I was going to end up killing that fucking rocker.

As soon as my feet touched the ground outside, I pushed through the crowd of my friends. I needed a drink—and soon—or I was seriously going to do something I would regret later. Or not regret. I wasn’t sure which bothered me more. That I didn’t do it, or that I didn’t care about the repercussions if I did actually kill the prick.

A hostess showed us up to the VIP lounge where Emmie, Nik and the rest of Trance and Alchemy were already waiting on us. I grabbed a bottle of beer from the uncapped bottles already sitting on the bar top and walked away. It was safer for everyone if I was on the other side of the damn room.

The beer was gone in two swallows, however, and I was back at the bar ordering something a hell of a lot stronger. “Bourbon,” I growled in the general direction of the bartender. My eyes had a will of their own and kept going directly to Natalie. Where she sat with Marissa, Linc, and of course the fucking Trance lead singer. She was drinking a glass of soda, and I wondered just for a moment why she didn’t have her usual glass of wine sitting in front of her. Was she drinking something harder with that lemon-lime soda? Probably. “The oldest you have. Make it a double. No ice.”

When the drink was placed in front of me I reached for it and tossed the guy a hundred. “Keep the change.” I swallowed the double portioned drink like a shot and slammed the glass onto the bar top. “Another.”

“Followed by a beer and then water,” Emmie told the bartender as she took the barstool next to where I was standing. When I shot her a glare, she grinned and raised a brow at me. “You and bourbon don’t mix well, buddy. Keep to the beer after this one.”

“Sure, Mom.” I lifted the refilled glass to my lips and swallowed it the same as I had the first. When I dropped the glass back down, a little easier this time in case Emmie decided to take my hand off, I grabbed the beer that was already sitting there for me. “Go away, Em.”

She snickered, those big green eyes glowing up at me. “Why? Do I intimidate you?”

“Nope,” I lied, taking a long swallow of the cold beer. “I’d just rather stew in my own thoughts right now.”

Instead of leaving me alone, she turned around on the stool and I helplessly followed her gaze. Right to Natalie’s smiling face. My chest suddenly felt like an elephant was sitting on it. That smile was like a force of nature in its own right. It could knock the wind right out of me, stop me dead in my tracks, and make every rational thought I had vanish in the blink of an eye. Once, that smile had been just for me. Now I only got glares, and looks filled with a hate that I had put there through my own stupid actions.

“She’s a strong chick. I didn’t realize or appreciate just how strong she was until last year.” Emmie lifted a glass of ginger ale to her lips and took a small sip. “She still doesn’t want Shane or Drake to know what happened. But when you look at her like that, it’s hard to keep those two from seeing that something is obviously between you.”

I took another swallow of beer. “I can’t help how I look at her, Em. It would be like telling myself to stop breathing to stop looking at her like that.”

Emmie nodded. “Yeah, I get that. All I’m saying is that if you want to help me help her keep you alive to finish out this tour, I’m cool with that. Maybe you could just not look at her when you’re in the same room with all three of them?” She grinned when I gave her another glare, not even a little intimidated by me as I was of her. “Or not.”

“What are we talking about over here?” Nik asked as he stopped beside his wife and kissed her lingeringly on the lips.

Emmie’s eyes lowered to half-mast as she looked up at Nik. I clenched my jaw and looked away, remembering a time when Natalie had once looked up at me like that. “I don’t remember,” Emmie told him in a breathy little voice.

Nik chuckled. “Kissed you mindless again, did I?” He kissed her again and then picked up a beer that the bartender had just set in front of him. “I like that I can still do that.”

“Babe, if you ever don’t kiss me mindless then we have a problem.” Emmie took another drink of her ginger ale and then set her glass aside. “Will you dance with me? We don’t ever get to dance and I want your hands on me.”

Nik’s blue eyes darkened and he handed me his beer as he took his wife’s hand. “Baby girl, if all you want is my hands on you, the dance floor isn’t the place for that.” Emmie stood and Nik led her in the opposite direction from where a few other VIPs were dancing already.

I snorted when I saw the sign for the bathroom as Nik led Emmie away. Typical. Someone was always getting laid in a bathroom. I was just surprised it wasn’t Shane and Harper. Glancing around, I realized that neither were in the room and shook my head. They were no doubt already in one of the stalls halfway to paradise.

Lucky fuckers.

Natalie

The night was going better than I’d first feared. If you called a scary-ass Wroth swallowing one beer after the other like it was water a good night. Or that Marissa was drinking like a freaking fish. At least Devlin was keeping his distance. Even if I could feel his eyes on the back of my head every few minutes.

I hated that I knew where he was in the room without having to look. I hated the way my body responded to his eyes as they caressed over me from head to toe like a physical touch. And I really, really hated that when a chick from the other group of VIPs went over and leaned against the bar beside him, an inferno of jealous rage seemed to engulf me. The chick smiled up at him, flirting with her eyes as she stuck out her chest invitingly. Devlin didn’t seem to pay attention to her, however, as he inhaled yet another beer that the bartender had put in front of him after Emmie had gone off with Nik.

After a few minutes of trying to talk to the drummer, the chick walked off pouting as her friends laughed at her failed attempt at bagging a rocker. I didn’t want to admit how relieved I was that Devlin hadn’t taken the very willingly offered bait of a one-nighter, but my chest felt a little lighter when I saw that he was more interested in his drink than the slutty VIP.

Linc nudged my shoulder with his elbow, pulling my attention away from the sexy drummer behind me. “Please tell me there isn’t anything in that soda.”

I shrugged. “Yeah. There is.” His eyes narrowed on me and I grinned. “Ice.”

Linc didn’t grin back. “Not funny, Nat.”