Fragile by A.K. Evans

Six

Demi

“Hey, what are those?”

I turned around at the unfamiliar voice and was stunned to see Holland walking toward me. I was in one of the rooms in the back of the bar, sorting through a couple of boxes in preparation for tonight.

This felt completely surreal. It was as though I were living in a dream right now.

Holland Oates from My Violent Heart was within touching distance, and she was talking to me.

Quite frankly, I was still in shock that My Violent Heart was going to be playing at Granite tonight to begin with.

And to think that Sam and Cal were surprised to see me here.

Earlier this evening, minutes after I arrived at Granite, I was greeted by my two best friends in the strangest way.

“We didn’t think you were going to come here tonight,” Sam said.

“But I’m so happy you’re here,” Cal added.

I shot them a look that I hoped indicated I thought they were crazy and asked, “Where did you think I would be?”

Cal and Sam exchanged nervous glances. They seemed to know what the other was thinking while I was stuck there trying to figure out what the awkward looks meant. Luckily, I didn’t need to work too hard to figure it out because Sam finally said, “We just thought that with My Violent Heart playing tonight, meaning Cash is going to be here, you wouldn’t want to put yourself in the position to be around him.”

No sooner did she get that out when Cal chimed in, “And if that’s what it was for you, Demi, you know I’d completely understand.”

“Cal, this is going to be one of the biggest nights of your life,” I started. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything. And I’m not the least bit concerned about Cash. He already knows where I stand. If he wants to continue putting himself in the position to be turned down, I’m happy to oblige him.”

“Are you sure?” he question me.

Nodding, I insisted, “I’m positive. Besides, I might think Cash is full of himself, but the man can sing. And the rest of the band is awesome. They’re one of my favorites, so I’d be a fool to miss out on a live performance in my own backyard because of one guy.”

That had been the truth, too. Cash, the lead singer and front man for My Violent Heart, was incredible. Cash, the guy who wanted my number so I could just be another notch on his bedpost, wasn’t somebody I was remotely interested in giving my time to.

Sam seemed amazed by me and communicated that when she said, “Gosh, you’ve got such willpower. I don’t know how you’ll make it through one song with him singing, let alone a whole set.”

“Trust me, he’s not all you’re both making him out to be,” I argued.

“You’re right, Demi. He’s probably way bigger than what we think,” Cal retorted.

He was. I had no doubt he was.

It’s just that, well, I couldn’t bring myself to admit that out loud.

Instead of arguing the point, I announced, “Well, tonight isn’t about him. I mean, I guess it is about his band. But for me, tonight is about being here to support my cousin on what is bound to be one of the biggest nights of his life. And while I’m doing that, I’m going to make sure I tell everyone I know about my best friend’s T-shirt business. That’s what tonight is about for me.”

That was precisely what I was doing right now, and it seemed as though it was what Holland was asking about.

I held up two of Sam’s shirts in front of me and asked, “These?”

Holland nodded. “Yeah. Where did you get those?”

I stepped to the side and gestured to the boxes lining the floor. “My best friend, Sam, is dating Cal, who is my cousin and the owner of Granite. Anyway, Sam has been designing T-shirts for years. She has an online store and sells a few shirts every week, but she’s not been able to make a full-time gig out of it. Cal and I want to help her get to a point where she could leave her day job and follow her passion. We had been planning to display the shirts next week when a live band came in to play, but now that you and the rest of the band are playing tonight, we figured we’d bump it up a week.”

Holland stepped forward, bent down, and pulled out a shirt. She held it up in front of her and allowed her eyes to roam over the design. Her thumbs stroked along the fabric for a few moments. Then she asked, “Would it be alright if I purchased one to wear tonight?”

“Are you serious?”

She nodded.

“That would… that would be amazing,” I stammered. Sam was going to lose her mind. “Sam has been working so hard at this, and I just want to see her be successful with it.”

“Well, she’s obviously very talented because these are awesome,” Holland praised the T-shirts.

“Pick out whichever you want.”

For the next few minutes, Holland looked through all the shirts, draping a few of them over her arm. Finally, she said, “I’m going to take these four. Just let me know how much they are, and I’ll get you money for them before I leave tonight.”

