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One of the girls looked at me curiously, her interest piquing the longer she studied me. “Are you in a band, too?”

“Sure am, sweetheart. Zion here left our band a few weeks back.”

She seemed interested in me, and I was going to tell her I wasn’t available, but Zion didn’t take too kindly to her attention being off him. His grip tightened on her and he growled.

“Left for better options. Hen was too busy screwing the roadies to see a good deal when it was right in front of him. You don’t want to be slumming it with a guy like him.”

The woman didn't look happy about him getting all possessive. She tried to shrug him off, scowling up at him.

“Maybe I do. You don’t get to–”

Zion snarled, some of the werewolf coming out to play as he glared down at her. “You’re with me tonight. You wanna give him my sloppy seconds, you can find him at Club Envy on Thursdays with all the other shit bands.”

“Let go,” she demanded, struggling against him.

I was going to step in, but before I could, the bartender let out a shrill whistle. Two bouncers, dressed exactly like the one at the door, appeared out of nowhere, turning to face Zion when the bartender indicated to him.

“He’s breaking the rules. He needs to leave.”

Zion looked incredulous, immediately releasing the women. “The hell I am! We had a deal!”

The bartender shook his head. “That’s not how things work here. They can withdraw consent at any time. If you can’t respect that, then you need to leave.”

Zion still looked pissed, but facing down two gargoyles, a pissed off bartender, and me, he knew he didn’t stand a chance. He shot me a scathing look and spun on his heel, marching towards the exit with the gargoyles following behind him. The women gave the bartender grateful smiles.

“Thank you.”

He dipped his chin, his dark expression lightening to a soft smile. “All good. If you ever have trouble like that again, just let me know. We take the safety of our patrons very seriously here.”

They both nodded. Luckily, I didn't have to fight off any advances from them. Probably still shaken up from their interaction with Zion, they both decided to head home for the night. The bartender got a bouncer to follow them out, making sure they got to their car safely, before turning back to me.

“You good?”

I snorted. “Yeah. He’s just pissed because I wouldn’t let the band sign the world’s worst contract. He dropped us to sign himself up. He’ll regret that later.”

The man nodded, leaning across the bar to shake my hand. “Finn.”

“Hendrix.”

He pursed his lips, raising his eyebrows slowly. “Your name is Hendrix… and you play in a band… Really?”

A grin overtook my face, and I nodded. “Yeah, my dad was big on human bands when I was born. He’s a musician himself and he failed to mention to my mom where he got the name from.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Man, you really only had one career path with a name like that.”

Probably true. I didn’t hate it. Humans got a kick out of it, and it made it easy to remember my name. I sat with the bartender, chatting for a while, until Atherton came to join us. He looked a little disheveled, but he had a smile on his face.

“Where’s Laz?”

“Where he needs to be,” he replied. “He’s good now. He was reluctant, but with a little encouragement, he found some people to play with. He might be a while.”

“He needs it,” I agreed. I didn't need to stick around and wait for him now that he was being taken care of. I handed Atherton his keys. “Thanks for helping out. I was worried he wouldn’t do anything other than watch.”

Atherton made a face. “What made him wait so long? It’s unlike him.”

I sighed heavily. “He’s in love with our drummer. She’s shown no interest in him and she’s got an intense no fraternizing rule, but he wouldn’t let go. She started seeing someone recently, and I think that was the kick in the pants he needed to finally come here.”

Atherton shook his head in exasperation. “Incubi aren’t meant for relationships. I’ve always told him this. Most of the family has.” I caught the longing on the bartender’s face when looking at Atherton, but he covered it up when Atherton spoke again. “Hopefully, he’ll have learned his lesson. Are you heading out?”