The Devil's Tattoo (10 page)

The next day I was feeling a little delicate. I managed to get on
the bus and sink into a seat towards the back,
sunnies
on, hoodie pulled up over my head and earphones in my ears. Thankfully, Dee
claimed the seat in front of me creating a human buffer.

We were off to Newcastle, just north of Sydney and had a few hours
of travel ahead of us. As everyone piled into the bus, they looked just as bad
as I felt. When Will got on, I turned my head and stared out the window, where
Simone was closing the back of the 4WD, boxes piled up high. I was so aware of him
passing
me,
it took all my willpower not to turn back.
He was like a bloody magnet of pent up sexual tension and I wanted to stick
myself against him. But, he made me so furiously
mad,
it would be a cold day in hell when that happened.

He didn't make a move to talk to me and once the bus began to move
off, I managed to close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

It seemed like a second later, when I woke to Dee poking me with a
finger from his seat in front. "We're stopped,
Zo
.
Do you want anything from the shop?"

"No," I sat up, stretching. "I'll get out."

We'd pulled up at a roadhouse at the side of the highway. Bob was
filling the tank with petrol and most of the guys had gotten off for a stretch
or into the servo for drinks and chocolate. Sounded like a good idea. I could
benefit from a bottle of water with the cotton wool that was stuffed in my head
right now.

As the automatic doors swished open, the first thing that happened
was I pulled off my
sunnies
. The next thing was my eyes
collided with Will's. He stood right in front of me in the middle of the servo,
looking sheepish, his hair falling into his eyes in that annoying way that made
me want to brush it away.

With a dramatic sigh, I stepped around him and made for the fridge
at the back, determined to get my bottle of water and get out. But, Will had
other ideas. I felt him follow me down the aisle and I could have turned around
and yelled at him, and I did turn around, but hesitated at the last second. He
looked ten times worse than I felt.

"I'm - I didn't - " He shuffled nervously, looking
at the floor.

I looked him up and down and I should have noticed the change in
his
demeanour
, but I was still annoyed. He was
jealous of Frank? Well, I was jealous of all those random girls who seemed so
much better than I was. To him, I was worth less than a
one
time
fling and he had the audacity to get up into Frank's face about
dancing with me? Way to go making a girl feel special. Pulling a bottle of
water from the fridge I stalked away towards the counter.

"Zoe," he called out after me, but I kept going.

Pete was standing up at the counter already and turned when I came
up behind him.

"He is sorry, you know," he said kindly from under his
hoodie.

"I'm not over it yet."

"He's a good guy, he's just…" Even Pete didn't know what
was going on.

Louie appeared from behind the magazine rack with a copy of
Rolling Stone in his hand. "Strung out."

"You're
gunna
make him snap,"
Pete agreed.

I was going to make him snap? In what world was I the one Will
Strickland was
agonising
over? I sighed and paid for
my water. Sliding my
sunnies
over my eyes, I
went to walk back out to the bus. Turning back at the last second, I hoped the
feeling I had in my gut was right. "He's got a funny way of showing it. Jealousy
is only going to piss me off."

Louie glanced at Pete and before they could offer anything else, I
went outside, the automatic door swishing open to let me through. High fiving
Bob as I climbed back inside the bus, I noticed Will sitting sideways in his
seat towards the back, knees curled up to his chest. His head was leaning back
against the window, eyes closed. Some kind of feeling passed through me at the
sight of him looking so beat, but I wasn't sure what it was yet. With a sigh, I
slid back into my spot behind Dee.

He poked his head over the seat and wiggled his eyebrows at me.
"Pus-
sy
whipped."

Riding on the high of another great show in the beautiful
Newcastle, we hung out at the bar as the venue began to empty. We were on a
roll that I hope would never end. I was determined more than ever to focus on
the band and
monopolise
on the wealth of knowledge
that each venue presented. New tech guys, new support bands, new sound guys. I
asked them questions about everything as much to ignore my rising attraction
and anger towards Will as to learn something new.

It was a Thursday night, so a lot of people that had come out to
see the show were leaving. In real life, people still had day jobs and couldn't
hang out all night like we could. I'm watching the crowd mill around the
merch
table and trail their way to the door, absently
rubbing my arm.

"Is your arm bothering you?" Dee asked, appearing beside
me.

