Playing Patience (15 page)

“Megan’s coming to the show tonight,” Chet said as he helped me run some wires while we set up.

“What’s the deal with her? You getting some of that or what?” I asked.

“Pfft, man, she’s the best sex I’ve ever had. That girl’s a major freak. I’m talking about the biting, growling kind. I think I’m going to keep her. No, scratch that, I’m definitely going to keep her. At least until I get bored.” He laughed.

At least one of us was getting laid. Then I realized something. Patience had said before that she wouldn’t let Megan go to an underground club alone. Did that mean she was going to be there, too? I wanted to ask Chet, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If I asked it would look like I gave a shit if she was there or not, and I didn’t. I really didn’t.

So when we started to play and I saw her walk in with Megan, it wasn’t excitement I felt. It was annoyance. Mostly because she was there and she came knowing I’d be there too, but also because she looked so fucking hot I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. The prep-school Patience was gone, and in her stead was a sexy little vixen with a low-cut top and the tightest pair of jeans I’d ever seen a female wear.

I tried to keep my eyes away from her as I played, but every now and again they moved over her against my will, and I’d get the sudden rush of heat that ran down my spine, wrapped around my pelvic bones, and landed in the crotch of my pants. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I wanted this girl more than I’d ever wanted a girl in my life, but I couldn’t and I wouldn’t touch her. No matter how badly my body begged me to, I refused.

An hour later, she had some drinks in her system and was dancing on the floor with Megan. It was nice to see her smiling and happy even though I knew I’d have to take her home. Megan was obviously drunk out of her mind and there was no way in hell Chet was going to let her drive home, which was fine by me, considering there was no way in hell I’d let Patience ride home with her. I’d had a few beers, but I didn’t even have a buzz and once I saw the two girls partying hard, I started sipping my beer instead of drinking it.

I took my attention away from Patience for a bit and scanned the crowd. It was a full room and everyone was having a good time. I turned and looked at Chet and he threw his drumstick in the air. Show off. When I turned back around, I saw Patience talking with some guy. She had my attention from that point on. I openly watched as she flirted with the guy she stood next to. I suddenly felt tense all over. My arms felt stiff and my eyes were starting to burn from staring so hard.

The guy reached up and picked something from her hair and I saw red at the thought of his hands touching her. It took everything I had in me to stay on the stage and keep playing. She leaned forward to say something to him and bits of her cleavage became visible. Patience wasn’t the kind of girl to do something like that on purpose, although I knew girls who did. I’d been around women enough to know when they were obviously bending over just right to show some tit, but not Patience. She was smiling innocently back at him and had no idea the fucker was ogling her bare skin. He took her in with greedy eyes and slyly smiled down at her.

She looked up at him with big blue eyes and smiled and then he touched her again as he put a hand on her back. I saw her smile become uncomfortable for a second and then she seemed to relax. I didn’t. Instead, I missed a chord and then another right after that, which prompted Tiny to poke me with his guitar and question me with his eyes. He was silently asking me if I was okay. I wasn’t, but I nodded and continued to play.

The more time passed, the more I could tell Patience wasn’t herself. I couldn’t take my eyes off her and she was definitely acting strange. The playful flirting, the cleavage, and those painted-on jeans… none of it was her. Then she picked up a shot glass and slammed the liquid down like she’d been drinking her entire life. They say liquor takes away all inhibitions and she was making sure to melt all her insecurities away.

By the time our set was over, I was fuming. I couldn’t get off the stage fast enough. I set my guitar next to Finn and then jumped down from the stage. I made my way across the room to the bar where they were standing and talking. I took flirty boy in as I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from him. He attempted to say something, but I turned back toward him and eyed him hard. He must have seen the anger in my eyes because he shut up and turned away.

“What are you doing, Zeke? Let me go,” she slurred.

I didn’t respond as I dragged her across the room to the bathroom. She was more clumsy than usual, which did nothing but piss me off even more since I knew it was because she was drinking. I pulled her into the bathroom and let the door slam behind us. Finally, I let her arm go as I made sure there was no one else in the bathroom with us.

