“Crazy thing was, the machine wasn’t really out of soap. I checked.” She smirked.
“You would.” I laughed.
“He thought I was sexy folding laundry, and couldn’t think of a better way to talk to me.” She flipped her red hair over her shoulder with attitude.
“You are so full of yourself.” I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, but that’s one of the many reasons you love me.” She locked her arm through mine again, and laughed.
Sadie drove us to Throttle. I had no desire to be behind the steering wheel again, much less crammed into a car after my long drive, but going out sounded fun, which was something I needed. When we pulled up in front of the place, I was shocked to see how many people had showed up to hear the band.
“Wow, this place looks packed.” I skimmed over the people standing outside.
“I figured they would be. Black Bash is seriously up and coming.”
“Black Bash?” She hadn’t mentioned their name before, and now that I’d heard it, I wasn’t so sure it was anything I cared to hear. Heavy metal music was not my thing.
“Yeah. Don’t freak out, but they are a little more rock than they are roll.” She pulled into a parking space near the back of the lot, and cut the engine of her car.
“Meaning?” I prompted her to continue.
“They’re more head banging than swaying hips.” She opened her door, and stepped out into the rain. “I know you’ll like them, if you give them a chance.”
“Awesome.” I let sarcasm have its way with the word as I bolted across the parking lot behind her. There was no way I would find anyone to get Dawson off my mind in there tonight. “So, you went from Jeff, who was a little weird for my liking, to a grungy, heavy metal guy?”
“He’s not grungy. He’s hot,” she corrected, slipping under the small awning covering the doorway to the building. The line at the door had nearly disappeared while we’d been searching for a parking spot.
“Right, you met him in the laundry center. He can’t be that grungy, I guess.”
Sadie slapped me on the arm. “Stop. Enjoy the night. Have a drink. Dance. You deserve it, because it sounds like you survived a weekend from hell.”
She had no idea. “Fine. I’ll attempt to have a good time.”
We stepped inside. The sound of an electric guitar screeching out a tune was the first thing I heard. If this was the type of music playing all night, I was bound to walk out of the place with a killer migraine tonight. Glancing around, I realized I was dressed in the preferred choice of color—black. I was so glad I’d went with my favorite pair of skinny jeans, a cleavage-showing black tank, and my black boots with a little heel. At least my clothing choice would fit in, even if my taste in music didn’t.
“Isn’t this place great?” Sadie shouted in my ear over the music. Her words seemed to vibrate with excitement. “I’ve never been to a place like this before.”
“Me either,” I shouted back, leaving off the fact I never had a desire to either. People in places like this creeped me out.
My eyes skimmed over those who had decided to be here for the night as well. Some were playing pool, while others sat at the bar or stood around talking. There were a couple tables along the far wall, and a dancefloor in the center of the space where no one seemed to be dancing, just head banging. Everyone looked so hardcore and biker scary. Even the women, dressed in skimpy clothes and biker boots or hooker heels, radiated the same vibes.
I noticed a girl who couldn’t have been much older than me or Sadie walking our way. She had a determined gaze that made her dark brown eyes seem harsh. Dressed in a skin-tight leather miniskirt and a barely-there top that showed off a set of abs I would kill for, she didn’t seem like someone to mess with. It wasn’t as though she had huge muscles, but that she had an air to her that let you know she didn’t play around. No fear. That was what oozed from her. I could sense it the second she stopped in front of us.
“Sadie, right?” She skimmed her heavily made-up eyes over Sadie. I wondered how she knew her name.
“Hey, Natasha,” Sadie greeted her with a smile. The girl never smiled back. “This is my friend, Charlotte. I hope it’s okay I brought her along.”
“It’s a bar. No invitations go out. People come and go as they please,” Natasha stated without any emotion in her voice.
“Right. Okay. Thanks.” There was a tremor of nervousness hanging in Sadie’s words. I knew she was as uncomfortable as I was in this girl’s presence.
“Thresh sent me out to get you.” Natasha flipped her glossy black hair over her shoulder, and started walking away. “He’s waiting backstage for you.”
Thresh? What kind of name was that? Surely not one his parents had given him. It had to be something he’d come up with while sitting around drinking with his friends, planning out the band details.
Thresh? I mean, what the hell?
“Okay! Great!” Sadie sounded way too excited about heading backstage, or maybe it was because Thresh was waiting for her. I couldn’t pinpoint which. She followed behind Natasha without making sure I followed.
“Sure, yeah. I’ll go back there with you,” I deadpanned.
Sadie glanced at me, and rolled her eyes. “Come on.”
Backstage was nothing spectacular. It was dark, and smelled like sweat and stale cigarettes. There was a bald guy with a beer gut toying with some wires, and a group of younger guys standing around who didn’t look the least bit scary. Definitely not scary enough to be called Black Bash. I had pictured a burly biker gang, not a muscular, tattooed group who looked sexy as hell. Suddenly, I wasn’t aching to get out of here anymore. In fact, I was positive I could pretend to like any music these guys created.
“Sadie, you made it,” a beefy muscular guy with a dragon tattoo on the inside of his forearm called out. I assumed he was Thresh.
Now that I had put a face to a name, I could see where it fit him. There was something mysterious and dangerous about him, making the name seem to fit. I just hoped that was all it was I was picking up on, and that he didn’t enjoy beating the crap out of anything. Thresh meant beat repeatedly, right? Or was there another word I was confusing it with?
“I see you brought a friend along.” He glanced at me, but didn’t give me the onceover I had been expecting. I smiled, because he’d passed my first test. His eyes seemed to be only for my friend, as they should be. “Cool. The more the merrier.”
“Yeah, she just got back in town from a horrible weekend visit home. Her sister is marrying the guy she’s had a crush on since she was little,” Sadie told everyone, completely mortifying me. “I couldn’t leave her behind. She needs to salvage her weekend somehow.”
“Nice. Thanks for that, Sadie.” I flashed her an annoyed look. “I’m sure they all really needed to know about my recent personal dilemma.”
Her blue eyes widened as though she was as shocked the words had left her mouth as I was. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to me, her face scrunching up in pain.
“A night with me, and I’m sure I could erase all those bad memories from your mind. Hell, I bet I could even erase the guy,” the guy closest to me muttered as he leaned toward me. He had jet black hair that fell to his shoulders and no shirt on. While the other guys were muscular, this guy was grotesquely so. He had the V going for him most women loved, and biceps the size of my head.
Yuck. Muscles were nice, but not that much. There was a point where you no longer looked healthy and hot. This guy had surpassed it by a mile with his veiny body that looked as though his muscles would pop any second.
“I’m sure you could, if you used the roofies in your back pocket.” There was no way I was giving him even an ounce of hope for a one-nighter with me. He seemed like the type to be persistent unless you nipped it in the bud right away. I’d dealt with his determined type a time or two at random parties around campus.
“I really like this girl.” Natasha laughed. “She’s the only one I’ve ever seen put my brother in his place right away.”