Jersey Six - Jewel E Ann Page 0,19
and surrounded by bodyguards, he was off limits for hitting or stabbing. So she matched his smile, not knowing what to do with the foreign flutter of something in her stomach.
“Luck, Coop.”
He reined in his smile, wetting his lips just inches from her face as he gave her one more slow wink before ascending the stairs. Max waited for him at the top, handing him another glass bottle with a blue lid. He drank it down, gave a few people high fives, and disappeared from Jersey’s sight.
Max waved Jersey up the stairs just as the lights dimmed. The roar of the crowd demanding their rock star escalated to a level beyond pandemonium. The stairs vibrated beneath her feet, and she clutched the railing with one hand and her bag with the other hand. At the top, Max handed her earplugs and led her off to the side where they had a perfect view as a Technicolor of lights lit up the stage and the band started to play.
Ian strummed an electric guitar, watching his hand slide along the neck, pressing and picking the strings as the crowd surged forward out of control. Security held the women off as they cried.
Actually cried.
Jersey narrowed her eyes in complete disbelief.
When Ian started to sing, that was when it all clicked—the song, the voice. She’d heard it a million times playing over the speakers at Marley’s.
“Oh my god …” she whispered to herself.
Jersey spent two and a half hours with her jaw hanging open. It felt like a dream, only she knew it wasn’t because she didn’t dream about rock stars. After every few songs, he’d jog off the stage and hydrate, not making eye contact with anyone or anything except the glass bottle of water in his sweaty hand.
Ian owned the stage, his guitar, and the crowd. Everyone wanted to see him, have a chance to touch his hand, look into his eyes. All Jersey wanted was to know why he bought a homeless woman lunch and offered her a job.
After an encore performance, the band exited the stage. Jersey stayed close to Max. “Where’s Chris?” she yelled over the noise.
Everyone seemed pretty jacked up after the concert.
“He’s going to help tear down and load up the buses. We’ll make sure he gets back to the hotel. Wait here.” Max turned and pointed at the floor like an owner telling their dog to heel.
Jersey obeyed out of a lack of other options. She had nowhere to go and no clue what was going to happen next. She hated feeling so out of her element and out of control.
Two guys walked toward her, laughing it up. “Dude, did you see Deadpool drop that fucking case?”
The other guy cringed. “I can’t even look at him.”
Six thunks followed:
One—Jersey’s bag hitting the floor.
Two through five—a quick upper cut and jab to the first guy, quickly followed by the same to the second guy.
The final thunk was her body hitting the ground as security closed in around her.
“Stop!” Max yelled, shoving her way into the crowd gathered around Jersey’s reprimanded body on the cold concrete. “Oh my god … get her off the ground. What the hell happened?” Max’s frantic voice matched the rapid ping-pong of her gaze going from Jersey to the security guards to the two victims.
“She assaulted them.” One of the security guards nodded to the two men.
Max’s head jerked back. “Excuse me?”
Jersey held a stiff poker face as they helped her upright. It wasn’t her first time in handcuffs or her first time being accused of assaulting someone. She could have hit them harder. No one seemed to notice that the damage was minimal—no blood and nothing broken but two male egos.
“She hit you?” Max questioned the two men leaning against the opposite wall, rubbing their minor wounds. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. That’s just it!” The stumpy guy wearing a baseball cap on backward shot Jersey a scowl.
“You were picking on my friend! Assholes.”
“Chris?” Max questioned the two men.
They didn’t reply, but their set jaws and firm glares answered her question.
“Are you pressing charges?” a security guard asked.
“Yes…” Max folded her arms over her chest “…are you pressing charges? Do you want everyone else to know that you got your asses handed to you by her?”
Jersey took offense to Max’s implication regarding her gender, but she managed to bite back her defense since she liked Max.
Both men dropped their gazes to the ground while mumbling, “No.”
The guards removed her handcuffs. Jersey grabbed her bag