“No,” I said, giving her a sweet smile. “But I really like it.”
“Be gentle with her. Her musical education is in the beginning stages,” Stryker said, giving her a look. “Sorry, sweetheart, but it’s true. We need to wean you of your Swift addiction.” Jesus, listen to one song and you’re branded a fan. Not that I wasn’t a fan. I’d just denied it when Stryker had asked.
“Hey man, don’t disrespect the Swifties,” Allan said with a serious face. “They are a force to be reckoned with.”
“We, are never, ever, ever getting back together!” Perry sang in a loud, off-key voice which made everyone laugh.
“That’s gold, man. You just don’t understand,” Allan said, shaking his head sadly. “You get it, right Pinky?”
“Oh, I get a nickname?” I said.
“Everyone who joins The Band gets a nickname,” Perry said. “Especially if your real name sucks.”
“So you’re saying Katie sucks?” I said, turning to him. He was paler than Lottie, as if he spent all day in his basement, but he had deep brown eyes and the cheekbones of a model under a mop of dishwater blond hair.
“No, I wouldn’t say that it sucks. It’s just really common. So is Christopher, which is my real name.”
“Nice save, Per,” Stryker said, giving him a thumbs up. “So you want a drink before we do another?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said.
“Okay, take five,” Stryker said in a mock serious voice. Everyone broke up, and some went outside to smoke while Stryker took me into the kitchen and handed me a beer from the fridge. I felt Ric’s eyes following my every move.
“So what do you think?” he said as I popped the top and took a swig. Beer wasn’t really my drink of choice, but I wasn’t going to turn it down.
“You guys are amazing. I feel intimidated by your talent.”
He grabbed another drink and leaned against the counter.
“Are they what you expected?” That was a loaded question.
“Honestly, I was expecting more tattoos, scary guys with motorcycles and girls who looked like they could rip my spleen out with one hand.”
He raised his pierced eyebrow. “So you thought my friends would be scary?”
I leaned next to him on the counter, our shoulders touching, and sighed.
“I don’t know. Are you mad at me?” I swirled the bottle in my hand.
“Hey,” he said, bumping my shoulder lightly. “Do you think I’m scary?”
“Well, the first time I met you, you did have fake fangs on, sooo…” I bumped him back.
“Haha,” he said. “That is true.”
“I’m not scared of you,” I said, lying through my teeth. I was terrified of him, but not in the way he thought. I was scared of how I felt around him.
“I’m not scared of you, either.” Our eyes met and I thought he was going to kiss me, but a voice invaded our moment.
“Hey, Stryk, do you think you could give my engine a look? It started making this noise on the way over, and you know that Baxter wouldn’t know a spark plug if it bit him on the ass,” Ric said with a little grin, appearing out of absolutely nowhere.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be right back.” He touched my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “Don’t get scared while I’m gone.”
“I won’t,” I whispered back. Ric saw the exchange, and gave me the briefest of glares before turning on the charm with Stryker again.
“Soooo, Pinky. Where the hell did you come from?” Allan said, coming back in with the smoking group.
“Just ignore him,” Zoey said, going to the fridge. Out of all the girls, she was the least ‘modified,’ and just had a nose ring and had her light brown hair chopped into a messy bob. “That’s what I do.”
“Oh, come on Zo. You know you want me,” he said, coming up behind her and pretending to kiss her neck. She jammed her elbow back, getting him in the gut, and he doubled over falling to the floor, groaning while everyone else laughed.
Zoey put her foot on his chest, as if she was going to stomp on it. “For the millionth time, Allan, it’s never going to happen.”
“Because I have a penis,” he moaned, still on the floor.
“Yes, because you have a penis and you’re also a dick.” She ground her foot back and forth and then lifted it off him. He grinned up at her.
“Not always.”
She rolled her eyes and stepped over him, going back to the couch.
“Are you okay?” I said. No one else seemed concerned about Allan, who was still writhing on the floor.
“Yeah, I’m good.” He pushed himself up, using the counter to get fully vertical again. “She just shuts me down every time. I’m not a dick. Well, at least not most of the time.”
“I’m reserving judgment,” I said, crossing my arms.
He laughed, pointing at me. “I like you. I hope you stick around. Do you sing or play or anything?”
“Ah, no. I’m just here as a groupie, I guess.” Stryker came back in, and it wasn’t my imagination that his eyes searched the room until he found me.
“You have any sisters? Friends?” He winked and that made me laugh.
“They’re taken. But nice try,” I said, walking past him and patting him on the shoulder. “There is a lid for every pot.”
I sat down next to Stryker again.
“How was the engine problem?” I said, resisting putting sarcastic emphasis on “engine problem.”
His eyes widened in mock surprise. “There didn’t seem to be a problem. Can you imagine that?” I pretended to gasp.
