Resisting Velocity (6 page)

A moment later, it swung open, only to reveal Lola Maguire—fangirl, groupie, and one of his many exes—in lace panties and a clingy camisole. Her eyes were rimmed in kohl, her lips were pink and glossy, and her blonde hair fell around her face in untamed curls. She always looked innocent, like an angel, but deep down she was the devil’s mistress. She was also a wolf—and one Zane had screwed around with plenty of times. But Lola had always wanted more. A mate.

And Zane had never been ready for that.

Not until Charlie.

“Hey there, Zane.” Her voice was a husky purr. She stepped closer, fingertips brushing against his chest, bringing with it plenty of memories that meant everything to her, but not much to him.

He flashed a small smile and strode past her, towards a huffy looking Parker, who was probably getting ready to get lucky. “Sorry for this,” he said by way of apology as he gathered up the feminine clothes strewn across the floor and shoved them into Lola’s arms. Her surprise was enough to make him nearly laugh as he ushered her out of the trailer.

She stood on the stairs, looking up at him in shock. Like how dare he throw her out? Well he just did. “Sorry, pack business. See you at the show, Lola,” he said and promptly shut the door in her face. He heard her squeal and stomp off, but a minute later, heavy knocking made him peek back out.

Micah shouldered past and Zane locked the door behind him for good measure. “Damn. First Charlie, now Lola. What is it with women these days?”

“Someone was going to luck out.” Zane jabbed a finger in Parker’s direction.

“You don’t want her,” Parker said, his brows pinched together in a frown. “Don’t see why I can’t sample her.”

“You can, just another time. I’m sure if you lay on the charm, she’ll forgive you, but right now we’ve got business to attend to. In case you hadn’t noticed, Charlie flipped her shit. She’s parading around in short-shorts and a very revealing top, acting worse than a hormonal groupie.”

“He’s not lying, you can see
everything
,” Micah said.

Parker perked up. “Where do I sign up?”

Zane shot him a death glare. “She’s bored. When young wolves get bored, they get destructive, and that’s exactly what she’s doing. She’s trying to teach me a lesson, make me let her go. But I know if she leaves, I’ll never see her again.” And that was a shot to the heart. “So I need to give her a job to do. Keep her busy. So we’re moving up Plan A—some crazy stalker trying to kill me—to tonight.”

“What’s Plan B?”

“We’ll figure it out when we need to.”

Popping open a couple cans of beer, they sprawled out on Parker’s couch and together, the three of them burrowed through ideas. After about an hour, they settled on one.

“This could be dangerous, Zane.”

“It could be, but it won’t. We’ll make sure the bomb won’t go off until the crowd has cleared out a bit. If we do this right, no one will get hurt. But we need to scare everyone and you’re the only one with this kind of experience.” He wasn’t sure, exactly, why Micah knew anything about explosives, but he was always the one to plan and oversee their light and fireworks shows. “I trust you, Micah.”

“Great.” He didn’t sound pleased.

“This
will
work,” Zane said firmly.

“The God of Rock has spoketh.” Parker smirked.

“Damn right.”

“And where do I come in?”

“Take some red paint and fuck with my trailer. The more dangerous it looks, the more threatening, the better. Remember, the stalker is out to get me.”

“And Benji?”

“I’ll worry about Benj. I’ll keep him busy. You just do what you have to do. Let’s make this work, guys. Let’s give Charlie exactly what she wants—a job.”

“I still wanna see her half-naked.”

Zane huffed. “You probably will, Parker. Just don’t drool or else I’ll kick your ass.”

“No promises.”

“This is an awful lot of work for a girl,” Micah said.

But it wasn’t just any girl… “It’ll be worth it, guys. Now let’s get ready for the show.”

***

“I am
not
insane.”

Charlie chanted the words over and over, both out loud and in her head, as she left Zane’s trailer behind. Her new mantra both emboldened and terrified her. Weren’t crazy people usually the ones that had to reassure themselves of their sanity? Since when did she wander around looking like she should come with her own pole? Never. She wasn’t that sort of person, but…

She shook her head fiercely. Screw it. Tonight was hers. She was going to let loose, have a little fun, and show Zane who was boss in the process. Even if she did look a little…different.

Giddiness rushed through her veins like a shot of adrenaline, a mix of panic and delight at the prospect of tonight’s show. For the first time, ever, she was going to be able to enjoy the concert as just another fan. Sure, she was a fan with full security access and backstage passes that other people would kill for, but tonight she was just another face in the crowd.

A gorgeous face, but hey, who was keeping track?

Pursing her painted lips and smiling at herself in the mirror, Charlie added a few dramatizing finishing touches to her make up before taking a deep breath. She could do this. She was not insane. She just wanted to see what the other side of the coin was like. The more dramatic, less sophisticated side of the coin.

On the way back to her trailer, she’d run into an equally underdressed and totally pissed off Lola. They’d eyeballed each other once—Lola was a skanky little thing who was always hanging on Zane’s arm and they’d never quite seen eye to eye—and then Charlie smiled brightly at the groupie. Kill them with kindness, especially when you wanted something from them.

“Got anything sexy I could borrow for the concert?”

“Depends on who you’re trying to impress.”

“Tonight? Anyone.” Charlie grinned wickedly.

She’d felt the other woman’s relief cut through the tension like a knife and Lola smirked right back. “I think I have just the outfit…”

Lola took her back to the RV-turned-home-on-the-road, slinking through the streets like an alley cat with Charlie hot on her heels. Pulling open her closet, Lola revealed a mass of perfectly slutty clothes and, amid giggles and obviously searching questions about the guys, the two of them picked out a killer outfit for the concert.

