“I’ll have a rum and Coke with an order of sliders and fries. Have you seen Marnie? She said she’d meet me here tonight.”
Glancing around, she shrugs. “I can’t say that I’ve seen her.”
“Well, she’s missing a killer set. They sound fantastic.”
Glancing around, she smirks. “They can sure draw a crowd. You’re lucky you got here when you did. I think it’ll be a full house tonight.”
“I’ve been telling Sloane about these guys. She’ll have to catch them before she gets too busy with the festival.”
“Can you imagine if they hit it as big as Jax? Joe’s head will explode.”
Knowing our boss loves to tease about giving Jax Cartwright his big start, we all know it was one-hundred percent Sloane. But he won’t hear otherwise. There won’t be a customer in sight that won’t know about his hidden talent scouts.
“God help us all.” I laugh.
Rolling her eyes, she chortles, “I’ll be right out with your order.”
After she drops off my drink, the song switches to “Teenage Dirtbag”.
I can never NOT sing along to this one, so when the chorus hits, I belt it out with the rest of the crowd while the dance floor fills up.
I’m caught off guard when a guy walking by stops at my table and stares. “Holy shit. I think I’m hallucinating.”
Hmmm… he’s hot. His piercing blue eyes go wide as saucers as he looks me over from head to toe. Clearly, he’s high or something. I’ve never seen this man in my life.
Before I can respond, his face splits into a wide grin as he nods. “Straight-laced Sloane is slumming itandbelting about dirtbags?” Turning to the guy beside him, he says, “Hmmm… I never thought I’d see the day. Can you believe it? She must be sloshed.” Darting his eyes from his friend to me, he asks, “Do you think she needs help? I’ve never seen her so… so casual.”
The guy beside him quickly glances around the bar, searching for something. When his eyes land on mine, he asks, “Where’s Jax?”
Clearly, they know my sister. Maybe I should play with them a little?
“He’s in Portland.”
His head tilts to the side, and his eyes narrow when they land on my drink.
But his friend says, “Mind if we hang with you? There’s not much seating left.”
Gesturing at the empty chairs around me, I shrug. “Not at all. Have you been in town long?” I wonder just how well they know Sloane. If I’m being her tonight, the more info on them, the better.
“We got in this morning. I managed to snag that cottage you told me about, but Finn’s shacking up at the Sandy Shore Inn until the end of the week when his place is ready.”
Okay, so she knows them well. This could be tricky.
Sighing heavily, the man now known as Finn says, “Jax offered to let me crash at his parents’, but I’m ready for some space between tours.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m just glad we’re no longer on that tour bus and get to sleep in a real bed. It’ll be nice knowing where we are when I wake up for a while.”
“No kidding.” Finn chuckles and places his arms on the table in front of us. “Though this town could get small when we’re used to a different city each night.”
Damn, his arms are sexy. They’re long and muscular with a few tattoos peeking out from the sleeve of his black fitted t-shirt. Is that a barbed-wire tat wrapping around his wrist? It’s covered by a few silver bracelets, so it’s hard to tell. When he flexes inadvertently, his veins morph into corded stone, like the statue of David. Inadvertently, he lightly taps to the beat and when I look up, I find his piercing blue eyes staring into mine expectantly.
Aww shit. He caught me checking him out.
What the hell is wrong with me?
And when did I become a fan of arm porn?
Tearing my eyes away from his, I look over at his friend. “Seaside might be a tourist town, but if you stick around long enough, you’ll find out why the locals enjoy it.”
