to avoid him. I almost want to take a step back when he reaches his hand out but his large, friendly smile relaxes me. “Chase. Nice to meet you.” He quirks an eyebrow at me. “Nicole, is it?”
I nod and shake his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Heard a lot about you,” he says with a smug grin.
“Shut up,” Zack mutters almost inaudibly but hits him playfully on the shoulder.
Next to me, Mia chortles. Awesome. I have a feeling all of her preconceived notions she mentioned on the way over here about Zack wanting me were just confirmed and all I can do is stand in front of all these strangers feeling like a moron because I have no idea what to say as I hear Chase chuckle softly next to him.
He turns and introduces himself to Mia and I’m saved from having to say anything at all when Jake introduces us to Garrett. He’s friendly and casual as he smiles and shakes our hands.
Zack clears his throat and glances to the stage. There’s one man left on stage, plugging in some chords on a keyboard. “That’s Ethan, our keyboarder.” He shouts up to him and I shudder when he glares at me. His jet black hair falls over his forehead and almost into his eyes. It’s his eyes that scare me. Even from this distance they look black, almost feral. I resist the urge to scrunch my face up in disgust at the greasy way his glare makes me feel.
“He’s….temperamental.” Zack doesn’t hide his scowl. His chest and arms tightens alerting me to tension between the two of them. I reach out and place my hand on his forearm.
I gasp inwardly and immediately remove my hand from his arm, but that doesn’t stop Zack from smiling down on me and turning all attention on me.
“Is it okay you’re here?”
I tuck a piece of hair behind and make a face.
“It’s just that…you said you couldn’t come at first.”
I nod once. “I know.” I flip my hand out dismissively and look around the stage again. “This is hard for me.”
His eyebrows wrinkle in confusion and his mouth opens, and then closes almost immediately. I can’t believe I mentioned anything, even though it clearly makes no sense to him. Which is fine - it doesn’t have to.
“It's fine, really. Mia's having a blast and it was really nice of you to invite us. You've totally made her the happiest girl in the world tonight."
"I am really glad I ran into you tonight, Nicole. It's not often that any of us feel like we can meet anyone and just be ourselves for a while." With a flirtatious grin, he slowly reaches up and pushes a stray hair behind my ear, letting his thumb brush against my cheek. My breath catches in my throat as his light touch sends goose bumps all over my body.
And all I can do is stare at him with my eyes wide, while his eyes are sparkling, his lips pursed lightly together. I think I should maybe move closer, or take a step back, but I can’t decide which to choose before he slowly drops his hand and returns it to his front pocket. Where his thumb lightly brushed, my cheek now feels cold; missing something important. I frown slightly, trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or a bad one when we’re interrupted by a man dressed in all black.
“We need to get to work. Scottie and Hoppy didn’t show tonight and we’ve got a dozen more guitars to check for you.”
My eyes widen. A dozen more guitars? How many does he need?
Zack simply nods at the man. “Nicole, this is Grey. He’s one of our roadies.”
I smile and shake his hand before he walks away. Clearly he’s an all-business kind of guy.
“Need any help with those?” I smile at Mia as she bounces up to us. Her fingers are practically twitching at the idea of getting her hands on one of Zack Walter’s guitars.
He raises an eyebrow. “With what?”
“Tuning your guitars.”
“You know how?”
I snort. I can’t help myself. “Mia’s played the guitar since she was nine.”
Both eyebrows shoot up as he glances back and forth between us. “Really?”
“Yeah, but if you think that’s impressive, you should hear Nic play…”
“Mia.” I snap at her, even though I know I totally walked right into it. Her eyes are dancing with excitement and I know it won’t be long before she spills it. If she thought he was interested