Exhale (11 page)

“Besides, we’re going out drinking and talking about you behind your back. Even Iri’s coming. We can’t have you staying home and ruining our fun.”

Zoe tossed out a laugh, but her heart clamped at the lie she’d concocted about her cousin visiting. Adriene would be pissed off if she ever found out Zoe was really going to meet Gavin in Brisbane. Not because Adriene had anything against the guy, but because Zoe had kept quiet about it. Adriene loved a juicy story and would never let Zoe live down the fact that she had a date with the hot, young musician she’d been dreaming about.

But until Zoe’s Vice President contract was signed, sealed, and delivered, it’d be best to keep her extra-curricular activities quiet. Adriene would forgive her.

Zoe hadn’t heard from Gavin since the email he’d sent with her itinerary: a paid flight to Brisbane, limousine pick up at the airport, and a floor ticket at the gig. She had no idea what else was in store, but every time her brain got cranked up about it, she shifted gears to her whales and work. No need to set up expectations that could end in disappointment.

But the truth was, she couldn’t
stop
thinking about him, no matter how hard she tried. Though she hadn’t seen him in her dreams lately, her mind had made up for his absence by flashing images of him while she was supposed to be working on the boat. Such a beautiful, tempting distraction.

She sighed. “My return flight should get me back early tomorrow night—”

“Zoe, go and have fun with your cousin,” Adriene said. “Don’t worry about a thing here. My leg is fine. Dani and Elizabeth have been great. If, for some reason, you don’t make it back, Iri will go out with us on Monday. We’ll grab any DTAGs that pop up. I’ve got everything under control.”

Zoe glanced at Adriene’s cast. Her best friend’s leg had been snapped when a rival research boat captain rammed the Zodiac a couple weeks ago. Even with Iri there to pilot the boat, she still felt bad about leaving them. Like she was shirking her responsibilities, even though Randy had told her to take some time off.

Maybe she should stay home.

Adriene nodded ahead to the rolling blue waves. “If you don’t put this boat in gear, you’re gonna miss your flight. You need me to drive?” An impish glitter flashed in Adriene’s eyes, and Zoe knew there was no use arguing. Adriene’s mind was made up.

“No, Speed Racer, I think I’ve got it.” Zoe smiled. “Thanks, Adriene. You know I appreciate this.” More than she could ever imagine.

Zoe just hoped she wasn’t making the biggest mistake of her life by going on this date.

* * * *

Three hours later, Zoe got off the plane in Brisbane and rolled her overnight bag through the international airport to receiving. A guy in a black suit and chauffeur hat held up a sign with her name on it and escorted her to a limousine.

How big was this band of Gavin’s, anyway? They were opening tonight for a popular group from the States, so they must’ve had
some
kind of following.

As the driver pulled into the parking area at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, the scope of Just Breathe’s following became clear. Twenty-year-olds with stiletto heels, big boobs, and loads of tattoos crawled the place, their inked and pierced boyfriends trailing like Pavlov’s dogs close behind.

Glancing down at herself—black tee shirt, jeans, and a crappy pair of sandals that would likely get her feet trampled—she felt way out of place.

The guy walked her through the crowd, past the checkpoints and down to the orchestra section of the venue. He told her he’d find her at the end of Just Breathe’s performance and take her backstage. With a gulp, she nodded, and he disappeared into the crowd.

Good God. The place was huge. Had to be close to 10,000 people here, which was a far cry from Shaggy’s in Hervey Bay, where she’d first laid eyes on Gavin.

Although Just Breathe was the opening act, the girls around her squealed about Gavin’s latest magazine covers, interviews with him on YouTube, and the band’s upcoming album. There was a lot of debate about who he was dating. He’d been photographed lately with several different women.

So, Gavin really
was
a certifiable rock star. Yee haw.

The stage housed a JumboTron, blinding lights, and a Just Breathe banner hanging from rafters behind the drum kit. People were packed elbow to elbow into the orchestra section, and the nosebleed seats above had filled in.

When the lights dimmed, Zoe checked her watch. Already half past nine. The announcer took the mic to introduce the band, and the air in the place turned steamy as smoke machines coughed thick white clouds onto the stage.

