Opening the door, I climbed out with Liam following, because if I stayed talking to him in the car I would be in tears.
Until I’d met Jack I’d never been an emotional person, but I was now and it pissed me off. If Callie was here she’d rib me to no end about it, which would probably have cheered me up some. I missed my best friend and needed to talk to her later. One thing I did know and that was, there was no chance of me leaving for Texas just yet, because I wasn’t ready to let Jack go.
“You ready to go inside?”
“Yeah.” I pulled the door open to be met by a wall of bodies. The place was packed as Liam took my hand and pulled me towards the bar through the mass. The group that was playing tonight was obviously popular, because there was hardly breathing space.
“You want a beer?” Liam shouted.
“Yeah.”
While I was standing waiting for Liam to get us both a beer, I had a good look around the bar or rather I tried too. It was a bit difficult with the sweaty bodies all-clambering for prime position near the stage, a lot of which were women.
About to turn back towards Liam, I spotted Donovan at about the same time he spotted me. He paused, before starting to walk in our direction.
He came to a stop in front of me, and then got shoved from behind which brought him up close and personal, with me ending up wrapped in his arms.
He grinned down at me, which had me laughing. He was cute and I needed to get Callie with him.
“Hey, get your hands off her,” Liam shouted, looking pissed.
Donovan’s body went rigid against me before he relaxed and pulled me even tighter against him. “Make me.”
They sure as hell were not going to fight over me. In fact I wasn’t sure I had anything to do with what was going on.
Pushing out of Donovan’s arms, I faced Liam. “Leave it, he got shoved from behind.” I placed my hand on Liam’s chest, hoping he’d leave it alone, before I turned back to Donovan who looked angry, but more relaxed than Liam.
“Look after Thalia.” With that Donovan shoved his way through the crowd towards the stage where the band had already set up.
The lights dimmed slightly, someone jumped up on stage and the crowd started to shout.
“Shut the fuck up,” came blaring out through the speaker system, which the majority found funny. “Okay, calm it down, I know why you’re all here, so with that in mind here’s ‘Phoenix and Deception’.”
Liam froze at the side of me with his beer half way to his mouth. I turned to look at him but he was fixed on the stage. Turning back I met the piercing blue eyes of Jack who stood in front of the microphone.
My heart began to drum against my chest and I felt like it was going to burst as we held each other’s gaze, and then he started to sing; I melted. He had the most amazing voice as he sang about a hero who fell in love with a girl out of his reach, and the whole time his gaze stayed on me.
Liam moved closer and leaned into me using his thumbs to wipe my face, because unbeknown to me, there were tears flowing from my eyes.
When the song came to an end, without taking his eyes from me Jack said something to Donovan, and then passed him the microphone before jumping down from the stage with a look of determination as he headed in our direction.
Panicking, I shoved past Liam towards the back of the bar, which was easier said than done with all the people jammed into the place.
Coming to a stop in a hallway, I had no idea which door would lead me to the outside. About to try the one at the end, an arm snaked around my waist.
“It’s only me,” Jack whispered into my ear before he carried me through the door to our right. He closed it and I heard a lock slide into place as he turned on a low light. He wrapped his other arm around me and held me tight, snug in his arms. I wasn’t complaining because it felt amazing being held by him. My body pressed against the full length of him.
He started nuzzling my neck so I moved my head to the side to give him better access. When he started to use his teeth to nibble the lobe of my ear and down my neck to my shoulder, I shivered; my nipples hardened and my sex pulsed. I pressed my butt into his groin and felt his erection, which pressed between my buttocks; he groaned and pressed closer.
“Thalia,” he moaned into my neck, “we need to stop.”
I took hold of his hands on my belly and held on tight. “What’s happening Jack or can I call you Phoenix? Liam told me he used to call you that, and I love that name.”
He buried his face into my neck while he tried to control his breathing. “Other than Ryder when he announces us, no one calls me Phoenix anymore...so yeah; I’d love you to call me that. In private though.” He cursed at the same time that he pushed me away from him. “I can’t be in private with you again, because I want you too damn much.”
My tears were so close to the surface and as I turned to face Jack or Phoenix they leaked out of my eyes.