“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” She crossed her arms, which pushed her tits up even more.

“Yeah, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” I motioned to her body.

She looked down at herself, then back at me like she was confused.

“Megan dressed me. It’s no big deal. I blend in better this way.”

“The hell you do! I suggest you not let her dress you again. Those guys out there were practically waiting to rape you.”

“First of all, there were no “guys.” There was a guy, as in one, and he was actually kind of nice. Secondly, I can wear whatever the hell I want.”

“Of course he was being nice. He was too busy enjoying the fucking show to be a dick.”

“What show?”

“That show!” I pointed to her cleavage.

She sighed and sucked her teeth.

“Every girl in there is showing cleavage. I stick out more when I don’t. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, okay?”

“I’m not worried, but I’m taking you home.” I swiped my bangs out of my eyes and bit my lip ring in aggravation.

“I’m here with Megan. I have to ride home with her.” She glared at me with glazed-over eyes.

“Have you stopped to look at your friend lately? She’s drunk as fuck. Chet’s taking her home and I’ll take you.”

“Why are you suddenly talking to me? You ignored me for the last few days.”

“I didn’t ignore you and I’m talking to you because you’re about to do something stupid. Stick close to the stage and then I’ll take you home after the show. Just listen to me. I know the kind of guys that hang out around places like this, snowflake, and trust me when I say you’re way out of your league.” I turned and started to walk out.

“You mean guys like you?” she asked from behind me. “Do you think you’re out of my
league
, Zeke?” Her voice sounded sleepy and slurred.

I turned back to her. She was using the bathroom wall to hold herself up and the sadness in her eyes angered me.

“No, you’re out of mine.” I turned, left the bathroom, and didn’t look back.

Twelve

Patience

Zeke ended up being right about the jerk at the club. No sooner than I got back to the bar with Megan, he was trying to get me to go outside with him and give him a blow job. Sick bastard. I spent the rest of the show next to the stage, but not because Zeke told me to. I did it because I couldn’t peel Megan’s drunken ass away from Chet for five minutes.

Once the show was done, the guys packed up the stuff and we all walked out to the cars. Like Zeke had said she would, Megan literally fell into Chet’s car so I told her goodnight and went to stand next to Zeke’s car. I wasn’t happy about Megan getting too drunk to drive. I was planning on staying at her house since my sister was staying at her friend’s house for the night.

Now I was going to have to go home, and I could only hope I wouldn’t be bothered tonight. Chances were, since Sydney wasn’t home, my dad would come to my room tonight. Just thinking about it made my stomach turn.

When Zeke came over to his car, he said nothing to me as he pulled open the driver’s side door and jumped in. Once he cranked up his loud engine, I pulled open the car door and got in too. He sat and talked to Finn a minute about something I didn’t understand. It was almost as if they were talking in code. They were talking about selling the loud and getting the green. I assumed they were talking about music and making money playing. I never did understand the different kind of slang that bounced around.

Once we were on the way out of Mount Pleasant, he leaned down and turned on the radio. I watched the mile markers on the interstate as we passed them and counted down the time I had before I was back home in hell. I didn’t want to go home. I’d go anywhere. I didn’t care where it was if it meant staying away from home tonight. My dad would come to my room. He’d smell the alcohol on my breath, see the makeup on my face, and I wasn’t afraid to admit to myself that I was scared of him. He was changing. It was never innocent, what he was doing to me, but ever since I got arrested, he’d been vicious about it.

“You look deep in thought. What’s on your mind?” Zeke asked from across the car.

I couldn’t tell him what I was thinking, even though I wanted to. I knew in the back of my head I could trust Zeke. I knew I could tell him my secrets. He thought I was a privileged rich girl and while I did come from a rich family, my life had been just as hard as the people in his world. I wanted to tell him that. For some reason it meant a lot to me that he know I was never more myself than when I was with him. I needed him to know that Patience, the soccer playing governor’s daughter, was just an act, but the girl I was when I was just hanging out with him… that was the real me.