The groupies went bat guano loco.

A guitar pierced through the screams, and the drums and bass kicked in. Zoe shuddered as stage lights rose like a dawning blue sun behind Mr. Perfect from her dreams.

Wearing torn and faded jeans and a black button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up, Gavin stood center stage on the JumboTron. One combat-booted foot balanced on a speaker monitor as he slashed out guitar chords. With wild black hair sprouting every which-way, tattoos slithering down his forearms to the wrists, and silver glinting from both ears and his bottom lip, he was a rock god.

Hands worked the strings and frets on the guitar, and his mouth hovered over the mic as if trying to pull an orgasm from it.

Teasing lips, barely parted

Hovered like butterfly wings

Without a care, you got me started

Pulling my breath with puppet strings

Then you left me wondering about us

The kiss that never was…

Your haunting lips

Like a fleeting memory

Just take it from me

After you left

I thought I was free

But a piece of you

Is stuck inside me

Jesus Christ. He really
had
written a song about her.

No wonder the girls were crazy for him. His dark, melodic voice alternating with hardcore screams, the way his muscles rolled behind the guitar like he was ready to take the entire crowd to bed with him…yeah.

The music and the palpable excitement sent her back to forgotten teenage years when she’d pined for the beautiful rock stars adorning her bedroom walls and dreamed of one day meeting them.

Looked like that day had finally come. Only fifteen years late.

* * * *

Anxious to get to his muse after the show, Gavin yanked the strap off his shoulder and shoved his guitar into the tech’s waiting hands. He grabbed a bottle of water and slugged some down, then shook his wet hair out with his free hand.

Mike fell in step on his left, grinning from ear to ear. Green eyes bright, he toweled the back of his neck. A mess of blond dreadlocks clung to his bare shoulders. “Brilliant gig, mate.”

“Yeah, it was.” Gavin smiled. Their other band mates, Trevor and Kaden, followed close behind, and they all made their way backstage, punching each other and laughing.

Only one thing would make this night perfect, and he hoped like hell she was waiting for him somewhere behind the door he opened. His Dreamsense had picked up the thread of Zoe’s song in the crowd, but he hadn’t been able to see her through the blinding stage lights and the sea of faces. As soon as he finished the meet-and-greet with the fans, he’d take his muse to the hotel for some one-on-one. Finally.

Walking into the green room, Gavin scoped the crowd for Zoe. A good fifty people milled about. Screams split the air as a couple of girls spotted him and his mates. Seconds later, a horde of scantily clad female bodies surrounded him, begging for autographs and pictures. He scanned the room again. Lots of groupies with red auras. No Zoe.

Shit.

Someone thrust a Sharpie into his hand. A pair of meagerly covered tits stared up at him, waiting to be signed. He put on his ‘I love my job’ smile. Careful not to touch with anything but the ink, he left his name on the girl’s chest. Another flash of cleavage appeared under his nose. Swallowing a sigh, he signed her too and cast about a third time for his muse. The girls chattered around him like buzzing bees, but he heard none of what they said. Just nodded when they looked at him expectantly. Smiled. Laughed a few times.

Where the hell was Zoe?

Beside him, Mike ate up the attention. He posed with groupies for pictures and dragged Gavin by the arm deeper into the fray. More smiles for the camera, more pretending he wanted to meet every fan, more dodging propositions for sex with excuses of having to be up early in the morning. Mike glanced at him and frowned but didn’t say anything.

The more the girls engulfed him, the more he wanted his muse to rescue him from this shit.

Gavin’s Dreamsense searched for Zoe’s song through the clicking camera shutters and bright flashes. He got a ping back and shifted his gaze to the far left corner of the room. Leaning his head to the side and standing on tiptoes, he picked through the throng until he found her.

Zoe stood alone, folded into the shadows, arms wrapped around her middle, watching the goings-on with wide eyes. Shit. The scene back here probably freaked her the fuck out. Hell, he was used to it, and it freaked
him
the fuck out.

He needed to move this meet-and-greet along before she bolted. He caught her gaze. She sent him a tight smile. Yep, she was going to run.

Josh, the band’s manager walked by, and Gavin tapped his shoulder. “The woman in the corner—Zoe—she’s wearing a black tee shirt and jeans, blond hair. Don’t let her leave without me.”

