Blood and Guitars (22 page)

A nervous laugh escaped his lips as he sent a
reply back on his phone. We requested a table for four and were
immediately taken to a quiet corner in the back. Knowing the guys,
it wouldn’t be quiet for long.

“Where is Chase if he’s not with the other
guys?” I asked as we opened our menus.

“He flew down early this morning to meet a
girl he knows here in Miami. I have no idea where he’s at now, but
he has a room near ours for tonight,” Trey explained.

“Chase is bringing a date tonight,” I though
out loud.

“Seems that way.”

“And Jonas and O’Shea? Are they-”

“Dateless losers?” suggested a familiar voice
from over my shoulder. I turned to see Jonas and O’Shea sauntering
toward us.

“That pretty much sums us up,” Jonas said,
agreeing with O’Shea’s assessment of their social lives.

“Hey guys,” Trey and I said together,
greeting them as they joined us at the table.

“I’m starving,” O’Shea said as he opened his
menu.

“Join the club.” Trey gave me a smug ‘I’m not
the only one’ look that made me laugh.

A waiter took our orders and the conversation
immediately turned to what the guys would say if they happened to
win the award tonight. They threw around a couple of names of
people who had contributed to “Filtered Ache” and the music video
they’d done for the song. I wasn’t surprised to hear Ken mentioned.
Of course he would have been the one to produce the song. It didn’t
take them long to come up with a definitive list of names of people
who deserved thanks, which O’Shea had taken the liberty of writing
down on an old receipt he had in his wallet.

It didn’t take much prompting on my part to
get the guys spilling the beans on Trey. All I had to do was gently
nudge them in the right direction and the stories came freely. To
Trey’s credit, he was a much better sport than I would expect
anyone to be when reminded of their most embarrassing moments on
and off stage. He did a lot of eye rolling and elbow jabbing but
the smile never left his eyes, which was impressive considering the
stories I was hearing. Trey was the prankster, and so the rest of
the guys always had a lot of getting even to do. Once, O’Shea had
even gone so far as to squirt Trey’s microphone with ‘skunk juice’
as he’d referred to it. Apparently the audience had gotten a kick
out of the look on Trey’s face when he’d stepped up to the
microphone, which had replaced his normal one halfway through the
show. Trey hadn’t actually sang into the microphone, but had
grabbed it in his enthusiasm to start the next song in the set and
then the smell had hit him, along with several people in the front
row. O’Shea and the rest of the band had laughed until they were
almost in tears as Trey dropped the mic and kicked it to the side
of the stage where a poor member of the stage crew had collected
and disposed of it. Even Trey was laughing along by the time O’Shea
had reached this point in the story.

“My hand stunk for like a week.” Trey
wrinkled his nose. “It didn’t matter how many times I washed it and
tried to get rid of the smell. It was brutal.”

“We called him Pepe Le Pew for months.” Jonas
chuckled.

“The fans got a kick out of it,” O’Shea added
proudly. “They even started to bring stuffed animal skunks to throw
on stage.”

I covered my mouth, unsuccessfully trying not
to laugh. I failed miserably and Trey sighed at me, but he was
grinning.

“Not you, too.” He shook his head at me in
mock disappointment.

“At least tell me you got even,” I said once
I had composed myself enough to speak.

“I don’t get even.” Trey glared at O’Shea. “I
get ahead.”

“Okay, okay. Enough with the stink eye.”
O’Shea cracked up again.

“He got even all right,” Jonas said to
me.

“Of course I did.” Trey leaned back in his
seat casually.

O’Shea guffawed. “I don’t care. It was worth
it.”

“What did you do?” I asked, giving in to my
curious nature.

“I colored him blue,” Trey said, a smile
spreading wide across his lips.

I raised my eyebrows and leaned forward. “You
what?”

“It’s not that hard, actually,” Trey
continued. “I just filled some gel capsules with blue punch mix and
stuck them into the shower head in his hotel room.”

“The only people more upset about it than
O’Shea were the hotel maids that had to clean up the mess in the
bathroom,” Jonas said with a chuckle.

I looked at Trey incredulously.

“Sad, but true,” O’Shea confirmed, seeing the
expression on my face. “They billed me extra for that. At least it
faded.”

