Ceaseless (4 page)

              
“I noticed. I just didn’t care. I don’t do rockers. That’s your thing.”

              
Gee cleared her throat and I turned my attention to her.  “What you got against musicians?”

              
“The fact 
that 
they want a different girl every night. Sex
,
 drugs
,
 and rock ‘n roll,” I replied.

              
Gee studied me a moment then nodded her head slowly as if she agreed. “Maybe
,
 but Dank isn’t your typical lead singer.”

              
“Sure he isn’t,” I replied letting the sarcasm drip from my tone.  “I’m not in the mood to talk about this. How long do we have to stay here?”

              
“We just got here, Pagan. A cute guy hasn’t even asked me to dance yet,” Miranda whined
,
 glancing over both her shoulders for any males who may be checking her out so she could pounce.

              
“Okay, fine. We’ll wait until you get to dance
,
 then can we leave?”

              
“You got boring Peggy Ann,” Gee mumbled.

              
What was it with her calling me Peggy Ann? She knew my name was Pagan. And why did she keep referring to me as if we had known each other for longer than half a day? Did she do drugs? She had been on the back of Dank Walker’s motorcycle today. Maybe she was a groupie. Didn’t groupies do drugs and sleep with the band?

              
“Oh
, 
boys!” Miranda squealed quietly and tugged on my arm. 
T
wo boys 
were 
standing behind us. One of them 
looked 
familiar
; 
I
 must have
 seen him
 somewhere
 before.

              
“It’s nice to meet you
,
 Nathan,” Miranda 
said in
 her sweet voice. The one she thought was sexy and only used when an attractive guy was talking to her. The familiar one was very focused on her. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair that curled on the ends giving
 it a messy look.  I liked him. I wasn’t sure why 
exactly
,
 
but I approved.

              
“This is my friend, Pagan,” Miranda announced to the boys. “Pagan this is Nathan and Kent. They both go to UT.”

              
Kent took a step toward me. “If you dance with me
,
 
I
 think 
your friend will 
dance with 
Nathan
, 
and if you’ve noticed he’s 
practically 
drooling. He hasn’t taken his eyes off her since y’all walked in here.” The teasing grin on his face as he 
looked at 
Nathan
 alleviated 
any worry I 
had
. He wasn’t hitting on me. He was here as Nathan’s wingman. I stood up and took the hand that Kent had held out to me.

              
“I’d love to dance,” I smiled back at Miranda, “throw the boy a bone.” I told her causing her to laugh as she stood up and slipped her hand in Nathan’s.  He was staring at her as if he’d just been gifted some rare jewel. I liked that. A lot. So far Nathan 
had 
my approval.

              
“By all means, you two run along and dance
.  I’ll just sit
 here and drink.” Gee said reminding me she was there. Feeling guilty I looked back at her
, but she had an 
amused smirk on her face
 so I knew she was teasing
. 
Besides, Gee 
was a rock band groupie. She didn’t do college boys.

              
“We’ll be back
 soon
,” I assured her.

              
She held up her newest drink, “I’m fine and dandy right here. Please go entertain yourselves. Maybe you’ll lighten up Peggy Ann.”

              
I rolled my 
eyes at her 
continued use of her 
nickname for me
.  I realized
 that I
 would always be Peggy Ann to her.
  She wasn’t going to stop calling me that.

              
“Let’s 
dance
,” I said turning to Kent.

              
He led me 
onto 
the 
crowded 
dance floor. Bodies were moving everywhere. Most of them were just as intense as Jay and his girlfriend had been. I really hoped Kent wasn’t expecting me to rub all over him. That wasn’t the kind of dancing I’d signed up for.

              
“I saw you talking to Potts earlier. You know him?”

              
He knew Jay? The University of Tennessee
 was a big place. How odd. “Uh, yeah. Jay and I went to high school together.”

              
Kent pulled us into the thick of things and slipped a hand around my waist. I wasn’t sure I liked that. “Really? That’s cool. Jay and I are ATO brothers.”

              
Ah. 
A frat boy.
 Great.

              
“Are you at UT?” he asked with interest.

              
“Nope. I’m at Boone.”

