Playing Dirty (Stargazer #2)(18)
Author: Jennifer Echols

“Really. Then why don’t they kick you out?”

“Because I’m not a cokehead.” Ironic that having asthma had lost them a potential contract two years ago, whereas his fake drug use had made them famous. And now that the band was established, he was willing to admit he had asthma, yet he was in trouble with her for using drugs.

She clearly didn’t believe him, but that wasn’t what concerned her now. Her dark eyes stared off. He could tell she was doing the algebra in her head. Cheatin’ Hearts with Martin on heroin? Or Cheatin’ Hearts without Martin? Which would make the record company more money?

She said, “Maybe getting kicked out would help Martin.”

Like you care, Quentin thought, but it was important not to let her see how much he hated her. Or the record company that had sent her, at least. He rolled on his side and propped his head on one hand so he could look at her and hold his eyeball in his skull at the same time. With his other hand, he reached over and traced around her belly button where her shirt had fallen away. She jumped at first, then relaxed against his fingers.

“I’ve threatened Martin,” he told her. “He promised me he’d clean up while we’re in Birmingham, before the next tour. It’s gotten worse instead. He has a steady dealer in town. But if I told Erin and Owen and we kicked him out, that wouldn’t help him. He’d get depressed and use more. Believe me, I’ve given this a lot of thought. Martin had a girlfriend—”

“Rachel,” Sarah said.

“Yeah,” Quentin acknowledged, “but he lost her because of the drugs. There are only three things left he cares about in life.” He tapped his thumb. “Music.” He tapped his pointer finger. “The band.” He tapped his middle finger. “Heroin. This isn’t the first time Martin’s gone off the deep end. I made drug use against band rules for a reason. At first it was the only way I would stay in the band with him. Now it’s the only way Erin and Owen will stay. If they find out he’s been using, they will shit. We’ll have to kick him out of the band, and what’s he got left?” Quentin put his thumb and pointer finger down.

Sarah stared at his extended middle finger, which represented heroin. Suddenly he realized he was shooting her the bird. He drew his hand back, but she caught it and held it in both her hands. Her brows knitted as she watched him. “I can tell Martin means a lot to you.”

“Well, we’ve been friends since—”

He stopped himself before he said that they’d been assigned as dorm roommates when Quentin was a freshman in college and Martin was a sophomore. Or that they’d shared a tiny apartment on Birmingham’s Southside when Martin was earning his master’s in nursing and Quentin was starting work as a respiratory therapist. The record company thought Quentin was an uneducated hick. He sure wasn’t going to show her his hand now.

“—since before the band got together,” he finished. He smoothed his hand under her shirt. She didn’t back away, so he cupped her breast and flicked his thumb back and forth across her nipple. She only parted her lips and breathed more deeply.

“Listen,” he whispered, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell the record company about any of this. But I guess that’s too much to ask. And I don’t suppose there’s anything I could do to persuade you.” If she took him up on this proposition, he was going to be in trouble, since he had no intention of breaking Rule Three now that he was sober. But he was pretty sure she was playing him, after that pregnancy threat.

“It’s sweet of you to offer.” She shifted so that her breast edged away from his hand.

“I wouldn’t take it as a hardship. I’m feeling real close to you right now. Five minutes ago, I thought you might be having my baby.” He slid his hand back down to her flat belly to drive home his point.

Her face fell. “I’m truly sorry. Like I said, I was just trying to give you a wake-up call. As you woke up.”

“Well, tit for tat. Except that your tit was a damn sight bigger than my tat.” He chuckled. “I’m sorry, Susan. That sounds vulgar, doesn’t it?”

If her face had fallen before, now it was utterly flattened. Her brown eyes wouldn’t meet his eyes. He could see only her long, dark lashes. She pushed his hand off her belly and corrected him. “Sarah.”

“Right, sorry again. Sarah.” He hadn’t expected her to react quite this way. He’d wanted to put her in her place, not crush her. He reached out to the scar under her chin.

Before he could touch her, she sat up in the bed. “Quentin,” she said, all business now, “there is something you can do to persuade me not to tell on you.”

“I’m listening.” He expected the worst.

“Let me help you get back together with Erin.”

He laughed. He stopped laughing when he saw that she was serious. He said, “That may be harder than it looks.”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “You should have seen the look on Erin’s face this morning when she discovered us in the sound booth with your hand down my pants.”

He didn’t need to see the look. He was going to have some explaining to do to the band about that. But he wasn’t sure why that was any of Sarah’s concern. “What do you care?”

“I don’t care so much about you,” she said. He wondered whether this was true, or whether she was getting revenge on him for apparently forgetting her name.

She went on, “I care about millions of dollars for Manhattan Music. The Cheatin’ Hearts are about to hit the height of popularity. If Erin and Owen remain a couple and you quit the group, which you will, you’ll say at first there are no hard feelings. You’ll allow the group to continue to play your songs in concert. But eventually you’ll refuse, and they’ll fight it, and you’ll drag them into court. Suddenly the Cheatin’ Hearts are number one on a TV special about the biggest band fights ever, and a group of has-beens.”

“I can’t picture us suing each other.”

“Band members never can at first. You’re still together. When it sinks in that you’re watching your childhood friend screw your girlfriend, you’ll think differently.”

He reasoned, “Then won’t you be worried that Owen will quit the band?”

“No, he hasn’t been with Erin nearly as long. Also, frankly, we’re not as worried about him quitting as we are about the band breaking up completely, or about you quitting. You’re the front man. And you wrote ‘Come to Find Out.’ Can you imagine a Cheatin’ Hearts concert without ‘Come to Find Out’?”