The Devil's Tattoo (8 page)

Why the hell should I be jealous? I was
nothing like this girl, and I was obviously not Will's type at all. Not even
close. But something had snapped inside of me and this crush I had on him
obviously ran deeper than I thought.

I'd only spoken a handful of words with
him and this was my reaction? I was going mad and it was only day bloody one.

Dee sidled up to me as the guys I was
speaking with moved off. He saw the look of rage plastered on my face and
looked over to where I was firing death glares and patted me on the shoulder.

"You know," he said. "At
first I thought they asked for us because of you."

"They didn't."

"Looking at that," he nodded
towards Will, "I reckon I was wrong. They want to ride on our
popularity."

"Dee."

"Player," he drawled and I
knew he was a little drunk.

I took his drink away and said,
"We've
gotta
get up early tomorrow for the
airport and I'm not going to nurse your hangover or your attitude."

"Zoe, don't be cranky."

"You created this monster, so I'll
do what I want, thanks."

"Frankenstein," he mumbled
and pulled me in for a hug.

"Frankenstein was the doctor. I
assume you're calling me a monster?"

"You're hurting my head,
Zo
Zo
."

"So, if I'm Frankenstein's
monster, who does that make you?"

"
God
."

"If you're going to smite someone,
God
, smite Will Strickland."

Dee waived his hands around and if I
wasn't
so annoyed, it would have been comical.
"Sorry," he said. "All
smited
out."

"When you're ready,
God
,
lets find Frank and Chris and blow this joint."

"And Simone," he drawled.
"She's staying at Frank's too."

We'd decided the best thing was for us
all to crash at Frank's tonight and go together to the airport in the morning.
He lived on the side of town near the freeway that went straight to
Tullamarine
. I had this thing about being early and I would
worry less if we were all together.

I glanced back at the bar and this time
Will caught my eye. Before I had to acknowledge him, I turned away, my
expression cold. Not wanting to stay inside a moment longer, I walked straight
out and up the stairs to the street outside. Deep, deep down, I hoped that I
didn't get stuck sitting next to him on the plane or anywhere else. Operation
get over that stupid crush on Will was in full swing and I didn't intend to
stop until this whole embarrassing thing was not even a blip on my radar.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

WILL

Zoe Granger was not the woman I was
expecting her to be.

On stage she was something fierce and
wild, but off stage she'd been awkward and almost nervous. When I'd spoken to
her earlier, it was like my mere presence made her uncomfortable. But when I
held her hand, a painful longing shot through me. She was a puzzle. A hard one
at that, and suddenly I wanted to solve her.

Exactly how I was going to do that when
she was obviously trying to avoid me at all costs was going to be difficult. By
now, she'd come to know about my completely uncalled for reputation and that
was probably the problem. It always was.

She talked with the support band and
the venue staff and from the bits I overheard, she was asking them tech
questions. I knew she was single. I knew that guy who'd yanked her away from me
at the gig at
Cherry
was Dee, her friend. I knew the other guys in the
band were single, too, but they all treated her like a sister. In fact, their
bass payer seemed to have a thing for their manager, Simone.

I had a clear shot, but I had to get
Zoe in the position where she wanted to talk to me. That was the bit I was having
trouble with.

Standing by the bar at the back of the
venue, I watched as she walked up to the
merch
table
and started talking to the blonde haired girl, Simone. Then Dean came along and
they all started talking and her face lit up. Dean must have said something she
wasn't sure about because her face flushed and she sunk back into her hair a
little. I wondered how it would feel to run my hands through it, coaxing her
out.
The warmth of her body against mine.
Just
thinking about it made me feel a little hard.

My line of sight was broken and I shook
my head, leaning back against the bar.

"Hey," a female voice said
and I looked up to find a girl had wedged herself
between me
and some random guy who'd been standing at the bar
.

She was tall and willowy with long
brown hair and was wearing tiny barely-there shorts with boots and a torn up
t-shirt. The kind of girl I'd drowned my sorrows in. The kind of girl that
always thought they had a chance at something more. The kind of girl I
didn't want.

She was flirting shamelessly with me,
so I led her on a little. Not cool on my part. The music wasn't that loud, but
I leant into her all the same, one eye on Zoe and some guys who'd stopped to
talk to her. I could have sworn she was watching me by the way her fist clenched
at her side. The girl in front of me said something else that didn't quite
register and I let my hand settle on her hip. Was I trying to make Zoe jealous?
The thought hadn't occurred to me that this might be a way to find out if she
was attracted to me or just 
unashamedly
 didn't
like me.

Now Zoe was blatantly staring at me
like I'd just stabbed her in the heart. I didn't stop to think about the fact
that I was hurting
her,
all I could see was that she
had some inkling of attraction towards me. The hateful death stares were
just a minor hiccup. I'd affected her.

That was the moment she chose to leave
with Dee and tomorrow, I'd try talking to her again.

I pulled away from the girl coldly and
she cried, "
Hey
."

