“I wouldn’t say that,” she said, turning toward the door in hopes of spotting a tall, lean drummer with a red and black mohawk headed in her direction.

No such luck.

“Okay, then I get the feeling that you don’t like me at all,” he said.

She stared up at him thinking he was incredibly perceptive, and he did something that completely threw her off guard. He removed his sunglasses and hung them from the neckband of his T-shirt. He had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Not a pale blue but a startling cerulean, with dark rims around the irises that made the color appear even more astonishingly bright. Why in the world would anyone hide those gorgeous eyes behind sunglasses?

“I get why you’re defensive of your friend,” he said, “but I spent a lot of time in her company last weekend and I learned quite a bit about her. She’s a manipulator.”

Nikki wasn’t a manipulator. Melanie opened her mouth to defend her, but then snapped it closed. Okay, she was, but Shade had no right to talk bad about her. He had slept with her—um, had sex with her—several times and hadn’t even bothered to call her the next day. Assholes had no right to judge anyone. Especially not people Melanie cared about.

Shade lifted a hand to stop her from interrupting, and she could see the concern in his pretty blue eyes. What exactly did he have to be concerned about?

“It probably pisses you off to hear it from me.”

“Yeah,” she spat.

“But you know it’s true.”

“She’s just misunderstood.”

He grinned crookedly. “How did she manipulate you into believing that?”

Melanie glared at him. She didn’t care if he had beautiful expressive eyes or that she almost thought of him as a human being when he didn’t wear the sunglasses that hid them—she was not going to sit there and let him bad-mouth Nikki when Nikki wasn’t present to defend herself.

“I’ve known Nikki for a long time,” Melanie said. “I obviously know her better than you do.”

“I don’t deny that. That’s probably why you don’t see what she’s doing to you.”

“I know exactly what she’s doing to me,” Melanie admitted, but she sure didn’t want Shade to know that she was a slave to Nikki’s crazy whims. Unfortunately there was no way around it, because he’d find out as soon as Gabe returned. “That’s why I asked Gabe to kick her the fuck out of the stadium, because I knew she’d manipulate me into letting her stay.”

Shade’s eyes widened, and then he burst into raucous laughter.

“What are you laughing about?”

“You surprise the hell out of me, little woman,” he said.

She hadn’t thought that the man could possibly raise her ire any higher, but apparently she’d underestimated his talent for pissing her off. “Little woman?”

“Big woman?”

“Big woman!”

“I’ll just shut up now. I came to offer a truce, and it seems I set off a couple of loose cannons instead. Maybe one day we’ll get off on the right foot.”

“I doubt it.” She polished off the last swallow of Gabe’s beer.

“If you weren’t dating the man I respect more than any other, I’d kiss the sass right out of you.”

“And it would earn you a fat lip.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure it would be worth it.”

Her eyes narrowed. “If you really respected Gabe, you wouldn’t speak to me with such disrespect.”

“I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. Usually when a beautiful woman talks to me the way you do, it’s to get my attention so I’ll fuck her senseless. But I think you genuinely hate my guts. I’m not sure how to handle you.”

He was not helping his cause here. “You don’t need to handle me. You don’t even need to talk to me. What you need to do is apologize to Nikki, but I doubt you have the class.”

A commotion at the entrance announced the arrival of the rest of the band and a few women Melanie didn’t recognize. She did spot a familiar mohawk above the crowd that was headed in her direction, however. When Gabe appeared at Shade’s shoulder, the exasperating vocalist looked glad to see him.

“Does she bust your balls like this?” Shade asked.

“She’s more likely to lick them than bust them, but I’m not as stupid as you are.”

Melanie saw the flash of hurt cross Shade’s face before he snatched his sunglasses from his neckband and crammed them back onto his face. “Yeah, well, we can’t all be fucking geniuses.” He was gone before Gabe could catch his arm.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Gabe called after him.

Shade lifted his hand over his head and directed a pronounced middle finger in his direction.

Gabe sighed and took his beer bottle from Melanie’s hand, pressing it to his lips and tipping his head back and back until he realized it was empty. He shook the bottle at her, a brow arched in question.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was thirsty.” She rose from the chair. “I’ll get you another.”

“Are you tired of me playing my rock star card already?” he asked. “Jordan!”

He extended his arm, holding the empty bottle out and waited and waited and waited some more. Melanie drew her lips further and further into her mouth with each passing moment to prevent herself from laughing. Eventually Gabe turned toward the bar and sighed at the young man talking to a very pretty and very pregnant woman.

“Jordan!” Gabe called again.

The young man started and cringed when he looked in Gabe’s direction. He was soon on his way across the room with a fresh Corona and an apology.

“Sorry about that. Did you want anything?” he asked Melanie as he took Gabe’s empty and handed him a replacement.

“I’ll just drink Gabe’s,” she said.

“Not if I finish it before you get the chance,” Gabe said. He caught Jordan by the shirt when he started to hurry off again. “Bit of advice, Jordan.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t encourage the gold-digger.” He nodded slightly toward the pregnant woman who now had the band’s bassist by the arm. Owen looked like he was prepared to lop off the appendage just to escape her.

“She’s sweet,” Jordan assured him. “And pretty.”

“And pregnant.”

Jordan shrugged. “So?”

“And looking for someone to take care of her.”

“Not really. She’s just down on her luck. Sorta like me. I don’t have any gold for her to dig. So no worries, right?”

Gabe grunted and when the pregnant girl’s gaze landed on him, he released Jordan’s shirt and immediately grabbed Melanie out of her chair. He gave her an enthusiastic hug, his beer bottle pressing against her lower back. She could feel the cold wetness through her shirt.

The pregnant woman scowled at Gabe, but offered Jordan a bright smile as he returned to his station.

“Not that I mind you hugging me,” Melanie said, “but I have to think you have ulterior motives here. Who’s the pregnant woman?”

“Lindsey.”

“Oh, so that’s Owen’s girlfriend?”

“No. Owen’s gold-digger.”

“She doesn’t look like a gold-digger,” Melanie said.

Lindsey was wearing cheap clothing and no make-up. She did look a bit desperate as she clung to Owen’s arm. Jordan chatted with her exuberantly while he mixed her some beverage—presumably non-alcoholic in nature. His attempts to regain her attention were mostly unsuccessful as Lindsey tried to keep Owen from darting away.

“She showed up a couple of days ago and decided to stay,” Gabe said. “Even though no one wants her here.”

“Well, I think Jordan likes her,” Melanie said. “Is it his baby, then?”

Gabe shook his head. “He’s the only guy in the room who couldn’t be the father.”

Melanie puzzled over that statement for a full minute. “The only guy in the room?”

Gabe scanned the room, taking in the four members of his band and even stopping on a guy in a cowboy hat who Melanie thought was the bus driver she’d met briefly in Tulsa. Gabe nodded. “Yep.”

But Gabe was in the room. Surely he meant to exclude himself?