              
Kent slid his hand down my hip and pulled me against him as the music slowed to a sexy beat. I did
 
n
o
t like this. I searched the crowd until I found Miranda
 to see how she and Nathan were doing.  She was
 wrapped in Nathan’s arms 
and looking
 at him like he was the most beautiful guy she’d ever seen. I wanted her to have this
 time
. She needed to
have some fun and begin to go out with other boys.  B
ut could I deal with Kent rubbing all over me
 to give her that time?

              
Just then t
wo larger hand
s
 slid around my waist and held me firmly.  Warm breath tickled my neck and instead of being startled
 by it, it 
excited 
me. “Times up,” a deep sexy drawl said from behind me. Kent’s eyes went wide.

              
“Are you… are you …
 
holy shi
t
!
.
 You’re Dank 
Walker. Cold Soul’s Dank Walker.
” Kent’s arms immediately let go of me as he stepped back. His eyes were focused on the guy behind me. Why Dank Walker was standing behind me making some big claim on me I wasn’t sure
,
 but at the moment I was just glad
 tat he was no 
longer pressing
 his pelvis against me.

              
“Yeah. Now go,” Dank replied.  Kent nodded his head and back
ed
 away into the moving bodies.

              
Turning around I frown at him. 
T
he relieved look on his face surprised me. “What was that about?” I asked.

              
Dank’s
 eyes 
changed 
from a simmering whirlpool as he watched Kent walk away to a soft glow as he looked at me. “He was making you uncomfortable.”

              
How had he known that? “Maybe. But why do you care?”

              
Dank let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head, “I don’t know. But I do.”

              
Okay…. That was unexpected.

              
“Will you dance with me, Pagan?”

              
I studied Dank as he watched me carefull
y, w
aiting on my answer. I didn’t trust guys like him. No female should. But I 
couldn’t 
turn him down. I slippe
d a
 hand over his arm. His hand
s
 were still on my waist.

              
The music instantly slowed. The sexual beat of the music had changed to something easy and smooth. I eased into his arms and trust came easily. 
Dank’s
 hands didn’t wander. He didn’t make vulgar moves with his body. Instead, he held me closely as we moved to the music.

              
The smell of his shirt was something dark and exotic. I wanted to bury my nose 
in 
it and 
breathe in the scent
. This guy could be dangerous. Every part of him was irresistible.  Turning my head slightly so I could smell 
him better I was startled when 
a soft growl
 
vibrated against his chest. What was that?

              
I looked at him and saw his eyes 
were now 
cold and hard
, and they were
 focused on something behind me. I glanced over my shoulder 
and saw
 Jay standing there. His hands were jammed in his pockets and his girlfriend was missing from his arm. He was looking at me. I turned from 
Dank’s
 arms and faced Jay. Did he need something?

              
“Hey, Jay
,” I said trying to ease the sudden tension. Did they know each other?

              
“Pagan. I wanted to see if you would dance with me for old times sake. I didn’t realize you were uh, with Dank Walker. Wow, you moved up in the world.”

              
I laughed. These boys were really into 
Dank’s
 band. “I’m not with Dank. We just met today. I’d love to dance with you as long as your girlfriend doesn’t mind. Let me finish this dance first though.”

              
Jay shifted his eyes from me to Dank then back to me again quickly. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be waiting.”

              
I gave him a reassuring smile because he suddenly seemed really nervous. 
Odd, 
Jay wasn’t the nervous type. 
I turned 
around 
and 
put my hands back on 
Dank’s
 arms. The muscles flexed under
 my touch and my imagination took off. He would be incredible without a shirt on. I didn’t have to see it to know it.

              
“You know him,” Dank said in a slow even tone.

              
“Yes. We went to high school together,” I explained
,
 purposely leaving out that he’d been my one and only boyfriend. Dank seemed annoyed with Jay. I was probably imagining it but I was going to protect Jay just in case. For a musician Dank Walker was really built.

              
“Do you like him?” Dank asked.

              
Well, that was very blunt. I stopped dancing and stared up at him. “I don’t think that is really your business. We just met today.”

              
Dank bit his bottom lip and dad-gum
,
 if that wasn’t hot
-
as
-
hell. I really wanted to pull that bottom lip out and suck on it. I was just as bad as any other groupie. I’d just met the guy and I was thinking bad thoughts.