Playing For Keeps (2 page)

“Courtney.”

“Nice to meet you. You…come here often?”

I laughed at the face he pulled, the way he tucked his chin down with a self-deprecating cuteness that drew me in. It was a ridiculous line and we both knew it, but his delivery was spot-on. Abashed and adorable.

“First time, actually. You?”

“Same. I got a tip about a band playing tonight. Thought I’d come check it out.”

I paused with the cool edge of my glass on my bottom lip. I knew exactly how the maneuver would draw his attention to my full lips, and my heart thumped with satisfaction when his eyes fell to my mouth. “Which band?”

“The one that was just on. Ladies in Waiting.”

I took a sip of my drink. A big one. Who would have tipped anyone off about Ladies in Waiting? Sure, we’d played loads of venues over the past two years and even recorded a single to give away at shows. But our pursuit of anything more than that had been minor. We could never decide how much time to devote to band stuff when classes took up so much of our lives.

“Yeah, I heard their set.” It wasn’t a lie, really. I’d heard everything: Bea’s missed beat in the middle of
When I See You Again
, the extra flourish Kaitlin put in her solo during
Dance House
, my own voice echoing back on myself in every song. “What did you think?”

Kevin nodded. “Really good. Different, you know. I like that blend of rock and pop and funk. It’s the kind of music people are hungry for. That I’d like to see more of. What do you think? Would you buy their album?”

It felt like my body grew several inches in height just from being fed by his words. I looked down at the table, fighting back a smile. I knew my cheeks glowed. They filled with warmth. Sure, it was all over now, but it was still nice to hear that our music had been good. Especially from someone with a mouth as sexy as his.

“Definitely. I’d buy it. So different from anything else out there. All that bubblegum crap. Engineered boy bands appealing to the lowest common denominator. You know.” I shrugged. Drank. “I have a friend who’s really into that stuff. Oh God, what’s the name of the most recent one…”

“World Wonder.”

I snapped my fingers. “That’s it. Shit. Even you know who they are. You can’t get away from them. And the worst part of it is that once you listen to their songs, they’re, like, stuck in your head until you want to throw yourself off a cliff. There’s a formula. Taps right into our ids.” Kevin studied me, scratching his temple and blinking his dark lashes at me. I suddenly felt like an idiot. “Or something. Point is, the world needs more good music.”

“Not more World Wonder,” Kevin finished for me.

“Exactly. Less crap musicians making it on the cut of their abs rather than any real talent. More stuff like Ladies in Waiting.”

“Do they have nice abs?”

I laughed. “I don’t know for sure, but I have heard. Didn’t one of their guys make the Most Beautiful Talentless Celebs List, or something?”

“You seem to know a lot about a band you can’t stand.” His mouth twisted with amusement, and maybe with something else, too. Something dark.

“My best friend is really into them.”

“Well, she’s your bestie, so there has to be something right about her…maybe it’s her taste in boy bands.”

I giggled. Why was I getting so riled up over a band that meant nothing to me? It was the carryover of emotions from doing our last show making my nerves spike. I sighed. “I have heard they can harmonize all right. Still nothing like Ladies In Waiting. But I heard that was their last show, so…” I shrugged. “The simple masses win, I guess.”

I finished off the gin and tonic and set the empty glass on the table. Kevin was hot, and I could see myself enjoying at least a few more minutes in his company, but it was late and I had classes in the morning. Bea was probably looking for me now, if only I could see the back room door from here. I flicked on my phone and checked the time, then gave Kevin a lopsided smile of apology.

“Sorry, when the clock strikes midnight, you know what happens.”

Just then, Bea rounded the corner and spotted me, waving me toward her. I raised my eyebrows at her, and she came closer in a huff. Kevin glanced over his shoulder to see what had caught my eye and sighed.

“All right, princess. But if you leave one of your shoes behind, I’ll take that as a challenge.” Kevin let a slow-as-honey smile cross his face.

