A Second Chance at love The Rocker Girls Series (17 page)

“
Isn’t it pretty clear it’s
not? Damn it, I can’t get enough of her. It’s a good thing she
works all the time, because I wouldn’t have her out of my bed
otherwise.”

“
All right, ass, don’t need
to know some things. Come on, let’s go get a beer,” South said,
shutting the door behind them.

Chapter 11

The Tab was completely full tonight,
everyone waiting for the guys to take the stage. Margie and Rex
were doing really good and she seemed happy. And to make Marge
happy was some feat for their quiet girl.

Tia was completely and hopelessly in
love; she was finally over Howie. She would tell Addison about the
long talks that she and Andy would have. They were talking about a
life together, and the one thing that Tia had always wanted was a
family of her own. Addison thought she might be in a wedding
sometime in the near future.

The only thing missing was Mindy
lately. She wasn’t at home, and she didn’t show at the last two
shows, so they had Tia fill in for her. They were starting to panic
and about ready to call the cops when she walked in the apartment
one day, packed some clothes, and walked out.

But after all the damn drama, no one
from their old life had shown up. Their life in Cleveland was going
pretty good, and they all were pretty happy. They loved their jobs
at the hospital, and Margie was building a good clientele, so they
were making good money.

Margie brought over the drink Addison
ordered. “One cranberry, Sprite, with a twist of lime,” she said,
sliding over the drink, and took a sip of her beer.

“
Thanks.”

“
Hey, are you really
quitting smoking and drinking?”

“
Yup, and I’m doing it cold
turkey.”

“
What does Win think about
that?”

“
He doesn’t smoke…and he
says he’s not drinking anymore either,” she told Marge with a
grin.

The guys got on stage and the crowd
went wild. Tia sat with her knees up in the chair and made some
obscenely loud whistle so Andy knew she was there watching him. He
gave her his signature wink, making her giggle.

Win’s eyes fell on her and she couldn’t
help herself, she blew him a kiss. It was corny as hell, but he
seemed to like it as the smile grew on his face, and he gave her
his own wink. She smiled back, getting herself comfortable just to
sit back and watch him play.

Lynn came in with some guy tonight,
sitting next to Addison. “Hey you, this is Hank. He’s a friend of
mine,” she told Addison.

“
Nice to meet you,” Hank
said, reaching over Lynn to shake her hand. Addison took a good
look at this guy, and wow, he was really clean cut. Her eyes slid
over to Lynn, who was ignoring her.

“
Hey, what happened to
Betsy?” she whispered in her ear. Lynn shrugged and watched South
start singing their first set.

The energy was kickin’ tonight; she
heard four new songs, including one called Acid Love. She wondered
who that one was written about…it had some pretty dark lyrics but
very catchy. Win was really into it tonight, or maybe she just
thought so because she rarely got to see them play. He hit the new
chords, looking over at Rex and laughing as one girl shouted she
loved him.

The girls were all over South as he
reached down, touching their hands. One even grabbed hold of his
foot; he very calmly reached down, still singing, taking her hand
off and singing to her. Just like a pro. She thought Nickels might
be right about marketability.

“
We’ll be back in two
weeks. So we’ll see you then!” South shouted. They all gave their
manly bow, and started putting away their things.

“
Tia, did you know they
were leaving for two weeks?” Margie asked, baffled.

Tia’s face told them everything that
they needed to know.

After a couple of minutes the guys came
from the back, South grabbing the closest groupie and the others
making their way to them.

Andy sat down next to Tia, who was not
very happy at the moment. “You didn’t tell me you’re leaving?” she
accused him.

“
Well…”

“
We just decided today that
we would fly out together to California and talk to Mr. Roman. He
called the other day, saying that they’d like to sign us,” Rex told
them.

Lynn sat forward. “That son of a
bitch!” she hissed, starting to get out of her seat. Addison
grabbed onto her arm.

“
They have to do what they
have to do, Lynn,” she said quietly.

Lynn looked disgusted as she took
Hank’s hand, pulling him out of his chair. “Come on, let’s dance. I
need to burn some energy.”

Win came and sat next to her. He
reached out, pulling her into his lap. “It’s only two weeks,”
he said. She looked away, shaking her head in
understanding.

“
Hey, I’m not going
anywhere, angel. In fact, I was thinking when we come back maybe
you and I could go look for a place together.” She turned to look
at him. “You know, maybe get a puppy, name him
Tennessee.”

She smiled at him but it wasn’t a
heartfelt smile. She knew what was going on, she just wasn’t going
to interfere if this was something he wanted. If he didn’t do this
and they did end up together, she never wanted it to come back that
she’d hindered his chances for a music career.

He kissed her, wrapping his arms around
her. When he released her lips she took his face in her hands,
kissing the piercing on his lip tenderly. “I’m going to get myself
another drink, okay?”

Margie’s arms were crossed and she had
a scowl on her face that Addison had seen many a time growing up.
The man Addison knew she was in love with was trying desperately to
talk to her but she was ignoring him. “You know, Ad, I could sure
use a drink as well,” she hissed over at Rex.

“
Tia honey, you want
something?” she asked as she saw her sister trying to hold back the
tears. Andy took her hands; her lip trembled, making Andy lose his
mind, and she just shook her head at her.

Win didn’t look like he quite believed
this accepting attitude she was showing him. Reluctantly he let her
go, holding onto her hand, but released it as Margie came up to
Addison. She took Addison’s arm, frowning at Win, and they squeezed
through the crowded club floor.

“
This is fabulous! You know
what’s going on, don’t you?”

“
Of course I do. But I’m
not going to stop him if this is what he wants,” Addison told her,
making her way to the bar.

“
Only Nickels would be this
vicious.”

“
Well, I think he thinks
we’ll come home with this move.”

