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“I’m telling you, guys. This is one of the best turnouts we’ve had in a while.” Dennis’s uncle, Ricky, had a cigarette bit tight between his lips. Now that he thought about it, Barrett had never seen him without one in. “Keep this up and it could happen regularly.”

Barrett shook the sweat from his hair, drenched in it from the hour-long performance. He chugged at the water Ricky handed him and thanked him mentally for it as it soothed his fried vocal cords. His bandmates all nodded enthusiastically at the vague offer.

“You guys get the dressing room for the rest of the night. Let me know if you want me to bring anyone back. It looks like you’ve got quite the fan base growing already,” Ricky said and wiggled his eyebrows.

Barrett cringed a bit, considering the man was at least twice the age of any of the girls out there, but stayed quiet because they wouldn’t be here without him.

“Oh, and drinks are on the house tonight. As a thanks.”

They were being thanked? For just going on stage and rocking until their hearts felt like they were going to burst?

This must be what it felt like to win something.

With a final pat on all their shoulders, Ricky disappeared back into the bar, leaving them alone backstage.

“ Holy shit .” Paulie’s hands flew to his head like he was holding it together. “That was amazing.”

“I swear we keep getting better,” Toni said, hitting the concrete walls with his sticks like he still couldn’t get the rhythm out of him.

Barrett had similar symptoms. His fingers strummed the side of his legs. It helped when his adrenaline rushed so quickly through him. He was still high on the night.

“Did you see that crowd?” Dennis was the first one to start moving back to the dressing room, and the others followed. “Did you see all the girls?”

“Did you see that redhead in the front?” Toni whistled, slow and low. “I call dibs.”

“Gentlemen,” Barrett interrupted, shaking his head. “You can’t call dibs on a lady.”

“Easy for you to say.” Toni picked up the unfinished beer bottle he’d started before getting on stage. “You’ve already got one.”

“I do not.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t,” Paulie said.

“Thank you, Paulie.” Barrett motioned his thanks and gave Toni a look.

“Janelle is still way out of his league.”

Barrett shot him a glare, and the other two cackled, plopping down onto the too-soft, stained sofas they had back there. Barrett tried not to imagine what they were stained with. “Thank you, Paulie.” Barrett gritted his teeth.

“Then I guess you’re free to explore your options,” Toni said. He had that mischievous twinkle in his eye that he got whenever he was making a point. “Dennis, go invite some guests back here. We could all use the company.”

Dennis’s hands hit the arm of the sofa as he stood, not one to ruin the joke. “Be right back.”

In the next five minutes, enough alcohol to bring down an army was brought in, followed by seven or eight women.

Despite the occasional hook-up that he never spoke to again, Barrett never got much female attention. None of them did.

They weren’t exactly the type of guys that girls liked to brag to their friends about. Yet now, they each had at least one girl by them. Even Paulie, who had arguably the least sex appeal of the group, had two girls hanging onto his every word.

Barrett grabbed an already opened bottle of Coors and chugged it down as one of the girls—a chatty brunette touching his arm—went on about how he had the most incredible voice she’d ever heard.

He thanked her and grinned, and winked and flirted—less out of interest and more because Toni was watching him over that redhead to see if he’d slip up.

Barrett had to look interested because he was a man, and if he was going to claim no interest in Janelle, he had to pretend to be into this woman.

After a while, she begged Barrett to come sit with her by her friends. With a smirk and a wink, he said no, and she left. He was on his third bottle by now, and he thought he’d be able to catch his breath, but as soon as she was gone, she was replaced by another woman.

This woman was different, though. She wasn’t as chatty or wide-eyed as the other girl. Her catlike eyes met his as she stalked to him with a feline-like prowl and posted herself onto the arm of his chair. Her lips were blood red, which stood out against her teased-high black hair.

“You’re very popular, aren’t you?” Her voice was as sensual as everything else about her. She was poised to kill.

Barrett raised a brow. He was a man, and she was a gorgeous woman.

“I wouldn’t say that.” He adjusted in his seat, his eyes stuck to hers. He felt Toni’s gaze watching him like a hawk.

“Oh, I would.” Her hand rested just above his wrist, pausing his drink that had been on the way to his lips.

“You might not’ve been able to hear what those girls in the crowd were saying about you, but I could.

Very popular. They’d all kill to be sitting where I am right now.

” Her head tilted down, and she leaned in closer until he could feel her breath against his jawbone.

“Who knows where else I’ll be sitting tonight? ”

Barrett expected to feel some sort of twinge. A burst of heat in his core. A jump in his crotch.

He had a beautiful woman practically draped over him, whispering promises of a very sweaty and fulfilling night into his ear.

And he felt . . . nothing. Not a single thing. No jumbled thoughts, no heating in his face, not even a goddamn butterfly.

All he could think was that he preferred natural blondes, and he liked blue eyes, and that no matter how much he stared at this woman, she didn’t compare to Nell.

Barrett shifted until the woman was forced back, and then stood up with his bottle in hand.

Her feline eyes widened in surprise.

He smiled apologetically at her. “Sorry, you’re great. I’ve just got my mind somewhere else.”

He left the dressing room, doubting any of his friends would notice his absence.

He walked through the bar of drunken people, managing to sneak past a few lingering girls at the tables without them noticing, until he was outside and able to take a breath of fresh air. He tilted his head back and exhaled into the night.

He took another long sip of his drink and leaned back against the building.

His company was a few random groups and couples smoking around the area, leaning against cars, but none paid him any mind.

The bar doors opened, and he recognized Toni’s curly hair out of the corner of his eyes. He tracked his footsteps from the door to him across the gravel lot, not bothering to meet his eye.

He already knew what he was going to say.

“You said you didn’t like her anymore.”

“Yeah, well . . .” Well what? He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Didn’t need to, though. No use pretending.

“It’s okay, buddy.” Toni patted his shoulder, trying to hide his smug grin. “We already knew.”