Putting my empty bottle on the bar, I
said, "Not
gunna
happen," and wandered off
in search of Pete for a ride home.

CHAPTER NINE

ZOE

We were starting the
Walls on Fire
tour in Brisbane and travelling right down the east coast, through all the
capital cities and a few regional towns before hitting Victoria again,
bypassing Melbourne via the country cities of
Shepparton
and
Ballarat
. Then to South Australia for gigs in Mt
Gambier and Adelaide. We'd come back the eight
hour
or
so drive from there to Melbourne for a final two shows before the tour
officially ended. We had a planned twenty gigs to get through in the next month
and a bit and that didn't include interviews and photo shoots along the way.

Much to my relief, I got stuck next to
Frank on the flight and we made it to the hotel at the edge of the CBD with a
few hours to kill before the gig. We had a tight turn around so we had to make
do with no sound check and hope for the best. We were playing at Brisbane's
Hi-Fi
Bar
, so hopefully that would sort
itself
out.

Check-in seemed to be a slow process
for a busy Saturday afternoon and we loitered in the lobby as the staff coded
key cards for us. I leant against the tours counter and flipped through some
travel brochures. Not that we'd get the time to see anything, but there were a
lot of things about rainforests and tropical islands that looked like a great
way to stop my eyes wandering.

A shadow loomed in my peripheral vision
and automatically, I glanced out the corner of my eye and there stood Will with
his sexy wild hair, and now that he was close enough in daylight so I could
see, stormy blue-grey eyes. My whole body began to tingle and it unsettled me,
how attracted I was to him.

"Hey," he said, leaning
against the counter.

"Hey," I said slowly and it came
out like I was suspicious. Well, that'd be the truth.

“I’ve seen you around. You know, before
this.” He waved his hands around, gesturing towards the others.

“Oh?” I tried not to let on that I knew
exactly what he’s on about.

“There was this show at
 The
Corner
 a while back,” he said, frowning at me. He seemed to think that
I would remember the awkward stage sexy eyes he gave
me and
the odd eyebrow-raising incident
.
And that thing at
our first gig.
Of course I remembered, but I wasn't going to let on. It
was months ago.

“Oh, yeah. I was there,” I said
nonchalantly, putting the brochure I had in my hands back on the rack.

“I wanted to come say hi to you, but
your mates seemed rather protective.”

“Who? Dee and Frank?” My eyebrows rose.
“Yeah, well, probably Dee, but Frank would probably push me on anything that
looked my way.” Will looked confused, so I said, “He’s all for
havin
’ a good time, if you know what I mean.” This didn't
seem to be going well.

"Well,” he said. “
It’s
gunna
be a great tour. I
guess we’ll have heaps of time to hang out and get to know one another.”

I’m not sure if he just said it to be
polite or to get away from the crazy person, so I just nodded. Dee chose this
moment to come along and thump my room key on the counter and I turned around
to pick it up. Obviously Will chose this moment to escape, so when I turned
back, all I saw was his back as he went over to pick up his bags.

“So awkward,” Dee shook his head at me.
“I like, need to coach you on social interactions or something.”

“Shut the hell up,” I hissed and pushed
past him, picking up my bag.

"Don't be so bitchy, Zoe."

"Don't be such a smart ass."

I pushed the button for the elevator
about a million times, like it would make the hunk of junk faster. I heard the
rest of the guys loitering in the foyer as the door slid open.

"Zoe!" Dee yelled at me.

I turned and gave him a look, holding
the door with a hand to stop it from closing. Everyone looked at me and I felt
my face going red. Shit, I can stand in front of hundreds of people on stage,
but this made me embarrassed? What a dork.

"Pick you up at six, bitch,"
Dee declared, much to his own amusement and I glared at him.

As I walked into the elevator, my gaze
crossed Will's and he looked away before he had to acknowledge me. And that stung
more than I thought it would. God, at least I didn't declare my crush on him,
but somehow I thought I might have done that already.
Sometimes
I think I'm just grateful for the human interaction, no matter how awkward.
Hiding myself away for so long had to leave some kinks for me to work out,
right? I just wished they weren't so embarrassing.

The day after the gig in Brisbane, we
stood in the middle of the hotel car park, the early morning sun peeking over the
trees and looked at our mode of transport for at least the next five weeks.
It's a gold bus with a trailer attached to the back.
Enough
room to stick us all in and our gear.
We're not rich enough to have a
fancy bus with beds, so seats would have to do.

The night before, I'd cut out on the
after party altogether and went straight back to my room and crashed. I tried
to convince myself I was just tired after an early morning flight and another
show, and wasn't being anti-social at all. I would do better and join in today.

Frank opened his arms wide and spun
around. "This is the lap of luxury," he yelled at the top of his
lungs.

Dee tackled him with a laugh and they
almost fell on the ground in a heap. I'm so glad that they're here.

Bob is our driver and he's laughing as
the boys wrestle each other. For me, it's too early for that kind of
enthusiasm. "Do you mind driving around a bunch of degenerates like
them?" I asked him.

