his ear. His arse looks great in jeans—hard, solid… strong. In fact, every part of him looks hard, solid, and strong. Intimidatingly so.
For the first time since meeting him, I notice tattoo ink creeping out from the collar of his shirt, and I’m curious to know what it looks like in its entirety. I’m not normally partial to men with tattoos, but for some reason, his intrigues me.
“I’m at Opals,” Will says then chuckles at Derek’s response. “Nah, not playin’ a gig without you.”
Gig? Oh, Will must also be in the same band as Bryce and Derek. Makes sense considering he seems to know everyone in the building. Carly mentioned Bryce’s band often plays here and that he’s a “sexy version of Slash” and that Derek can “sing her panties off.”
I wonder what Will’s role is. Drummer, guitarist… backup singer?
Unable to help myself, I snort-laugh. He definitely doesn’t look like a backup singer. A drummer, yes—he has the arms for it—but a backup singer, no.
Will furrows his brow at me then says to Derek, “I’m with your girl and her hot as fuck friend.” He looks me up and down again, much like he did at the bar, then adds, “Fuck yeah. I’m gonna have more than a crack at her.”
Jerk! The only crack he’ll be having is in his balls when my foot kicks them into his abdomen.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I snarl and walk away, hellbent on finding Carly and dragging her home. Coming out tonight when she’s fragile and hurting wasn’t a great idea.
Pushing my way past person after person, I finally spot her ash-blonde hair twirling around like a tornado.
“What are you doing?” I yell, pulling her away from a sleazeball who has his grimy hands all over her.
“I’m dancing with…” She leans into him. “What’s your name, sausage?”
“Marco.”
“Marco. I’m dancing with Marco.” Carly shrugs off my grip. “Want to join in?”
“No, you stupid cow, I don’t. And I don’t think Derek would want you joining in either.”
Sleazeball stops dancing. “You’re not single?”
“No, she’s not. Now bugger off.”
He walks away.
“Lib, you just scared him off.” She pouts. “I wanted to see the sausage’s sausage.”
Making claws with my hands, they tremble as I refrain from placing them around her neck and strangling her. “What’s wrong with you? What about Derek?”
“What about Derek?” she barks. “He’s in Sydney, and whatever it is he’s doing there, he obviously doesn’t want me to know.”
Before I can tell her she’s an infuriating fucko—something I’ve never told her before—Will steps between us and hands Carly his phone.
“You may want to take this.”
She squints at it. “It’s not my phone. My phone is here.” Carly reaches into her bra and pulls it out. Her eyes shoot to Will’s phone. “Is that him?” she mouths, swaying just slightly.
Sporting a shit-eating grin, he nods slowly.
She groans, grabs his phone, and turns her back to us before nonchalantly answering, “What’s up?”
“I could kill her,” I say, dancing a little, because everyone else around me is and I don’t want to look out of place.
Will dances too, and I’m not stupid enough to deny he has rhythm.
He leans forward. “Derek is pissed.”
I nod. “I don’t blame him.”
“I’d be pissed too.”
I smile, not knowing what to say to that. I guess it’s fair enough.
He steps closer. “Carly says you don’t have a man.”
I stop dancing. “That’s none of your or Carly’s business.”
Smiling like I really am a tasty piece of meat he wants to devour, he bends down, wraps his arms around my arse, and lifts me up. “Well, Elizabeth, as of this moment, I’m makin’ it my business.”
Chapter Five
“Put me down, you prehistoric Neanderthal.” I try to wriggle free, but his arms are like pythons.
“A Neanderthal? Is that code word for Sex Master?”
“What? No! It’s code word for put me down now!”
“Okay, your highness. I’m sorry.” He places me on my feet again and crosses his giant python arms over his chest. “You’re short, and I can’t hear you down there. Conversation is easier when you’re level with my face.”
“The only thing that’s gonna be level with your face is my fist.”
Will throws his head back and laughs. “Word of advice—if you’re going to make threats, you need to be able to follow them through.”
I punch his arm; it’s the only spot I can reach.
He looks at the spot then back at me, as if an unexplained phenomenon just occurred. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
He points to the spot I punched.
“That was me following throu—”
“Everything