Addicted to You(18)

He grinned, and okay, he was kinda cute. Still not my type, but attractive enough.

I smiled back and waved my hand in the direction of the stage. “I wasn’t ignoring you. I really didn’t hear. It’s kinda loud.”

He leaned closer, like he was sharing a secret, and said, “It drowns out my crappy singing.” Then he straightened back up and added, “And I’m glad your ignoring me wasn’t intentional.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “My ego sincerely thanks you, even if you’re just being nice.”

Okay, so I was kind of seeing his appeal. I mean, he was no Colby, but he did have a certain charm. “I’m not just being nice. I really—”

“So I see you met Gabe.” Landon slipped up next to me.

“Actually, she has yet to tell me her name.”

I opened my mouth to answer but Landon beat me to it. “This is my friend Isla.”

Gabe glanced at Landon, then back at me, which suddenly made me remember my friend.

“And this is Taylor,” I quickly added.

“Well, it was nice meeting you both.” Gabe smiled, his eyes drifting back to Landon, then returning to mine. “Maybe I’ll catch you before last call. We can have a drink or something.”

I wasn’t sure if he was talking to Landon or me, so I just nodded and mumbled a quick “Nice to meet you,” then started making my way past him. Which was a challenge again, now that he wasn’t there to part the crowds. But thankfully we weren’t far from our table.

As we approached it, I noticed several of the guys had vanished, except for Matt who’d been focused on the stage and Colby who looked pissed at the world. Everything in me wanted to comfort him, but lately I couldn’t even do that. But at least I could give him some support by letting him vent.

I slid into the booth next to him and nudged his shoulder with mine. “What’s up?”

His body felt tense and didn’t so much as budge in my direction, but his gaze flicked to me. “Nothing much.”

“Where’d the guys go?”

He shrugged. “Probably looking for girls, but good luck with Mr. Rock Star working the crowd.”

I glanced around then to the stage where Gabe was back at the mic, talking with his bassist. “Looks like the floor’s clear for them now,” I teased then nodded to the stage. “He’s done working the crowd.”

But Colby remained grumpy and didn’t even crack a tiny smile, as he mumbled. “Because you sat down.”

Wait—was he seriously jealous? Is that what this was? Here I thought he was upset or having a bad night and he was jealous? I bit down on my lip so I would A) not smile, and B) not laugh.

A week ago a jealous Colby was nothing more than a fantasy. But now it was almost comical. I secretly loved that he had a hint of possessiveness leaking through, but come on, over the wannabe rock star? There was zero competition. And how could Colby not know that?

I wasn’t sure how to respond, or if I even should, but the music started just then. It was a loud, crowd-pleasing opener that would be impossible to talk over anyway.

After that song wrapped up they did a quick introduction, then led into another song, but this one had a mellow, body-swaying kind of rhythm. Gabe’s voice was almost hypnotic, making it easy to get lost in the melody. As it drew me in, I found myself slowly sinking into Colby. And as I did, he relaxed as well, our bodies meshing together perfectly. Then the craziest thing happened. His hand settled on my thigh. And I held my breath, scared to ruin the moment with a reaction. But as I became more confident it wasn’t an accident, I slowly exhaled, finally allowing a smile to tug at my mouth.

A song or two later, Gabe got the crowd amped by engaging them in conversation. He shouted a few questions, received the typical “We’re more drunk than sober” type of answers. But my mind was still fixated on Colby’s hand, so I hardly heard nor cared what Gabe said until I thought I caught my name.

“So this one is a little something I wrote called ‘Girl Lost,’ and—well, I hadn’t planned to play it tonight, but what can I say? Thanks for the inspiration, Isla.”

Colby stiffened again, and it was confirmed. Gabe had said my name. Clear as day. I focused my attention on him, not because I’d fallen victim to his charms but because I was baffled as to why this random guy would find me an inspiration.

I strained to hear the lyrics over the band and the crowd, but only caught bits here and there. Something about a girl looking lost in the crowd, but when he sees her he thinks he’s found some girl he’d dreamt about. But then she disappears and he can’t find her again, even in his dreams. And the chorus changed from the story of a lost girl to the girl he lost.