That was a day ago.
I spent the day and the night in bed.
When Valerie bothered me, I told her I had a stomach bug.
She made me eat soup and drink ginger ale.
I would have preferred cookies and vodka, which I did get later in the day.
Alone and thinking… not a good combination.
I replayed that night over and over.
We both had issues at that point. We weren’t together but pretty much were. Nothing had been official or given a title. That meant if Reed wanted to go fuck some groupies (this was before the world of Line Whores) he could. That meant if I wanted to enjoy myself with someone, I could do that too.
Did we ever do that?
I wasn’t sure.
I didn’t really care.
I liked Reed’s company. I liked laughing with him. I liked flirting with him. I liked having crazy, rock star sex with him.
And then the world suddenly blew up…
My thoughts were broken apart by a hand touching my lower back.
At some point Rae and Jess had walked away.
Sasha was still talking to the other two guys.
I stood alone, turning my head, looking at some tall, string bean looking guy with a perfect smile, touching my lower back.
“You have a great voice,” String Bean said to me.
“I know I do,” I said.
“Oh, a little confident and cocky there,” he said. “I like that. If you don’t mind me saying, you also have a great body. I wouldn’t mind listening to you sing to me… privately… one on one…”
His hand moved an inch down and I swung my right hand.
My fist uppercut against his jaw and his head snapped back.
“Oh, shit!” someone yelled. “She just punched Dale!”
Sasha looked at me and her eyes went wide.
“Don’t ever fucking touch me, you pig,” I yelled. “Who the fuck do you think you are? You think you can just grab at my ass and get away with it? You fucking scumbag.”
Jess appeared in front of me.
“Shut up,” she growled at me. “They have their phones out. Turn and walk away.”
My chin quivered and Jess nodded.
“I know,” she whispered.
String Bean wiped his bottom lip of blood. “Maybe don’t dress with such tight pants next time.”
I lunged forward and Jess pushed me away.
Before I could yell at her, she spun around and took a swing at String Bean.
“Jess! Stop!” Sasha yelled.
String Bean took a shot from Jess.
When Jess turned back around, she hurried toward me and hugged me.
We walked out of the building together.
“Hey, Jess?” I asked.
“What’s up?”
“I think I might need a cigarette.”
I didn’t smoke a cigarette.
But I did order two drinks to start when we went to the restaurant that Sasha picked out. She said it was a business meeting.
In other words, she wanted to yell at me for what I had done.
She was right.
We were supposed to be working.
Not attacking customers.
But my ass wasn’t something to be bought or used.
Tell that to Reed, right?
When Sasha sat down, I waved my hands.
“Get it off your chest,” I said. “Give it to me.”
Sasha looked at me. “It’s your turn to talk, Abby. You’re going through something. Please talk about it.”
“What?”
“First off, that guy touched your butt?” Sasha asked. “He’s an idiot. I talked to the two guys who own the company and they apologized. Now, that’s not the first time it’s happened to you.”
“I’m not talking about this stuff,” I said.
“You need to talk about everything else,” Rae said.
“What’s everything else?” I asked.
“Come on, Abby,” Jess said.
“About Reed? I mean, FILTHY LINE?”
“Yeah,” Sasha said.
I shook my head. “Believe me, it’s nothing. It’s history.”
“Tell us about it,” Rae said. “You obviously have feelings for Reed. I’m sure you slept with him. At the very least, tell us what that’s like. A rock star? Fuck me…”
“Rae, stop,” Jess said. “What if those feelings are beyond him being a rock star?”
“Oh, shit, do you love him?” Rae asked.
“Love?” I yelled. “No. Never. Not a chance. Love him? Love Reed? No. No way.”
“Okay then,” Sasha said.
I downed the rest of the first drink and went to work on the second one.
“Look. It’s simple. My mother played her life safe after my father passed away. She wanted my brother and I to live a good and simple life. Joe became a lawyer. I took off to Nashville. I talk to Joe maybe three times a year now. I talk to my mother maybe six times a year. Do we all hate each other? Nope. I’m just the outcast. I loved that role. I was good. Popular locally. Things were happening. Then I met Reed. The band was just getting popular. He and I had… a thing. I don’t know. Nothing was official.”
“Friends with benefits?” Rae asked.
“Sure. Call it that. I gave up some gigs for him. I thought things were going somewhere. Maybe in the back of my mind I thought I could rise with the band. Not as part of the band, but on my own. I just loved singing. And then everything went bad. I don’t want to talk about it. Being in the studio now… it just brings it all back.”
Rae reached across the table. “Sorry, Abby.”
“I didn’t realize,” Sasha said. “So singing with us must be torture.”
“It’s not,” I said. “I mean, it’s a pain in the ass, but I kind of like you.”
“But it’s not what you want,” Sasha said.
“And you want this?” Jess asked.
“I’m running my own business,” Sasha said. “I’ve considered expanding. Bring in more singers. Finding bigger events. I was going to talk to you all about that. Maybe try to move from the gimmicky stuff to something else. Or maybe we can keep the gimmick and do covers.”
“Dress up like famous singers?” Rae asked.
“Yeah,” Sasha said.
“I like that,” I said. “But we should also do our own thing too.”
“You’re the one with the connections,” Jess said with a grin. “Get us into a studio.”
“Oh, bang Reed again,” Rae said. “Then maybe…”
She gasped.
“What?” I asked.
“Your face is red,” Rae said.
“No it’s not.”
“You slept with him again?” Sasha asked.
“Stop,” I said.
“Is that why you’re so mean today?” Rae asked. “Was it not good? Or did something happen?”
“You know what?” I called out. “I could be out with someone right now.”
“Who?” Jess asked.
“Forget FILTHY LINE… I’m talking about RAUNCHY RECKS…”
“What?” Rae asked.
“I got Ven’s number,” I said. “He saw me at the studio and stopped to ask me out.”