Page 48 of Sangre
The muscle in Gage’s jaw twitched. “I don’t take anyone’s side. You’re usually out of line andwayout there. If someone has to take responsibility for something, we can count on itnotbeing you.”
Benz threw his drumsticks at Gage and rushed over to the edge of the stage. “You want your ass thrown out of the band, dipshit? Iris Blue ismy band. Believe me, I can find a rhythm guitarist just like that.” He snapped his fingers.
“Benz, stop it,” Isla said, holding her anger at bay. If they were alone, she’d let him have it good, but she didn’t want things to escalate beyond repair with the band.
Pointing his finger at her, he glowered. “You shut the fuck up!”
Jac strummed his bass. “Forget the damn drama and let’s get going. I have somewhere to be at three.”
Benz shook his head. “What the fuck do you have to do in this stupid cow-town?”
“Raise it up a bit,” Jac said to the sound man. He played the intro to “Let There Be Rock” by AC/DC and gave the thumbs up to the engineer. “You’re up.” He pointed to Arsen then looked at Benz, who stood staring at him, the microphone dangling from his hand. “By the way, it’s none of your damn business what I do after rehearsal. Let’s just get outta high school and get shit done.”
Isla bit her inner cheek to keep from laughing. Jac didn’t say much, but when he did, he nailed it. She jumped up on stage and took the mike from Benz then walked over to the stand. While she was adjusting it, waiting for her turn for sound check, she saw the woman who was talking with Benz when she came in approach the stage.
“Hi, Isla. I’m excited to see you guys rehearse.”
She looked at her blankly. “Do I know you?”
Annoyance etched the woman’s face. “Lexi Strobe. Remember we bumped into each other at the festival downtown?”
Oh yeah. The bitch from high school. What the hell’s she doing here?“Sure. Up on stage, the lights can be blinding. What’re you doing here?”
“Benz invited me.”
More damn kerosene on the fire. “I didn’t know you knew anyone in the band besides me.”
“I met them at the festival, and then ran into Benz and Arsen at Beta the other night. You know… that nightclub on Fourth and Elm. I was surprised you weren’t with Benz.”
“I was busy working. I write most of the lyrics for the songs. Don’t you have a job or something?”
She blinked. “Of course, I do. I just took the day off to come to the rehearsal.” Her mouth turned downward. “Don’t you want me here?”
“We normally have closed rehearsals, but it’s cool with me as long as everyone else in the band is down with it.”
“They are.” Benz’s voice had a hard edge to it.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at him. “Then all’s good.”
They took a break after a couple of hours, and Lexi made a beeline to Benz, who put his arm around her and showed her his drum kit. Jac came over to Isla. “He’s an asshole. You know this, so don’t let him get you down.”
“I’m not, but thanks.” Isla watched Jac saunter off, his head dipped down, cell phone in hand. The fact that he’d come over made her feel better. Jac was the one to get the least involved in all the drama between Benz and herself. Before they’d started dating, they had a whole lot less tension and antics, but after Parker had dumped her, citing the band as the reason, she’d been feeling so lonely and realized that no man would understand the dynamics of Iris Blue or the commitment it took to have a viable career in indie music. Benz had caught her in that weak moment in her life; she’d started a relationship with him, and it’d been an emotional roller coaster ever since.
Glancing back at Lexi and Benz, the anger she’d been fighting most of the day bubbled when she saw Lexi pressed close against his side. It wasn’t so much that she was pissed because she was madly in love with him, because she wasn’t, it was more a blow to her pride—especially since the woman was the one who’d made some of her time at Jefferson miserable.
She turned back around and pulled out her phone to call Madison. Whenever she needed picking up, Madison, with her cynical view about women and men, always came to the rescue.
“I was just thinking about you,” Madison said. “I wanted to know if you were up for dinner tonight.”
“I can’t. I’m at rehearsal, and then I have to go to the studio to record a couple of songs. Maybe tomorrow.”
“That won’t work for me. My cousin’s going through a crisis with her managain. I promised to listenagain.”
Isla chuckled. “Speaking of men who keep making us go through shit again and again, you won’t believe who Benz is flirting up a storm with.”
“Why the hell is he flirting at all?”
“He’s an asshole, remember?”