Standing in front of a cracked, full-length mirror, Charlie stared at her reflection. Half appraising. Half horrified. She wore an electric blue mini skirt that was practically painted on and illegal in most family embellishments, paired with a white button-up half shirt kept in place with matching blue suspenders. Peeking out from the low-cut neck of the blouse, you could see just enough of her lacy black bra to kick start the imagination.

And even being with Lola hadn’t been all that bad. Charlie had restrained herself from discussing anything that had to do with the band, because High Velocity’s business was their own and if Zane wanted groupies to nose around in his private life, he could invite her out to dinner. Again.

A smile danced at the corners of her mouth as Lola tried to one-up Charlie outfit wise and failed. Charlie almost wished she spent more time bonding with people her own age instead of hitting her job so hard.

Oh well.

Her stomach churned as she slid on a pair of chunky black heels and turned a full circle to see how it felt. It felt…odd, but tonight was all about feeling like a hedonist. She wasn’t allowed to feel awkward. Her wolf seemed to twist beneath her skin, anxious, and Charlie felt another flare of nerves.

“Let’s go, baby. Knock them dead.” Lola’s cat eyes gleamed at her, as if she expected Charlie to tuck tail and run. Charlie tipped her chin up and kept her head high, meeting Lola’s gaze evenly. Fearlessly.
Bring it, bitch.

And then they were off. They split up once they got there, but that was fine by Charlie. She strutted through the crowd like a peacock—she looked good, despite knowing she couldn’t do this, couldn’t pull this off, on a daily basis. And a wicked little part of her wanted everyone to know that she was something sexy.

Passing familiar faces on her way to a nice backstage seat, Charlie couldn’t help but wink at those faces and enjoy a couple of double takes from those who recognized her. Stopping short just behind Conner, she straightened, then barked in her usual, confident Charlie Banks tone, “Everything running smoothly, I hope?”

Oh, if only she’d had a camera.

Conner spun around, did a double take, nearly swallowed his tongue, then snapped to attention—in that order. “Yeah, things are running like they always do. I’ve got a whole load of respect for you; you always seemed to make things run like clockwork. Sleep has become a creature of the past and I know the guys are still coming to you for shit. I can do this, but Jesus, dude.” Conner’s voice rumbled like a growl and Charlie felt for him. But tonight wasn’t about playing boss.

Tonight she was here to party.

Patting Conner on the shoulder, she did a little circle and winked. “Think I’ll be able to raise the blood pressure around here a little bit?”

He snorted. “I’m going to have to assign you your own little section of security once Alexander gets a look at you.”

She feigned innocence and batted her dark lashes. “What do you mean by that?”

“Cut the crap, Charlie. You and I both know who you’re all dressed up for. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t take much more than two plus two to figure out who you’re going to strut around in front of. Be careful—you’re playing with fire.”

“Thanks, but I’ve known these guys a long time. I know them.”

“Honey, when a woman goes around looking like you do right now, she doesn’t know jack-shit about men. Especially when the man you’re dressing up for doesn’t care to share and he’s forced into said sharing anyway.”

Deflating a little, Charlie shook it off with a huff and a raspberry. “Party pooper. I’ll leave you to your job. I’m gonna go see Benji before the show.”

“Your funeral.”

Heading towards the stage, she spied her friend fiddling with his bass, cradling it like a lifeline. Charlie grinned and threw herself onto Benji’s back, looping her arms around his neck. They were friends, sure, but this out-of-character act made Benji stagger and stiffen beneath her. He turned his head to look at her. She winked.

“Hey Benj, what’s good?”

“Uh… Charlie?”

“Yep.”

“What are you doing?”

“Having fun, what’re you doing?”

“Getting ready to work. Think you could let me go?”

Releasing him and stepping back, Charlie’s eyes skittered out into the stadium, to all the fans that seemed to be pouring in like Noah’s flood. “Good lord, what’s the capacity here?”

“Fuck if I know.”

“Oh yeah, you’re just here to look pretty and fiddle with some strings.” She waggled her eyebrows, then inwardly winced as his demeanor darkened, his eyes turning sharp as knives.

“Fuck off, Charlie. You’re so full of crap tonight. What gives?”

“I’m bored.” What a lie.

“Oh, poor baby. What a reasonable reaction—get bored, so play dress-me-up-slut.”

Her jaw going slack, she could only stare at him. She recovered a heartbeat later and planted both hands on her hips, glaring at him. “Do you really think calling me a slut is going to make me feel friendly right now?”

“Do you think being offended is going to make
that
,” he pointed to her skirt, “Any less trashy?”

“I’ve received a lot of compliments on this,” she said, panic rising in the back of her throat. Shit. Why was she even acting like this? This was Benji, for Christ’s sake. She tried to reel herself back in, but she was already in too deep.

“Oh yeah, by who? Anyone that you actually respect?”

“What’s your problem?”

“My problem is that you’re not acting like your usual self and I don’t like it.” His words were a growl.

“Maybe I didn’t like the old me.”

“Okay then. Put on a bit of makeup, buy some new clothes. But lose the stripper shit.”

Her face heated up. “Screw you. You’re acting like an old lady.”

“And you know what I think you’re acting like.” Green eyes darker than a storm, the bass player stomped off in the other direction and Charlie’s stomach churned. Maybe this was a bad idea… She took a deep breath to try and calm her shaking nerves.

She was going to ride it out. She’d earned a night of fun. The rest could just be pretend. Still, it didn’t stop the worries that ate away at her insides like parasites, making her stomach ache and her sides clench.

Then a hint of spice touched her nostrils and her worries seemed to float away. Straightening out the mini skirt, she spun in Zane’s direction as her wolf tugged to get free, yearning to shed her human skin and go four-legged. The beast didn’t care about screaming fans or rock and roll; the wolf inside of her wanted to run and play games with Zane.

Too bad. She was about to play an entirely different game now.

Chapter Six