Page 48 of Hell House
CHAPTER FORTY
Walker
“Dude, stop jiggling your leg. You’re giving me anxiety and you know I have to be fuckin’ Zen before a show.” I shoot Gary a look. Fucking Gary is the whole reason we’re in this mess. He’s too zen, maybe he needs a dash of anxiety after everything he did.
“She’ll show.” Damien, our bass player says. He’s cradling his bass, the instrument slung low across his middle. Gary pretends to be the zen one, but in reality it’s Damien. He exudes a natural ‘I don’t give a fuck’ energy. That all goes to hell the moment he gets on stage and shreds the shit out of those strings.
The bar is filling with a few bands, all exuding nervous energy readying their instruments for the upcoming show. A few regulars are spread out, downing their beers and ignoring the people filling up the room. I palm my guitar pick out of my pocket and roll it between my fingers, transferring some of this pent-up energy into it.
“Are you sure she can sing?” Gary asks.
I fix him with another glare. “Yes, she can sing.” Salem’s voice cuts through the conversations happening around us. I turn to take her in and am practically knocked sideways with how hot she looks. Her raven hair is down and curled like earlier, and she’s wearing a tight-fitting black dress that looks like it’s painted on her body. I fight the urge to grab her to me and claim her with my lips, but I feel the urge linger percolating under my skin. I see my band mates are equally as floored by her as I feel. Gary stumbles over himself extending a sweaty hand to her. She grips it and tries to hide her grimace unsuccessfully as he vigorously pumps their hands up and down.
“I’m Gary. Drums.” He attempts a smolder.
“Which one is the cheater?” She asks me. I point straight at Gary. She casually flicks her gaze over him from top to bottom and back up again, removing her hand from his and wiping the sweat off against her dress.
Gary immediately looks sulky and put out. “Come on man, you told her?”
“Was it a secret?”
“That kind of shit is private, no need to ruin my chances over it.” He sits back down looking dejected.
“Your reputation is your own to make with your actions.” Salem says. “Salem.” She says moving over to Damien. He swallows hard, and grabs her hand, planting a kiss on her knuckles.
“Damien” he growls, looking at her like his next meal. I narrow my eyes at him, grabbing Salem by her hip and yanking her backwards. She turns around to face me, my hand still lingering on her hip.
“I see we’re feeling a little caveman tonight.” She pulls away and I miss the feel of her immediately. “So, we doing this thing?”
“This thing, is something we’ve been working on for weeks.” Gary snips.
She stands ramrod straight, towering over him on her heels as she peers down her cute as a button nose at him, hands on hips. “It’s my understanding that you need me to even go on tonight, so maybe cut the attitude.”
Fuck this girl was a firecracker and I fucking loved it. “How many acts are there tonight?” She asks me.
“Ten. We’re going on third.” She lets out a shaky breath. “You nervous?” I ask, aching to bring her closer to me.
“Yeah, I don’t really sing in public. Ever.” I tuck a stray hair behind her ear.
“You’ll be great. Once the lights hit you, it’s like the crowd isn’t even there. Just pretend it’s you and me, like earlier. You blew me away.”
She lights up at my praise, and sports two bright red circles staining her porcelain cheeks.
“Hey Salem.” A tall curvy blonde calls out, I see my band mate’s attention snap to her direction. She’s beautiful in that good girl kind of way. Good, maybe they’d leave Salem alone.
“Skye! This is Walker, the basement troll. And this is Gary the cheater and Damien the hand kisser.”
The blonde known as Skye assess us.
“Basement troll?” I ask leaning down to her ear.
She arches her dark eyebrow, readying to answer when she stops. I follow her line of sight and see Pierce Ledger with his fists clenched at his sides staring at us. I feel my Wrath rise in my chest, readying for a fight, but the sensation is quickly doused when I feel Salem’s slim hand press directly over my heart.
He shakes his head and heads off to the bar.
“Something I should know about?” Pierce would rather be five drinks deep at the frat party then at a place like this, and the way he looked at Salem as if he had a right to has the bitter taste of jealousy swirling in my mouth.
She shakes her head back and forth, her curls bouncing. “Nothing official.”
