Rock Radio - By Lisa Wainland Page 0,60
out of his wallet and brought it to his lips.
Soon my sweet.
Soon.
Chapter 41
Dana drove into the night, heading north on the highway to clear her head. She cranked the radio to maximum volume, mad at herself for being so naïve, for taking Sam back in the first place.
She felt stifled. She rolled down the windows of the car, letting in fresh air. It didn’t take away the weight she felt on her chest.
Dana chided herself. It wasn’t Sam she wanted back, it was the idea of Sam. The idea of the family she wanted. If she was honest with herself, she’d admit that things hadn’t been that good since he moved back. She hadn’t felt the same closeness. Little things started bothering her about him: the way he rolled the toothpaste up from the bottom, the way he sucked his fingers after he ate making an annoying smacking noise, the wet feeling on her cheek after he kissed it.
Had she never noticed this before? Or was she just blinded by her feelings? Suddenly, everything was glaring and annoying. Did she really think a weekend away would change anything?
And then there was Cody.
Why did that picture of him in the magazine bother her so much? If he was a fantasy she needed a reality check. She needed to see him and get him out of her system.
She turned onto I-75. Tampa was now only three hours away.
If she saw him she could put this teenage infatuation behind her and move her life forward.
Three more hours.
Chapter 42
The Cody Blue Experience took to the stage with a vengeance. The crowd roared, but the band was off tonight. Alex had a hangover from his afternoon with the bottle and his mind was elsewhere. He’d seen Kylie just before the show. She was putting tremendous pressure on him to get married. He really didn’t want to. The music didn’t matter tonight.
Cody walked over to him between songs. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just a little out of it tonight.”
“Well get it together.” Cody hated sounding anything less than professional.
On the next song things didn’t get any better. Bobby and Harper looked at Cody and shrugged their shoulders as if to say, “It’s not our fault.”
They finished the set to a receptive crowd, but they knew they sucked.
“What the hell happened?” Eric yelled as he entered the dressing room. He was not pleased. He wore his long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, black leather pants and matching leather jacket. He was the rock star manager wannabe. “I thought you all wanted this!”
“It was just one bad performance,” Cody defended, glancing briefly at Alex.
“Yeah, won’t happen again,” Harper confirmed, backing up his friend.
“The music reporter from The Tampa Tribune doesn’t know that the next show’s going to be better. He’s going to write what he saw tonight...and I don’t think it’ll be pretty.”
The band stared at their feet. Cody spoke up.
“We’re not a machine. We’ve been working hard, we’re tired. Things happen, you know, we weren’t that bad. People responded.”
“The people don’t have the trained ear of a music critic. He’ll write that CBE live is not as polished as the studio CBE.”
“Who fuckin’ cares?” Alex said. “Really. It was one bad gig, just drop it.” He stormed out of the dressing room. Eric started to go after him.
“Back off, Eric,” Cody said, following Alex out the door.
He hung back, watching Alex approach Kylie with a kiss. Soon their warm welcome turned ugly. Cody saw them exchange words and then Kylie leave, crying.
Alex turned and spotted Cody.
“What are you, my guardian angel or something?”
“Just a friend,” Cody said, putting his arm around Alex’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go back to the room, take a shower, get some sleep.”
Alex looked weary. “I’m out...thanks man.”
“No problem,” Cody said, heading back to the dressing room.
He was walking past the bar when he saw her nursing a glass of wine. He stopped dead in his tracks to focus. Yes, it was her…the long mane of dark hair, full red lips and then the flash of her green eyes.
She met his stare.
“Dana?”
“Cody Blue.” She drank him in with her eyes. He looked amazing. Tall, broad shoulders, lean muscular frame.
“So, what, you were in the neighborhood and decided to drop by?” he said sarcastically, his tone cold. The image of her kissing that guy in the parking lot flashed before him.
She didn’t miss the anger in his voice. “At least I show up. Or do you just make plans with girls all