed sweat over the fans as he rocked and jumped across the stage. Gary was right; Vince’s on-stage personality was the complete opposite of his sweet, shy, normal self. All across the front of the stage, women held their arms up in the hope of touching him for a split second. He knew what they wanted and he gave them their money’s worth by stepping close to the edge, just close enough to let them fondle his boots, then he’d slip back with a mischievous grin and a twinkle in his eye, leaving the women screaming for more.
She found herself intrigued by this wild side of Vince. The sweat dripped down his face and over his chest to his tight stomach. Tongue dipping out to trace the corner of her mouth, Scarlet imagined tracing her fingers down his wet body. To hold him close and let him control her the way he controlled an audience.
Then Vince disappeared behind Gary and her fantasy was abruptly stopped by her brother’s intricate guitar solo.
The band’s motto, made up by Gary and Vince, was to feed the rock n’ roll addict’s habit. And Wild Child did just that.
The floor beneath her feet vibrated with the pounding rhythms of dancing bodies. She was crowded closer and closer to the railing as everybody around her danced to their individual set of instructions. Moving away from an all too eager dance partner, she lost her footing and bumped into an unyielding man. A cold rush of liquid spilled down the side of her body as his hand lost hold of his glass. From her hips down to her thighs a flood of vodka soaked quickly through her dress.
“Oh no!” She pulled up the fabric to examine what had happened and inadvertently granted the extremely drunk man a great view of her thighs.
“Here, lemme help you.” The punkish young man, sporting a nose ring and an armful of skeleton tattoos, slid his hand down her waist and hooked his bony fingers under the wet velvet.
A wave of nausea engulfed Scarlet as his fingers pressed into her thigh, and her heart started pounding twice the speed of Gary’s solo. She tried to push him away but the undulating crowd was making it
He leaned forward and the eerie blue light hit him directly in the face, casting a radiant reflective beam off his sunglasses. “You shouldn’t be alone. There are a lot of weirdos walking around. Didn’t you notice all the men staring at you?”
“Yes, I did. And I’ll be fine.” Was he jealous?
Instead of feeling glad for his concern over her, Scarlet felt resentful. She didn’t belong to him. Who was he to tell her what to do? “I don’t need anybody to look after me,” she said flippantly.
“Then leave.” He slouched against the seat and looked past her to scan the pool game. “You’re obviously a self-sufficient woman, able to take care of—”
“I am,” she cut him off abruptly, having no intention of letting him win this round.
Without so much as a glance back, she left. But she knew he was watching her, following her every step as she marched away. Only when she had turned the corner and was sure that his table was out of view did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Maybe I’m not so interested in him, she thought, deciding that the bewitching attraction she’d felt for him before had been a fluke. It was obvious that the violent side she’d seen on their first date was his most dominant attribute. And to think he would suggest that she couldn’t handle being here by herself. Who did he think she was? Some shy little maid that needed protection?
She squeezed through the mass of gyrating limbs and pushed her way to the balcony railing where she could watch Wild Child. Women and men danced aggressively on the floor below. Young men, most with long hair and earrings, banged their heads in time to the beat like woodpeckers out of control. Seductively dressed women paraded about, and already a line had formed around the front of the stage—a wall of hungry fans.
She watched Vince for a while. His head sprayed sweat over the fans as he rocked and jumped across the stage. Gary was right; Vince’s on-stage personality was the complete opposite of his sweet, shy, normal self. All across the front of the stage, women held their arms up in the hope of touching him for a split second. He knew what they wanted and he gave them their money’s worth by stepping close to the edge, just close enough to let them fondle his boots, then he’d slip back with a mischievous grin and a twinkle in his eye, leaving the women screaming for more.
She found herself intrigued by this wild side of Vince. The sweat dripped down his face and over his chest to his tight stomach. Tongue dipping out to trace the corner of her mouth, Scarlet imagined tracing her fingers down his wet body. To hold him close and let him control her the way he controlled an audience.
Then Vince disappeared behind Gary and her fantasy was abruptly stopped by her brother’s intricate guitar solo.
The band’s motto, made up by Gary and Vince, was to feed the rock n’ roll addict’s habit. And Wild Child did just that.
The floor beneath her feet vibrated with the pounding rhythms of dancing bodies. She was crowded closer and closer to the railing as everybody around her danced to their individual set of instructions. Moving away from an all too eager dance partner, she lost her footing and bumped into an unyielding man. A cold rush of liquid spilled down the side of her body as his hand lost hold of his glass. From her hips down to her thighs a flood of vodka soaked quickly through her dress.
“Oh no!” She pulled up the fabric to examine what had happened and inadvertently granted the extremely drunk man a great view of her thighs.
“Here, lemme help you.” The punkish young man, sporting a nose ring and an armful of skeleton tattoos, slid his hand down her waist and hooked his bony fingers under the wet velvet.
A wave of nausea engulfed Scarlet as his fingers pressed into her thigh, and her heart started pounding twice the speed of Gary’s solo. She tried to push him away but the undulating crowd was making it
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