Torn (Connections #2)(59)

Smiling as she approaches with her cleavage on full display she says, "Happy Birthday, River," and reaches up to kiss him. I'm not sure if she was aiming for his lips, but I notice him turn his head and she kisses him on the cheek. We chat with her for a bit until River excuses us to go greet the other guests.

As we mingle, I sip another glass of champagne and River is handed a birthday shot every time he starts a new conversation. I leave him chatting with Xander and join Bell in the kitchen where she looks insanely mad as she chews on her bottom lip. "What's wrong?"

"Tom was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago!"

"Tom who?"

"Doesn't River tell you anything? Tom is the bassist for the Mighty Storm."

"He's coming here? Why?"

She puts her hands on her hips and says, "Because he's my boyfriend!" 

"I thought the drummer from the band that played at Smitten's the other night was your boyfriend."

"Reston and I broke up ages ago, I met Tom last night," she says, completely exasperated.

"Isn't he here now?"

"Tom?"

"No, Reston, isn't he down there playing?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't he be?"

"Never mind. By the way, thank you so much for getting this all together on such short notice. You did a great job."

"No problem. Now enough with the compliments and the boyfriend talk. I'm dying to know if my pole-dancing classes paid off . . . was I a good teacher? Were you able to pull off the dance?"

I look at her and raise my eyebrow. "Of course I was, I'm not completely incompetent when it comes to seduction."

She puts her hands over her ears as she says, "La la la! Can't hear you!"

I start laughing. "You asked."

"All I wanted to know was if my teaching skills paid off, I didn't mean I wanted to hear about the seduction of my brother."

"Definitely paid off!" I wink. "I'm going to go find him now," I tell her as I leave the kitchen.

Looking for River, I run into a few people along the way. Spotting him, I head his way as Scandalicious plays "Some Nights." He's downing another shot at the pool table. He sees me and motions for me to dance with him just as the band moves into "TiK ToK." The female lead singer sounds similar to Ke$ha, but when Reston chimes in he sounds exactly like P. Diddy. As soon as Reston starts the song with "Hey, what up, girl?" River starts to rock his head from one shoulder to the other in an almost robotic movement and I laugh, knowing we're going to have a good time. I raise my hands above my head and move my hips to the beat. As they hit the chorus River presses his body flush against mine and grinds his hips into me while dropping a kiss on my neck.

"What the fuck? Don't tell me you're just as pussy-whipped as this asshole over here!" yells a guy about ten feet away. Twisting around to see who it is, I can only assume it's Tom since he has his arm slung over Bell's shoulder. He's good-looking and Bell certainly seems to be attracted to him. He's about my height, his hair is the same light-brown color as River's but his face is rounder.

My head snaps to the right when I see a taller figure standing beside him. I can't believe it-and I have what I can only describe as a fan-girl moment. As my mouth drops, so do my hands. I take a step back and just stand in shock. River sees Jake and grins from ear to ear. It's Jake, Jake Wethers in the flesh! The ultimate bad boy of rock is at my house wearing his trademark black jeans and black T-shirt.

Looking at me suspiciously, River grabs my hand and leads me over to them. I can see Jake's famous tattoos on his arms and his blue eyes really do look like the ocean in contrast to his black hair. As we approach them, River sticks his hand out to Jake. "Hey man, how are you? Long time no see."

Jake clasps his hand and shakes it. "Too long, man. I heard you guys are hitting the road soon. Would have been nice to have joined up again. Who knows?-the Mighty Storm might be opening for you one day."

River chuckles then swings his arm over my shoulder and says, "This is my girl, Dahlia. Dahlia, you know Jake. I'm pretty sure you told me you follow his career."

I shoot River an I-just-might-kill-you look. I can't believe he essentially just introduced me as a groupie.

"Nice to meet you, Dahlia," Jake says and I can't help but smile.

"And this is my Tru," Jake says but continues draping his arm over the shoulder of the girl next to him.



       
         
       
        

River reaches out his hand and as she shakes it she says, "Nice to meet you. I've heard all about you and the band. Jake only has nice things to say about you."