A Year of You (7 page)

Mattie assumed she’d passed some sort of test when she survived the dinner two nights earlier. West spent more time talking to her, less time trying to make her slip up in her story. “Want a drink?” West hollered into her ear. She could barely hear him over the music pumping from what seemed like the very walls.

“I don’t drink very often!” she shouted back.


“Coke, then?”


“Yeah!”
He squeezed through the throbbing crowd. Mattie looked around for Emeline and her friends.
“Of course,” she muttered to herself as she searched for a safe place to stand out of the way of the gyrating bodies crushing against her. “They drag me out here and dump me.” Nobody had really wanted her to come along. Since the dinner, Em had ceased all efforts at friendship. She’d seen it in Emeline’s friends’ eyes and in the way they whispered to themselves, glancing at her. Text messages zapped back and forth between the women on the short drive from Daytona to Orlando.

A hand clamped on her upper arm. Mattie gasped and jerked away. Being grabbed suddenly brought back terrible claustrophobic memories of K.

The heat of dancing bodies rolled over her. The music was too loud and ate away at her sanity. The couples bumping and grinding all around her clutched at her with sharp fingers and glared at her with red-hot eyes.

If she didn’t get out soon, she would lose her mind!

She fought her way through the stream of people pouring in. She waved away the burly guy stamping hands and burst into the cool night air.

“Hey, Mattie.” West squeezed out the exit. He looked worried. Honestly worried. It made her feel warm inside. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” She gestured back to the club. Music pulsed through the pores in the brick walls. “That’s just really not my thing at all.”

“Mine neither.” He looked delicious, in his leather jacket, jeans, and vintage-wash T-shirt. She gave him a cockeyed glance.

“Then why did you come?”


“Emeline can get a little crazy. I have to keep an eye on her.”


“Really. That’s gotta suck.”

He shrugged. “So, what is your thing?”

“Not that. Back home, a lot of my friends were in bands, so I just sort of followed them around to different venues.”

“Rock?”
“Yeah. Alternative, metal, anything but pop and that mess.” She pointed at the club.
He snapped his fingers, his eyes brightening. “I got an idea. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and hurried toward the parking garage.


“What about Emeline and her friends?”


“They’ll text me when they’re done. They’ll be there all night.”


“You don’t worry about what your girl’s doing in there?”
He stopped and glanced back at her. “I trust Em.”


Surprised, Mattie said, “Then why do you follow her to the clubs?” Surprised, she clapped a hand over her mouth. His annoyed glare cut through her. “Yes, really. She wouldn’t hurt me.”

She kept her mouth shut about the guy on the phone earlier that day, and Em’s hushed, giggling conversation.
“That’s good. I’d hate to see you hurt.”
His gaze softened. Mattie broke away from his warm-summer-sky-colored stare. “So where are we going?”


“Music store. They always have a band or open mic night or something on Friday nights. Friend of mine owns the place.”

“Sounds great.”

“It is.”

Back in the Navigator, Mattie grabbed her ragged denim/sweatshirt half-jacket hoodie that Emeline had forbidden her to wear. The amount of cleavage she bared had her nervous. One wrong move and her wardrobe would malfunction tragically. She buttoned the bottom two buttons.

West fiddled with the radio. He found a hard rock station and, after getting an approving nod from Mattie, turned the volume up.

Mattie sighed and settled into the cushy seat. The tension eked out of her muscles slowly. She felt good around West. Even though he didn’t believe she was who she said she was for an instant, he still treated her like a friend. He was good at ignoring the elephant in the room. If she didn’t chatter like a magpie, it was cool with him. Being able to just sit and chill and listen to music made her night perfect. She indulged in a little fantasy where she wasn’t trying to scam money from a sick woman, and he wasn’t ‘almost engaged’ to her half-sister.

He turned the radio down and passed her his cell phone. “Hey, text Em and tell her we’re going to Joe’s.”

She took his sleek smart phone and tapped the screen until she stumbled over the text message function. She tapped out a quick message to Emeline.

The reply came back almost automatically. “Wtvr”


“W-T-V-R?” Mattie asked.


“Whatever,” West clarified. “She doesn’t care. She’s too busy dancing and drinking.”
He parked in a tiny cramped parking lot next to an unobtrusive brick building in an old neighborhood. “Here we go.”
Instead of going to the front door, he took her around back to a steel door. He pounded on it with the flat of his fist.

