“Hey,” I said more than a little alarmed. “We can leave. I just…I thought this would be good for you tonight. For your birthday.” Obviously not. Why the hell had I listened to her friend?
I glanced over to Kendall and gave her a mental fuck you. She’d met us at the club and had brought a bunch of people I didn’t know. I didn’t give a shit about any of them but I thought that Georgia did and that was the point of everything. It was her 21st birthday and I wanted it to be special.
“It’s okay,” she said finally. “Thank you.”
But it wasn’t okay and I had no idea what was wrong.
The house lights dimmed, the crowd below and behind us erupted into cheers and the unmistakable crunch of a guitar spilled across the club.
We looked down at the stage and I watched five guys take over. None of them wore shirts, all of them were tattooed and pierced and the guitar player….
My eyes narrowed. Fuck. It was the guy from the country club. The guy Georgia said she’d dated. The guy she said didn’t matter but from the rigid set of her shoulders, I called bullshit.
The guy grinned up at us and let a long, lingering chord ring out as he grabbed the mic from his singer. He saluted Georgia and everyone below turned to see who he was looking at.
“Happy Birthday to the hottest girl I know. I don’t know how we can top last year babe, but I’m sure as hell gonna try.”
He threw the mic back at his singer and the band dove into a hard rocking, full throttle song about drinking and drugging and sexing. It was heavy and usually I liked that sorta shit, but not tonight. Not with that guy down there looking at my girl as if he wanted her.
As if he’d had her.
Red hot jealousy shot through me and the need to go all cave man and drag her out of the club was strong. I wanted to tell guitar guy to keep his eyes off Georgia. I wanted to tell him that if he dared to mental fuck my girlfriend in front me I was going to kick his ass and break him. My fists clenched at the thought.
I moved behind Georgia, boxing her in against the ledge as we stared down at the band and I whispered next to her ear. “We can leave if you want.”
Sure I was all about doing whatever the hell she wanted tonight, but the simple fact was, I wanted out of there. I hated that guy and the vibe I was getting wasn’t good.
Kendall slid up beside us and hip poked Georgia. “Oh my God, they sound awesome!”
Georgia nodded to her friend and then glanced up at me. “I’m good,” she mouthed. “Are you?”
No. Let’s get the hell out of here.
“Yeah,” I answered. “As long as you are.” I pulled her into me as we watched Spleen rock and roll their way through the next ninety minutes.
By the time their set was done the club was a mess of sweaty bodies, some of whom were basically having sex in the pit below us and the ones in the dark corners were definitely getting down and dirty. The waitress had been over several times and I had moved on from beer to my old buddy Jack.
My good mood was long gone. It had fizzled right about the time guitar guy—Travis was what the girls chanted below—raised a glass to Georgia and shouted out that their one and only cover tune was one he was dedicating to her. He’d stuck his tongue through his fingers and waggled it before shouting into the microphone, “You’re crazy but I like the way you fuck me! You crazy bitch!”
Who the hell did this guy think he was?
Dance music replaced Spleen and I wasn’t sure what was worse. I hated dance music. I hated guitar guy.
Either way, the music was loud, my buzz wasn’t doing anything to dull it and I needed to be alone with Georgia. There was no way in hell I could get through the rest of the night until I knew the truth about her and tattooed Travis.
“Let’s go.” I grabbed her hand and turned, pulling her along behind me as I tried to figure out where we could find a bit of privacy. I passed the bar and spotted an exit. Bingo.
We were nearly there when some asshole turned into me and his beer went flying. The guy was tall and built but if he gave me problems I could take him. Hell, with all the pent up energy running through me I wanted to take him and then follow up with tattooed Travis for kicks.