Rock God (Hearts of Metal Book 3) (15 page)

This time, Shayna couldn’t decipher the response.

“We’re at the resort,” Dante said. “Where are you staying?”

Shayna prayed silently.
Please not here. Please not here
.

Again, he covered the phone and laughed before speaking again. “I hear that’s a nice place. But could you meet me in a couple hours? We just got into town. Dom’s scoping out the lakes and rivers in the area—you remember his obsession with fishing—and I want to shower and grab something to eat first. Okay, so five-thirty then? Great, I’ll see you there.”

After he hung up, he was still laughing.

Fighting back the urge to prod him about how great it would be to see Collette again, Shayna opted for a safer topic. “There’s another White House in this area?”

“Yeah, it’s a Mediterranean restaurant. If she even walked into the place for a second, she’s going to reek of garlic. No wonder she sounded pissed.” Grabbing Shayna’s wrists, Dante pinned her on the bed. “Now, where were we?”

Just as he bent to kiss her, the phone rang again. They both groaned.

Dante’s weight lifted from her as he got up and grabbed it. “I swear to God, if it’s her again, I’ll—” He glanced at the screen and grinned before answering. “Quinn! What’s up?”

Shayna heard a deep voice talking excitedly.

Dante nodded. “Yeah, we’re in the Jagger suite. The pass-code is 0919.” He set the phone down and sighed. “The groom and best man are coming up to visit.” He kissed Shayna long and hard. “I guess I’ll have to ravish you later.”

Shayna bit back a frustrated whimper and jerked her pants back up. The news that more famous rock stars were on their way up had her hurrying to the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup.

She was just touching up her lip-gloss when there was a knock on the door. Dante’s excited voice rang out as he greeted his visitors.

“Quinn, Klement! Long time, no see.”

Slowly she opened the door to see Dante hugging two men. One was about Dante’s height, with wavy black hair and brilliant green eyes. Shayna had seen him on a magazine cover before. The other was freakishly tall and lean, with blonde hair and blue-green eyes. Both carried themselves with confidence and authority.

“Thank you again for agreeing to do that song with Collette,” the black-haired guy was saying. “I know it must be awkward, but—” He broke off as he saw Shayna. “Oh.”

Dante beckoned her forward. “This is Shayna Gray, historical romance author.” He grinned at Shayna and pointed at the two men. “Shayna, this is Quinn Mayne, lead singer of Viciöus and the groom-to-be. And this is Klement Burke, bassist of Bleeding Vengeance and the best man.”

Shayna offered her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Congratulations on your wedding.”

Quinn shook her hand with only cursory interest, but Klement stared at her like she was a newly discovered species. “No fucking way! My girlfriend is a huge fan of yours. All she wanted for Valentine’s Day was your latest book. She’s gonna freak when she meets you.” He headed for the door and beckoned for Shayna to follow. “Come on, she just headed down to the spa to meet Kinley and Christine, Quinn’s sister…” He trailed off and gave a gleeful grin. “I can’t wait to see her face!”

“Hold up,” Dante said, laughing, and he turned to Shayna. “Sorry, Klem doesn’t have the best social skills.”

“It’s fine,” Shayna said, chuckling, wondering if she should point out that Dante also often presumed to decide what she was going to do. Really, maybe that could wait for later.

“Is that okay with you, Shayna?” Dante continued. “We guys just have some pre-wedding plans to make before we meet up with Collette. You’d probably have a better time in a spa day with the bride and her friends.”

“Okay,” Shayna said. What else could she do without sounding like a clingy bitch? Besides, getting a spa treatment and meeting a fan really did sound more appealing than being stuck in a hotel room listening to guys talk about things she knew nothing about—and then being left alone while he met with his ex.

“Just charge everything to the room,” Dante told her.

Klement shook his head. “No way, it’s my treat. It’s the least I can do for kidnapping her and dragging her down to meet Kat.”

Dante rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

They all left the room and headed to the elevator.

“So,” Quinn asked, “how did you two meet?”

Dante laughed. “Let’s wait on that. It’s a long, crazy story.”

They all rode the elevator down to the main floor and headed to the spa the back way to avoid the other guests. Four women waited in its lobby. They were all so gorgeous and glowing with happiness that Shayna couldn’t tell which one was the bride.

The shortest woman gave Klement a mischievous grin. “What did you forget this time?”