"What? No," I said.

"Cos, I know it does sometimes."

"How do you know that?"

"I see you rubbing it like
its
aching. If it's bothering you, you should get it checked out."

"No, it's fine," I waved him off.

"How'd the
merch
go tonight?"
he asked as Simone came over.

"Like hot cakes," she smiled brightly. "I'm
gunna
have to call in a new order if it keeps going like it
is or we'll have nothing left for Melbourne."

"Bloody hell!" Dee chortled. "We're
gunna
be rich
and
famous."

"I'm
gunna
need some help, too. I'm
glad Dean is back soon."

"Already?

"Yeah, he's going to meet us at the hotel in Sydney."

Dee wandered off abruptly as Sticks walked past. He grabbed his
arm and started talking furiously with him and I wondered what the hell that
was all about.

"Have you said anything to Chris yet?" Simone asked,
drawing my attention back to her.

"No," I shook my head and smiled at her embarrassment.
"But I will."

"Thanks."

"No problem. You need help boxing up the leftovers?" I
asked, pointing back to the
merch
table.

"No," she said. "
Louie's helping
me. He's gone to get the boxes from the car."

Nodding, I looked across the room and saw Chris siting at a table
by himself, a drink in one hand and his phone in the other. Winking at Simone,
I went over and pulled up a chair next to him.

"Hey, Zoe."

"What you
doin
' sitting here all on
your lonesome?"

"Just wanted some alone time," he shrugged.

"Oh, do want me to go?" I went to stand up.

"No, no. It's okay." He gestured for me to sit down
again.

We sat there for a moment in silence and it was probably as good a
time now than any to bring up Simone. "What's the deal with you and
Simone?"

"Sorry?" He seemed surprised that I would ask.

"You guys have known each other a while, right?"

"Yeah, a few years. Why'd you ask?"

"I was just thinking about it before," I said absently,
even tricking myself into thinking I was telling the truth.

"Did she say something to you?"

Oh man, this was easy. "No," I shrugged. "I just
noticed something."

He was watching me intently and I knew I had him.
"What?"

"I
dunno
, I might be wrong."

"Spit it out, Zoe."

"Chris?" I asked firmly. "Do you like Simone? I
mean, like
like
her."

He tried to hide his blush. Chris was
more shy
than I thought he was and I knew exactly where he was coming from. He was so
good,
he'd even fooled me right until this exact minute.
"What did you notice?" he asked, deflecting my question.

"I was going to say that I thought she liked you."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

He reddened again and hung his head over his drink.

I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "She likes you. Done
deal."

He looked up at me in surprise and glanced across the room, where
Simone was laughing with Louie and Frank. She turned then, as if she sensed we
were looking and caught Chris' eye. She smiled a little and I swore her cheeks
turned pink.

"See?" I said.

"I don't know what to do," he almost wailed.

"You're so cute, Chris."

"Zoe…"

"Buy her a drink, talk to her. Tell her you think she's
beautiful. Tell her you like her." Sounded simple when I put it like that.
Why couldn't I be this coherent where Will was concerned? I fell into a puddle
whenever he came close. I was so mad with him for having a go at Frank, but I
still found my thoughts wandering to his eyes, his lips, his hands and what
they could do to me. Just thinking about it made warmth pool in all the right
places.

I shook my head to try and clear my mind of its dirty thoughts and
Chris grinned at me.

"I know how you feel," he grimaced.

"Am I that obvious?"

"No," he shook his head. "He is."

"He could care less about me."

"Zoe, he almost thumped Frank. You know, the big bear who
wouldn't hurt anyone?"

"I'm still pissed at him," I said sullenly.

"Give him the chance to
apologise
at least."

"I'll take that into consideration."

"Zoe, if you feel the same way..."

"One, he flirts and feels up everyone but me. I'm not
jealous, I feel worthless to him. And two, take your own advice."

"I will when you take yours."

I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing he was dead right. 

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I still couldn't help
but feel disappointed. How could Will like me like that when he was too
busy flirting with everyone else but me? He'd been a class-a jerk of epic
proportions and to date there had been no exception. Someone who
cared wouldn't do that. Even his attempted apology had seemed half-hearted
which made me believe he never gave them out to begin with.