I nodded. “Thank you so much, Holland. This is so incredibly kind of you. And wearing it tonight is honestly the icing on the cake.”

Before Holland could respond, Cash’s voice filled the room and startled me.

“Toss me a shirt, babe,” he urged.

I spun around and saw him lifting his shirt over his head.

What was he doing? Why was he getting naked?

It suddenly felt very hot in the room.

I vaguely heard Holland say something about leaving the room to go get her shirt changed, but I couldn’t pay much attention let alone respond to her. My eyes were still focused on Cash.

Or, more specifically, Cash’s naked torso.

Holy moly.

Why?

This just wasn’t fair anymore. How much torture was I supposed to go through?

I’d already turned him down. Did I have to have a constant reminder of what I was giving up?

Though, maybe I didn’t need to give it up. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun.

What?

“Demi?” Cash called, pulling me out of my ridiculous thoughts.

“Hmm?” I responded, still struggling to pull my eyes from his body.

Just one lick…

A moment later, before I even realized it had happened, Cash was standing inches away from me.

I begrudgingly tore my gaze from his body and tipped my head back. Cash was grinning at me. “Like what you see?” he asked.

That was all I needed to snap me right back to reality.

“Just trying to see what all the fuss is about. Sadly, I can’t say I get it,” I lied.

I got it. I totally got it.

Damn.

Cash let out a laugh. Seeing that up close was not a good thing for me. He was becoming more… relatable.

I couldn’t do this.

“Which shirt did you want?” I asked him.

“Whichever you like best is fine with me,” he answered.

That’s when I cocked an eyebrow and countered, “Even if I pick out one that’s a pale pink color?”

Not the least bit fazed by my attempt to embarrass him, he said, “Even if you pick one out that’s pale pink.”

Narrowing my eyes on him, I tried to figure out what he was up to. But considering he was standing so close with his shirt off and still smelled so damn good, I couldn’t concentrate hard enough on coming up with an answer.

So, I spun around and moved toward the T-shirts.

As much as I might have liked to tell him to take a hike, I wouldn’t. This would be huge for Sam, and she deserved every ounce of success with her business.

Sadly, after rummaging through all the pink shirts, I was disappointed there wasn’t one available in his size. I decided on another color and said, “Here, you can wear eggplant.”

“Eggplant? You mean, purple?”

I shook my head. “No. It’s eggplant.”

“Right.”

“Don’t give me an attitude,” I ordered. “I could choose the raisin instead.”

A strange look washed over Cash’s face. “I didn’t expect this,” he started. “My half-naked body is really doing a number on you. Eggplant. Raisin. We aren’t talking about T-shirt colors anymore, are we?”

My eyes widened in disbelief. “What? Yes!”

Of course, now that he’d brought it up, I couldn’t think about anything other than one part of his body, which was still covered by his pants, thankfully. I mean, if I was this off balance with Cash’s chest and abdomen on display, how would I even function if I saw more of him?

“Are you thinking about me naked again, firecracker?” Cash asked as he pulled the shirt over his head.

“To do it again would indicate that I had to do it at least once before. Since that never happened, I’m sorry to say the answer is no,” I lied again.

Cash ignored my statement and switched topics. “How do I look?” he asked. “Am I going to do Sam’s T-shirt business justice?”

“You look fine,” I grumbled.

“Just fine?” he pressed. “Yikes. Maybe I should take the shirt off and try a different one. Perhaps a different color would look better with my skin tone.”

He couldn’t get naked again. I wouldn’t survive.

“No!” I shouted as he started lifting the shirt up and revealing his washboard abs. “No, don’t do that. This one looks amazing on you. It really brings out your eyes.”

Though I’d just thrown those words out, the minute I said them was the minute I realized they were true. The shirt looked incredible on him, and even though he was already a killer in the looks department, the color of the shirt really did make his eyes stand out.

Cash’s lips were twitching as he fought to keep himself from busting out with laughter. He knew precisely what he was doing to me, and he didn’t care at all.

“Hey, Demi, I just saw Holland and oh, I didn’t realize you were in here Cash.”

That came from Cal.

Cash and I both directed our gazes at my cousin, who immediately noticed the shirt Cash was wearing. Cal took it in, shifted his attention to me, and smiled.