Bea was close enough to catch everything Kevin said. She fanned her face exaggeratedly. “Is it hot in here or--.”

I shoved her on the shoulder before she could finish. “Let’s go. Thanks for letting me rant, Kevin.”

Bea’s eyebrows knitted as she got a half-blocked-by-my-shoulder look at Kevin, but I pulled her along. The weight of the night had hit me the moment I set my glass down. Performing took a lot of energy. So did ranting to a stranger.

Even though it was after midnight, L.A.’s early September night hadn’t yet lost its balminess. A thin layer of sweat formed on the back of my neck as we loaded our gear into Kaitlin’s car. I gathered my thick hair in my fist and lifted it off my neck. Sometimes, I really wanted to cut my hair, but my full, tight black curls were my signature and I loved them, even in L.A.’s oppressive heat.

I was just opening the front passenger door when a man called out to us. “Hey!”

My hands curled into fists. I saw Kaitlin arrange her keys between her fingers, like a weapon. Bea looked up from the trunk, her expression guarded. Such was the life of three young women being approached by a massively built middle aged man at night in L.A.

The man paused a few feet away from us and took few breaths. “I hate this club,” he said. “You have to walk around the entire block just to get to the back.”

Bea shot me a questioning look. I shrugged.

“You need something?” Kaitlin said, her hands resting on the roof of her car, showing off her keys-weapon.

“I’m Duncan Prospect,” the man said. He paused for effect, as though that name should mean something. It didn’t to me, but Bea’s expression changed completely.

“You manage World Wonder,” she said. She slammed the trunk closed and relaxed her shoulders.

I sized Duncan up. His ample girth was covered by loose jeans, a polo shirt and a shabby windbreaker. He was balding at his hairline, but his eyes were a strange mixture of shrewd and welcoming, like he wanted to become your friend just so he could sell you something. Duncan reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card.

“Six number one singles in the past two years,” he said. Bea took the card he held out to her. While she studied it, I fidgeted. It could be an exciting thing to be approached by a big time band manager, if his biggest client wasn’t one of the worst bands around. And, if we hadn’t just decided to move on from Ladies In Waiting. But we had. And the longer we stood around, letting Duncan regale us with tales from the pop world, the harder it would be to stay awake in classes. I had to speed this along.

“What can we do for you?” I said, impatiently. Bea shot me an exasperated look.

Duncan raised his eyebrows. “It’s less what you can do for me and more what you can do for a client of mine. You heard of Jimmy Keats?” He waited until all three of us had nodded at him. “He was at this thing last spring. A charity fashion show. He heard this band playing and got the idea into his head that he wanted to develop and produce the next big girl band. Ladies In Waiting was their name, he told me. Find them. I’ve been looking for months for you. I found out the fashion show was a sorority thing, talked to a couple girls about your band but, you know, those girls are pretty secretive about giving out personal information.”

“Survival strategies,” I said. Sororities might have the reputation for housing airheaded party animals, but my Delta Gamma sisters were some of the sharpest people I’d ever met. They knew how to take care of themselves, and each other.

Duncan waved my words off. “Right. Anyway, here you are and there’s my card. I promised Jimmy I would find you so my job’s done. Whether you decide to call me is up to you. But now, I’ve got a date with Johnny Walker and a DVR.” Duncan waved again, this time a goodbye, and headed back the way he came.

Bea, Kaitlin and I exchanged glances silently. Finally, I sighed and opened the car door, sliding into the passenger seat. The air in the car was thick for five minutes, all of us just sitting there, Kaitlin staring out the window and not starting the car. Bea finally spoke up.

“It wouldn’t hurt to call. Just to see what he says.”

“He said enough back there,” I said.

Kaitlin shrugged. “It’s just a phone call.”

I gaped at her. It was no surprise that Bea would be all in on this idea, but Kaitlin seemed as ready to end our Ladies In Waiting days as I was. And yet, a tiny spark was warming my belly. Was I ready to end our band,
really
?

