Rockin' the Heart (Hot Wired) (25 page)

Uncertain how she felt about that, all she could think to say was, “Thanks for the warning.”

Best friend or not,
Heath wanted to kill Jase.

His
knuckles burned he fisted them so tight. Fantasies of pummeling Jase the moment they exited stage flitted through his mind, distracting him from the concert.

He’d
had no choice but to turn his emotions off. The hurt look in Sam’s eyes had nearly undone him. Slamming his fist into Jase’s teeth wouldn’t be enough to appease his fury. The man had fucked with his relationship. That wasn’t kosher.

H
e’d shook his head at Sam and hoped she understood his inability to refuse going forward with the show. In order to perform, he’d had no alternative but to shut her out. The theater had remained tame by their prior standards.

I hurt her.

No option presented itself to get him out of the predicament.

I could’ve refused to participate.

He hadn’t even considered that a possibility at the time. They’d done this stage-fuck so often it’d become a staple performance for the band.

He’d felt Sam’s departure
, and that’d escalated his temper. He felt dirty after the girl rubbed all over him and did her damned best at groping him. She’d groped his crotch more than once, and he’d shoved her touch away as fast as possible each time. By the end of the song, he felt like he’d been raped. First by his best friend and then the girl.

Didn’t matter he’d participated in
these types of displays before. Didn’t matter that they’d become explicit often and this one hadn’t. What mattered was that Sam was upset.

I should’ve confronted Jase on stage and refused.

This would not play out well in the media. Her brother instigated the heartache, and Heath had allowed it, and now the rag reporters would shred her for entertainment. His knuckles burned to dole out justice to Jase.

After the second ovation, he bid the audience good night. He
shot Jase an infuriated scowl and stomped off the stage, his heavy boots clopping with each step.

The moment Jase entered the room offstage, Heath slammed him against the wall and pinned him there with his forearm to his throat. “Goddamn motherfucker! Do you like hurting her?”

Derringer ripped him off Jase and didn’t stop shoving him away until half the room separated them. “This bullshit’s absurd.”

“You two don’t put an end to this,
you’re going to ruin Hot Wired.” Tab pointed at the two of them. “I’ve seen other bands break up for less.”

“Jase
’s difficulty
dealing
is not my fucking problem. Shouldn’t be Sam’s fucking problem.”

Jase shrugged and
palmed sweat-dampened hair off his face. “Better she know the cheating bastard you are now than after she’s fallen for you.”

“That has nothing to do with it
, and you know it.”

“
Fang’s not the cheating sort, Jase.” Keys crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s more your style.”

“What this boils down to is that you’re a selfish bastard.” Heath nailed him with the truth. “You want us both all to yourself, in perfect little categories. She wanted to leave two
years ago, but she stayed to make you happy. You want to boss us around like you do everyone. I’m not your puppet, and I don’t take orders from you. I’m telling you right now, no fucking more. No. Fucking. More.” He jabbed his fingers through his hair. “It’s my life. Sam’s life. She’s a grown woman—”

“An
immature
grown woman.” Jase shot back. “She’ll find her way to an early jail sentence without our interference.”

No one could pretend she
hadn’t made bad choices. They all had and none judged her for her decisions. Heath suspected if he could keep her focused on him, she’d ditch her mischievous ways. He didn’t even bother addressing Jase’s accusation. “What you’re too stubborn to understand, Jase, is that regardless what happens between us, you’re not losing either of us. We’re still your family. We love you. You’re like a brother to me, but I’m
in love
with her. If you keep pushing, I’ll have no other choice but to pick her over you. I don’t want that, but she’s too important to me to lose.” With tension as thick as Alabama mud, silence weighted the room. “You ever again pull a stunt like what you did tonight with the gropey-handed girl, I’m outta the goddamn band.”

“Fang leaves, I’m
out too. You’re an awesome drummer, but the gravy train is with the voice and face of Hot Wired. That’s Fang.” Keys’ support shocked Heath, but he hoped it didn’t show. “Plus, I agree with him, you’ve gone overboard with their affair. It’s time you get your head out of your ass and face reality.”

Jase opened his mouth, then snapped his teeth together with an audible click. “Fuck all of you.” He strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

With a weary sigh, Heath walked to the shower stalls. He wasn’t sure what was going to come of his band, but he knew he had to perform damage control with Sam. He’d grovel before the press if it’d comfort her.

“I need your help
,” Sam said the moment Omega answered her phone call.

“You want me to come?”

“Not yet. I need your advice first.” She swirled her French fry through the ketchup and eyed Dixon across the table. The man was trouble with a capital T. He’d agreed to show with her at the after party. He wouldn’t come between her and Heath if things got heated because he knew she’d be upset if he bloodied her “for now” boyfriend. That’d been the way he labeled Heath. If she and Heath broke it off, then he got “first dibs”. Again his lingo, not hers.