“Sam is going to go crazy,” he said.

I smiled because it was the truth. “Yeah, she is.”

Cal looked Cash in the eye and said, “Thanks, man. I really appreciate what you’re doing here tonight. It means a lot.”

“You’re welcome,” Cash replied. “But you should really be thanking Demi. She’s the reason I’m doing this.”

Cal nodded, gave me one last glance, and walked out of the room.

If I had been thinking clearly, I would have gone after Cal to share the news with Sam. But I wasn’t thinking clearly, so I stayed put.

Keeping my eyes focused on the empty space where Cal had just been standing, I asked, “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I like you,” Cash answered without a moment of hesitation.

Tearing my gaze away from the empty doorway, I craned my neck to look up at him. “Why?” I pressed.

“For starters, you’re beautiful,” he began. “Just the thought of your mouth makes me hard. And your body in that dress two nights ago only made thoughts of you more appealing.”

“So I’m just nice to look at?” I challenged, trying to ignore the fact that he said my mouth made him hard and he was looking at my mouth at that very moment.

Cash shook his head. “No, but that’s the truth about my initial attraction to you,” he clarified. “Like I’ve already told you, you’re the first woman who hasn’t thrown herself at me. At first, I found it amusing. There aren’t a lot of women who can make me laugh, but you do. And now that I’ve had some time to think on it, I think I want a woman who isn’t interested in Cash, the rock star. I want a woman who is interested in Cash, the guy who grew up in a small town and loves his family and friends.”

“Are they different?” I asked.

Cash tipped his head to the side as he considered his answer. “The guy on stage is me in the sense that I still have all the same beliefs and morals that I’ve had all my life. But I am performing.” Cash shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess over time I’ve become a version of the two.”

For the first time since I met him, Cash seemed more like an everyday guy. In that moment, he wasn’t a rock star trying to maintain a persona. He was… real.

I didn’t get a chance to respond to him because Beck walked into the room, shifted his attention between the two of us before settling on Cash, and said, “We’re up.”

“Be right there,” Cash replied.

Beck jerked up his chin and returned, “Nice shirt.”

“Hey, Beck,” Cash called out as he started to walk away.

“Yeah?” he answered, peeking his head back around the doorframe.

Cash looked down at the shirt, over to me, and back to Beck. “You like this shirt, so what do you think about having some T-shirts and swag made up specifically and exclusively for the band that we could sell on tour?”

I could see his mind working a few moments before he said, “I’m cool with it.”

“Ask everyone else, and I’ll be right there.”

Beck dipped his chin. Without another word, he disappeared.

Looking up at him, I asked, “Are you going to ask Sam to make T-shirts for My Violent Heart?”

Cash grinned. “Yep.”

Sam was absolutely going to lose her mind. And she’d probably never have to work another day as an event sales director if that was the case.

If I wasn’t so stuck on making sure Cash knew that there’d never be anything between us, I might have thrown my arms around him and hugged him. Instead, I urged, “You better get out there.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. But he didn’t move. He just stood there, staring at me, his eyes roaming over my face.

Unable to handle the pressure of his intense stare, I looked away and moved toward the door. When I got there, I stopped, looked back, and said, “Good luck tonight, Cash.”

He smiled back at me. “Thanks, Demi.”

With that, I walked out and finally managed to get my lungs functioning again.

Before I knew it, I was standing off to the side of the raised platform where My Violent Heart was performing, watching them.

No, that wasn’t accurate.

I’d told Sam and Cal earlier that My Violent Heart was one of my favorite bands and that I’d be a fool to miss them just because of Cash. However, now that they were all on stage, I found I could only keep my focus on him.

The sound of his voice moved through me in a way I hadn’t ever experienced before. I wanted to blame that on the fact that I was hearing him sing live, but I knew that wasn’t it. This was all about him and the sweet, albeit brief, moment we had only minutes ago.

Was this how it started?

Did women become consumed with a man like this and struggle to keep their desires hidden?

When they could no longer resist the temptation, is that when they gave in and risked their hearts?

Deep down, I knew I couldn’t take that risk. But as I stood there completely wrapped up in his voice, I wondered how long I’d be able to resist him. Especially if he continued to show me a side to him that I never thought existed.

I never got any answers.

