Page 25 of Drive

We clicked glasses as we both started stomping along with the band. They were exactly the refreshing mix of talent I’d been dying to encounter since I got to Austin. It seemed like a lot of their songs were original and weren’t half bad. But while I fixed on the music and the effect on the fans for my first article due in sixth months, Lexi fixated on the man she’d mere hours before dismissed as nothing but a free drink.

“It’s okay,” I consoled her. “He could have been a creep.”

“But he’s not. He’s a hot ass front man.”

“Maybe not hot. Cute.” Even I didn’t believe that line of bullshit.

“Oh, fucking look at him! Who do you think you’re kidding?” she scolded with a sigh. “I won’t talk to him. I can’t. I was too much of a bitch,” she said, disheartened. “But, God, just look at him.”

“That ought to learn ya,” I said on a laugh. “He really is talented. One of thousands in this city, Lex, don’t forget that. There’s always another front man.”

She turned to me, determined. “You’re right. Now let’s find someone drunker than us to buy us one more drink.” She pushed us past a few lingering people at the bar and yanked my arm so I was forced to dodge a protruding leg that could have caused me to face-plant. Stumbling, I smacked the leg and caught myself directly in a lap. Something stiff and bright green brushed my cheek, and I looked at it with faint recognition before I apologized. “Sorry, dude, so sorry,” I offered, refusing eye contact before I yelled at Lexi, who was still trying to pull me in her direction. “Damn it, Lexi, slow down!” She looked back at me and apologized to the guy I’d just run over. “Sorry!” Submersed in the show,we were five songs into Dead Sergeants’ set when they took a break. Lexi had managed to get us a few more shots of whiskey with her persuasive tongue. I was close to hitting the wall when Usher starting to sing “Yeah.” In the year 2005, it seemed a rule among the masses, myself included, when “Yeah” was played, wherever it was played, the protocol was to lose your fucking mind. Some songs had that power, and within seconds, I was on the dance floor with Lexi as we danced like a couple of drunken sluts. It was everything I hoped my birthday would be. Until I hit that wall.

***

Hazel eyes seared into me as I hung my head, blank to the remainder of the night. Somehow, I knew the man staring at me from the recliner had saved my ass, and the ass of my snoring best friend on the floor. “Sorry. For whatever I did. Please don’t tell Paige about having to get us home.”

“Your secrets are safe with me,” Reid said as we both stood up at the same time. I tugged my skirt down and averted my eyes. “I hate this feeling.”

“What feeling?” he asked, his deep voice penetrating the dark room.

“The feeling that I have to apologize after a night like that.”

“So, don’t,” he said before he took a swallow of his beer and handed it to me. “Happy birthday.”

“What? No lecture for ‘little sister?’”

Reid paused at the door. “There’s nothing I can tell you, Stella. Nothing that you don’t already know.”

It was the first time he’d said my name, and it sent a small fire through me, despite my aching head. “But I’m safe?” The words tumbled out just as he opened the door. The porch light temporarily blinded us both before he slipped out without an answer.

CHAPTER NINE

“21 Questions”

50 Cent/Nate Dogg

“To your left, hot shit coming through,” I yelled as I ran into the kitchen at The Plate Bar.

“Damn it, Stella!” Paige jumped, spilling a dish of salsa on her tray from where she stood next to Reid at the stainless-steel counter while he thumbed through his tips. “No sour cream,” I taunt the cooks. I sauntered up to the line and blew them individual kisses before I reminded them of the earlier conversation, I overheard in our native tongue. Only one of them had the decency to lower his eyes.

“What’s she saying now?” Reid asked behind me.

I turned around and crossed my arms. “I heard them talking earlier about how tight my ass is, and you don’t even want to know what they said about you, sister. They didn’t think I could understand them. They’ve been schooled. You’re welcome.”

Smiling, Reid slowly shook his head while Paige blew out a heavy breath.

Paige snatched a bowl of fresh tortilla chips from my hand.

“I can’t believe I agreed to let you work here,” she muttered as she pushed through the swinging doors with a tray in hand.

“One big happy family!” I called after her and winked at Reid. He took his apron off and folded it a few times before he joined me to get our side work done. I’d been at the restaurant for a week, and though the tips were decent, I hated it.

“That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.”

“Au contraire, mon frère, me and my notorious mouth are going to be wildly popular. Honesty will get meeverywhere, especially as a journalist.”

I ignored the smell of Irish Spring as he leaned in close. “Honesty will get you enemies.”