“
Would this make us go
home?”

“
Do you want to go back?”
Addison asked.

“
No, I really like it
here.”

“
Would you say that if Rex
wasn’t in the picture?”

Marge was quiet for a minute. “What
about you? Would you go back?”

“
I would only go back if
Tia wanted to be with Andy, and Andy was one hundred percent
genuine about his feelings for her.”

“
Oh, Addison. You know
what’s waiting for you if you go back. Win won’t be part of the
picture either, Jimmy will make sure of it.”

“
Then I suck it up and go
back to Jimmy. That’s all there is to it. But I don’t know if Andy
wants what the other three want. He might want to just stay here
with Tia.”

“
We can only hope,” she
whispered.

They ordered their drinks. Ad really
wanted a shot, but didn’t want to break her promise to
Win.

“
Go head, Ad, after this
new tidbit of information that’s just dropped on our heads, I think
we all deserve a drink. Heck, when they leave I’ll go cold turkey
with you!” Marge said, none too happily.

“
A shot of Jack, and a
beer,” Ad told the bartender.

Marge chimed in, “Make that
two.”

As they walked back to the table Rex,
South and Win were all huddled around each other. Andy had Tia in
his arms, talking down at her, but she was shaking her head at
whatever he was telling her.

Win’s eyes met hers; he saw the drinks
in her hands and he frowned. She was thinking of just throwing one
back before she made it to the table so Win wouldn’t stop her from
having it. But before that decision was made, someone walked in
front of her.

Margie gasped aloud as a tight black
t-shirt with a graffiti hoodie met her eyes, and when she looked up
her mouth dropped open at who stood in front of her.
“Mickey?”

His dark eyes looked down at her, his
dark brown hair flowing freely past his shoulders, just the little
bit of a goatee on his chin. She saw that around his neck he was
wearing the necklace she bought him for his birthday.

The piercing in his eyebrow lifted as a
small smile made its way to his face. “Hey, Addie,” his voice
rumbled softly, very personally. Then he grabbed hold of her,
taking advantage of her open mouth and kissing her graphically in
front of everyone.

The drinks dropped from her hands as
she tried to push him away from her. She heard Lynn swear, “Oh
fuck!” as a chair scraped along the floor, possibly getting turned
over. She heard South yelling at Win, when a massive hand clutched
Mickey’s shoulder and pulled him free from her.

Win cocked back, punching Mickey in the
face and causing him to fall over some tables. “What the fuck do
you think you’re doing touching my girl?” he roared.

Mickey’s hand went to his
face, then that look came into his eyes. “What the fuck am I doing?
Who the hell do you think
you
are? That piece of ass is mine!”

Win started to go over to attack him
again and South and Andy jumped in to stop him. But Addison walked
in front of Mickey, pushing his chest. “You did not just refer to
me as your piece of ass!” she seethed.

Troy and Buddy came running up next to
him. She saw Troy frown at her apologetically. “Addie, baby…” But
she smacked his face, storming out of the club with Tia and Margie
following behind her.

Lynn chuckled. “You were always a
stupid ass, Mickey. She dumped you…get a fucking clue.” Then she
looked over to Troy. “Need to keep your boy on a tighter
leash.”

***

Win watched Addison storm out of the
club. Whispers of “Mickey Tamms and Win were fighting” could be
heard all around them. “I say we take this outside so I can beat
the living fuck out of you,” Win growled.

Mickey laughed, “You think so? Let’s go
then, hot shot,” heading out the doors along with his friends.
South pulled Win by the shoulder to talk to him. “You know that’s
Mickey Tamms from Acid Pool, don’t you?”

“
I don’t give a fuck who he
is! If he touches my angel, he’s going to be hitting the ground
just like any other fucker!” he seethed, pulling his shoulder free
and stalking outside.

When he got outside he looked around
for Mickey, and found him again trying to talk to Addison. The
girls were all yelling at them, and Mickey and some other guys were
yelling back at them. Troy looked to be trying to calm down the
situation. When Win walked closer he could hear Addison fuming at
Mickey.

“
How did you find me?”
Addison asked, clearly upset by his appearance tonight.

Mickey looked over at his friends and
chuckled. “Hell, baby, it’s all over YouTube about some hot girl
band in Cleveland, and when someone posted a video of you with your
guitar…blonde hair or not, I would know my Addie Richardson
anywhere.”

It was then Rex turned to look at her,
as her name struck a chord. “Holy shit, you’re Addie Richardson?”
he said, like pieces of a puzzle that he couldn’t put together in
his head, this whole time they’d known the girls, just clicked into
place.

Addison stood very still, frowning, her
shoulders tense as Rex made the declaration of who she was. Win had
seen pictures of Addie Richardson of course, but not until Rex said
her name and placed it with his angel, did he see the
resemblance.

He looked over at Tia, who was looking
at this Mickey with absolute hatred. Lynn and Margie were right
next to her, and now he could remember seeing them in magazines as
well. A tall white-haired Lynn he remembered, with Addie Richardson
at some movie premiere on TV.

He and South always thought Addie
Richardson was the hottest damn woman on the planet, and how they’d
love to meet her if they ever made it to the big time. But when he
really looked at all the girls, he saw them as they were in the
life they once lived. They were the same, just not as
flashy.

One of the guys laughed, looking at
Win. “Holy fuck. Are you telling me none of you stupid asses knew
who she was?”

“
Fuck, they must take
stupid pills out here, don’t you think, Mick?” said the one with
the dreads. Win’s mouth went hard and he was ready to
explode.

It was Mickey who looked at Addison,
then glanced at Win and saw there was something going on between
them. “So I take it this dipshit thinks he’d dating you,” he
chuckled, then stopped. “Are you seeing him, Addie?”