“Yeah, after like a week.” Jonas laughed.

“I’m still not sure why we didn’t ship you
off to Vegas to join the Blue Man Group,” Trey told his best
friend.

“Shut up, Skunk,” O’Shea said.

Trey snickered. “Whatever you say, Papa
Smurf.”

When our late lunch was over, Trey announced
that it was time to head up to our suites and start getting ready
for the big night ahead. We walked hand in hand, laughing at the
playful banter between O’Shea and Jonas as they walked along behind
us, arguing about which of them would make a better reality TV
star.

Once off the elevator, Trey led me down the
hallway to the door of our room. He reached into his wallet and
produced the key while Jonas and O’Shea went ahead to the next door
down. Trey opened the door and held it for me, gesturing with a
sweep of his hand for me to enter.

I knew the moment I stepped into the
elaborate room that I was going to regret not staying for the
evening. Of course, Trey had no idea that I was planning on
ditching him tonight after the awards in order to attend the Lunar
Ritual with the Synod, but I was already beginning to feel
guilty.

“I hope the room is okay.” Trey followed
behind as my keen eyes scanned every expensive detail of the
décor.

There were two queen sized beds. One of them
was directly across from the room’s entrance near the large
windows, and the other was tucked away in another section of the
room entirely. A small kitchenette occupied the space nearest to
the entrance, and the bathroom with its marble floors, oversized
jetted tub, and standing shower was nearest to the second bed. A
large sofa and other plush seating was arranged neatly in the space
between the two bedroom areas.

“Okay?” I said, incredulous. “I’ve never
stayed in a room this nice. Ever.”

“I’m glad you like it.” He smiled and paused
at my side. I felt his hand move to the small of my back, and he
gently pulled me to him. I turned and found myself staring into his
blue eyes, my hand resting on his chest. He gazed at me,
unblinking.

Where did a mortal get that kind of
confidence? I supposed having millions of adoring fans might not
hurt. My human self might have blushed under the scrutiny and
averted my eyes, but as a vampire I was bold. But it was more than
that. I was just as content staring into Trey’s eyes as he was
staring into mine. It was a strange sensation. His hands gently
cupped my face and he bent toward me, bringing his lips down on
mine.

In complete contrast to his demeanor, Trey
was nervous. It was obvious that the rush of nervous energy
pulsating through me as we kissed was not my own, and Trey’s heart
beat progressively faster as the kiss went on. I could list several
reasons why he might be so amped up, some of them having to do with
the fact that he was going to be on TV tonight in front of millions
of people. Then again, maybe that didn’t have as much to do with it
as I thought. Trey was used to that sort of thing after all.

The second most powerful emotion Trey was
unknowingly sending through me was one of content. Selfishly, I
hoped that I was the reason for the joy he was experiencing, but
then I remembered that I was going to lie to him tonight. Not that
lying to Trey was anything new. The biggest lie of all was one of
omission. Technically I’d been lying to Trey since the first night
I’d met him. But for some reason, perhaps because I’d been planning
it for days, the lie I had in store for him tonight weighed heavily
on me.

I closed my mind to those negative thoughts
and let myself be carried away in the river of Trey’s emotions.
They washed over me, comforting, thrilling. But the sensation was
short lived, and soon I was fighting my vampire instincts, willing
my fangs not to unsheathe.

When I pulled back I smiled up at him. “What
was that for?” I asked.

His hands found my hips and he let out a
happy sigh. “I was trapped behind a steering wheel most of the day
and couldn’t kiss you, and we’re about to spend the entire evening
surrounded by stuffy celebrities and TV cameras. I just thought we
should take advantage of what little time we have alone on this
trip.”

We had even less time alone than he was aware
of. Trey ran his fingers gently through my hair and I realized I
was giddy. It was like being a teenager, only way better. Even life
as a teenage vampire wouldn’t have been this good. Trey bent to
kiss me again but the footsteps out in the hallway I was trying to
ignore paused outside our room. I heard Chase’s voice on the other
side before he raised his hand to pound on the door.

Trey’s mood did a strange flop and settled on
annoyance. This time he pulled away, giving me an apologetic
look.

