I shake my head as I stomp behind the front desk, plopping down on the rickety stool set up behind the register with a sigh. I brace my elbows on the counter, resting my chin atop a fist and turning my head just so, so that I might be able to see Mac and Eloise in the practice room.
It starts off fairly normally, with Mac giving her the basics and showing her a few simple chords. After that, he takes a hands-off approach—far more interested in staring at her chest than in instructing her in any meaningful way.
Eloise is awkward with the instrument, and after thirty minutes of floundering, I can tell she’s getting frustrated fast. Her timid voice breaks the silence with a question, but instead of helping her, Mac grunts something unintelligible and licks his lips as he continues to ogle her.
Anger courses through my veins, strong and violent. The way he's behaving with her pisses me off, and it’s not just jealousythis time. It's obvious she wants to learn the instrument, yet he's too busy staring at her tits to teach her anything meaningful.
Fucking prick.
“Like this?” she asks again, positioning her wrist at an angle that looks uncomfortable even from across the room.
“Huh? Yeah, great.” Mac is all but drooling now, and a wave of rage overcomes me.
Fix her goddamn wrist, you moron.
But he doesn’t. Just mumbles something about her doing “really well” and lets her continue that way. I’m about to storm over there and have some choice words with my boss, but before I even rise from my seat, Eloise places the guitar down and asks where the bathrooms are.
Mac points them out, and Eloise disappears into the woman’s stall without so much as a look at either of us. I wait a few seconds to make sure she’s not going to immediately come back, then storm into the practice room.
I stop at the threshold, crossing my arms across my chest and leveling Mac with a glare.
“Hey, little rock star. Why the sour face?”
I frown, clenching my hand at my side. “You having a good time with yourlesson?”
“Sothat’swhat this is. You’re jealous.” He wiggles his brows. “I don’t blame you. Did you see the way her tits looked all pushed up against the guitar? The stuff of wet dreams, man.”
I fight the urge to shove my thumbs into his eye sockets. “I’m not fucking jealous.I’mconcerned.”
“About?”
“About you being more interested in her tits than fucking teaching her anything!” I seethe.
“Oh please.” Mac waves me off. “You know you’d be doing the same damn thing if you had the luxury of being in my position.”He laces his fingers behind his head and leans back with a dreamy look. “You think she’d give me her number?”
“No,” I growl, turning toward the wall and picking a random guitar off the rack, pretending to scrutinize it for fingerprints so I don’t jump across the room and hit him. “I think you need to get a hobby and worry about something other than pussy. And Iknowyou need to stop being such a fucking creep to Eloise.”
“Oh, you don’t know shit. She’s clearly into it. You see the big fuck-me eyes she was giving me?” Mac chuckles, clearly not understanding that he’s seconds away from losing his precious eyeballs. “Come on. You know you want to fuck her, too. Just imagine those big blue eyes looking up at you while her pouty pink lips are wrapped around your co?—”
I slam the guitar back into its rack, the motion filling the air with a discordant clanging. “Stop talking. Now.”
A haughty laugh is his response. “Don’t be such a killjoy. She’s famous for areason,Riot—and you and I both know it’s not because she’s the most talented of the bunch. She’s fucking hot, she knows it, and she leans into it. Why? Because it makes her oodles and oodles of money. She’s just a whore and a gold digger like the rest of them, and I don’t see the problem with having a little fun at her expense. It’s what she wants, after all.”
“Mac, I mean it. Shut the fuck up or I’ll?—”
“You’llwhat?” Mac taunts. “You’ll sucker punch me like that guy in Neon Valley and go to prison?” He rolls his eyes. “Your threats are empty, and you don’t scare me, little rock star.”
I stare at him, unblinking, my eyes darkening with barely restrained fury. All his earlier bravado fades as he takes in my murderous expression, and he gulps audibly, taking a small step back.A film of red casts over my vision, and I advance toward Mac with every intention to wrap my hands around his throat and end his miserable life.It would be so sweet. So nice to watch the light fade from his eyes…
I’m broken out of my thoughts by a throat clearing, and I turn my head over my shoulder to see none other than Eloise Marquette standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and her foot tapping angrily against the floorboards.
Shit. How long has she been listening?
“So, I’m a whore and a gold digger, am I?”
So basically all of it. Fuck.
Eloise throws her hair over her shoulder with a glare directed at Mac. “I won’t be coming back. You can keep the guitar for all I care.”
