Buried Notes (Brothers of Rock #4) (4 page)

But Chris’s attention had been
stolen by Carrie.

She leaned towards him and
whispered, “Do you have a big... bus?”

Chris smiled. “Yup. That’s how we
travel.”

“Do you have your own bed?”

“Yup.”

“Want to share it tonight?”

Chris laughed. “Yup.”

Carrie touched Chris’s leg and slid
her hand up. She knew right where to stop to tease Chris. Chris knew how to
play the game too. He let his fingers explore up Carrie’s leg and when he
looked at her, all he had to do was smile. It was a gentle reminder that he was
the rockstar. He was the one who would command the night.

And judging by the smile Carrie
offered back to him, she was more than willing to comply.

“I love your band,” Carrie said.
She pressed her lips to Chris’s neck. She kissed him. “I’m not just saying that
so you’ll take me to your tour bus.”

“I love my band too,” Chris said.

“I’d love it even more if we got
out here. Right now.”

“I’m sure I can arrange that,”
Chris said. “Are you sure you want to go to the tour bus? It gets crowded.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Carrie said. “I’ll
scream so loud I’ll chase everyone away.”

“Wow. Putting a lot of faith in me,
huh?”

Carrie touched Chris’s face. “If
you can’t make me scream, I’ll make myself scream.”

Carrie stood and purposely froze as
her chest dangled right in front of Chris’s eyes. Chris smiled and loved his
job more than ever. Playing shows was the best. Recording in a studio and
writing music were a close second. But this, these moments, this made the rock
n’ roll life worth it all.

Chris stood up and reached for
Carrie’s hand. A second before touching her, a hand clamped down on Chris’s
wrist.

The thought came to him before all
hell broke loose...
she
has a boyfriend
...

(6)

Chris felt a little pain and had to
react. He was a bassist after all. He needed to be able to play. He swung with
his left hand, in a fist, and connected with a guy’s face. The punch hurt like
hell, but Chris was suddenly free from the guy’s grip.

“Joe!” Carrie cried out.

The guy - Joe - grabbed his face
and turned. Bent over, he was as big as Chris. When he stood up again, he was
like a monster towering over Chris. His shoulders were as wide as a truck, his
eyes filled with the rage of a rattlesnake ready to strike, and the red
swelling around his left eye thanks to Chris didn’t help at all.

“That’s my girlfriend,” Joe said,
his voice deep.

He looked like the kind of guy that
liked to beat people up for the hell of it.

“Whoa, whoa,” Chris said. “I was
just...”

“He was going to take me on his
tour bus,” Carrie said. “He’s a rockstar. From Chasing Cross.”

“Chasing what?” Joe said. He made a
fist. “You wanted to take my girlfriend on your bus?”

“You don’t get it, man,” Chris
said. He tried to look around for help.

The entire bar seemed to back up a
little. It told Chris that out of all the guys in the bar to have a problem
with, this guy wasn’t the one. At all.

Shit.

“I was just having a drink and she
came up to me...”

“What, she’s not good enough then?”
Joe asked.

“You’re an asshole,” Carrie said.
“Joe, he touched me. He touched my leg and more. He wanted to drag me away...”

“No,” Chris said. “Wait a second.”

Joe swung his fist. Chris managed
to get out of the way just in time. It seemed like Joe had a few more to drink
than Chris did. Chris made fists and thought about hitting Joe again but he
resisted. Hitting Joe would do nothing. The man needed a bat to the head - or a
bullet - to stop him.

He turned and growled, putting a
hand out and forcing Carrie behind him.

Chris looked at Carrie and saw the
evil vixen look in her eyes.

This was a game.

That’s all.

A big game.

It’s what Carrie probably did all
the time.

Nestle up next to someone. Flirt.
Touch. Whatever. Then have her hulk of a boyfriend come over and beat the crap
out of someone.

Chris suddenly heard Johnnie
talking to him. Telling him this was why he didn’t want to go out. Then he
heard Peter. Peter scolding him for being stupid. All of this of course
happened with Chris in a full body cast. No more playing bass. No more Chasing
Cross.

“I’m going to kill you,” Joe said.

Chris grabbed his beer and threw it
in Joe’s face.

The big guy laughed and licked his
lips.

“Is that a light beer?” he asked.

“Have to stay good looking for the
women,” Chris said.

Joe growled again.

Chris hated the urge to be a smart
ass all the time.

“Here’s the deal,” Joe said. “Let
me match your punch with one of mine. If not, I’ll beat you so hard you won’t
play with your little band for a long time.”

“We’re actually not a little band
anymore,” Chris said. “We just got done playing the arena down the street.”

Joe held a fist up.

Chris could take a punch. Right?

Just one punch. How bad could it
be?