Even following a long set, I hadn’t managed to figure out what to do.

I needed to talk to Sam. She’d help me sort myself out.

Unfortunately, when I finally found Sam, she was in the midst of a heated argument with her ex. “You should leave,” she said to her ex, Mitch.

Mitch’s eyes shifted between Sam and Cal. Eventually, they settled on Cal. “I’ve got to know, did you at least wait until I was out of the picture before you started fucking my girl, or was she spreading her legs for the both of us at the same time?”

Sam gasped as my mouth dropped open. I shouldn’t have been surprised because Mitch was a dick, but for some reason, I hadn’t expected that response from him.

The next thing I knew, Cal charged forward and swung his fist at Mitch’s jaw. And just as Sam stepped forward, she was stopped.

Cash had come up behind her and held her back. “Let him handle this,” he told her.

There was a fight happening right before my eyes, and yet, I could only focus on Cash. Just like that, he stepped up to hold Sam back and prevent her from getting hurt.

It wasn’t until Cal spoke again that I returned my attention to the commotion before me.

“She’s not your girl anymore, dickface,” Cal seethed. “You had her, and you lost her. Now you’re realizing the colossal mistake you made because there’s nobody like Sam. Nobody. Then again, you never appreciated her for everything that she is. So, I’m sorry, man. You need to go. You should have put the effort in while you had her. You’re too late now. She’s with me, and I’ll never let her go.”

“Fuck you,” Mitch spat. He struggled against Cal’s hold and looked at Sam. “Sam, we need to talk.”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“Is this what you want?” he asked, a look of disgust on his face. “Some guy that owns a bar that’ll never be able to take care of you?”

This guy thought he was something special. He was crazy.

Surprisingly calm about it, Sam declared, “Cal takes care of me better than you ever did. He took better care of me than you did when I was with you. He’s always taken care of me in all the ways that matter.”

My turn. I hated this guy, and I wanted him to know how much of a douchebag he was.

“Money isn’t always the way you take care of people, asshole,” I started. “Sam’s the happiest she’s ever been in her life now that she’s with Cal. Even if things didn’t work out with them, you wouldn’t stand a chance with her again. She knows what it’s like to be loved by a real man.”

Mitch looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. He didn’t respond to me, but he took in my words because he looked at Sam and said, “Love? He loves you so much, and yet, he’s okay with you continuing to work your shitty job.”

“Sam’s actually leaving her job,” I shared.

I felt Sam’s gaze on me, but I didn’t look at her. This wasn’t how I wanted her to find out.

Cash loosened his hold on Sam, stepped out from behind her, and explained, “I told Demi we want you to design a bunch of gear for the band for us to sell at our shows on tour.”

Sam was in a state of utter disbelief.

Looking down at the T-shirt he was wearing, Cash assessed it. Then he brought his attention back to Sam and said, “This shirt kicks ass.”

If things hadn’t been so intense between Cash and me from the start, I might have used that moment to launch myself into his arms and kiss him senseless. He’d already made my best friend’s whole year by wearing her shirt on stage and asking her to design gear for the band to sell on tour, and it still wasn’t enough. He went that extra step and told her that her shirt—the one I’d picked out for him—kicked ass.

Sam let Cash’s words sink in before returning her attention to Mitch. She started speaking to him, but I couldn’t pay attention to what was happening beyond that. My eyes were still on Cash. He glanced over at me, and for some reason I couldn’t say what I wanted to say to him.

Despite my silence, his features softened, and the expression on his face was enough to make me think, even if only for a moment, that perhaps he wasn’t nearly as awful as I had originally made him out to be.

He held my gaze a moment longer before redirecting his focus on Sam and Cal. Mitch, it seemed, had left. Once again, I didn’t pay attention to what was being discussed because I was too distracted by all the unexpected actions from Cash.

He’d shown me a side of him that I didn’t know existed again, and I just didn’t know how to react or respond to it.

Eventually, Cash concluded his discussion with my best friends and turned toward me. He held my eyes briefly before he smiled and walked back toward the stage to play another set. My eyes followed him the whole way there.

And I wasn’t too proud to admit to myself that I felt a longing unlike I’d ever felt before.

This was a disaster, and I had no idea what I was going to do about it.