Five Weeks (Seven Series #3)(117)

“Hi, Izzy!” She gave me a quick hug and then got lost in Reno’s thick arms.
“Are you two hungry?” I asked. “We’ve got steaks on the fire.”
“No, we had Sonic on the way over.”
Lexi snorted. “Reno couldn’t wait, huh?”
He leaned forward. “When a man’s hungry, he eats.” His hands slipped around April’s waist, and she blushed wildly.
“Oh, Lord. You two are going to set this place on fire,” I said with a grin.
Denver returned and sat on the stool in front of Maizy. She grasped his head with her hands, forcing him to turn his head in different directions. It was good to see a wolf take over as a watchdog for a young girl, even if she was human. I’d heard it was a strong bond and that the male would fight to the death for the life he vowed to protect.
Austin kissed Lexi on the cheek as their spontaneous dance ended. He turned his back to me to face Lexi, sipping his cold beer. Some of his tattoos peered out from the sleeve of his shirt, and her fingers smoothed over them. The way she looked at him told me she had eyes for no other man.
“I like your hair shorter,” Lexi yelled out over the noise. “Looks good on you.”
I pinched the ends of my hair, which fell below my shoulders—still long, but not as long as it once had been.
“Ivy’s pretty handy with the scissors,” I replied.
People moved toward the stage when a finger tapped on the microphone a few times.
“I wonder who’s playing,” I mumbled. Jericho’s band wasn’t scheduled to go on until tomorrow night, and the other two bands that played in the bar didn’t have a show scheduled this week.
When Jake walked onstage, the jukebox cut off. “Ladies and gents, we have an unexpected surprise for you this evening.”
“Free beer!” someone shouted, and laughter followed.
“Hop on, Peanut.” Denver patted his shoulders and Maizy threw her legs over them, holding on to his head and sitting up tall. He walked toward the back edge of the crowd, and the main lights lowered a little.
“No, not free beer, you jackass,” Jake said with a tight grin. “We have a familiar face with a new sound, and tonight you have the pleasure of hearing their debut album that will only be available to Breed. You can buy the songs online exclusively at our website, but this is Breed only. If this goes viral, I’m going to hunt your asses down.”
I was impressed that one of our own was making an album, which was unheard of.
“Put your hands together for Heat.”
Denver whistled with his fingers, and the crowd gave them solid applause.
“Oh my God,” I murmured.
The men shuffled onto the stage and hooked in their equipment. Jericho stood with his back to the crowd, wearing the sexiest pair of jeans I’d ever seen on a man. They were cut up, revealing a peek of black underwear. A long chain hooked from the back pocket to his belt loop, and the lights overhead cast shadows on the ropes of muscle on his toned arms. Women screamed and threw up their hands, forcing me to lean to the left so I could get a better view.
My heart raced as I watched the girls gyrate to the beat of Joker’s drums. Jericho kept his back to the crowd, strumming his guitar sexily, and it was then that I noticed April screaming for Trevor.
“He looks so good up there!” she said excitedly.
Trevor had on a pair of sunglasses, his hair gelled in different directions, and he was wearing a button-up shirt with a pair of oxford shoes. He looked like a rocker in disguise behind clean-cut clothes, and that had several women gravitating toward him.
Jericho turned his head, peering over his shoulder and delivering his signature panty-dropping smile.
He seduced with his wanton voice, singing into a microphone with his back to the crowd and a blue light enveloping him like a cloak. No one rushed the stage, but a few were beginning to recognize him. Jericho tilted his body to keep his tattooed arm out of sight. He continued engaging with the microphone stand, making love to it with words that rolled out in a sound I could only describe as sexrock. A steady beat, slow and rhythmic, increased in tempo as it would during lovemaking. His lyrics melted like honey into the mic and sweetened the crowd.
As fast as I could, I ran out of Howlers and sped away in my car.
***
“Nervous?” Jericho asked, watching Trevor retie his shoes for the twentieth time. “It’s not like you haven’t done this before.”
“Yeah, but that was a larger crowd,” Trevor said, leaning forward in the chair where they waited backstage at Howlers. They were going up in a few minutes to introduce their new sound as part of a “sneak peek” promo Jake had arranged.