Hung Out: A Needles and Pins Rock Romance (56 page)

Henni did request one stop. A liquor store. She ran in and returned, tossing the bag into the back. “Eggnog.”

Scarlette refrained from wrinkling her nose. Even though it was not much more than a speck in front of her house the moment she turned on her street, the familiar white car caught her attention and she groaned aloud. This was the first time she’d seen it in several weeks and she’d hoped he’d given up on her.

“What’s wrong?” Henni wondered.

“That white car. The man is pretty much Grade A stalker paps. You’d think he’d have family to keep him busy on Christmas.”

Henni’s gaze narrowed as they drew closer. As usual, Scarlette flipped her visor down and whipped into the driveway as quickly as the automatic gate would let her.

As was normal, they took the back way into the house. Scarlette was on the upstairs landing, unlocking the apartment door when she noticed the bag containing the liquor and eggnog sitting at the base of the stairs and the front entry cracked open.

She debated between retracing her steps to the first floor, and going into the apartment. Crossing the main room, she peered out the window and froze at the scene below.

Henni stood in the street, hands on her hips, leaning into the window of the white car. Then her arms began to wave wildly in clearly furious gestures accompanying whatever she was saying. Whirling around, she stomped back across the street toward the walkway. Henni had just closed herself inside the property when, behind her, the car’s engine revved to life, and the tires screeched as the car burned rubber, quickly vanishing.

“Mom. What the hell?” Scarlette rushed to the hall landing, and relieved her mother of the shopping bag as she chastised. “He could be dangerous. In fact, as weird as he is, I’m willing to bet he is.”

“Well he has no business watching you like that.”

“Yeah. But I’ve got a bodyguard downstairs who lives to chase him away.”

“And yet he wasn’t chased away…”

“I’m sure the resident muscle is enjoying Christmas with his family.”

“And leaves you vulnerable to the psychos on the street?”

“Mom! It’s not like that. Okay? I don’t need a damn bodyguard. Gage and…” Here Scarlette stopped before mentioning her ex-stepfather to her mother. “Gage was being overprotective. That’s why the guy lives downstairs. But he’s not round the clock security.”

Henni mixed the eggnog while they bickered, and Scarlette downed a mug. Surprisingly, it was tasty.

When Logan paid a surprise visit, she was glad for the distraction. She introduced him to her mother, and Henni insisted he have eggnog.

“Did you get a look at that Social Order syllabus?” Logan sipped and made conversation.

Henni slapped her cup against the saucer and rolled her eyes. “Do you study on Christmas too, Logan?”

“No, ma’am. I…” Logan seemed part embarrassed and part intimidated. He set his cup on his saucer with a much quieter clink than Henni had. “I, uh, actually came by to see if Scarlette…” He realigned his eyes from her mother to her. “If you wanted to go out with some kids from school. But I didn’t know your mom was here. I should get going.”

“Who’s going out?” Scarlette asked and listened to the details, yearning at this opportunity to have some peace away from her maternal parent.

Henni urged her to go if she wanted to. “Go, dear. Have fun. I have a few books downloaded that look good.”

In the end, Scarlette reminded herself that her mother had only been here for two days and would be spending only one more night after tonight. She turned Logan down, but as had become common, walked him outside.

“Your mom’s a character.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad she’s here. I was afraid you were spending Christmas alone.”

“That’s sweet of you. Thanks for thinking of me.” Then a worrisome thought struck her. Had Gage’s text the night before been a lonely text? Was Logan checking to make sure she wasn’t lonely and pining away the holiday because Gage was? “Gage go to his dad’s for Christmas?”
Or is his dad out of town as usual?

“He and Mr. Remington went skiing in New Mexico.”

“Oh. Good. I just… Well, holidays are hard. I imagine especially to someone recovering.” She tried to excuse her questioning, but just wound up feeling like an ass.

“Merry Christmas.” Logan reached in his pocket and withdrew a small box tied up with a ribbon.

“You didn’t!” She refused to take it, racking her brain for anything she had inside the apartment that could be a return gift. Why hadn’t she bought him a gift? He was around at least once a week. Maybe she could give him Seth’s bracelet and buy Seth another before she saw him…

“Open it tonight.” He shoved it in her hand and bounded down the stairs. Turning to wave, he repeated, “Merry Christmas!”

P
eople swarmed the edgy interior of the club. The band was destroying their set. Alcohol might as well have been flowing from a waterfall as plentiful as it was. Everyone held a drink, some two. They leaned against the bar. Sat in booths or on high stools. Danced or bobbed heads to the music.

It wasn’t his scene tonight. However, coming out of his cave for New Year’s Eve was logical in many ways. Rubbing elbows with people of the industry was something he needed to take seriously. He’d done the session Jax had mentioned, as well as the one with Green Envy. He had less than a week to commit or not to the Rattler gig. What he wanted was his own gig or at least one in an established band.

From his corner of the VIP area, he scanned the faces, looking for Colt. The woman to one side of him was chattering away, and the blonde beauty on his other side would not shut up about wanting to dance. Five minutes later when Colt’s date returned without Colt, Gage had enough.

“Excuse me.” He motioned to the blonde.

“Yay. Finally!” She clapped her hands as she slid out.

“I’m not dancing. I’m going to the john.”