Joe moved his fist over the bar and
with a single move, he punched the empty beer glass, shattering it to pieces.
He lifted his hand, his hand bleeding. Joe looked at the blood, and smiled.

Chris shook his head.

This was going to be bad.

When Chris saw Rick looking at him,
Rick held up the pool stick. Chris opened his eyes wide, unsure what Rick
planned on doing. Maybe cause a distraction. Maybe cause a bigger problem.

“Ready rock boy?” Joe asked.

Rick stepped up behind Joe and as
much as Chris wanted to say something, he wasn’t sure what the hell to do.

“Hey, asshole,” Rick yelled.

Joe looked over his shoulder and
Rick swung the pool stick. It smacked Joe in the shoulder and the stick broke
into pieces. Joe shrugged his shoulder and laughed.

“Sorry Chris,” Rick said and
started to run.

It looked like two people started
to chase after Rick, making the night even more interesting. They were in some
deep trouble for sure now. And now Chris was alone. In a bar ready to get
annihilated by a big biker dude who had been punched in the eye, a beer thrown
on him, and smacked with a pool stick.

Talk about pouring gas on a raging
fire.

“Make that two punches now,” Joe
said. “Deal?”

“Come on,” Chris said. “I’m leaving
in the morning...”

Joe made a fist and pulled it back.

Chris opened his mouth but had
nothing left to say. He told himself to at least close his mouth so when Joe
hit him all his teeth didn’t go flying out of his mouth. He then felt someone
grab his arm and turn him around.

What
the...

A hand came across his face so
hard, Chris’s eyes filled with water.

He grabbed his cheek and cried out
in pain.

“You’re a jerk!”

Chris stood and looked at the most
beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life. Through his watery eyes he saw dark
blonde hair that had a slight natural curl to it. And piercing blue eyes that
were enough to make his heart jump. The woman then smacked him again, this time
on the other cheek.

“You said you loved me!”

Chris put his hands out to stop the
barrage of slaps but before he could say another word, the woman threw a drink
at him, splashing it mostly on his shirt. Chris stepped back and then
remembered who was behind him.

He froze.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You always say that,” the woman
said. “You’re a pig. A dirty pig.”

The woman grabbed Chris by his
shirt and pulled him towards her. She forced Chris to turn and he saw Joe
standing there, looking shocked.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Joe. “He’s
such an ass. I can’t take him anywhere.”

“I, uh,” Chris said.

“Shut up,” the woman said.  She
shook her head and her bottom lip quivered. “When we get home, you sober up and
get the hell out. I’m done.”

She started to walk, taking Chris
with her.

Chris’s cheeks throbbed in pain. He
stunk like vodka. And he was so confused that as he walked next to the woman it
didn’t occur to him what had really happened until they were outside the bar.

The woman who had slapped him and
thrown a drink at him dragged him across the front parking lot to the side of
the building. She finally threw him against the side of the building and let
him go.

“There,” she said. “Maybe you can
buy me a drink someday.”

“I have one dripping off my face
and shirt if you’re thirsty,” Chris said.

“Figures I’d help out an asshole.”

She backed up but didn’t walk away.

Chris smiled and knew that the
woman had just saved his life. He knew that Joe was probably back inside the
bar laughing thinking that Chris was about to get thrown out because he got caught
trying to cheat or something.

“Thank you for that,” Chris said.
“That guy, uh...”

“He would have destroyed you,” the
woman said.

“Yeah. He would have. I’m Chris, by
the way. I play bass in Chasing Cross. Just so you know.”

“I’m Rebecca,” the woman said. “And
maybe I don’t know what the hell a bass is... isn’t it a fish?”

Chris laughed. He was hooked
already. Just staring at her eyes. The way she carried herself. She was shorter
than everyone in that bar but yet had the biggest impact of the night. Chris couldn’t
stop looking at her with wide eyes, knowing how obvious it had to have been.

“A bass is an instrument,” Chris
said. “Four strings instead of six on a guitar.”

“Wow. My night’s not totally wasted
now.”

“What can I do to make this up to
you?” Chris asked. “Want to come back on the bus for a minute? We’ll sign
something for you.”

“Sign something? Why would I want
you to sign something?”

“An autograph,” Chris said. “A lot
of people want our autographs.”

“So you sign like a picture? Then
what? I hang it up on my wall? If you didn’t know it yet, I’m not sixteen.”

Chris laughed and felt his heart
racing.

“Fair enough,” Chris said. “Thanks
for doing that.”

“I only did it because I like your
band,” Rebecca said. “It’d be a shame to have you not be able to play anymore
shows because you got beat up in a bar.”

“Wow, when you put it like that, I
sound like a wimp.”

“You did take two slaps from a girl
and a drink in your face.”

