Punk Rox Warrior (10 page)

you,” she stuttered. She was blown away at their appearances.

They were all clones of James, a band of warriors. All they

needed was armor and swords and they would be characters in the

video games she played. Staring at the group in its entirety, they could have all been siblings. They were all well over six foot tall, broad and intimidating.

Turning to her, James stated, “You should take your car. We’ll

follow you.” Picking up her amp, he headed for her vehicle. Loading

her trunk, James turned to her. “Are you okay?” His look of concern

matched his tone.

She tried to give him her best nonchalant look. “Yeah, why

wouldn’t I be? Are you riding with me?”
Could you sound any more

desperate?

“No, we think our guy has the warehouse bugged, or he’s

watching it. We want him to think that you’re alone. We’ll sneak in

the back way when you’re inside and do our sweeps. As soon as you

get there, start playing. If the place is wired, the music will drown out our actions.”

* * * *

He tried to keep eye contact with her, but that skirt she wore drew

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his attention. It had his cock hard and begging to be buried in her

again. Walking back to the bus quickly, he prayed she’d missed it.

Entering the bus, James was greeted with a rousing chime of

“Oh!” from the team. They never failed to give him shit.

“That’s enough!” he scoffed, rolling his eyes while making his

way over to the table to join Alton. “What are you doing?”

Pulling up a window on the laptop, he said, “The GPS system you

put in her car has a microphone.” Alton threw him a loaded smile as

he adjusted the volume, and the team gathered around the table to

listen. Through the rustling noises Rainne made while she got ready

to pull out of her space, they heard her cell phone ring.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey ho!” a female voice chimed in on the other line.

“Oh! Hey, Annie! Are you all on the way?” Rainne asked.

“Yeah, we’re waiting out front. So! Markus tells me the entire

team will be coming, too.”

“Yup, but they’re going to sneak in after me. Why?”

“Are they hot?” Bluntness was obviously something this woman

studied, James thought as the guys burst into laughter.

“They all look like James.” She sounded nonchalant. “Or

characters from
World of Warcraft.
Take your pick,” she said with a giggle.

“Whoa! Well with all that testosterone, you’re bound to get laid,”

she blurted sarcastically.

James instantly felt five pairs of eyes focus on him.

“Shut up!” Rainne snapped. “Doesn’t your husband fuck you

enough?”

“Every day, mama, but you on the other hand, you need to get you

some. Now I know that you’re all celibate and shit, but I’m just

looking out for my best bitch. You know I love you.” Concern

colored her voice.

“I know, and I love you, too. I just...It’s hard to...I don’t have a

clue of what I need.” Breathing out heavily, Rainne sounded almost

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distraught.

“How has he been? Is he nice? Has he loosened up? Have you

seen him naked? Is he hu...” Her barrage of questions was cut off by

Rainne.

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Her voice rose feverishly. “He’s

been very helpful. I wouldn’t say he’s loosened up, but he has been

very nice. Does that answer your question?” she asked, clearly

annoyed.

“Hell no! Don’t leave me hanging, Rainne.” It seemed Annie was

getting equally annoyed.

“Wh…cshhhhhhhhhhhh.” The bus erupted in laughter at the

obvious Rainne-generated cell phone static.

“An…ca…cshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” They heard the phone click

closed and hit the seat. “Oh, my god!” Rainne yelled. “Could she get

anymore obsessed?” With a loud groan, Rainne started the car. After a

few seconds of rummaging on Rainne’s part, they heard the pop of a

lighter and loud music bleeding from not only the laptop, but from

outside the bus. As she peeled out of the parking space, Riley sprang

into action, jumping into the driver’s seat and trailing her.

As the bus headed into downtown, Alton motioned James into the

rear sleeping quarter of the bus. Closing the door behind them, Alton

turned to James. “So what’s the scoop?”

“It’s none of your business, Alton,” James growled at him. He

didn’t want to discuss this with Alton or anyone else.

Blowing out a short breath, Alton squared his shoulders and

glared at James. “It is my business. That little scene this morning

made it my business. What the hell were you thinking?” The look on

his face was an expectant one.

“I have no intentions of discussing this with you!” James’s voice

rose angrily.

“You need to start talking about this!” Alton paced in the small

space. “I know you, James. I’ve known you for years. You can’t be

serious about her.” Slumping down on one of the beds, he looked up

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73

at James.

James didn’t know what to say. He knew he had strong feelings

for her. He knew it was crazy. They had only known each other a few

days. “I know, but I can’t help myself around her.” He ran his hands

over his face. “She’s different from any woman I’ve ever known,

special. I can’t even explain it, Alton. I’m not sure I understand it.

From the moment I knocked her on her ass in that hallway, I knew

something was different about this whole situation, about her.”

Alton stood slowly, placing his hand on James’s shoulder. “What

am I gonna do with you?”

Both men chuckled as the bus pulled to a stop in the alley behind

the warehouse. As everyone exited the bus, equipment in hand, the

band had already started playing. He wanted to get this over with. He

knew from experience that sweeps took a few hours for a building of

this size. They would be the longest hours of his life.

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Chapter 9

Pulling into the parking lot of the warehouse, Rainne was

suddenly racked with fear. It hadn’t registered until now, “might have

the warehouse bugged or is watching it.” It felt like this was going to

be the longest practice of her life. Getting out of the car, she was

immediately bombarded by Annie, Rebecca, and the rest of the band.

Placing her index finger in front of her lips to show that she needed

silence, Rainne motioned them into a huddle and quickly explained

about the possible invasion of their little piece of punk rock heaven.

They all entered silently and set up their gear.