But as much as I wanted to spill my guts and free myself, I knew I couldn’t. Not just because of what Zeke might think, but because I had my mother and sister to worry about. If Zeke did spill the beans and tell, it wouldn’t be long until rumors about the governor started to circulate and make its way back to my house, to my mom.

“Nothing much. I’m just thinking about stuff.” I turned in my seat toward him. “Let’s go somewhere, anywhere. I don’t care where you take me. I just don’t want to go home yet.”

He looked over at me with his signature grin. His eyes filled with laughter.

“It’s after midnight. I’m pretty sure your dad’s already going to kill you,” he said as he switched hands on the steering wheel.

“Then I guess I better enjoy my last few hours alive, shouldn’t I?”

Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was how comfortable I felt with Zeke, but I was actually flirting. The words even sounded flirty when they came out. He looked over at me with a serious look on his face and then he shook his head.

“Don’t do that, snowflake.”

“Do what?” I asked.

“You’re flirting with me. I’m sure it’s the alcohol talking, but I’m no different from the guys at the bar. If anything, I’m worse.”

“What if I think you’re different?”

“Then you’re more naïve than I originally thought.”

We were rapidly approaching my house and I was running out of time to convince him to take me somewhere else, but I couldn’t think of a place for him to take me or a reason why I didn’t want to go home that sounded legit.

When we pulled into my neighborhood and I saw we were passing huge houses, I started to freak out. It wasn’t going to be good and I kept remembering what it felt like to be slung against the kitchen table and treated like less than nothing. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it. If I had to sleep next to the pool in my backyard I would, but I wasn’t going in my house with these clothes on and alcohol on my breath. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to say something.

“Please,” I said as calmly as possible. “Please don’t take me home, Zeke. I’ll go anywhere, anywhere but there.”

He looked over at me with a strange expression on his face, and then he pulled his car over on to the side of the road.

“What’s the deal? Why are you so afraid to go home? You can tell me anything, you know.”

I suddenly felt uncomfortable with the conversation and all I wanted was to get out of his car and away from my house.

“Just forget it. I’ll find somewhere to go.” I popped the door open and turned to get out.

His warm hand wrapped around my arm as he stopped me.

“Get back in here. You can crash at my place as long as you promise to be quiet. My dad will shit a brick if he sees me bring a girl home and I promise you my dad makes your dad look like a saint.”

He turned the car around and headed toward his house. If only he knew. My dad was definitely not a saint, and I’d face anybody or anything in his trailer park if it meant staying away from home for the night.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled into his yard. The lights in his trailer were out and I was finding it hard to maneuver my way to the trailer door. He reached out and grabbed my hand as we crept up the rickety steps. He put a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet, as he softly popped open his trailer door. The smell that welcomed me could only be described as foul and the small space felt suffocating.

The light above the stove in the kitchen lit a small area through the living room and made it possible for me to see there was no one in the living room anywhere. Zeke closed the door behind us, locked it, and then ushered me down a long, dark hallway.

“Be careful of the floor right here,” he whispered into the dark.

He pulled me through a doorway and then he shut the door behind us and flicked on a dim light. His room was small, but organized. There was a small twin-size bed, a weight bench, and a dresser that looked like the only thing holding it up was the clothes in the drawers. He went to his closet and pulled out a blanket and started laying it on the floor. I sat on his bed and unzipped my boots. Once I pulled them off, I stuck them in the corner and crawled onto the pallet that he made on the floor.

“No. I’ll sleep down there. You sleep in the bed,” he said.

Then he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it in the corner. He filled the small space to begin with, but once his chest was naked he somehow felt bigger. I took in his tattoos and wondered to myself what he would do if I got a closer look. I watched from the floor as he unbuckled his belt and pulled it off. He did this as he kicked off his boots. His eyes never left mine.