CJ whipped his head around. “Sorry, G. You met Regan earlier today...”
Regan nodded but would barely meet my eyes. He must have still been uncomfortable from staring at my breasts earlier. Given I had a hell of a lot more than cleavage showing tonight, I doubted he’d be able to look at me at all.
“Hi Regan,” I teased. Sometimes it was so easy to make a man blush. He murmured his hello and then grumbled something about heading backstage or outside to tune. As if E’s had a backstage.
CJ ignored the awkward exchange and gestured to the dynamic duo of attraction. “And, these are my friends who live up in Mission Bay. Bo and November.”
Naturally, they smiled in unison. Bo took my hand, and I was instantly filled with the need to make his mouth mine. Given he seemed pretty tight with CJ, though, I decided against it.
“Nice to meet you, Georgia. CJ told us a lot about you on the way over here.” The way his voice wrapped itself around my guts told me he was a singer.
I forced a smile. “Good to meet you.”
On habit I snapped my gum, then immediately cursed myself for the classless noise. The urge to fit in with them was overwhelming. I snapped my gum one more time to remind myself that those feelings could fuck right off in the direction from where they came.
I held my hand out to the girl. “November?”
She smiled all the way to her Cheshire cat green eyes. “You can call me Ember.”
Of course I can...
“Nice to meet you, November.”
But I won’t.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Regan, don’t get your panties in a wad,” CJ groaned as I forced myself to break my gaze from Ember. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place from where.
“Problem, boys?” I took a deep breath and leaned my elbows onto the bar.
“Prince Prodigy here needs to know where we can put our stuff.” CJ threw some air-quotes around the end to accent his juvenile state.
I stared at Regan until he looked me straight in the eyes. The hazel eyes I remembered from earlier in the afternoon had taken on more of a yellow edge. Fierce. Humming with agitation of some sort. I decided not to play any more games with him for the time being.
“We don’t really have a separate backstage area, but you guys can head over there and set up whatever you need to. You’re on in ten, okay?”
“Thanks, G.” CJ swallowed the rest of his Jack and Coke in one gulp and picked up his sticks as he slid from the stool.
Bo, Ember, and Regan had already made their way to the stage.
“Hey,” I stopped CJ just before he left the bar, “what’s wrong with your cousin? Did he sit on one of your drumsticks or something?
“I’ll tell you if you tell me where the fuck your accent went.” He scrunched up his forehead as he nodded his chin in my direction.
“I didn’t—” As my face heated, CJ smiled.
“I’m just giving you shit, kid. I teased Regan about losing his, too, when he went away to that preppy fuckin’ high school with all of those band geeks.”
Despite being the same age as me, CJ sometimes called me kid. He didn’t seem to have rhyme or reason to when he did it, but hearing it was like going home. To the good stuff.
Grateful that I wouldn’t have to enter into a discussion of the parts of me I’d given up during my move to San Diego, I breathed a sigh of relief. “I miss hearing it sometimes, though, so don’t go losing yours, too.”
CJ waved his hand. “Don’t worry about Regan. He’s just bent out of shape because he can’t find a place to live and is itchin’ like hell to get out of Bo and Ember’s palace of love.” CJ thrust his hips a few times for effect.
“Nice, Ceej. Just get the hell up there and keep people happy ... and drinking.”
A few minutes later, I headed toward the stage to announce the group. “Hey, guys. You’ve got about three minutes. When I announce you ... what do I call you?”
“The Fucking Lunatics!” CJ sounded serious as he fist-pumped the air.
“Okaaay ... any other suggestions?” I scanned the group. Thankfully, Regan let out a laugh.
“Just say we’re a sub-set of the San Diego Six. We’re recording with them this winter. Well, minus CJ.” Regan nodded to Bo and Ember.
Then, it clicked. I darted my eyes to Ember. “That’s where I’ve seen your picture. You’re Raven and Ashby’s daughter, right?”
Ember nodded and smiled. I don’t think she’d stopped smiling since she walked in the bar, actually. “I am. You listen?”
I’d been a fan of the Six since I moved to San Diego a few years ago, but demanded of myself that I keep that fangirl shit under wraps.
“I do. They’re good. Good for you guys for getting to record with them.”