Will Strickland was an a-hole. No matter how I felt, he was not
interested in me the way I wanted him to be. Not one iota.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Will

I sat in
mine and Pete's hotel room,
staring at the wall. The gig had finished ages ago and Pete hadn't come back
yet. I couldn't believe I'd snapped like that. My lack of restraint had
made me make a complete ass out of myself.

Seeing her dancing with Frank that way… it broke something inside
of me. Another guys hands on her sent me into a rage. I had no place acting
like that. Shit, she'd made it clear that she hated me something fierce. And
that cut. I mean
,
I didn't even
realise
how much it had pissed her off the way I'd been acting around those other
girls.

When she'd ripped through me like that… that had been the most
animated I'd ever seen her off stage.

I was doing an epic job of pushing her in the wrong direction. I
could say it was all because of this crazy attraction I had for her. Or I could
say it was because I was strung out. But, they were only excuses. The truth? I
was an asshole.

I'd
apologised
to Frank after Zoe left,
but I still felt like a complete wanker. He didn't seem that fazed by it and
had laughed the whole incident off. Somehow, I think he was having a laugh at
my expense.

In the servo yesterday, I'd just
froze
. I
mean, I knew what I wanted to say, but it didn't come out. I knew I had it bad,
but that was a whole new level. I just kept digging this big hole and now it
looked like I would never get out of it. I was acting like a freak.

I jumped as the door opened and Pete wandered in, letting it slam
closed behind him.

"What did I tell you all those weeks ago about doing stupid
shit?" he asked, sitting on the other bed.

"Bloody hell, Pete. I know. I know," I groaned.

"Yesterday at the servo…" Pete began. "We didn't
ask her, but she said something to me and Louie after you tanked."

"What did she say?" I sat up, suddenly interested.

"She said that making her jealous is only going to piss her
off. If you
ain't
worked that out yet, then you're
dumber than dog shit, man."

"Shit," I slumped back on the bed.

"Will, look, you've just
gotta
drop
the shit and talk to her. That's the only way you're
gunna
fix this."

"I know."

"Sticks told me what happened before."

"Fuck," I groaned. "Does everyone know how much of
a wanker I am?"

"Yeah," Pete laughed.

"Not funny. I feel like shit."

Pete suddenly got serious. "Just talk to her. Be you. You're
a good guy. In time she'll see it and if she doesn't then you can look back at
this later and laugh."

I covered my face with my hands. "If she doesn't like me,
then I think I'll just die of embarrassment."

"Dude," he kicked me in the shin. "You sound like a
girl."

"Pete… She's just… Everything's upside down."

"Man," he laughed. "Pussy whipped is the definition
of this tour."

I'd known Pete for something like twenty years, since we were both
six, and he'd never said anything more right in his whole entire life.

It had been a few days since Zoe had ripped shreds off me and for
those few days we'd been kept apart by conflicting schedules. They had photo
shoots and interviews separate from ours and it wasn't like she went out of her
way to speak to me. Every time I tried to catch her, she found a way to avoid
me.

By the time we were ready to move on to the next leg of the tour,
I was feeling utterly defeated. I stood just inside the hotel foyer, looking
out of the automatic doors into the car park, watching Zoe talking to Simone.
Her hair fluttered in the breeze and she brushed it behind her ear. She was
wearing her trademark aviator sunglasses with a light hoodie. The sun was
shining, making her glow. Right then, I wished I'd done this right, because I
could have just walked right out and swept her into my arms and planted a kiss
right on her lips. She was wild and perfect.

I wasn't used to this feeling that had settled in my gut. The one
that said I was an asshole. I was the nice guy. I was the one who put and end
to fights, not started them. I was the laid back one. I'd only been in three
fist fights
that I could remember and two of those had been
in high school sticking up for Pete.

Zoe thought I was trash. I wasn't that guy. I had to show her.

I watched her talking with Simone and I swallowed my pride and
walked out into the car park. The warm summer breeze blew bits of their
conversation towards me. I was a little surprised that they seemed to be
talking about Chris, their bass player. Was Zoe playing matchmaker? This woman
was full of surprises.

Simone caught sight of Chris as he passed me in the lot and made a
hasty escape.

As Chris passed Zoe, she said, "Asked her yet?"

He paled and kept walking.

And then she was standing there alone, her back to me. Here was my
chance.