While they waited, Mattie asked, “Ever bring Em here?”


“God, no. Well, I did once, and she’s still never forgiven me for it.”


Mattie laughed. The door creaked open. West greeted the skinny guy who stepped out of the shadows.
“Yo, man,” the guy said. “Who’s this?” He grinned and winked. “Please tell me you’ve upgraded from that—”


“This is Em’s sister, Mattie.”


The grin faded from the skinny guy’s face. “Not another one, man.”


The familiar strains of music registered in Mattie’s mind. “Is that Hinder? I love that song.”


“She’s cool, man. I wouldn’t bring her if she wasn’t.”


“You pull another stunt like you did with that one chick, Joe won’t ever let you back.”


“Yeah, I know. Trust me. Mattie’ll be up there headbanging next to Georgia if you give her half a chance.”
Mattie snorted with laughter.


“All right, West. Watch her though.” The skinny guy took out a cigarette and stepped outside.

“Yeah.”
West took her arm and walked her down the narrow stairs. He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “Joe doesn’t have any licenses for this place, so he freaks out about new people. Emeline nearly brought the place down around their ears.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

To Mattie’s surprise, the basement was much bigger than she thought. It was dim and packed with people, but it was comfortable. From a stage at the far end, a cover band pumped out a mangled version of Papa Roach’s “Last Resort.” West winced. “Joe can get some really awesome bands sometimes. Other times...he only lets them up because he either owes them something or they’re friends.”

“Which is that?” Mattie pointed toward the band. West scooted his chair closer so he could hear her.

“That’s his brother.”

“Oh.”


“He sucks.”


“Yep.”

“The band’s not too bad. I think it might just be the song they’re trying to do.”


“At least it’s not
Metallica
.”


“You got a problem with
Metallica
?”


Mattie laughed. “No, just cover bands who insist on doing “Enter Sandman”.”
They stood in silence for a minute before West spotted an empty table near the bare brick wall.

“I’ll be right back.”
Mattie soaked in the ambience and felt herself relaxing even further. West reappeared with two margaritas. “I know you said you don’t drink much, but Kate makes the best ‘ritas around.”


“You never asked why I didn’t drink. I could be allergic.”


“You’re not. I saw you drinking wine last night at dinner.” He sat down, close enough to brush her arm and thigh.
Mattie scooped salt into the end of her straw and sucked in a big mouthful. The tequila burned her throat for a moment.

“Wow, that is good.”


“Told you. So why don’t you drink?”


“I don’t hold my liquor real well. I get sort of goofy. I only drink when I’m with people I trust not to let me do something stupid.”

“You trust me?”

“I don’t know yet.”
He rolled his eyes and grinned. “I won’t let you do anything too stupid. I promise.”


“What’s your idea of ‘too stupid’?”


“Dancing topless on stage? Hey, Joe!”
A man materialized out of the crowd and plopped down across from the table. West rose and the men leaned over the table to share an awkward one-armed half-hug.


“Haven’t seen you here in a while, West!”


“Yeah, been busy. Joe, this is Mattie.”


Joe extended his hand. “Good to meet you. It’s good to see him out of that other chick’s clutches.”

Mattie snorted. “Oh, we’re just friends. Emeline’s my sister.”

“Damn. That means you’re available?”


West smacked his hand down on the table, grinning. “Not for you, Joe.”


“Damn. Hey, McGarthy’s band’s up next. You heard them since they got a new bass player?”
West shook his head and nudged Mattie. “The next guys are really good. Come on, let’s go up front.”
Mattie gulped the last of her margarita, nearly choking on the punch of tequila in the last inch of liquid, as West grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.
The underground club’s patrons crowded into the empty space in front of the stage. With a crash of guitars and drums that rattled her bones, the new band launched into song. Mattie lost herself in the music, relishing the thunder of bass and drums deep in her chest. The grind of the music heightened her euphoria, livened her senses.

She didn’t dance as much as she just moved to the music, one with the crowd. People at the front of the crowd started a weak mosh pit, slamming into one another and ricocheting off. The band went into a hard, fast riff. Heads starting banging. Hair went everywhere.

Laughing, Mattie let West pull her toward the back of the crowd. Sweating and panting, she smiled at him. He grinned back, one eyebrow raised. “Not bad, huh?” he hollered.

