Walking into the dimly lit room, they followed the hostess to their table. Tall, with masses of hair, the brunette was obviously geeking out at having Schoolboy Choir drop by, though she managed to maintain her professionalism.
The waitress, on the other hand, giggled and tittered until Thea wanted to drive a fork through the woman’s voice box. Especially when the nitwit leaned down beside David, all but pushing her cleavage into his face. Thea gritted her teeth and handled it. She had to handle it; this wouldn’t be the first or the last time a woman came on to David.
Molly, seated across from her at the circular table, made a face. Thea rolled her eyes in return, well aware Molly had to deal with the same thing when it came to Schoolboy Choir’s rough-edged and rawly sexy lead singer. Molly stealthily mimed a stabbing motion just above the edge of the table. Almost snorting with laughter, Thea drew a finger across her throat.
“Hey.” David’s breath against her ear. “Why are you and Molly talking in secret female-speak?”
Stomach clenched from holding in her laughter, she raised an eyebrow at him. “Secret female-speak?”
“Incomprehensible to males, though done in plain sight.”
Wanting to haul him down to her mouth for unintentionally making it obvious he’d been paying attention to her and not the flirtatious waitress, she said, “It’s nothing you need to worry about.” Thea had never been jealous or clingy, wasn’t about to develop the bad habit now.
The lights dimmed a second later, and the concert started at almost the same time, the music intense and haunting. It was totally different from Schoolboy Choir’s hard rock, but the musicality was as impressive.
Sinking into it, David’s arm warm and strong at her back and her hand on his thigh, she only rose toward the end of the first break. Molly stood with her and they headed to the restroom. They’d timed it right and ended up being the only ones in there. Touching up their lipstick in the mirror, they chatted about the music.
“I’m so excited for you and David.” Molly’s smile was open, warm. “Seeing you together makes it obvious how right you are for each other.”
“I have to admit,” Thea confessed, “I’m having more trouble than I expected handling all the female attention he draws.” It wasn’t just the waitress tonight—she’d previously seen how certain groupies aimed for the Gentleman of Rock, determined to get under his suits.
Putting her hand on Thea’s forearm, Molly held her gaze with the rich dark of her own. “He doesn’t flirt, Thea, not with any woman.”
Thea exhaled, not realizing until then how tense she’d become during the past minute. “Thanks.” She closed her hand over her sister’s. “I know he’s a good man, but it’s difficult to watch the way women throw themselves at him, especially when I know they’re doing the same thing while I’m hundreds of miles away.”
A frown on Molly’s face. “Have you said anything to him?”
Thea shook her head. “I know the facts of life, of this world.”
“Hey.” Reaching up, Molly smoothed a strand of Thea’s hair off her face. “Remember what you told me about not keeping secrets if Fox and I are going to have a chance to make it? It was good advice.”
Thea swallowed, admitted the truth. “I told Eric personal, private things and he used them to hurt me.” She knew the two men were so unlike one another as to be totally different species, but that didn’t stop her throat from closing up at times. Thea’s heart had learned to be wary in instinctive self-defense, and it was taking time for her to unlearn that lesson.
But she was trying. So hard. It stole her breath to even imagine this might not work, that David would one day no longer be hers. No, she thought furiously, he’s mine and I will not allow the scars caused by a weaker, disloyal man to mess that up. Not today or any other day.
Chapter 11
The Schoolboy Choir party waited until after the majority of the audience had left the venue, then approached the singer. He and Noah slapped one another on the back as they embraced, the other man’s looks as dark as Noah’s were fair. Both were beautiful. Esteban would have made the perfect pop heartthrob except that his music was too profound, asked too many emotional questions.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t be a star, Thea thought. All he needed was the right break. In the meantime, he appeared to be happy playing to intimate audiences in small spaces he filled with the passion of his music and his song. Hmm…
“I know that look,” David murmured in her ear, his hand once more on the bare skin of her back as they stood near the stage where the others spoke to Esteban.