She decided he was smarter than he looked. Even given her state of anger, she’d go ape-shit if someone busted
Heath up. And she’d probably never agree to go out with Dixon as anything other than a friend unless coerced. He had cuteness down, but his pheromones or charm—whatever Heath had that called to her—Dixon just didn’t have it.

She explained to Omega what’d transpired and then waited for him to comment. Silence stretched as she chewed her fry and waited…
and waited. “You still there, Omega?”

Dixon’s eyebrows domed upward. Everyone seemed shocked that she was
a friend with Starr Productions’ heir.

“Yeah…just trying to figure out if I should answer like an outraged beastie or man.”

She drenched another fry. “Are the responses different?”

“You bet your pretty ass they are.
Let me get a drink.” She waited while she heard the tinkle of ice hitting glass and then the sloshing of liquid.

“He gay?” Dixon pointed at
her cell to indicate which ‘he’ he referred to.

She placed her hand over the bottom so Omega couldn’t hear her speak. “Why would you ask that?”

“I can’t figure out why he’d help you with Fang unless he’s gay.”

“He’s my friend.”

Dixon snorted. “Not possible with a hot chick.”

“My advice….” Omega interrupted her irritating chat with Tone Deaf’s drummer. “You ditch him over something simple like this
, and you’ll regret it.”

Appalled by the term simple
, she inhaled an irate breath and would’ve told him what she thought, but he kept talking.

“It
is
simple, Sam. He’s in the public’s eye. The fans and media expect wild stuff from Hot Wired and the band has given it to them in spades. What you detailed… even
you
have to admit it was mediocre.”

“A friend would be on my side.”

Dixon grinned at her sulky comment.

“
Sunshine, I’m
always
on your side. You want me to castrate him—yeah, I’m a bitch because I wouldn’t be able to do that without crying with him.” She could picture Omega clutching his precious package and grimacing at the thought. “But I will help you make his life miserable. I can be there in a couple hours and we’ll make him beg you for forgiveness. Publicly shame him the way he has you. Unless you think this Dixon guy can help?” The way he asked, she knew Omega had his doubts.

“Yeah.” Sam didn’t know what to think. One side said to give Heath a chance to explain. Her wilder side said she should make him pay.

“You trust this Dixon?”

“I don’t know. He wants something more from me.”

She could hear the grin in Omega’s voice. “We
all
want something more from you.”

“You don’t. You’re happy to be my friend.”

“I’m a pussy. I don’t push you for more the way I should.” She laughed because she knew Omega joked. They’d tried the dating thing and discovered they were better as friends than a couple. He went serious on her again. “Are you mad because he was able to hurt you or because he didn’t stop the show?”

In her mind they were
one and the same.

“Both. He should’ve just said no.” She got up and walked to the bathroom without saying a word to Dixon. Once inside the single stall
, public restroom, she locked the door. “Omega, if he really loved me like he says wouldn’t he have said no?”

“Whoa! I think I missed a chapter or two. When’d he admit that?”

“Right after he made love to me a few nights ago.”

Omega whistled, a high-pitched
resonance that managed to encompass everything she felt. “I’m headed your way as soon as we disconnect.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You listen to me. Saying he loved you changes everything. He should’ve punched your brother in the face and gave the media something else to warble about.”

“Yeah.” That’s what she’d thought.

“Don’t you dare start crying!”

She sniffled and nodded even though he couldn’t see her. “’kay.”

“For the record, I believe him.”

“Why would you? He threatened you—”

“That took guts. Impressive.”

“—and you’re defending him?”

Ice chinked in his glass, as if he swigged whatever he drank. “Want to know why I believe him?”

“No. I want to play twenty questions with you.”

“There’s my girl. Stay fired up. Take this Dixon to the after party with you, but for the love of all that’s holy
be late
. Make him jealous—”

“Care to explain how this relates to why you believe Heath loves me?” Someone
twisted the doorknob from the other side. Sam ignored them.

“For starters, everyone loves you.” She rolled her eyes. “But the real clencher
is that man doesn’t fuck anything and see it again the next day.”

“He didn’t have a choice. I’m Jase’s sister.”

“Do you even read the tabloids?”

No more than
necessary. “Your point?”

“There’s a little truth in all of them. One glaring fact is that Fang doesn’t get mixed up in relationships or romances. He has one-night-stands.
Ever heard of the fuck them and leave them motto?”

Tab had said something similar
, but she hadn’t been paying a lot of attention at the time. “Yeah.”

“That’s your Heath’s attitude toward pussy.
All the groupies he’s been with agree with that. Even your asshole brother can’t say that. He’s like a hangnail on some of those conquests and just hangs on and on with the sluttier variety.”