Just as she answered, the music cut off like someone had flipped a switch, leaving her, “No, it’s great!” hanging in midair.

She clapped her hands over her mouth. West laughed along with most of the people surrounding them.

“Hey, West!”
Hearing his name roared through the mic startled Mattie.
“Get up here, man!”
The crowd parted like the Red Sea. The lead singer pointed at him. “Get up here!”
West shot Mattie a happy look, then half-dragged her to the stage. He left her on the main floor and hopped up next to the lead singer.
The lead singer said something into West’s ear. He nodded and grabbed the mic stand.

After shooting a wink at Mattie, he leaned into the mic. “One, two—”
He had a voice like tattered velvet. Mattie held perfectly still, letting it soak into her flesh. He sounded like a mix of Trent Reznor and Maynard James Keenan, with a little bit of a gruff edge to his voice. Instantly entranced by the quiet opening into Staind “It’s Been a While,” she found herself staring at him. He put his everything into the song and made it look effortless. His song came to an end much too soon. Mattie took a breath. It felt like the first one she’d taken all night.

He bounced off the stage and escorted her away from the throng. Up the stairs and out the steel door. “What’dya think?”

Mattie crowed, “Oh my God! You sounded awesome.”

“Em thinks I sound like I swallowed razors.”


“She’s an idiot. Why’re we leaving?”

Chapter Five

“So? Why’d we leave?” Mattie hurried to catch up to West.


“I need to go check on Em. I don’t like leaving her by herself too long.”


“She’s not a child, and she’s not alone. She’s got an entire club of people around her.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her as he opened the Navigator door for her. “That’s why I need to go find her.”


“So you don’t trust her.”
He slammed the door and went around to the driver’s side. He got in and gunned the engine. The radio blared suddenly, startling Mattie. She reached out and flicked the knob, killing the sound. “Well?”

“I trust her.”


“Uh huh.”


“I trust her, but not the people around her.”


“Em doesn’t seem the type to just let somebody take advantage of her, or to let someone talk her into something.”


“I know her, Mattie. I’m not worried about anything.”


“You sound pretty defensive there, West.”


“No, I’m not! She’s perfectly trustworthy.”


“So’s my cat. I can trust her not to poop or pee on the carpet, but when it comes to the toms wandering around the alley...that’s a cat of a different color.”


“What are you saying?”
Mattie sighed and wished she’d thought before she started yakking. Now she had to explain, and the explanation wasn’t one West would want to hear. Or possibly even believe. “It’s nothing, West. It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a big enough deal that you had to bring it up.”


“No, you started it with your checking-up thing.”


“Just tell me what you meant!”
Mattie was aware that their voices were rising and tempers flaring. It felt...exhilarating. The way West’s eyes flashed in the dim console light fascinated her. His anger sent a little thrill through her.

Oh, now ain’t I twisted?

“Emeline has a whole ‘nother life you don’t know about, West.”


“You’re just saying that because you don’t like her.”


“Believe that if you want to, West. I’m not a vindictive person. Yet another McKendrick gene that I missed out on.”


With an exasperated sigh, West ruffled his hair and headed for the club. “Emeline wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, Mattie.”


“Honestly, West, I don’t think she even knows what would hurt you or not. She’s extremely self-involved.”


“You don’t know her!”


“I do! I know a hundred other girls just like her. She’s shallow and selfish and can’t see beyond the tip of her perfect little nose.”


“That is so wrong.”


“Fine. Tell me what wonderful, charitable things she’s done.”

West shook his head, slouching down further in the driver’s seat and focusing on the road. “I’m not even going to answer that.”

“Cuz you can’t.”

“Shit, zip it, Mattie.”

Mattie smirked but obeyed, turning so she faced forward. West navigated the big, sprawling city until he was back in the club’s parking garage.

“Text her and let her know we’re here.”


“Why? Why not just go in and see how trustworthy she is?”
West shoved the door open and slammed it hard. Mattie had to jog to catch up to him as he stalked toward the elevators to take them to the street level.
The doorman let them in without charging them another cover. The music and lights and crush of people assaulted Mattie once more. West kept a firm grip on her arm, grounding her, as he zigzagged through the crowd, looking for Emeline. He pulled Mattie upstairs to the open mezzanine.