“Get your own room,” he hollered to Chase,
who was now calling out Trey’s name and insisting that he open the
door.

“I don’t think he’s alone,” I told him. I
could hear a woman whispering and giggling, too low for Trey’s ears
to pick up. “Maybe you should see what he needs.”

Trey looked resigned. He kissed my forehead
and then released me to go to the door.

“Man, you seriously have the worst timing in
the world,” he scolded halfheartedly as he pulled the door open to
reveal Chase and a petite brunette girl wearing three inch heels
and a pricey cocktail dress.

Chase only looked sorry when his gaze moved
past Trey and saw me. “Hey Aurora,” he said. “Sorry.”

“Liar,” I teased.

He chuckled and shrugged. “Okay, so I’m not
that sorry.” He looked at Trey now. “O’Shea sent me here to collect
you. Apparently Wes has some urgent matters of business that can’t
wait until we get back to town. He’s going to set up a conference
call in the other room so we can work some stuff out with the
label. I thought maybe the ladies could use this room to freshen up
and get ready for tonight. We can get dressed while we talk
business.”

“Too much information,” I offered.

Trey looked over his shoulder at me and
groaned. “You’d be surprised how often that happens.”

I grinned. “Not that surprised.”

“Is this okay with you?” he asked, his tone
more serious.

“Sure.” I waved in what I hoped was a
friendly way at the girl standing next to Chase. “You men go take
care of business. I’ll be ready when you get back.”

“Great.” Chase walked his date into the room,
introducing her as Krystal. Trey took his suit from the closet
where it hung and gave me one last kiss before he disappeared out
the door with Chase.

I glanced at Krystal and wondered how old she
might be.

“So, you’re Aurora,” she said. “Chase told me
you were coming with Trey tonight. I think its great he brought a
date, too.”

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly not feeling so
guilty about skipping out after the awards. I wasn’t sure how much
of this small talk I could take with a complete human stranger.
Don’t get me wrong, she was nice enough. I just wasn’t good at that
sort of thing, especially with other women. Never had been. The
fact that Kacie and I got along so well was an exception to the
rule.

“Make yourself at home,” I offered. “I’m just
going to take a shower.”

“Sure thing,” She plopped down on the bottom
of the bed and reached for the remote control.

I grabbed my bag and escaped to the bathroom,
making a painstaking effort not to move suspiciously fast. I didn’t
need to give Krystal any reason to dislike me or start asking
questions. The shower was hot and relaxing but after twenty minutes
I decided I probably couldn’t keep killing time in the luxurious
steam. I towel dried and heard my cell phone beep from its resting
place next to the sink. It was a text from Mark.

You make it 2 town ok?

Yes
, I typed back.
You?

Soon. C U 2night.

I’d told Mark that I had to be to town early
today to meet with a potential client. That wasn’t exactly the
truth, but he hadn’t pushed the issue. I’d promised to meet him in
the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel tonight so we could go up to
the ritual together. I sighed and looked in the mirror. I could
probably kill another twenty minutes blow-drying and styling my
hair. When my hair was finished, I slipped into my dress and wasted
some more time applying makeup. I realized with a bit of a start
that Trey had probably never seen me wearing much more than
lip-gloss. Vampirism was the ultimate beauty make-over, and I
didn’t have a need for make-up in my day to day, but I figured I’d
play it up a bit for a night like this. Finally, when I had no more
excuses to stay sequestered in the bathroom, I opened the door and
stepped out into the room again.

Krystal hadn’t moved from the spot on the bed
she’d been occupying when I’d left.

“Good, you’re done. I need the mirror to
freshen up for Chase.” She didn’t bother turning the TV off before
she got to her feet and grabbed her handbag, heading for the
bathroom.

I checked the clock. Trey had been gone for
almost an hour. I knew he wasn’t the type of guy that would take
long to get ready, but I wasn’t sure how long his business call
would last. I sat down on the sofa and was immediately drawn to the
show on the television. It was MTV, and a couple of female VJ’s
were talking nonstop about the red carpet where the celebrities
would be arriving soon. It appeared the press were already
positioning themselves with cameras behind the red ropes, along
with some die hard fans of some celebrity or another who I glimpsed
behind the reporters.