Strung(18)

“You’ll be fine. You may be pissed now, but you’ll be thanking me later. Trust me. Now go talk to the guy.”

Before I can say anything else, he smiles and gives me a little nudge toward Parker, which has Parker looking me over with a smile.

“Parker,” Micah says in a deep voice, while reaching out to grip his hand. It’s pretty hard to miss the tight squeeze he gives it as he leans in close to Parker’s ear.

I stand here awkwardly and watch as Micah backs away from Parker with a scowl, his blue eyes locking on me momentarily, before he walks away without a word.

“I’ll be back you two. I’ve got some shit to take care of,” my brother says, before walking away after Micah, who’s now being stopped by almost every girl he passes.

I hate the way they all smile and flirt with him, batting their stupid eyelashes to show him how much they want him.

It has me wishing I had my own shot to slam back now.

“I’m guessing Micah has taken on the role as your second big brother?” He gives me a somewhat nervous smile and takes a seat across from me as I sit down. “Hell, he seemed more concerned than Alexander did.”

Definitely not a second brother role. “Yeah, something like that I guess. You can say he’s taken on the role of being responsible for me it seems. I’m pretty sure Xan has been making him keep an eye out for me around here.”

He messes with the buttons on his slick, blue shirt, unbuttoning the top two as if he needs some air. “Well, you definitely don’t have to worry about me trying to kiss you on the first date with those two around. I’m afraid I’ll break something valuable.”

I’m not sure if I should laugh at that, but I do. He’s afraid of my brother and Micah and I don’t blame him.

Poor guy.

“Yeah, it could end up being a bit painful for you,” I tease. “Everyone around here seems to be afraid of my brother and Micah. They’re a bit intimidating when they want to be.”

“I think it’s mainly Micah everyone’s afraid of. He’s only intimidating about ninety percent of the time.”

I find myself laughing, because from what I’ve seen it’s true. It’s one of the things that sort of drew me to him in the beginning.

Watching Micah demand orders and intimidate all the men around him is sort of hard not to find extremely hot.

Maybe I’ll at least get a good laugh out of this little “date”.

“I hope you like beer,” Parker says as Gavin appears at our table and sets two bottles down in front of us. “Your brother said you did. Not a Martini girl like most of the girls who come here?”

“Yes, please.” I nod and reach for a bottle, placing it to my lips, before I answer his second question. “Sometimes, but not often.”

I have a feeling I’m going to need a few of these to get through this awkward situation. It’s nearly seven, so that means Micah will be coming out to start his set soon.

Parker watches me with a smile and pays Gavin before he walks away. “Hey, I’m a little nervous too. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date. I wasn’t really prepared for tonight since your brother only gave me a few hours’ notice.”

I set my beer down and look across the table at him. “A few hours?”

“Yeah.” He takes a drink and nods. “He called me a few hours ago to ask what I was doing.”

“Is that right?” I ask stiffly.

That asshole . . .

“I had plans to meet up with him soon to talk about the management position, but I had no idea what day exactly that would be, until today.”

“I see.” I take another drink, biting my tongue before I end up going off on my brother.

He made it seem like he had it planned beforehand and it wasn’t just a last-minute thing; otherwise, I would’ve declined.

“So, you’re a writer? How long have you been publishing books?”

I offer a tight-lipped smile as I set my beer down. I’m annoyed with my brother right now, but that doesn’t mean I should take it out on this guy. He seems nice. “I started writing about a year ago, but just recently published my first book; a little less than six months ago. I’m currently working on the second.”

“That’s pretty great. My sister has always wanted to publish a book, but doesn’t know where to start. Maybe you could give her some pointers on how to go about that.”

I nod. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be sure to give you my number before the end of the night and you can pass it to her.”

“That would be awesome. She’d really appreciate that. Thank you.”

“Not a problem.”

There’s an awkward silence for a few moments, so I look around and watch as everyone around me talks and gets excited about Micah’s show.

It feels really strange that I’m here with a “date” about to watch him perform. I didn’t expect tonight to go down this way and now that it has, I’m not feeling good about it at all.

“So . . . my brother tells me you used to work for him. Were you the old babyface?” I ask, attempting to keep the awkward silence to a minimum.

“For two years . . .” he pauses to take a quick swig of his beer. “I left for a bit to help my dad manage his restaurant when his assistant manager quit. I stayed on for a while and helped him find a replacement. That’s when I got a call from Alexander asking me if I wanted to take over for Micah once he leaves.”

“You sound pretty excited about that.”

“I love this place,” he says with a huge smile. “Who wouldn’t love it here? It’s amazing.”

“I agree. I’m not sure I’m going to want to go back home once summer is over.”

“I’m sure no one will be complaining if you decide to stay.” He flashes me a flirty smile as his gaze lowers to my lips.

I tilt my beer back and chug it. He’s extremely cute, but the idea of him wanting to kiss me has me on edge.

“I’m going to toss this and order us a couple more beers.” I get ready to stand up, but Parker stands up and puts his hand out to stop me.

“Please, let me handle all the drinks tonight.” He grabs my empty bottle, before downing the rest of his drink. “I’ll be right back. Want a shot?”

“I’ll take two. Doesn’t matter what.”

As soon as he walks away, I look over toward the door, as if knowing Micah would be exiting it at this very moment.

The sight of him walking out with his guitar, his shirt open and blowing in the wind, steals the air straight from my lungs.

Everyone around me begins screaming and whistling as he walks past their tables to get to the stage, but he keeps his gaze locked on me the entire way.

I wish I had a beer to chug at the moment, or a bag I could breathe in to catch my damn breath.

I don’t know how his stare alone can cause this kind of reaction from my body, but there seems to be so much intensity behind his eyes.

He doesn’t even look away as he adjusts his microphone and acoustic guitar.

“That took a little longer than I hoped. Sorry about that.”

I manage to pull my eyes away from Micah long enough to smile up at Parker and snatch up one of the beers. “Thank you.”

I can feel both of their gazes on me as I chug back the beer, wishing I could disappear from this messed up situation right now.

He fucked me hard last night.

The man on stage.

Right in front of us.

Of me and my date.

If it weren’t for trying not to upset my brother, I’d get up right now and walk away. I’d take this beer and two shots with me and walk out onto the beach and listen from a distance as Micah sings.

Because I don’t want to miss that.

Not after hearing and seeing what it’s like when he’s up on that small stage.

I get so lost in watching Micah prepare that I almost forget that I’m with Parker until he speaks.

“Have you heard Micah play before? He has a great voice.”

“Yes. He has an amazing voice. One of the best I’ve ever heard.”

“I take it you find that to be hot.”

My eyes widen as I look across the table. “What would make you say that?”

He laughs and places his beer to his lips. “The way you just said it is all. It’s cool.” He pauses to tilt back his bottle. “Every single girl who comes here thinks it’s hot. I don’t think there’s been one girl who’s come here and hasn’t wanted Micah to take them home and sing to them in bed.”

I swallow, trying not to imagine that in my head, but it’s too late, and I find myself getting extremely hot and nervous. “Not every girl, I’m sure.”

“Right. Good thing he’s taken on the role as a second brother figure to you. Or else I’d have problems getting a second date.”

“Yeah . . . good thing.” I let out a nervous laugh and jump into changing the subject. “Have you lived here your whole life?”

“I have.” He flashes me this cute little charming smile that I can’t help but to somewhat like. “Since you’re asking me personal questions . . . maybe I can assume I’m doing okay so far?”

I smile back, feeling a bit more comfortable. “You’re better than most guys I’ve been on dates with. The fact that you haven’t texted another girl to flirt gives you some bonus points.”