A commotion at the entrance announced the arrival of the rest of the band and a few women Melanie didn’t recognize. She did spot a familiar mohawk above the crowd that was headed in her direction, however. When Gabe appeared at Shade’s shoulder, the exasperating vocalist looked glad to see him.
“Does she bust your balls like this?” Shade asked.
“She’s more likely to lick them than bust them, but I’m not as stupid as you are.”
Melanie saw the flash of hurt cross Shade’s face before he snatched his sunglasses from his neckband and crammed them back onto his face. “Yeah, well, we can’t all be fucking geniuses.” He was gone before Gabe could catch his arm.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Gabe called after him.
Shade lifted his hand over his head and directed a pronounced middle finger in his direction.
Gabe sighed and took his beer bottle from Melanie’s hand, pressing it to his lips and tipping his head back and back until he realized it was empty. He shook the bottle at her, a brow arched in question.
“Sorry,” she said. “I was thirsty.” She rose from the chair. “I’ll get you another.”
“Are you tired of me playing my rock star card already?” he asked. “Jordan!”
He extended his arm, holding the empty bottle out and waited and waited and waited some more. Melanie drew her lips further and further into her mouth with each passing moment to prevent herself from laughing. Eventually Gabe turned toward the bar and sighed at the young man talking to a very pretty and very pregnant woman.
“Jordan!” Gabe called again.
The young man started and cringed when he looked in Gabe’s direction. He was soon on his way across the room with a fresh Corona and an apology.
“Sorry about that. Did you want anything?” he asked Melanie as he took Gabe’s empty and handed him a replacement.
“I’ll just drink Gabe’s,” she said.
“Not if I finish it before you get the chance,” Gabe said. He caught Jordan by the shirt when he started to hurry off again. “Bit of advice, Jordan.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t encourage the gold-digger.” He nodded slightly toward the pregnant woman who now had the band’s bassist by the arm. Owen looked like he was prepared to lop off the appendage just to escape her.
“She’s sweet,” Jordan assured him. “And pretty.”
“And pregnant.”
Jordan shrugged. “So?”
“And looking for someone to take care of her.”
“Not really. She’s just down on her luck. Sorta like me. I don’t have any gold for her to dig. So no worries, right?”
Gabe grunted and when the pregnant girl’s gaze landed on him, he released Jordan’s shirt and immediately grabbed Melanie out of her chair. He gave her an enthusiastic hug, his beer bottle pressing against her lower back. She could feel the cold wetness through her shirt.
The pregnant woman scowled at Gabe, but offered Jordan a bright smile as he returned to his station.
“Not that I mind you hugging me,” Melanie said, “but I have to think you have ulterior motives here. Who’s the pregnant woman?”
“Lindsey.”
“Oh, so that’s Owen’s girlfriend?”
“No. Owen’s gold-digger.”
“She doesn’t look like a gold-digger,” Melanie said.
Lindsey was wearing cheap clothing and no make-up. She did look a bit desperate as she clung to Owen’s arm. Jordan chatted with her exuberantly while he mixed her some beverage—presumably non-alcoholic in nature. His attempts to regain her attention were mostly unsuccessful as Lindsey tried to keep Owen from darting away.
“She showed up a couple of days ago and decided to stay,” Gabe said. “Even though no one wants her here.”
“Well, I think Jordan likes her,” Melanie said. “Is it his baby, then?”
Gabe shook his head. “He’s the only guy in the room who couldn’t be the father.”
Melanie puzzled over that statement for a full minute. “The only guy in the room?”
Gabe scanned the room, taking in the four members of his band and even stopping on a guy in a cowboy hat who Melanie thought was the bus driver she’d met briefly in Tulsa. Gabe nodded. “Yep.”
But Gabe was in the room. Surely he meant to exclude himself?
“Yourself included?” she asked.
He took a long swallow off his beer. “I should introduce you to Madison and uh, what’s her name? Kellen’s date, uh… Dawn.”
Melanie took note of the two very, very different women, puzzled by why Gabe had ignored her question. She hoped it was because she had nothing to worry about, not because he was avoiding a difficult subject.
The woman with Kellen was tall and elegant, with long and beautiful red hair. An authoritative air of greatness surrounded her as if she were a modern-day equivalent of a powerful queen. She looked more like an Elizabeth or a Victoria or a Cleopatra than a Dawn. Kellen was a couple of inches taller than her and as dark as Dawn was fair. But they fit somehow.
The other woman wore cowboy boots with her jean skirt and was, in a word, adorable. The kind of cute the made Melanie want to hug her for no apparent reason. Madison’s long, wavy hair was drawn away from her face in a ponytail, and her gaze darted around the room nervously until she settled on Adam. Then her light-colored eyes went dreamy. It was blatantly obvious that she was head over heels for the band’s lead guitarist.
Madison looked wholesome and completely out of place at Adam Taylor’s side. Their looks should have clashed, but the contrast between them actually worked. Adam’s spiky, jet black hair, all-black attire, tattoos, and copious chains declared him to be one-hundred-percent-genuine bad-boy-rock-star, while Madison looked like a sweet country girl, far out of her element. One had to wonder how the two of them had ever crossed paths.
Melanie supposed she and Gabe looked a bit mismatched as well. Gabe sported a foot-high red and black mohawk and had dragons tattooed on his frickin’ scalp. She’d always stayed far from men with tattoos, and Gabe wasn’t the kind of guy she’d normally hang out with in her insular little world. What a huge mistake it had been to limit herself to a certain type of acquaintance. Gabe had shown her how wrong she’d been to judge a person’s character according to their looks or lifestyle. He was human, just as she was. It wasn’t easy to let go of her old ways, but she was already leading a richer life now that she’d opened herself up to the big wide world outside her tidy little cubicle. She wished she’d have pulled her head of her ass years ago, but she’d been raised to fear a person’s differences rather than celebrate them. Thanks for all the unnecessary anxiety, Mom and Dad.
“Okay,” she said. “I’d love to meet them, but sooner or later you’re going to have to tell me what you meant about Lindsey.”
“I vote for later,” he said. “Or never. Never is good.”
“Did you sleep with her?” Melanie asked in a low hiss as he directed her across the room to where Madison and Adam were sitting together in contented silence.
“I don’t remember,” he said.
“How can you not remember something like that?”
“I was drunk.” He then immediately leaned close and said, “So Adam and Madison have been seeing each other for a couple of years, but their relationship just recently turned into something serious. He kind of keeps her to himself, like he’s afraid she’ll wander off, so it will be good for her to have someone to talk to. She always looks a little lost to me.”
Madison did look a little lost. And obviously infatuated with the man who appeared equally smitten with her. They weren’t talking, but a current linked them, a bond that went deeper than what was visible on the surface. Melanie got the feeling that they’d been through a lot together. Not that she would pry. As for Gabe’s potential drunken sex with Lindsey? She would pry the hell out of that once she got him alone.