“True,” Chris said. “But I threw a
drink at Joe.”

Rebecca moved towards Chris and put
her nose and mouth very close to him. She smelled his shirt and then with the
very tip of her tongue she licked the bottom of Chris’s chin.

“Too bad,” she said. “I threw a
girl’s drink at you.”

“Thanks,” Chris said.

Rebecca stepped back again and
Chris found his hands in fists. He’d never felt so instantly attracted to a
woman before. He wanted to grab Rebecca. Hug her. Kiss her. Have her.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can
do right now?” Chris asked. “I mean, you really helped me in there.”

“You’re not good at this are you?”

“Good at what?”

“Flirting. Picking up a woman.”

“I’m a rockstar,” Chris said. “It’s
what I do when I’m not playing shows.”

“No, your music picks up the women.
You can’t.”

“Is that so?”

“All you need to do is ask,”
Rebecca said.

“Ask what?”

“Ask to come to my apartment and
wash up. I’d take you there.”

“Why would I do that? We have a
tour bus with...”

Chris closed his mouth. He closed
his eyes. He felt like an idiot. Never before had a beautiful woman like this
thrown him off course. Rebecca all but dragged him to her car to take him home
and he mentioned the tour bus again?

“That tour bus must be something,”
Rebecca said and laughed.

“Wait a second,” Chris said. “I’m
not used to this, you know. I’m covered in a fruity drink and was almost beat
up by a really big dude.”

“He wasn’t that big,” Rebecca said.

“If anyone asks, he was seven foot
tall,” Chris said. “With ten friends.”

“Tell you what,” Rebecca said.
“Come back to my apartment with me and I’ll go along with anything you want.”

Rebecca turned to walk. Chris took
a step and almost fell. He literally tripped over his own two feet. Because of
this woman. This stranger. This beautiful woman who was a stranger.

Chris collected himself. He slid
his hands into his pockets and played everything off. He watched Rebecca get to
her car and open the door. A little blue thing that was in a need of some
serious work. Certainly nothing like the small collection of speedsters and
monster trucks Chris had been collecting with his royalty checks over the past
year.

But it would do.

Just because Rebecca was standing
there.

“Hey, Becky, wait up,” Chris
called.

Rebecca’s face dropped. “What did
you call me?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Becky? Nobody...”

“Yeah, well I do,” Chris said.

He walked to the other side of the
car and tried to open the door. It was locked. All his coolness was stolen.
Rebecca -
Becky
-
laughed. Chris started to smile but then he heard an all too familiar voice
that made his head perk up and look like prey about to be attacked.

Joe had come out of the bar.

“Shit,” Chris said. “That’s Joe.”

“You know, he does look seven feet
tall,” Rebecca said.

She pressed the button and opened
Chris’s door. Chris climbed into the car and let out a long breath. In the
small space he could smell the mix of strawberry, sugar, and alcohol. He hated
mixed drinks and he hated the one had been thrown on him.

Rebecca climbed into the car and
Chris watched her. He watched the way her body moved. The way she looked from
the side. The way she started the car. And the way she turned her head slowly,
catching Chris staring.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Definitely,” Chris said. “I have a
question.”

“Shoot.”

“Mind if we stop at the tour bus?”

“The bus again?”

“No, listen. I want to get a
guitar.”

“Thought you played the bass.”

“I play it all,” Chris said,
finally getting used to flirting.

It worked too because for the first
time that night he saw Becky look a little flustered and start to blush. If it
were possible, Becky looked even prettier with her cheeks turning red as she
tried to drive. It gave Chris that little hope he needed to know he could take
control of the night. Once he had his guitar - and a change of clothes.

When Becky pulled up to the back
lot of the arena, security tried to stop them. Chris waved his hand and told
the guards that Becky was with him. They were grabbing something out of the bus
real quick. Becky waited in the car and
real
quick
turned into twenty questions as the guys damn near attacked
Chris the second he stepped onto the bus. Johnnie grabbed him and shook him.
Davey and Danny looked relieved. Rick said he was sorry ten times. Chris pushed
through his bandmates and grabbed a guitar case, a t-shirt, and a pair of
jeans. He turned to leave the bus and Rick was worried he was quitting the band.

“Not quitting,” Chris said.
“Finishing something I started tonight.”

“Wait a second,” Johnnie said. “You
picked up a woman tonight?”

“You were about to get your ass
kicked,” Rick said.

“Why do you smell like a chick?”
Danny asked. “Is that strawberry?”

Chris smiled and told them not to
leave the lights on or wait up for him. He paused at the front of the bus and
crouched down for a second, finding Richie’s bottle of whiskey under the
driver’s seat. He grabbed it and then left the bus, lifting the bottle in the
air.