Ice Steam (Loving All Wrong #3) (20 page)

As series of grumbles came from the band, entangled with an indignant “Hey!” from Jake. “I gots class.”

“Sure you do, honey,” Jessica patronized. To me, she said, “Well, anyone who’s a friend of Ice Steam is a friend of mine. You are more than welcome at this table.”

I motioned at the twenty-foot long table of food. “You did all of this by yourself?”

Her buxom bosom expanded with a contented sigh. “Yep. Every other Sunday. I usually start pre-cooking on Fridays, and sometimes my girlfriends come over to help.”

“Well,” I had to admit, “this is impressive.”

“It’s nothing, really,” she humbly replied, waving me off. “If I’m not cooking, I swear I itch like I have scabies.”

Chatter and laughter drew our attention to the double doors. No one was there, but the noises drew closer and closer.

Jessica sounded irked and accusatory as she addressed Davian, “The others are here. Care to help me with the wings like I asked?”

As Davian dutifully followed his fiancée out of the kitchen, I claimed a seat next to Jake, across from Styro.

Zach and Styro scowled at me, disapproval clear on their faces, but whatever. Get over it.

Tossing an arm over the back of my chair, Jake rested his chin on my shoulder and smooth-talked, “It sounded nice when you said you’re ‘Jake’s’. How about we start doing that? You know, work on making you Jake’s.”

“I don’t do anal, golden-showers, cum-swallowing, or fisting.”

Jake thought about it for a second, shook his head, and straightened. “Yeah. It wouldn’t work.”

Zach chuckled. “Dude, you need help.”

“Plus you’d be blind not to see she and Davi aren’t done with each other,” Styro added.

I jabbed a finger at Styro. “You know what,
creep
, I like you better when you’re all scary silent and don’t spe—”

The chatting and jeering were now in the room, drowning out my words.

Benny Stucco walked in first. Short and stocky with thinning brown hair combed back on his scalp, he had an anorexic-looking blonde, with botox lips and a prominent nose, on his arm.

Behind him was Xena, glamorous as usual. And then the band.

Xavier, tall and beautiful and magnificent, in a thin coral T-shirt, white cargo shorts and push-toe sandals, hair tied back and knotted in a big, curly mess at his nape.

He looked delicious, eatable, and all I could think about at the sight of him was how badly I wanted to lick his face and suck on his bottom lip.

No one,
no one
in the room held a candle to him. So big and gorgeous and goddamn glowing.

Seemingly taken aback by my presence, he stopped short. With a contemplative chewing of his lip, he raised his hand as if to rake through his hair, only to find it tied back.

That’s when I saw it. The bracelet. He was wearing it.
He was wearing it.
My heart did a back-flip and a fist pump.
Booyah!

We were far from over.

He caught me staring at the expensive piece of jewelry on his wrist and quickly dropped his hand. As if settled on staying regardless of my unexpected presence, he shuffled to the table and screeched out a chair far, far away from me.

Jessica and Davian returned with a tray of barbecued wings and leg quarters, a pile so huge they both had to balance it to the table.

“Hellz yeah!” Mark, Ninety Miles’ drummer, shouted. “Been waitin’ for this all day.”

“You’re just a natural glutton,” Zach said, rolling his eyes.

As everyone pulled out chairs and settled in, two women I immediately recognized as Jessica’s ‘where thou goest I goest’ girlfriends, scurried into the room with muttered apologies for being tardy. One short and blonde, the other tall and brunette.

Jessica claimed the chair right next me, while Davian sat across from her, beside Styro. Benny and his plastic date sat in between Davian and Leo, Ninety Miles’ bassist.

Jessica’s brunette friend took the seat on the other side of her, but the blonde went out of her way to sit beside Xavier. Almost imperceptibly, he stiffened when she tossed her hair over her shoulders and gave him a coquettish, lip-biting smile, one hand not so subtly disappearing under the table. It was then I noticed the pink painted fingernails.

It was her
. The girl he was in the hall with last night.

Feeling like I was about to be sick, I averted my gaze and focused on the empty white dish in front of me, drawing in a deep breath and releasing it slowly to calm my aching heart.

Why did I come? Stupid. So damn stupid.

I felt warm breath and lips on my ear, “Are you okay, sweetie?”

