Willow
"You want a beer?" Preston asked pushing us through the crowd of people toward a table with familiar faces.
"No thanks. But a Coke would be good," I replied loudly so he could hear me over the music. Jackdown hadn't taken the stage yet but the band on before them had the crowd on their feet. From the sound of the band it was probably the alcohol that had them all on their feet screaming and dancing. The band wasn't that good. Jackdown was the reason the crowd was here tonight. They always drew a crowd from the locals.
"Okay, go on over there and sit with Rock, Trisha and Dewayne. I'll get our drinks and meet you there."
"Okay."
Rock and Dewayne were friends of Preston's I'd gotten to know through Cage over the past year. Trisha was Rock's wife. They reminded me of Kid Rock, with a shaved head, and Pamela Anderson. Trisha wasn't very natural but she could definitely find success as a centerfold if she ever wanted to. That or an exotic dancer. Dewayne noticed me first and a smile spread across his face. His long dredlocks were pulled back in a ponytail tonight and the shirt he was wearing was snug enough to show off his impressive chiseled body.
"Low!" Dewayne called out in greeting as I came up to their table. Trisha smiled brightly at me and gave me a small finger wiggling wave, "Hey girl. Didn't know you were coming tonight. When we talked to Cage he said he had some date tonight with a girl and he doubted they'd be leaving her hotel room."
Rock nudged Trisha and she flashed a frown at him,
"What? Low isn't an idiot. The girl knows Cage is a slut."
"God baby drop it," Rock begged.
I shook my head and laughed taking the chair beside Dewayne. "She's right Rock. I know where he is and what he's doing. Just because he tells the world he's going to marry me doesn't mean I'm going to marry him. The boy is crazy. It doesn't bother me at all who he's with and what he's doing."
Rock nodded then a small frown creased his forehead. "So you came by yourself?"
"Nope, she's with me," Preston announced as he placed a Coke in front of me and took the chair on the other side of me.
"Ah shit man," Rock moaned and Dewayne joined in with a frustrated sigh.
"What? Marcus and Manda were having some family issues and he was dealing with her at the apartment. So I figured Low and I could come hang with you guys and hear Krit."
"Bad move," Dewayne mumbled before taking a swig of his beer.
"Whatever, Cage won't care. Besides he's out banging some girl tonight from Monroevil e."
"As fascinating as this conversation is I think it's up to Low to decide what she does and who she does it with. Cage isn't her daddy. Everyone stop acting like she belongs to him and let her have a life," Trisha's annoyed tone shut everyone up and I was grateful.
She stood up and held her hand out to me, "Come on girl.
You and I are going to go shake it out there and create a stir to give these boys something to do." I frowned, "What will they do?"
She took my hand and pulled me up. "Threaten and scowl and possibly man handle all the guys who're going to drool over us."
I could hear Rock's growl as we pushed our way into the crowd.
"Don't you get tired of everyone acting like you're Cage's property?" Trisha asked pulling me closer to her as we made our way to the front of the crowd. Jackdown would be on in a few minutes and I knew she was getting us to the front so we could see them. And so Krit could see me.
She'd been trying to fix me and her brother up for months now. Cage always seemed to ice her attempts but tonight Cage wasn't here.
"Cage is all I've got. He's my best friend and I overlook his issues. If a guy comes around worth fighting over I won't let Cage stand in my way. But so far he hasn't kept me from anyone I really want."
Trisha studied me a moment. She didn't like my answer. I could see it on her face. "But if you don't date around how will you know when the right one comes along?" I shrugged thinking about Marcus and pushing that thought immediately out of my mind. He was so not even close to my league. That was pointless to even fantasize about.
"I'll just know."
She shrugged and started to say something when the lights went down and the sound of Krit's electric guitar squealed out sending the crowd into a frenzy of screams and cheers.
out sending the crowd into a frenzy of screams and cheers.
"Here we go," she replied smiling and turning her attention to the stage. Smoke had engulfed the stage. Krit stepped out of the smoke into the single spotlight as he made the chords on his guitar sing. His long blond hair was so similar in color to Trisha's it made me think maybe hers wasn't out of a bottle after all. Instead of pulling his hair back he let it fall down over his naked shoulders. Which was a trademark for Krit. He never wore a shirt on stage. The jeans he wore hung loosely on his hips giving the females and probably some of the males a thril from the small peek of hip bone he flashed. His chest wasn't as broad and muscular as Dewayne and Rock's but he had lean muscle and a very obvious six pack that was covered on the right side by a coiled snake tattoo.