Rock Reclaimed (Rock Revenge Trilogy 2)

“I don’t care about them.”

“That’s probably a good thing.” His brows knitted together. “I think a few girls are ready to murder you.”

I draped my arms over his shoulders and toyed with his hair. “You mean those reports that will be on your fan board tonight? ‘Who’s that girl with the weird purple hair?’”

“I love your weird purple hair.” He tipped up his chin to smile at me.

“Handy.” I bit his lower lip. The little scar at the corner of his mouth made me crazy. I moved to his ear. “Do you care if someone sees us together? Do you think they’re wondering if you’re hard between my legs? Think they’re wondering if we’ve fucked?”

His jaw clenched. “Does that get you off?”

“That I fucked a rising star?” I said it against his mouth, not quite kissing him, but not shying away from the charged air between us. “That you’re a fantasy for half the women around us right now?”

“I’m a man—not just a fantasy.”

“Remember that. Because I do.” I swung my leg off of him and dropped on the seat next to him. “Now eat your burrito before it turns to mush.”

“You’re a menace.”

I smiled around a bite of my taco and looked around for a way out of our current situation. I knew the area well. I’d been hunting the artistry in the area since I’d moved there. But I’d never needed to map out a covert exit before.

A few people wandered away as we finished our food. Things were a little boring at the moment from a fan point of view. But the real stroke of luck was a bus of kids being dropped off.

In the chaos of them lining up for food, I gathered our bags and motioned for him to follow me. We took two alleyways and another side street, cut through a bodega, and landed on the edges of the skate park.

It was so natural for me to escape to the park, I didn’t think about the memories that had followed me around since my attack.

“Zoe? What’s wrong?” He came up behind me. “You just went white as—ahh.” He took my bag and the handle of his guitar. “Come on, we can head this way.”

I shook my head. “No. I have to get over this.”

He slid his fingers around mine. “I’m here.”

“The hero of the skate park.” I stepped away from him, but didn’t unlink our fingers.

“Fucking crap.”

“Quite the free press. Your team must have been ecstatic.” Our picture had been in a dozen different tabloids and news feeds. Thankfully, I’d only been tagged as a local artist. I wasn’t one of the bigger names at J Town. So many of the residents had shows before their first month was up. It was a haven for artists and there was a waiting list for applications.

The fact that I’d gotten in was a miracle. But I was fucking it up big time.

Add in that kind of press and the director hadn’t been overly happy with me. They only wanted to show how safe it was to work at the commune, not the criminal element that would forever be a part of beach and tourist areas.

“Is that what you think?”

I shrugged.

He dragged me closer and set our stuff down to link both of our hands together. “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t my people.”

I tried to focus over his shoulder. I didn’t want to ruin today by talking about this. As it was, my nerves were already jangling from being this close to the wall I’d worked on.

That I’d never finished.

“Zoe, I swear I didn’t. I was just as surprised as you were. And believe me, I caught hell for it all.”

“Right.”

He cupped my face, forcing me to look at him. “Nothing about that should have been about me. No matter what I said, they wanted to turn it around to me, so I just stopped talking.” His thumbs smoothed over my cheeks. “But it was too late.” He touched his forehead to mine. “I’m sure you thought I was a dick.”