“Your favorite author.” He nudged Shayna’s elbow.

Blushing like an idiot, Shayna offered her hand to the person who must be Kat. “Hi, I’m Shayna Gray.”

“I’m Katana James, but you can call me Kat.” Then Shayna’s words registered. Kat’s brown eyes widened, but she peered up at Klement she shook Shayna’s hand. “No way! But how?”

Her boyfriend grinned. “She’s with Dante, so I had to bring her down to meet you. Is it okay if she joins your spa day?”

“Are you kidding? This is a dream come true!”

Kat grabbed Shayna’s hand and dragged her over to the other women, Dante trailing behind them. At the same time she asked, “When’s the next book coming out? There are so many hints and set-ups in the last one!”

Dante greeted the other women then gave Shayna a quick kiss. “I’ll meet you up in the room when you’re done.”

After the three men left, Shayna found herself being studied by four pairs of eyes. Kat finally broke the silence with introductions.

“Dude, you guys, this is Shayna Gray, that author I’ve been obsessing over.” She looked at Shayna then introduced her friends, first pointing to the tallest woman, one who had waist-length dark brown hair and an athletic figure. “This is my best friend, Kinley, who’s the lead guitarist of Viciöus
and
going to be marrying Quinn tomorrow.”

Kat gestured next to an older woman with strawberry blonde hair and a friendly smile. “And this is Tanya. She’s married to Tony, the drummer of Viciöus. Kin and I just met her, but she’s awesome.” She pointed finally to a woman with Quinn’s green eyes and black hair. “And this is Christine, Quinn’s sister, but everyone calls her Chrissy.”

Shayna’s gaze scanned these beautiful, self-assured women who were in the heavy metal world and suddenly wanted more than anything to fit in. Smiling to conceal her nervousness, she waved and managed a murmured, “Hi.”

The women surveyed her curiously, and thankfully with no hostility. All three gave her warm smiles, and Kinley, the bride-to-be, patted the seat next to her. She said, “I guess it’s time to confess that I’ve read all of your books too.”

Kat plopped down in the chair beside her. “Really? After all the crap you flipped me for reading romance? You called it ‘girly fluff’ as I recall.”

“Hey,” Tanya interjected, “I read romance too.” She glanced at Shayna. “Though I haven’t read yours yet, I’d like to.”

“Thank you,” Shayna said. Her mind spun with dizzy amazement that actual rock stars had read her books and enjoyed them. She fought back a bitter laugh. And to think, her mother and husband had convinced her that her writing was just a silly hobby!

Kat went into a gushing description of Shayna’s books until Shayna’s ears were burning in embarrassment and the receptionist at the spa ushered them in for their treatments. There they were led to a locker room to strip and change into terry-cloth robes before each was treated to a mineral spray that left Shayna’s skin tingling. After that, they were rubbed head to toe with a scented exfoliating lotion and massaged until she turned into a puddle.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this girly shit,” Kinley grumbled once their faces were slathered with some sort of goo.

Kat laughed. “It’s okay to be girly once in a while, you know. Especially on your wedding day. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow when they do your makeup and style your hair.”

“No talking,” the spa lady admonished. “The mask needs to dry with your skin relaxed.”

When the facials were completed, Shayna marveled. Not only did the mask and lotions relax her skin, it felt softer and smoother than it had been in ages.

They moved on to the manicures and pedicures, and Kat resumed her chatter. “How did you meet Dante Deity?”

Shayna gave them the edited version, but all four of her companions still gasped.

“I would kill Quinn if he ever did that to me,” Kinley snarled when she heard about Shayna’s ex.

Chrissy shook her head. “Quinn worships the ground you walk on and you know it.” She looked over at Shayna. “And Dante would
never
pull anything like that. In fact, I hear his ex-wife was the one who cheated on him.”

Tanya nodded. “Then she married the guy, but they divorced six months back.”

Shayna’s stomach lurched.
Collette was single?
The realization made her shiver.

Kat mirrored her wide-eyed look…then gave her a subtle but firm headshake. The reaction reminded Shayna that Collette’s appearance was supposed to be a surprise, so she rushed to change the subject.

“So, what are you doing for a bachelorette party?”

“This
is
the party.” Kinley crossed her legs as soon as her pedicure was finished. “After this, we’re just going to hang out. You’re invited, of course.”

