The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men #7) (38 page)

I still felt wiped clean of energy and ready to crawl back into bed to hibernate for the rest of winter when I arrived at Forbidden that evening. I really wanted to skip my shift and find Elisa. I’d stopped by her workplace, but didn’t ask about her this time, not wanting to look like a total stalker. But that was the only place I knew to find her. I’d probably have to wait a couple days before going back again.

Damn it.

Yawning as I pushed through the front doors, I nodded a greeting to Harper and wondered if I could maybe play the brother card with Pick, take some time off just for tonight. But then I remembered Mason would already be absent. He’d buried his mother only two days ago, plus he had a younger sister to move into his apartment.

So, we were already shorthanded.

Bummed because nothing since the moment Elisa had crawled out of my bed this morning had gone my way, I yawned again.

“Hole-ee
shit
,” Ten exploded, popping in front of me, right in my face, so I had to jerk to a stop to keep from running into him. “Rock star finally got himself laid, huh? It’s about fucking time, my man.” He pounded on my shoulder in congratulations, making me scowl because I hated how he always freaking knew when I’d been with a woman.

I started to move around his annoying ass until he said, “I didn’t think you’d ever figure out little drummer chick was your Incubus shirt girl. Or wait, did she finally grow a pair and just fess up?”

Pausing, I blinked at him, trying to make sense of what the hell he’d just said. Finally, I shook my head. “What?”

“What?” Ten said right back as if confused by my confusion.

“Jesus,” I muttered. “I swear, you only make sense like five percent of the time. Why are you talking about Incubus shirt girl? And who the hell is little drummer chick?”

Ten’s eyes flared. “Aww, shit. You didn’t bang your drummer last night, did you?” Then he actually looked affronted as he demanded, “Just who the hell did you fuck?”

“None of your damn business,” I growled. “Now explain yourself.”

“Oh, you know.” Ten shrugged and started to move away. “It’s nothing. Just ignore me.” But I gripped a handful of his shirt and dragged him back.

“I don’t think so, fucker. Explain.”

He sighed and scrubbed his face. “Jesus, I can’t believe she’s still too chicken shit to just
tell you
.”

“Ten,” I warned.

“Okay, fine,” he grumbled. “It’s not like it can be kept a secret forever. That drummer in your band—”

I blinked, really confused now. “
Remy
? What about him?”

“Not him,” Ten said. “Her.”

I squinted, not getting it. “Huh?”

“Christ on a crutch.” Heaving out a disgusted breath, Ten shook his head and gazed up at the ceiling. Then he told me, “Your gay pal Remy isn’t actually a gay guy at all. In fact, he’s not even a guy. He’s really a
she
, with tits and all that other equipment chicks come with.”

I immediately opened my mouth to call bullshit, but the words didn’t come. My mind spun, remembering all the times I’d thought Remy had possessed a feminine way about him, all the times he’d encouraged me to “talk,” and Jesus, the moment he’d confessed to me that he wore a mask.

Holy shit.

All these strange little pieces started to align into place until it suddenly made sense. But I still wasn’t ready to completely commit to the idea. Remy couldn’t be a girl. He just...
couldn’t
.

Frowning, I was still trying to make sense of Ten’s declaration when he up and dropped another bomb on me. “And not only is she a she, but she’s also Incubus shirt girl, who you wrote that song about.”

That one made me shake my head, instantly denying it. But then I had to ask, “If...if Remy’s really a girl, what the hell makes you think she’s
Incubus
shirt girl?”

“Because the night she sang karaoke, she sang it on stage with her friend, Jodi. And I knew Jodi then, so I asked her about her friend for you directly after their little duet that night, but all Jodi would tell me was that her friend’s name was Remy.”

I kept waving my head back and forth because really, I didn’t even want to consider this. But had the redhead on stage with my Incubus shirt girl really been
Jodi
, Remy’s roommate? I guess it could’ve been. I hadn’t paid much attention to the redhead. Hell, I couldn’t even clearly remember what the girl I’d written the song about had looked like.

“...so when Remy, your drummer, showed up here with Jodi on her arm, I put two and two together and bam, figured it all out myself. And it helped that she admitted that’s who she was when I asked her, so
ha
! Pretty cleverly awesome, aren’t I?”

Awesome? Awesome wasn’t exactly the word I would’ve used. “You’re pretty fucking dead is what you are,” I growled right before I wound back my arm and jacked him in the face.

“Fuck,” he yelled at contact, clutching his eye and swinging away from me. “What the hell, man?”

“What the hell right back at you,” I roared, advancing on him so I could grab the front of his shirt and hit him again. But suddenly too many people were there, Quinn dragging me backward away from the bastard I wanted to kill and Noel helping Ten remain upright.

“How could you not tell me any of this
months
ago when you first learned her name?” I demanded, struggling against Quinn so I could get back to Ten. “You knew how long I looked for her. You knew how much I would’ve given just to know her name.”

Ten only sneered as he wiped his face and shook his head. “Yeah, well...payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

“What?” I had no clue what he was talking about.

“Caroline,” he hissed. “You knew what she was doing when she was sneaking into my room without me knowing it was her. And you said
nothing
to me. You just kept letting me unknowingly betray my best friend on earth. Well, fuck you. You got what you deserved.”

My mouth fell open as shock speared through me. I’d had no idea Ten held a grudge for that. All this time, I’d thought we were friends who teased, but now—

“What in God’s name is going on out here?” Pick rushed from the back hall, followed by Knox, who must’ve fetched him.

