“Something about her parents not liking her dating a guy in a band. It causes a lot of problems for them. I don’t know why they let it get to them.” He shrugged and sipped a ginger beer. “Love makes people do stupid shit, I guess. Not that I’d know. I’ve never been dumb enough to find out.”

I didn’t say anything but nodded. My thoughts drifted back to Colton and everything I had just left behind in Georgia; a boyfriend, now an ex because he broke us with an affair with my now ex-best friend.

Life could be bizarre. And sometimes it just didn’t make sense. Yesterday I had been standing in a high-end dressmakers studio being measured and pinned for a debutante dress in preparation for a massive event in Savannah high society in six months’ time. Today I was in a dimly lit, alcohol pit of a bar, sitting at a table with the band with residual beer sparkling on my arm. I couldn’t help but smile. Apparently my summer adventure had begun.

“So tell me a story, H-bomb. What’s a good girl like you doing in a bar like this?” Heath asked.

As he took another sip of ginger beer, his beautiful blue eyes rolled over my dress and the string of pearls around my neck.

“H-bomb?” I couldn’t help but smile when Heath made the explosion gesture with his hands again. I rolled my eyes. “I do have a name, you know.”

“Ahhh, that’s right. Harlow-I’m-never-having-sex-with-Heath.” He grinned. I liked that he didn’t take himself too seriously. It was disarming. “It’s a rather long winded name don’t you think?”

“Absolutely.” I grinned. “You should hear my last name.”

“Tell me.”

“It starts with an F and ends in a U.”

He whistled and sat back in his seat as if I had pushed him. “Is it all guys you hate? Or is it just me that brings out the friendly side of you.”

“I don’t even know you,” I said.

My eyes dropped to his beautiful mouth and watched it curl into a smile. His straight, white teeth were perfect. And his dimples were too damn endearing for his own good.

“But it seems to me you make the girls around here bipolar. They either love you and will go to all kinds of ridiculous extremes to get your attention. Or they are stabbing you to death with their eyes and throwing beer at you.” Raising one eyebrow I met his gaze, staring right into his too-damn-beautiful eyes. “I plan on staying right here in the middle where it’s safe; impervious to your charms and just out of your reach.”

He started to laugh and I kind of hated him for being so damn hot.

“Bipolar?” He leaned closer to me, bringing with him his intoxicating warmth. “Can we at least be friends?”

“Does it come with the pre-requisite of sleeping with you?”

“No. I don’t sleep with my friends.”

“Then consider me your friend.”

Placing both elbows on the table, he rested his face on his strong forearms and looked up at me with twinkling eyes. “You know what H-bomb, my gut tells me you’re going to be my bestest friend in the whole world.”

He winked at me and I couldn’t help but feel like something had just begun.

Chapter Two HARLOW

I didn’t mean to stick around. But when the band returned to the stage I found it hard to leave. They were good. Really good. Plus Heath had promised me breakfast and a continued restraint from trying to sleep with me if I stayed to the end. He had lost interest in Candi and Bambi, and they had left in a huff at his indifference to them.

Piper was relieved to have someone other than scantily clad groupies or Heath’s one-night stands to keep her company and kept giving me drinks.

I looked around at the sea of faces, mainly beautiful Californian girls wearing little clothing, many of them hoping to catch Heath’s attention.

In the luminous white and blue glow of the stage lights he was breathtaking as he did an intoxicating version of Steel Heart’s ‘She’s Gone’. It was an oldie but a goodie. And it showed off his incredible vocal range, from a low baritone to a very high pitched tenor scream.

Holy hell, it gave me goosebumps!

He did it so effortlessly. So flawlessly. And like everyone else I was spellbound. By everything. The way he moved his body to the music. The way he grabbed the mike between his hands. The raw but perfectly pitched gravel of his voice. And if I was being honest with myself, I kind of fell in love with him a little bit. Right there. Right by that stage.

But I hadn’t come to California to have my heart broken and Heath Dillinger was a heartbreak waiting to happen. We could be friends. And I had a feeling that being his friend was going to be one hell of a ride.

His powerful, raspy voice drew my eyes to him and I realized he was looking right at me as he sang.

Goosebumps followed the surge of adrenalin tearing through me. I started to laugh and when I saw his dimples I knew he was smiling back at me mid song. Which was kind of strange since it was such a heartbreaking song.

Piper glanced sideways at me with a grin. The music was too loud for conversation but I knew what she was thinking. Heath hadn’t taken his eyes off me. Whatever that meant. But I had a feeling I had walked straight into his sexual crosshairs.

Three girls standing in front of us glanced over their shoulders to see what Heath was looking at and gave me the once over with heavily made up eyes. Their glossy lips were pouty and their expressions dripped with disdain. Obviously, I was a disappointment because when they saw me they scoffed and turned back to the stage with their noses in the air.

“Groupies!” Piper mouthed to me, rolling her eyes and laughing as Heath hit such a powerful note I thought the roof would cave in.

The crowd screamed with appreciation and as the band finished their set, they started chanting Vengeance! Vengeance! Vengeance! The band relented and did an encore, Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock n Roll’, which was a perfect end to a perfect show.

A swarm of adoring fans and scantily clad groupies descended on the band as they came off stage.

Piper looped her arm through mine. “Let’s go get a drink. It’s always a nightmare to get through the fans at the end of the show.”

At the bar they served us bourbon on ice, which was free, thanks to band’s bar tab.

“I noticed Heath doesn’t drink,” I said, smacking together my bourbon soaked lips and resting my empty glass on the bar.

Piper rolled her eyes. “The big jerk is on probation.” She knocked back the last of her drink and chewed on the ice. “Punched the shit out of some guy.”

“Why?”

“He has a hell of a temper.” She indicated for the bartender to refill our glasses. “A hell of temper. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met a more passionate guy. Once he took on two guys for picking on another dude, just because he thought two guys on one guy was so unfair. Another time, he leapt off the stage mid-song and took on a guy who was pushing a girl around in the crowd. He had watch them argue and when the guy shoved and slapped the girl and Heath flew off that stage with guns a blazing. Big dummy. Always fighting for the underdog. It gets him in trouble every time.” She held up her shot glass. “I’ve never seen him lose a fight though. Ever. You only need to look at him to see what a machine he is.”

We clinked our glasses and downed another shot of rich alcohol. Its heat spread across my chest.

As she slammed her empty glass on the slick bar top, Piper’s eyes crinkled across at me. “You’ve certainly grabbed his attention.” She grinned. “I’ve never seen that before.”

I didn’t get a chance to respond because Jesse snuck up behind her and pulled her into a bear hug. She squealed and laughed and then kissed him. It was easy to see that these guys would never grow tired of each other.

I used their preoccupation with each other to sneak off to the bathroom, where I checked my reflection in the grubby mirrors.