Shayna gasped. “Oh, but you
should
have a party.” She still fondly remembered her own. Even though Shawn’s sister had thrown it, and it was mostly Shawn’s friends’ girlfriends who’d come, Shayna had reveled in the female camaraderie of her bachelorette party. The male stripper hadn’t been too shabby either.

“It’s probably too late for me to find a stripper,” she thought aloud.

Kinley laughed. “I don’t want one anyway. Unless it’s Quinn.”

Chrissy made a face. “Ewww, I don’t want to see my brother naked.” She grinned at Shayna. “Though I’m not opposed to strippers.”

Kinley shook her head. “Nah, I just want to stay here. We only barely got done with our tour. I’m sick of crowds and parties.”

“Oh yeah.” Shayna hadn’t thought of that. “Maybe we could have a little celebration in our suite. It has a little hot tub on a balcony.”

“A little party does sound awesome.” Kinley grinned.

“Let me text Dante and make sure he’s okay with it.” She pulled out her phone and texted him.
Would
he be okay with it?

As if reading her mind, Kinley leaned forward in her chair. “We can go to ours if he’s not. Quinn and I have a pool in our suite.”

While her nails dried, Shayna waited for interminable tense minutes, trying not to picture Dante with Collette. Finally her phone buzzed and she jumped, almost dropping it. She took a deep breath and clicked on Dante’s response.

Sure, but don’t be mad if the guys and I crash it.

Shayna read the reply aloud, and Kinley laughed. “That’s fine. I don’t believe in that silly segregation shit.” Then she frowned. “You looked nervous. Is Dante really as serious and strict as people say? I’ve only gotten to hang out with him a few times when we toured with him, but Quinn says he’s a dictator.”

Shayna remembered Dante’s irrefutable command for her to get back to writing and smiled. “Sort of, but not in a mean way. I just… I was just relaxed from the massage and the phone startled me.”

Kat gave her a knowing look.

Sure enough, as they left the spa and after Kinley headed back to her room to grab her bathing suit, Kat pulled Shayna aside in the hallway. “You’re worried about Collette, huh.”

Swallowing, Shayna nodded. “She’s so beautiful and…” She shrugged helplessly.

Kat patted her shoulder. “God, I can’t imagine. It’s going to be awkward for you tomorrow, watching them sing that sappy song. If Quinn had known that Dante had a girlfriend…”

“I don’t know if I’m his girlfriend,” Shayna blurted. “He was just helping me out, but then two nights ago we”—she blushed—“slept together.”

Ugh. Why couldn’t she phrase these things as eloquently as she did in her books?

Kat nodded, her brown eyes warm and compassionate. “I’ve been there before. The uncertainty’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

“Yes, it is.”

Even though Shayna daydreamed about a happy future for her and Dante, she knew that real life wasn’t a romance novel.

Chapter Fourteen

Dante allowed Klement to have shotgun in Quinn’s Escalade and sat in the back seat. Unfortunately, the six-block drive to the White House was too short to brace himself for seeing Collette. She’d told him she’d never sing again the last time they’d spoken, refusing to say why. He’d called her a traitor, which was admittedly harsher than she probably deserved, and she’d called him a cold-hearted bastard. And now they were going to sing together and give off a performance that conveyed romance.

Quinn interrupted Dante’s pondering. “So, how’d you end up with a romance author?”

Dante dodged the question. “Some romance authors like metal.”

Klement gave him a wry look, but Quinn eyed him in the rearview mirror and shrugged. “Well, she’s pretty cute, anyway. So I guess there’s no chance of a reconciliation with Collette then? I’d wondered if that was why you both agreed to this.”

“There wouldn’t be a chance either way. Shayna has nothing to do with it.” His voice came out harsher than he intended.

“All right, it’s cool, man.” Quinn ran a hand through his hair. “Except, now I feel like an ass for arranging for you to sing with your ex-wife. Having your new girlfriend there will be awkward for you guys.”

“It’s fine,” Dante said firmly. “This is a romantic song perfect for a romantic wedding, and your bride’s favorite. It will be about you and Kinley, not Collette and me. I’m just surprised Collette agreed to do it. She couldn’t have blown through her alimony this quick.”

“She’s doing it for free,” Quinn said. “Even though I offered a big chunk of change, she refused, just like you did. That surprised me, since I never got to know her well when you two were together.”