Pulling free of Quinn because I no longer felt the urge to pound Ten’s face in, I sniffed and motioned toward the bastard prodding at his red eye. “Ask
him
. He obviously knows more about what’s going on in my life than I do.”

“Ten?” Pick said, turning to him.

As Ten mumbled something in response, I wiped my hands over my mouth because I still couldn’t believe what I’d just learned.

I started to whirl away, but Pick caught my arm. “Hey. Where’re you going?”

I shook my head, not exactly sure myself. I just knew I needed answers, and only one person could give them to me. “I just... I gotta go.”

He nodded, too much understanding and concern in his eyes. “Okay. Whatever you need. Everything all right?”

“No,” I snarled and ran my hands through my hair. “I don’t know. I just gotta go. I need answers.”

Pick waved me off. I sent one last glance toward Ten, shocked and hurt I’d been so off about him all this time. Then I was gone.

I didn’t call Remy. I wasn’t sure if I could talk to him—her—right now and listen to him lie to me a second longer.

Instead, I rang Gally and coaxed Jodi’s number from him with the promise that I wouldn’t have sex with her.

She answered on the second ring. “Hey, who’s this?”

I blew out a breath. “Hey, Jodi. It’s Asher. I just tried to get hold of Remy because I have some stuff to drop by for him, but he’s not answering. What’s your address again?”

“Um...oh... Well, Remy’s not here right now.”

“That’s okay,” I assured her. “I can just drop it by to you if you’re home, and you can give it to him when he gets there.”

“Oh! Well, sure.” She suddenly sounded relieved, and I narrowed my eyes because I knew she was lying to me. “In that case...” As she rattled her address off, I climbed onto my bike. “Thanks. Be there in a bit,” I told her before cutting the line and starting my ride.

I made it to Remy’s building in record time. After jogging up the stairs to her second-floor apartment, I drummed on the door until her roommate answered.

Jodi flashed me an uneasy smile as she poked only her head out into the hall. “Hey, sexy.” Then her eyebrows crinkled as she glanced at my empty arms where I had my hands buried in my pockets. “Uh...what did you have to drop off for Remy?”

“Nothing,” I answered. “I lied.” Then I slid a hand from the pocket to push on her door, letting her know I was coming in.

She didn’t try to stop me but stumbled backward, letting me barge right on in as she gaped at me with wide eyes. “Oh, um...
what
?”

“Is she really not here or did you lie about that too?” I asked.

Her mouth fell open. Then she whispered, “Shit. You know.”

“Yeah.” I nodded slowly, glancing around the place for signs that the drummer I’d come to know actually resided here. But it looked like a typical living room that anyone could live in.

So I strode to a nearby hallway and started for the first half opened door I saw.

“Um...whatcha doing?” Jodi asked, scurrying behind me and trying to keep pace.

I wasn’t sure. I’d never bulldozed my way into a woman’s apartment before and just started searching it. I was going at this blind, half of my conscience telling me to stop and behave, the other half needing answers.

The first doorway I peered into was a bathroom, a clearly feminine bathroom with hair products and jewelry and all kinds of girly shit splashed all over the counter, though I did spot the spray-on deodorant I’d borrowed from Remy when we’d stayed together in Chicago.

Shit. Chicago. We’d done a lot of bonding in that hotel room. And the entire time, he’d never once thought it prudent to tell me he wasn’t a man.

I pushed toward the next door and reached inside to flip on a light. The breath caught in my lungs when I realized this was definitely his—
her
—room. Decorated in brilliant magenta, electric blue, and lime green colors, rock and drummer posters were splashed catawampus all over the walls. Posters of Neil Peart, posters that said “Keep Calm and Drum On,” posters that said “Stick to your dreams” with a pair of drumsticks on them, pictures of bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Alice in Chains...Incubus.

This was so Remy’s room. And yet a girl’s room. I swallowed when I saw a lacy white bra on the floor at the foot of her bed.

Jesus, she really was a female.

And that’s when I spotted it. A latex mask hanging from the footboard of her bed. A mask with Sticks’s face on it.

I snatched it up and immediately sneezed. But instead of flinging it aside, I curled my fingers around it, holding on tight.

In the doorway, Jodi had gotten her phone and was pounding out a text.

I sniffed and shook my head. “No,” I told her. “Oh, no you don’t. I didn’t get any fair warning about this, so neither does she.”

Jodi guiltily dropped the phone to her side. “She never meant to—” she started, but I held up a hand, stopping her.

“I don’t want to hear it from you. I want Remy to explain...
everything
.”

Worry lit her face as she bit her lip. “What’re you going to do?”

With a harsh laugh, I shook my head. “No idea.”

My mind wouldn’t stop spinning. I didn’t think I was pissed exactly. Well, some pissed, but mostly just confused.

I couldn’t figure out why...
why
would she pretend to be a guy? It didn’t make any sense. And why hadn’t she felt like she could tell me? I thought Sticks and I had gotten close enough that he—
she
—could confide in me the way I’d confided—

Oh, hell. I suddenly remembered all the shit I’d told her since we’d met. Most of it was probably stuff I wouldn’t have admitted to a woman, like how much I love eating pussy and—oh, Jesus! I’d treated her like I would one of my guy friends, calling her fucker and loser, and asshole. Holy mother, I would never call a woman any of those names.