“You got a bump?” Her head tipped and her lip poked out in a pout.

“No.” Weaving, he lost her in the crowd and kept going.

Between songs, the ten minutes until midnight announcement came and a buzz lit the crowd as everyone scrambled for drinks and position. Position being at their date’s side. Looking back, he saw Colt’s date was still alone. So where was the asshole?

The last thing he wanted was to make a new year’s toast with some skank he didn’t know. After taking the fastest piss ever, he emerged from the bathroom with the intention of being out of this place by midnight.

“Oh. Sorry.” Automatically, his arms shot out, steadying the woman he’d slammed into. Looking beyond her, when the women’s restroom opened, he watched in disbelief as Scarlette emerged.

The hallway was narrow, and with one sidestep, he blocked Scar’s way just as she noticed him. Her lips parted in surprise, and the sexy action took his mind to other places. Times when they’d parted in pleasure. Or parted in an invitation to deepen their kiss. Or parted right before they went around his cock…

They stood so close, he could feel her body heat. So close, he could look down the generous neckline of her clingy shirt and imagine sliding his cock in the shadowy valley of cleavage. She brought up a hand, flattened it to his chest, a gesture for him to clear the way. But the chemical current zapped her as hard as him. He could tell because she gulped and stepped back, an action aligning her to the wall. If he were a gentleman, he’d step aside. But since he’d never been that, he stepped forward, trapping her between him and the wall.

“I didn’t know you were here.” Her words were breathless.

“I didn’t know you were here,” he returned.

From the main area, the countdown began. Ten. Nine. Eight.

“I need to go.”

Seven.

“What’s your hurry?”

Six.

“I… It’s the New Year countdown…”

Five. Four.

“Yeah. Whatever you’re doing at midnight, you’ll be redoing for the rest of the year.”

Three. Two.

It hadn’t been a conscious effort, so when the pad of his thumb grazed her bottom lip, tingling like fire up his nerve endings, he sucked in a breath.

One.

“Happy New Year, Scar.” His lips collided with hers.

Her lips parted, but before his tongue moved in, they were interrupted.

“Fuck, man. You just steal my girl’s New Year’s kiss?”

He twisted his head just enough to see the man advancing on them, and then returned his attention to Scarlette. Her cheeks flushed, and she held his questioning stare without providing the answer he wanted.
Was she someone’s girl?

Her shove took him by surprise and she twisted to her freedom, sputtering apologies to the dickwad. “Derrick, I’m sorry. I was trying to… That’s―”

“I know who the asshole is.” The other man’s look was soft and worried as it touched over Scarlette’s face, but his eyes hardened to two dark coals when he looked over her to find him looking on.

The stab of a thousand needles pierced his soul when the fucker wrapped her to his side and moved off with her.

Instead of bailing out, Gage returned to the VIP section where he found the two of them swaying on the dance floor to Auld Lang Syne—kissing. Fuck. Why couldn’t he look away?

The song ended, and she laughed at something he was saying as they moved toward the bar. Unable to stop the self-inflicted torture, he opted to stay and watch some more. He even put an arm around each of the women on either side of him—Colt’s date included since he was still gone. But Scarlette never looked over.

She and the asswipe disappeared through the exit after emptying their drinks. The moment they were out of sight, he signaled a server. “Shots all around,” he indicated his table. “A double for me, please.”

“Yay, Gage! I knew you weren’t going to be a grump all night!” The blonde beauty did the annoying handclap thing again.

Steeling his eyebrows from the scowl he felt coming on, he smiled instead. Looking around the table, he considered his prospects for the rest of the night. All were bangable. Extremely. But he was tired of toying around.

Allison eyed him back quietly. Colt had always hated her. But she wasn’t that bad. In fact, if he was looking for a woman to do more than bang him blind and then disappear, he could see himself hanging out with Allison.

“Want to dance?” He didn’t break their gaze.

“Sure!”

“Hey!” Blondie protested. “I’ve been wanting to all night.”

“Tough titties.” Allison slammed down her shot and eased out of the booth.

Gage hardened himself against a niggling feeling of guilt and ignored the blonde’s eyes boring into the side of his head as he downed his own shots and stood. He was doing the right thing for once. If he wasn’t, he’d have taken Goldilocks home and somewhere in the midst of sticking his dick in one of her lovely holes, he would have given her the spiel to be gone by morning light. Instead, he was going to make an attempt at dating Allison.

“S
Were they dating
?

Scarlette considered the question when Logan shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders as she stepped from his car. He had invited her to a movie, but they had ended up at a club supporting the gig of a friend of his.

Her fingers lifted, playfully twisting the guitar pick pendant on the necklace he’d given her for Christmas, and they walked close enough to brush elbows as they paced toward the house. Colored Christmas lights glowed although the holiday was more than a month passed. Looking at the string across the eave above the Victorian porch, he grinned. “I can take those down for you.”

“I like them.”
They add color to my corner of hell…
She answered his question and considered her own as she unlocked the door.

No. To qualify as dating they would have shared a goodnight kiss whenever he dropped her off.

Since being introduced to her by Gage before he’d gone into rehab, Logan had been a constant in her life. But swapping class notes and texts during the last few weeks had evolved into non-school related activities. So far, they went to shows on Sunset, or watched the surfers on Venice Beach, or any number of outings.