He winks at me and takes my hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”
When we arrive, Axl is schmoozing with Jinny, but she also seems to be surrounded by all of Jagger’s brothers, too. “What the hell is going on over here?” Jagger snorts a laugh. “Are you guys trying to convince her to do a strip tease?”
Axl looks me up and down.
“Hey, eyes over here, my friend.” Jagger warns. “She’s mine.”
“I was just about to say.” Axl quips, not missing a beat.
“So, I guess you liked your birthday present.” Halen says, and it’s like the cat’s out of the bag. They’re not stupid. They know what we were doing the past hour that we disappeared.
“Oh, leave them alone.” Stevie whines, intoxicated, based on her stance. “Jagger, do you care to catch up to me?”
“Not on your life.” He says. “Come on. Let’s go do some schmoozing so that we can blow this pop stand.” He takes my hand in his and we do our rounds, mingling, and we even throw in a dance or two for good measure.
“So, were you impressed by the car?” Axl queries. Halen and Rush are standing next to him at the bar.
“Yeah, you wouldn’t believe the fucking hoops we had to jump through to get that thing.” Rush states.
“Thanks, man. It was worth it.” He slaps his brothers on the back.
“Well, no other gift would have made as much sense.” Halen says. “Why buy you a sports car, when you can build a better one yourself, right?”
“Good thinking.” Axl says. “Speaking of which...”
Jagger lifts a hand. “Oh, don’t start on that shit again. It’s my birthday.”
Halen rescues me by changing the subject. “How was Wesley Hopkins, anyway? Is he as much of an asshole as everyone says he is?”
I interject. “He’s very sweet.”
Jagger scoffs. “Yeah, to you, because he’s got a hard-on for you.” But the look on his face tells me that he’s only teasing.
“Who cares?” Rush whines. “You got the fucking deal. That’s what we were all in it for.”
“Exactly.” Halen agrees. “Hey, you should throw a party. Not lame, like this one, but a kick ass one, with Wesley himself, and a bunch of big wigs in the industry.”
“That’s not a bad idea.” I agree. “We could ask Stevie to invite some media to promote us and we could even hold a press conference.”
“We’d have to talk to Wesley about that.” Jagger reasons. “I’m not sure how much of a push he wanted, to start.”
“Wesley’s into promotion.” Axl says. “He’d be an idiot if he didn’t take an opportunity. And he’s no idiot.”
Jagger winces. “All the same, I don’t want to count my chickens. Every step is important here.”
“I’ll talk to him.” I wink at Jagger.
He looks at me like he’s still drunk on sex. “I’m sure you will.”
I reciprocate the look.
“Hey, can we amscray from this shit?” Jagger asks the circle, even though his eyes are still on me, still looking like he’d like to christen his Bel-Air with me on the way back to his place.
“Fuck it. Yeah. Go.” Rush says, letting us off the hook. “Stevie’s fucked, anyway. We’ll just lie to her and tell her you two closed the place. She won’t remember fuck all.”
“Thanks, man.” Jagger says.
“Just...make sure you say goodbye to mom and dad, at least.” Halen warns.
