He smiled.
I stared.
“I remember those happy days when it was all soft kisses and promises,” Ava said and I turned out of Hector’s arms and caught Luke giving Ava a brows raised look that made his own, unique promise and his look was nearly as hot as the ones Hector gave me. My eyes moved to Ava and I saw her face had gone soft but her teeth were biting her lip and I knew she knew she was in trouble but the good kind.
“All right, enough of this, Hot Boys, out. Rock Chicks, T-minus thirty minutes to Stella and The Gypsies, we got work to do,” one of the guys I didn’t know said and I recognized his voice. It was Tod and, out of Burgundy Rose drag, he was tall, slim and had a crew cut.
“Hi, Tod,” I called, pulled away from Hector and walked a few steps into the loft.
“Hi, girlie.” Tod smiled. “This is my other half, Stevie.” He gestured to the handsome Hispanic man who was mixing a pitcher of margaritas and smiling at me. “Stevie, this is Sadie.”
“Hey, Sadie. Welcome to the madhouse,” Stevie said and I couldn’t help it, he was so right, I smiled at him and gave him a wave.
“Babe, we’re goin’,” Luke told Ava and without hesitation she moved to him and I watched as he took her in his arms and put his lips to hers but he didn’t kiss her. I couldn’t hear but he whispered something to her, his mouth moving against hers and whatever he said made her smile and melt into him.
I felt jealousy, pure and acid, burning through me before Hector cut off my line of sight.
“You come to me when you’re done,” Hector ordered as his hand went to the side my neck, and up, fingers sliding into my hair.
I looked up at him, the jealousy still burning but my stomach pitched all the same.
“Okay.”
“I don’t know how long this thing will take Luke and me but I probably won’t make it tonight. Lee, Eddie and Hank are designated drivers. They’re goin’ to the gig. Tex and Duke both said they were goin’ too. If Mace isn’t workin’, he’s always at Stella’s gigs and tonight is one of those nights. You stay close to one of them, close enough to touch ‘em. All night. Got me?”
I nodded.
His face dipped to mine and he murmured, voice so soft, I barely heard him, “Now, kiss me good-bye.”
I blinked, the jealous acid drifted away and the stomach pitch turned to a belly melt.
“What?” I whispered.
“Kiss me,” he repeated.
Regardless of my melted belly, the Ice Princess had finished her cocktail and decided to take over. “I think we’ve already made enough of a spectacle of ourselves.”
His eyes went warm and intense. “All right, mamita, I’ll kiss you.”
Then he did, hot and hungry and just as quickly as it started, his mouth broke from mine and he was gone.
I stared, my body swaying without his close as the elevator doors closed on him and Luke. Hector stared at me too, his face soft and knowing then the doors shut him from sight.
“All righty then,” Ava called. “Sadie, get over here, we’ve got work to do.”
Slowly, I turned and everyone was smiling at me.
Oh my.
* * * * *
“I wanna be you!” I shouted, drunk on margaritas mixed with Fat Tires as Stella and her band stood in a Rock Chick huddle during one of her breaks.
Her eyes turned to me. “Funny, until you came in tonight, looking all groupie slut, I wanted to be you. I love the way you dress.” Her eyes did a full body sweep and she gave me a meaningful, but smiley, look.
I knew what she was talking about. Seconds after Hector and Luke left, Daisy informed me that she, Roxie, Tod and Stevie had gone shopping. Since I was shorter and smaller than the rest of the girls, I couldn’t share clothes so they’d bought me my Eighties Rock Video Bimbo outfit. It came complete with a torn up black T-Shirt with “Stella and The Blue Moon Gypsies” across the br**sts (so torn, it was falling off one of my shoulders, exposing my thin black bra strap and the two “o’s” in “moon’ were blue moons), a shorter-than-short (or even decent) denim mini-skirt with a ragged hem, a wide, black belt with a heavy, oval buckle with a rose stamped on it (they’d heard about Hector’s tattoo, of course) and a pair of black motorcycle boots.
Yes, motorcycle boots.