Then it doesn’t.
Luckily the club is too loud for talk, so we just keep dancing close to one another. Frustrated at myself for managing to be interested but not quite turned on, I stare at the guy. He has lean hips and pretty eyes and he knows I’m watching, which gives those eyes a heated look.
And yet.
I feel like the back right burner on my kitchen stove. When I turn the knob, the pilot light clicks, sparks pop, but it doesn’t ignite the gas. I have to take a lighter or a match to it to make it work. The gas is there, but it won’t ignite without help.
That’s me. Sparks popping then fizzle as I notice the things I like about this nameless guy. My body clicking into awareness of an attractive guy close to me. An interested guy.
But nothing ignites.
It’s just one guy, I remind myself. Just one night at the club. It reminds me, though, of my last years of college.
I back away from the guy, making my way over to our table, and downing two shots someone sticks in my hand on the way.
“You alright?” Theo asks, frowning at something on my face. I never even noticed him follow me off the floor.
“Drank too much, maybe.”
“Good thing you washed it down with those shots, then,” he says, and I cringe, but his eyes turn soft. “You can tell me, you know,” he says, and I give his shoulder a squeeze. Matt couldn’t have found anyone as sweet as Theo.
“Just — not sure.” I run a hand over my face. “About anything.”
“Want to stay with us tonight? We are crashing in town at the apartment.”
“No way,” Quinn sits down with Bishop, just in time to hear the last question Theo asked. “If you aren’t going out to the ranch, stay in our extra room. Beats the couch at their place.”
“Okay,” I give in. For the first time I can remember, going home to my place isn’t what I want.
It just seems lonely.
Chapter 5 – Caswell
Big Empty – Stone Temple Pilots
Islumpinthedark backseat of the large SUV, watching blue lights strobe against the side of my mid-century bungalow house.
All I want to do is go to my house and go to bed, but looking at the police tape across my front door, I’m guessing that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
Caleb opens the door for me, and I fold myself out.
“Just a moment more,” Caleb mutters, shoulder to shoulder with me, and I nod. It’s not his fault. He knows I am running on fumes and the coffee Nix already brought me.
I’m exhausted from the tour, from getting back to LA this morning and then doing all the press and interviews the studio had lined up before finally getting to come home and crash. Hiding out at my house was supposed to be the reward for all that.
And now this. Is a week of sleep too much to ask for?
An officer in uniform and a plain-clothed detective introduce themselves to me and we begin walking through the house.
“We already pulled the video,” one of them says. “Looks like it happened early in the morning, and no one noticed until your housekeeping crew came in.”
I nod. My home is set back, away from the road, away from everything, just like the others in my gated neighborhood.
“No one comes in and out except me, the housekeeping staff, and my bodyguard and his wife.” Nix and Caleb live with me. “Was their apartment touched?” I ask.
“You live above the garage?” One of them asks Caleb, and he nods. “It was just the main house. We would like you to do a walk-through and tell us if anything is missing. No cameras inside, right?”
“No, not inside,” I answer, and then Caleb takes over answering about the cameras in our gated community plus my own security system.
