“We love that about you, Ven.” Heidi grabs my arm with a gentle squeeze. “But have fun with us tonight. If we get turned away at the door, fine. If they let us in, you are going to have fun.”
I bite my lip, my nerves taking over. For all my pomp and appearance, I’m not the badass I pretend to be. I’m the girl that made straight A’s and always did what her parents asked of her. Breaking the rules was never anything that interested me. The tattoos, piercings, and hair weren’t exactly a real rebellion. It was more of an expression. My parents may not know. They will be shocked for a moment, but they’ll accept it quickly.
I’ve just always been so focused on my art, always dreaming and imagining my next project, seeing the world around me, and wondering what I can do to recreate a scene or even a color. Breaking the rules, any of them, just never occurred to me.
“Live a little, Ven. Get out of your head and join us here in reality. Have fun and let loose. Your French dreams won’t disappear in a night.” Heidi smiles at me with hope in her eyes.
“All right.” I grin. “Ifwe get in, I will have fun. But no promises about getting out of my head. I can’t control inspiration.” I wave my phone,showing that I will be taking pictures if I see something inspiring.
“Wouldn’t have you any other way, Heaven.” The three of them envelope me in a hug just before we take our turn at the door.
My bravado slips the minute I stare up into the giant of a man. At least to me, he’s a giant. He’s well over six feet tall, making me feel more like a child than I already do most days, with shoulders nearly as wide as the door he’s blocking. Tattoos snake up both of his arms under the sleeves of his shirt and peeking out the collar to continue the path up his neck. “ID,” he barks loudly.
I swallow so hard, he probably hears me as his stern, dark eyes stare down at me. With a silent inhale, I steady my hand as I grab my ID from my back pocket. I hand it to him, waiting for him to send me on my way.
“Right this way, Miss Sinclair,” he says, handing my ID back to me. “They have a table set up for you and your friend in the VIP area.”
My mouth falls open in absolute shock. “They do?” I squeak.
The corner of his mouth twitches. I amfairly surethe scary man is trying not to smile at my surprise. He nods his head, as he steps aside for Heidiand me to enter. He moves to stop Louis and Garrett, who already have, what I assume to be fake, IDs in their hands.
“Um. They’re with me if that’s okay?”
He raises an eyebrow but nods again, allowing them through as well.
Once we’re inside, another large man leads us to a dark corner set up near a stage. “If you need anything, Mr. Masters and Mr. Jamison have taken care of it,” the man’s deep bass-filled voice tells us. “Your server will be over soon.”
When he walks away, Garrett and Louis both turn to me with slack jaws. “Knew these guys had money and influence but damn,” Garrett exclaims.
“Money can open lots of doors,” Heidi tells us all with a shrug.
“What should we do?” Louis asks.
“Don’t look at me,” I say with raised hands. “I’ve never been in a place like this before.”
I look around me again. The place is definitely not what I expected. It’s mostly dark with deep blue lighting running around the edges of the black floor. I’mquite surethe walls are black too. A long bar stretches across the furthest wall opposite our table with more blue lighting illuminating the bar top and glowing down from above.
“You guys are ridiculous,” Heidi laughs. “We order drinks and dance while we wait for your guys to show up. Looks like there’s going to be a live show tonight.” She gestures to the stage where instruments have been placed.
“Oh, that’s so cool,” I whisper. “Wonder if they’re any good?”
“This is a place where bands who are trying to make it play,” Heidi explains. Of course, she would know. “Producers and record executives come in and out of here all the time.”
“So, playing here is a big deal?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“It can be,” she shrugs. “It gets them noticed and on the radar. But it takes years to build a fan base. Playing here doesn’t fast track anything, but it helps.”
“That’s so cool,” Louis talks over the loud music playing through the speakers.
“Welcome everyone to Wrecked,” someone says through the sound system. “We got some music for you tonight from some friends of mine. Give a warm welcome to Sons of Sin.”
The crowd claps as some guys fill the stage. The lights in the club change from blue to red as the first chords are struck. The sound of Three Doors Down comes through the amplifiers. The music is the same, but the voices are clearly different. Song after song plays from Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Five Finger Death Punch, and even Lynyrd Skynyrd. They’re a really good cover band.
When it finally ends, the lights change to green, brightening up the place a bit. The four guys on the stage jump down with grins on their faces spread wide. My mouth falls open when I finally see them clearly.
They saunter over to the table we’re sitting, the grins never leaving their faces. “Oh my god,” I yelp when they sit. “You guys were really good.”
“Better than good,” Heidi tells them with a grin of her own.