“I cannot.” We both laughed as everyone settled back into their spots.
“Don’t worry about Ric. She’s not the one I want to f**k on this couch after I kick everyone out,” he whispered in my ear before swapping his mandolin with Zoey for his banjo.
I’d said no this afternoon, but maybe it was the combination of the alcohol burning in my veins or the music burning in my ears, but I wanted him to throw everyone out right then and there and have my way with him. Not angry-revenge sex. Just hot, sweaty, passionate sex.
They played “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo” again, followed by “Demons”, by Imagine Dragons and then “Letter to the President”, by a Maine band, The Rustic Overtones, followed by a crazy time when someone would yell out a random song and they’d all attempt to play it. Anything from commercial jingles to cheesy pop songs. Then Allan yelled out “We Are Never Getting Back Together!” and they started playing it.
They didn’t quite know the lyrics, but that made it all the more entertaining.
“Sing it out, Pinky!” Allan yelled as they mumbled their way through the verses. I’d finished my first drink and was on my second, so my walls were down a bit. I sang the words, and somehow my voice carried and everyone followed me. I didn’t try to do anything fancy, but somehow I was able to blend with the rest of them and sound okay. At least, not like an injured whale or one of those horrible tone-deaf people on American Idol.
They ended the song with a bang and everyone laughed.
“I knew you had it in you, girl,” Allan said, holding his fist out. I bumped it and got fist bumps from everyone else. Except Ric, of course.
“You can sing,” Stryker said, looking at me as if I’d revealed that I had a box full of treasure hidden in my dorm room. I heard a scoffing sound coming from Ric’s direction.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it that. I just like to sing in the car when I drive,” I said, shrugging. “Oh, and I was in chorus in sixth grade and I totally rocked ‘Jingle Bells’ at the holiday concert.”
Everyone laughed.
“Well, it’s getting late,” Stryker said, glancing at the clock on the DVD player. “You guys should probably get home. Don’t you all have things to do early tomorrow morning that you need to go to bed for?”
“All right, all right. Stryker wants to get laid, everyone out,” Allan said, putting his guitar back in its case. “Some of us don’t get to have sex with the girls we want to all the time.”
“Oh shut up, Allan,” Zoey said, getting her coat. “I am only giving you a ride if you are silent the entire way.”
“I don’t know if I can promise that,” he said seriously. “Please?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Fine. It was nice to meet you, Katie.” She waved and gave Allan a look.
“Nice to meet you, too.”
“Bye, Pinky!” Allan yelled from partway down the stairs.
“Next week it’s your turn to host, Allan!” Stryker called as he helped everyone get their instruments back into their cases. I got good-byes and smiles and invitations to come back again. Ric looked like her teeth hurt when she said she wanted to see me again. I just gave her a sweet smile and shut the door behind her.
“You can sing?” Stryker said, and I jumped because he was right behind me. I turned to face him.
“I wouldn’t really call it that. It’s just something I do in the car. And the shower. And sometimes when I’m alone.” He held my face in both hands and did that deep eye stare thing that made me want to slam my body up against him and kiss him until we couldn’t breathe.
“Sweetheart. You. Can. Sing.” We slammed against the door as he attacked me with his mouth.
Chapter Seven
Stryker
Not that her talking voice wasn’t sexy, but when she opened her mouth and vocalized those awful lyrics, I almost fell off the couch. Somehow she’d been hiding the sexiest, sweetest, lilting singing voice. Most girls would spend hours trying to get their voice to yodel at the end like that. She probably wasn’t even aware that she was doing it, which made me want her all the more.
I wanted to f**k her singing voice, but I settled for kissing her instead, plunging my tongue inside her mouth.
Her back crashed against my door as we frantically tried to get our clothes off. I didn’t mind doing it with clothes on, but I liked seeing her body and tasting her skin if she let me.
“Slow down,” I said as she went for my belt. “Slow down, sweetheart.”
“You attacked me first,” she gasped as I kissed her neck, pulling her cardigan aside.
“True,” I said, blowing on her skin until goosebumps formed. “But I changed my mind. Let’s do this slow.” I started with the cardigan, slowly unbuttoning it as her hands moved under my shirt and up and down my back.
“No angry revenge sex?” I could tell she was having a hard time standing still.
I got to the last button and pulled the fabric off one shoulder, kissing the skin it revealed. “No. Just you and me sex.”
She smiled and laughed as I used the hem of her t-shirt to drag her back to the couch. I pushed aside cups and bottles and lay her down.
“If we’re going to take this slow, I think we need some music. Be right back.” I went to my stereo and plugged in my iPod, switching to a playlist I’d made before I met her. Ed Sheeran’s “Give Me Love” was the first song.