This wasn’t coming from Jake’s side, it was coming Jessica’s. Why were her lips touching my ear?

I slightly moved my head and shifted my gaze to the side to look at her. She was so soft and fair and ethereal, like if I reached out a finger to touch her it would go right through her. “Ah, yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

And then her fingers were tucking a loose tendril behind my ear as she addressed her father across the table. “Daddy, we have a new face at the table this week. Alina. She’s a longtime acquaintance of the band.”

When I slid my eyes across the table, they collided with Davian’s instead of Benny’s. He was shooting for neutral, barely achieving it. The look he was struggling to mask, I knew it and knew it well.

He wanted me. In this minute. He wanted me naked and beneath him.

My stomach tightened, a burning desire creating a riot within me. To avoid having our lies revealed, I broke his stare, only to smash right into Styro’s, who was wearing this deep smirk I wanted to punch clean off his face, because he knew. He knew what was going on here. He knew what the game was. His creepy, daunting ass always seemed to know everything.

Benny, who’d been trying to sneak a barbecued wing onto his plate, raised his head, searching for the new face, then settled on me. Decorum lost on him, he licked barbecue sauce off his fingers as he asked, “Aren’t you T’mar’s?”

Oh God, please don’t tell me he knew about the deal with Lion for Ice Steam.

“I have a contract with him, yes.”

Fortunately, Benny was more interested in getting the dinner started than small talk. “Hmm, stick with him. He’ll take you to higher heights. ” Then he waved an impatient hand. “Can I go ahead and take the first bite? I’m famished. All this food’s just sitting here getting cold.”

Everyone at the table laughed with head shakes, and I assumed this was usual of Benny.

“You know we have to say grace first, Daddy,” Jessica chided.

She held out one open palm to me and the other to the brunette beside her. The rest of the table followed suit, Jake taking my other hand in his.

“Anyone other than Davi or Xavi would like to do the honors this week?” Jessica asked.

I arched a brow at both names.
Oh, the irony.

When seconds ticked by and no one volunteered, Jake muttered, “What a bunch of pussies. I’ll go.” He cleared his throat. “Dear Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, You are total
bad ass,
and the devil is a punk. Uh-huh. Kick his fiery red ass for us, get him off our backs and keep our awesome lives awesome, because You are the
Boss
of total awesomesaucery
awesomeness. Dear God, you reign. Dear God, you rule. Dear God, you
rock
!!! A-men.”

All the men at the table shouted, “AMEN!” with a string of whistles and hoots.

Goddamn Jake.

Jessica didn’t seem pleased as she sighed and wearily mumbled, “You may dig in.”

I could understand her frustration, but these were rock stars, not genteel boy scouts.

I bumped her shoulder with mine. “Hey, they’re boys. Just because they don’t say it out loud doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate it.”

There was something about the girl that I liked. I should be hating her for stealing my soul mate, but the warm air surrounding her didn’t allow it.

I daresay, so far, aside from Danni, Jessica was the first person I took a liking to in L.A. And I shouldn’t, because I would ultimately be screwing her over.

Peeking over at me, she gave a cute scoff. “They’re ungrateful dogs. If I wasn’t addicted to cooking large, I’d have quit this Sunday ritual a long time ago.”

I said, “Okay, if you wanna see how much they look forward to this, quit. Just for one Sunday. Don’t say anything to anyone and let them show up to see an empty table, with a single mint on a tray.”

A grin broke out on her face and she all but wiggled in her seat at the idea. “Oh, to see the look on their faces!”

“What are you two whispering and giggling about?”

This was from Xena. She was seated down the other end of the table between Tex and her brother. The bitchiness was gone, but I had no idea if she was secretly plotting my demise. Xena had many faces.

Jessica tittered and winked at me. “Devious plans.”

Tex spoke around a meaty chicken leg. “Jess, you’re a good girl, you don’t have a devious bone in your body.” He pointed the chicken leg at me. “That one, however…I’d keep my distance if I were you.”

“Tex,” I growled, irritated, “if you allude to me being evil one more time I’m gonna slap you across the face with a pancake.”

Jake choked out a laugh, while the brunette and Xavier’s blonde both gasped, as though they couldn’t believe some nobody from nowhere would have the audacity to address the great Tex Laklin so rudely.