"
Naa
,"
he shook his head. "I'm an old rocker myself, so for me it's
kinda
fun. Reliving the old days."

"I have a HR license," Chris
said. "If you ever want to tag team, I'm game."

"I didn't know you could drive
trucks," I said.

"I did delivery driving for a
transport company. Shipping containers, that kind of stuff."

Bob seemed pleased. "Shit, mate.
That's some heavy driving. Good cash, too. I'll have to take you up on that
offer sometime."

It wasn't a full sized bus, so once we
had stuck in our bags that couldn't fit in the trailer, we had to cram in
with little space to spread out.

Simone was following us in a rental
car, a swish little 4WD, crammed full with both bands merchandise. Dean was off
somewhere and was going to meet us in Sydney by the weekend. So, for the time
being she's the only manager with us and was more than glad to handle The Stabs
as well. Sometimes I had to remind myself that this was Simone's dream as well
as ours.

Dee winked at me from under Frank's
armpit where he was in a headlock and I knew there was incoming. Looking at the
door to the hotel, the guys from The Stabs were coming over to us, bleary eyed
in the sunlight. Seemed like they had a hard night after I left the venue and I
tried not to care how hard it had been. Will has aviator glasses on and a worn
denim jacket and I found myself staring and feeling a little hot under the
collar. He held two takeout cups of coffee and was saying something to Sticks,
but who knew what that was. I was too busy thinking about my hands in his hair.

"Got an extra coffee," he
said to no one in particular. "Anyone want it?"

"Zoe wants it,"
Dee said and right then
,
I could have
killed him
.

I went to take it, but my hand shook so
much, it slipped from my fingers and fell to the concrete and splashed over my
boots.

"Shit," I cursed, my face
flaming red.

"Aw, damn it," Will
hissed
, jumping back a step.

I don't know what the hell was wrong
with me. I'm seriously beginning to think I had some kind of mental deficiency
where
good looking
guys were concerned. I picked up
the now empty cup and walked over to the bin, doing my best to ignore Dee's
laughter and so I could escape my awkward nightmare.

As I walked back, Simone gave me a
knowing grimace.

"Can I ride with you?" I
asked, wryly. It's only an hour to the Gold Coast, but I couldn't think of
anything worse than riding in that bus today.

She looked at me and then looked at the
boys loitering in the car park and nodded. "Sure."

"Zoe?" Dee called as we began
to walk towards the car.

"I'm riding with Simone
today," I called back. "I'll entertain you tomorrow."

He shielded his eyes from the sun and
even without
seeing,
I could tell he was concerned. He
would be kicking himself now for pushing me towards Will. Something so small
shouldn't get to me like this, but he knew me well enough to know it cut. I
waved him off and opened the passenger side door to Simone's rental. As I
settled in, she slid on her
black rimmed
glasses and
started the car. On anyone else, they would look awkward, but she can pull the
nerd glasses off like no one's business. She turned on the radio to
Absolute
and a Two Door Cinema Club song was playing. As the
bus pulled out of the car park, she followed, tapping her fingers against
the wheel. She shifted in her seat about a million times before we'd even hit
the highway and it was only a few blocks away.

"Are you okay?" I asked,
glancing to her then to the road ahead where the bus with my awkward crush and
my infuriating best friend was sitting at a traffic light.

"Can I ask you a question?"
she asked.

"Uh, sure," I replied,
curious as to what had her worked up.

"How well do you know Chris?"

"Chris?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, you guys spend a lot of
time together. With the band and stuff."

"Yeah, I guess we know each other
pretty well."

"Does he ever mention me?"
She said it in a small
voice which
made me think she
was embarrassed to be talking about him.

"Simone? Do you like him?"

Her skin is so
pale,
it was totally obvious when she blushed. "I've known him for years,"
she said. "But we haven't been that close. Not until now."

"You should tell him. He's a good guy.
Ask him out."

"But, what if he doesn't feel the
same way?"

I felt stupid giving her advice when I
couldn't take it myself. "You might have to take the chance."

"Could you say something to him? I
mean
,
to see how he might take it?"

"Like an undercover cop?" I
joked.

She laughed and I was glad my joke had
succeeded in cheering her up a little. "It's just, I'm firmly in the
friend zone."

"And you don't know how to get out
of it?"

"Totally. Would you ask him?"

"Sure. I'll scope it out."

"Covertly," she grinned at
me.

"Covertly."

We merged onto the highway behind the
bus and it was smooth sailing until we hit the beach. We both laughed when
Walls
came onto the radio and she made me sing along. It always felt weird hearing my
own voice coming back at me out of a set of speakers, but it was slowly growing
on me. So far, Simone hadn't brought up the coffee incident but I should have
known she was biding her time to bring up boy chat again. It seemed to be her
favourite
thing.

"So, what's with you and
Will?" She peered at me with one eye on the road.

"What are you talking about?"
I said a little too quickly.

"You like him," she laughed
at my reaction.

"Not
gunna
happen."

"Why not?"

"Why would it?" I grimaced.