Josh turned to where he pointed and nodded.

While Gavin signed CDs and more chests, Josh wound his way to Zoe, a drink in hand, and offered it to her. She shook her head, he said something, and her shoulders dropped a bit. She accepted the drink with a smile. Good.

After ten more minutes of answering questions, Gavin was half-blind from the camera flashes. When he looked to Zoe once again, his blood pressure took a nosedive.

His ex-girlfriend, Scarlet, the Fyre Elemental who had led the Dreaming attacks on thousands of Wyldlings last week, headed straight for his muse. The one person he desperately needed to protect Zoe from had landed on her front doorstep. And the deadly heat Scarlet packed always led to catastrophe.

This was going to be a long night.

Chapter Ten

The scene backstage was straight out of a rockumentary. The place crawled with half-naked women, alcohol flowed like water, and excitement permeated the stuffy air like static cling. Zoe raised the drink Josh had given her and downed it in three gulps.

Gavin seemed pretty occupied at the moment. The women hanging off both of his arms showed no sign of retreat. Jealousy sparked, but she reined it back in. Of course the girls were all over him. Who wouldn’t be? And with so many beautiful and willing choices, he probably went through groupies like dirty socks.

Time to go. She’d catch up with Gavin later.

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contact list, looking for the number of the taxi company she’d pre-programmed before leaving Hervey Bay. A flare of heat swept through her scalp and sizzled down to her toes. She wiped her brow.

“I thought I told you to stay away from him.”

She flinched at the familiar, threatening purr. The redhead.

Though they were the same height, the woman’s imposing presence dwarfed Zoe. The mess of curls framing Red’s face bounced with a shake of her head. Light caught and held the deep crimson of her gorgeous mane. Red’s eyes glowed with an unearthly twinkle as she studied Zoe, a condescending smirk playing across her mouth. She was satisfaction-guaranteed-sex-on-a-stick.

No way Zoe could compete with someone like Red. No use trying.

Burying her attention in her phone, Zoe said, “I was just leaving.”

Where was the damn number? Her mind was so twisted in knots, she couldn’t remember the name of the taxi company. And in the confusion, her damn dyslexia decided to rear its ugly head. None of the letters on the screen made any sense. Always happened when she got flustered like this.

Zoe drew in the smell of the woman’s sweet cinnamon perfume and shuddered. The promise of sex thickened the air in the room to the consistency of whipped cream.

“It’s for the best. You don’t belong here.” Red licked her blood-colored lips and ran fingers with matching nail polish through her lush hair.

Definitely time to go. Zoe put her empty glass down on a nearby table and took three steps to the door. A strong hand landed on her arm. Her gaze slid over colorful tattoos, across an imposing body built for sin, up to Gavin’s beautiful, stormy face. He guided her behind him and put himself in Red’s path, squaring his broad shoulders.

Zoe stared at the center of his sweat-drenched back. The muscles under his shirt raised in relief through the black fabric. With one hand out to the side, fingers spread wide, he spoke quietly to the woman, and she replied. Zoe strained to hear the exchange through the pounding blood in her ears.

“Don’t you dare start any shit with me, Scarlet. I told you to leave me alone.” A thumb jabbed toward the exit. “You’re not welcome backstage at my shows.”

“I think Trevor would disagree.” The woman—
Scarlet
—laughed, her tone taunting and self-important. She peered around Gavin’s shoulder and made brief, stabbing eye contact with Zoe, then returned her gaze to him. “Who’s the new girl? Isn’t she a bit old for you?”

He blocked Zoe’s view by stepping right. “Nobody. Now get the fuck out.”

The woman’s hand slid up his wrist and over the fiery tattoos peeking out from his rolled up sleeves. The muscles in his forearms tightened, and he twisted away.

“But I have so much left to give you, Gavin. Let me show you. It’ll be like old times.”

He straightened. “You and I are history. Over and out.”

“Well, when you’re finished with her, I’ll be here. Trevor won’t mind. Maybe the three of us could have some fun.” Heat slithered between them.

Zoe dropped her gaze to the floor, then faced the door. She didn’t want to hear any more.