After checking her chords and tuning up her axe, Rainne sat on

one of the plush chairs they had scattered about the room. She loved

this old warehouse. The owner was an old man who had used it as

storage for a shipping company. It was cheap, and as long as they kept

the place up and rent was on time, he didn’t care what they did in it.

Looking around her, she felt almost nostalgic, so many memories

and good times. This place was so special to all of them. It was where

they stored the crap that they couldn’t fit into their houses. It was

where they threw their parties, a small smile creeping onto her face as

she spied the hot pink Christmas tree from last year that no one ever

took down. It was where they crashed when they couldn’t or didn’t

want to go home. The two rooms in the back were used for bedrooms.

Often when they had parties, people spent the night. Rainne, Rebecca,

and Annie had spent hours arranging the corridors to make it look like

an apartment. They liked the homey feel it gave off. They often ate

dinner here on the nights they practiced. It was cheaper than going to

a restaurant and usually more fun.

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75

Getting up and walking to the kitchen, Rainne opened the fridge

and got out a six-pack of beer. After taking a lap around the room

handing them out, she popped open her own and took a long sip.

Setting it on a table, she strapped on her instrument and approached

the mic.

“What are we starting with?” Joel asked, flipping his shoulder-

length purple hair.

Rainne really liked Joel. He was the prankster in the group and

one of the best lead guitarists she’d ever heard. She was glad when he

and Rebecca started dating. They were good for each other. He wasn’t

tall for a man. He stood about as tall as Rainne, but he was still a few inches taller than Rebecca. He had a really young-looking face and

looked like he never grew out of his baby fat stage.

“I don’t care. Whatever.”

“I wanna do ‘Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’,” Rebecca chimed in. She

was a cute girl with little pixie features. Her hot pink hair was cut

short, but just long enough to wear it in little pigtails. It made her look innocent. She had a soft, cuddly look to her.

“Sounds cool,” Rainne said as she adjusted her strap. “One, two,

one, two, three, four!” she yelled, and the band threw themselves into

the punk song that taught them all not to hit chicks.

* * * *

Rounding the southwest corner of the building, Alton and James

spied a suspicious and new-looking metal box perched on the outer

wall. Alton brandished a knife from his boot and wedged it open,

examining the contents. “This is a video receiver. Bastard’s got tape

on this place. These babies can send signals about three hundred

yards. He’s close.”

“Probably in a nearby warehouse. I’ll go inside and find the

cameras,” James said with a snarl. “When the outside sweeps are

finished, take Able, Riley, and Sam. Find the signal’s destination. Ash

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can come inside and help me strip the interior. If and when you find

the source, don’t disturb anything. Secure the area, radio me, and I’ll

meet you there. Ash, do you copy?”

“Gotcha, boss. We’re done here. I’ll meet you inside. Should we

plant our own audio and video equipment?” Ash asked expectantly.

“Yeah.” James sighed. He didn’t want Rainne to think they were

spying on her, but it was imperative that they know if the stalker

returned. “Get the equipment from the bus and meet me inside. We’re

done here.”

As James entered the warehouse, he could hear the band

discussing music.

“We should warm up with a cover,” Markus, the drummer, piped

in. “Just for shits ‘n’ giggles.”

“Oh!” Rainne jumped. “What about that SR-71 tune, ‘Mosquito’?

It seems fitting,” she said, cocking her eyebrow and pursing her lips.

“Cool! I can play the tambourine!” Annie bounced in sheer

excitement.

“That sounds okay,” Joel said.

“Does everyone know it?” Rainne asked.

A round of “yeah” filled the room. “All right, Joel, start us off.”

Electric guitar shattered the air seconds later, and James’s attention

went to Ash as he entered the building.

* * * *

As the song began, Rainne watched James and Ash intently, as did

the other band members. Rainne exchanged knowing glances with

Annie, who mouthed, “We have to talk later.” After the song wrapped

up, Rainne went into the guitar riff for the song she had been working

on, teaching it to Joel. Markus added his own idea of drums into the

tune, and they fiddled with it until they got the okay signal from

James that meant they could stop playing.

As Rainne put down her guitar and picked up her beer, Annie

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77

grabbed her arm and jerked her into the backroom.

“Okay, spill!” she yelled, closing the door behind her.

“I did! I spilled my beer!” Rainne yelled back. “That’s alcohol

abuse.” Her tone turned sarcastic.

Annie threw Rainne a mock angry look and sat them both down

on one of the beds that had been placed around the room. “Don’t be

coy with me. You slept with him. Don’t lie either. I can tell by the

way he’s been eyeing you since he sauntered in here.”

Rainne arched her eyebrow. “Sauntered? Do people still do that

nowadays?” she asked sarcastically. “And he’s not eyeing me. Stop

imagining things.”

Annie leaned forward and playfully slapped her on the thigh.

“That bright red face tells me that I’m not imagining anything, and he

is eyeing you.” Her eyes widened in excitement. “Like a steak.”

Rainne knew she was caught. Annie had a sixth sense about

people. Bowing her head, Rainne fought with the humiliation that

washed over her. “I really do
not
want to talk about it,” she

whispered.

“What’s wrong, mama? Did he hurt you?” Her voice rose sharply.

“Cause I will fuck him up!” The conviction in her voice made Rainne

smile in appreciation.

“No, it’s not that. His team walked in on us this morning. I

pretended to be asleep. They were laughing. James sent them out right

away, but they probably just went to their bus to divvy up the bet pool

for how long it took him to bed me.” Rainne was desperately trying to

blink back her tears, but wasn’t having much luck. It had been

humiliating to hear them laughing and snickering at her.