With a shrug, she flipped her hair and started to scan the crowds again. “Why wouldn’t I take him on? He’s like a male version of me.”
The hell if he was. Promiscuous-wise...okay, maybe. But other than that, Gally was a bigoted jerk who didn’t care about anyone but his dick. Jodi was a fun-time girl who sometimes—or lots of times—didn’t think things through or consider other people’s feelings, but underneath that, she had a good heart and never set out to purposely hurt anyone. Or maybe I just always made excuses for her because to me, I’d known her long enough, she was more like a younger sister than a friend. I might’ve possibly put up blinders to her flaws, forgave her too easily, and got a bit protective when anyone tried to bash her.
“Ooh! There he is.” She arched up onto tiptoes and peered through the crowd of people before saying, “Those were my favorite pair, too. Excuse me. I have undergarments to retrieve.” And she was gone again.
I gaped at the spot where she’d been standing, still stunned that she’d already captured one of my fucking bandmates.
Suddenly, Ten slapped the top of the bar and then pointed at me.
“Remy,” he nearly shouted. Then he pointed after Jodi. “Jodi, Remy. Remy, Jodi. Holy shit!” His eyes went huge and he jabbed his finger in my direction. Then he leaned my way and hissed, “It’s you. You’re...” His gaze skimmed over me. “Jesus, now I understand why you text such long messages to Hart. You’re not a dude at all. You’re a fucking chick!”
“What?” I immediately glanced around to see who’d heard him, but fortunately, no one was paying us any attention. So I whirled back to the wide-eyed man who kept staring at my chest and squinting. “How...what...?”
He learned forward. “Unreal. What’d you do with your tits—”
I smacked a hand in front of his face to divert his attention from my chest. “Will you cut that out? I am not a girl.”
Denying it was pointless, so I’m not sure why I did. I’d planned on telling Asher and Galloway, and Holden after tonight what I was...or rather what I wasn’t. There was really no need to put if off any longer, but...I thought it more respectful to tell the band face to face instead of letting Asher find out this way.
Up until this very moment, I hadn’t felt any qualms about what I’d done. I’d seen a goal—though goal was such a minor understatement for the ungodly desire I’d had to be in their band—then I’d taken note of the obstacles in my path and I’d done what I’d had to do to get what I wanted. And the tiny little lie of omission I had to tell? Pfft. Those jerks had deserved it for not even letting me audition. I had actually relished the moment of revealing my true identity...until now.
Gally...yeah, I still didn’t care about deceiving him. He’d started out a jerk in my mind and still was. Heath...okay, I didn’t know him well enough to worry about his feelings. But Asher...he’d been nice and decent to me—er, to Sticks, anyway—and the more I learned about him, the more I admired him as a musician and a person.
He was...different. And okay, fine, maybe his level of hotness was affecting some of my thought process there, but still...I was a little more worried about how I’d lied to him.
“Yes, you are too a chick,” Ten insisted, dragging me back to the problem at hand...one hot, scarred, married bartender who somehow knew too much. “You’re Incubus shirt girl.”
“No, I...wait, what?” Wrinkling my nose, I frowned in confusion. “Who’s Incubus shirt girl?”
“You know...” Ten whirled out a finger. “The chick Asher wrote that song about, the one who came here and sang karaoke in the Incubus shirt and totally rocked his world.”
Shaking my head, I asked, “Seriously, do you take a shot for every drink you serve, because I think you’re wasted, man. You’re not making any sense.”
“I’m not wasted, and you’re a fucking chick,” he insisted. “I was here, working with Hart the night you came and sang ‘All About That Bass’ ...with Jodi. I was standing right beside him when he claimed you were going to have his babies one day and all that lovey-dovey bullshit. Then I watched all his sweet little hopes and dreams crash and burn when you jumped off stage and frenched some other dude.”
My mouth fell open as I stared at him. But seriously, how the hell had he known I’d sung that song here...with Jodi? And Jesus, had I still been with Fisher then? I couldn’t remember.
“What the hell?” I murmured, confused and curious to know exactly what he was talking about.
He grinned and waved at my flat chest. “Seriously, I’m not sure why you felt the need to dress in drag and join his band just to get his attention. All you have to do is tell him who you are. I swear to God, he still looks for you every Saturday night. If you want the guy, he’s already yours.”
“I don’t...I have no idea what you’re talking about. And I am not a girl.”