“It’s Jimmy Keats,” I said, sourly.

“Dreamy Jimmy Keats,” Bea said.

Kaitlin made a “hm” sound. “Yeah, that’s too bad…” Her trailing off left the door open, though, and I had to close it.

“We’re not a girl band.”

“We’re girls,” Bea argued. “And we’re a band.”

I pointed my chin at her over my shoulder. “We’re not a
girl band
. You know exactly what that means. And even if we were, we don’t have a proper lead singer anymore.”

“Your voice is good,” Kaitlin said.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Not good enough.” Then, under my breath so only she could hear, I said, “traitor.”

Kaitlin laughed and adjusted her rearview mirror so she could look at Bea. “Hey, it’s a big compliment to get a visit from Duncan Prospect, but come on, Bea. Our classes are brutal this year. And Courtney’s right, we’re not what he’s looking for. Let’s just be flattered and move on.”

Bea huffed and slumped. “Fine. Let’s just toss aside this opportunity because you’re right, we shouldn’t have any dreams or hopes that we could make it big and make millions and hang out with gorgeous international pop stars and instead just finish school and get a stupid nine to five job and buy a house in the suburbs and have kids and get old and die.”

Bea stopped to catch her breath. Laughter bubbled up in my chest. I tried to hold it back until I noticed Kaitlin struggling with the same thing, so I let it out. The three of us dissolved into giggles.

Bea held up the business card and dramatically tore it in half. “Oh, well. Real life calls.” Then she rolled down her window and let the pieces flutter away in the wind.

I dug into my bag to check my phone. Riffled around. My hand never hit that hard rectangle. “Shit. I think I left my phone inside. Hang on.”

I pushed out of the car and dashed into the club. The band after us was pretty good. I swayed my hips in time to their music as I picked my way from the back room to the bar, checking the round pub table first. It was clear. I leaned against the dark wood of the bar countertop and caught the bartender’s eye.

“Did anyone turn in a phone?” I called to her as she topped off a drink with soda.

Her gaze transferred to a spot across from me and she nodded once. I looked in the same direction. Kevin lounged against the far wall with a lowball, watching me with a definite glint in his eye.

I took my time walking to him, letting my gaze linger up and down his body, from his long legs to his narrow waist to those arms with the hard muscles he wasn’t even flexing just then. I let my eyes work their way over his defined jawline, his full lips, his meltingly brown eyes. And I smiled.

“A little birdie told me you have something for me,” I purred as I came within earshot.

“A good man would hand it right over to you, wouldn’t he?” He held my phone out like a peace offering, flat on his palm. I raised my eyebrows. Flutters began in my belly, like dozen of drunken dragonflies were bumping into walls.

“The best might even offer it on bended knee.”

“There’s promise in the idea of getting on my knees.”

I bit my lip. “Sounds to me like you’re not good all over. Are you, maybe, a little bad?”

That smile again. So slow. Delicious.

“Want to test me?”

“I like taking tests,” I said. “I especially like acing them.”

“Do you study hard for them?”

“Yes. I always want to score well. I have big plans.”

“A woman with a plan is a powerful thing.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. He licked his lips. “A woman who scores…even more so.”

“That’s the idea.” I took another step toward him, until I could see the cinnamon details in his eyes, even in the low club lights. My skin began to sing at our nearness.

“And a woman who knows what she wants is…”

“Intimidating?” I finished for him. Because that was the typical feedback I got from guys:
You work too hard, Courtney, lighten up. No man likes a woman who makes more than he does, you know. You’re too intense…I can’t handle it.

His soft breath landed on my ear before his words did. It sent chills up my back. I pulled one leg up, slightly, reveling in the feeling. My emotions were still racing from the show, and they’d hit a new peak when Duncan Prospect came calling. I needed to unleash and I needed to do it now.