“
Oooh
, I’m scared,” Tex said, waggling his fingers like a ghost and widening his eyes.

I couldn’t understand what the dude’s problem was. Ever since that night out on the balcony, he has developed a strong aversion to me for whatever reason.

“Oh my God,” murmured Jessica through a quiet laugh, “I’ve known you for less than an hour and I already love you.”

Without thinking, my eyes flick across to the Davian. He was glancing somewhat worriedly between me and Jessica, as if trying to understand what the hell was happening.

But I had no problem being Jessica’s buddy. You don’t always have to hate someone to screw them over. In fact, half the time, the people we screw over are the ones we actually do care about.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Xena leaned forward and looked down the table to see who I was looking at. Xena looked from me to Davian and then Jessica. With a slight crease between her brows, she straightened her posture and peered at her brother, who was looking at no one but his macaroni pie, shoving forkful after forkful in his mouth in quick succession.

Xena could watch and assume all she wanted, I wasn’t intimidated.

Davian looked away first, firing up a hushed conversation with his soon-to-be father-in-law, who was ignoring the entire table and stuffing his face much like Xavier. This prompted me to look down at my own plate, realizing I was the only one
not
eating.

Reaching for a bowl of green salad, I dug in like everyone else.

Dinner progressed in the fashion one would expect a table of boorish, immoral, dissolute men would: loud, raucous, crude jokes through full mouths, unapologetic belches, lots of “perfect tits” and “sweet piece of ass” tossed around, lots of empty threats and bets thrown at each other.

I tried to ignore Jessica and Davian’s feet-loving under the table, and their open flirtatious glances to each above the table.

Davian’s neck was stiff as he showed off with his new fiancée, which told me he was straining to avoid my glare.

I kept transferring said glare from him to Xavier, who had eaten to his content and was now staring off at nothing while his blonde chatted animatedly with Xena.

I wasn’t sure who I was madder at: Xavier, for moving on so fast from me to that fame-hungry opportunist, or Davian, for shamelessly flirting with Jessica right in front of me.

“…was
so
like that shocking and disappointed feeling I got when I found out Ezra was A.” This was the blonde speaking to Xena.

Hating the grating, nasal sound of her voice, I leaned forward and glowered down the table at her, butting into her conversation. “Ezra wasn’t A.”

As she started to respond, Jessica backed me up. “Ezra was just a reporter writing a true crime story on Alison.”

“I know, I wasn—”

“Yeah, it was that Shauna chick, wasn’t it?” This was from Jake.

“Nope,” Zach piped in. “Alison.
Alison
is A!”

Everyone paused and looked to Zach and Jake.

“Told y’all Ice Steamers are a bunch of fags,” said Mark, Ninety Miles’ drummer. “Grown ass, bad ass, clit-sucking rock stars don’t watch flicks like
Pretty Little Liars
.”

Davian smirked and raised a brow at Mark. “How do
you
know ‘Pretty Little Liars’ is the name of the flick they’re discussing?”

When all eyes turned to Mark now, his face went beet-red, his eyes darting to his band members who were watching him expectantly. He cracked under the pressure. “Alright, alright, I watch it, too, okay! But only to see Hanna. Chick gets me rock hard every time. Dying for a hook-up with that ass.”

“I
knowwww!
” Jake jumped in. “She got that porn-star look down pat, man. Whenever she’s on screen all I see is my big cock sliding into that pretty little mou—”

“Okay, this is where the grown-ups leave,” said Benny. His chair made a loud screech as he got up and addressed his daughter with a smile that said she meant the world to him. “Leftovers. Sending my assistant over for mine later. Yeah?” To the bands, “Boys, meeting in two hours at Guest Rest.”

And then he bounced out with his date. Quite an odd pair. One fat and round, one skinny and straight as a stick. A ball and bat.

As the men fired up again, and Jessica and Davian continued their foot-loving under the table, I decided it was time I ditched this feast, too.

I was about announce this to the table, but paused when I noticed Xavier pushed his chair back and stood, his height and looks slaying me.

If he was leaving, then I would wait for a few minutes after he was gone before I left.

Apparently, he was wasn’t leaving.

My heartbeat kicked into high gear when my peripheral vision caught him rounding the table and heading in
my direction.