Page 25 of Before You Fell

I ignore him and take a drink.

“Watching Phoenix shit himself because another man saw Willow has legs and a pulse,” Jax says.

“Ah.” Cruz glances over to Willow. “For what it’s worth Marcus noticing Songbird is not exactly shocking.”

My whole body locks up.

Cruz keeps talking because he has never respected survival as a concept. “She’s hot. She’s sharp. She looks at men as if she can see every stupid thought in their skulls and decide whether it deserves her attention. But she’s not some wide-eyed girl who needs you snarling at roadies for her, Phoenix. Willow knows how to handle herself.”

His grin cuts sideways. “Fuck, she’s been handling your ass for years.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I say.

Cruz lifts his glass. “I’m just saying, let her have her fun before you fuck it up completely.”

Jax snorts. “Bit late.”

“Both of you have a lot to say for men who have spent the past hour collecting women like backstage souvenirs.”

“Yeah,” Jax says. “But I don’t march over and piss on the floor when one of them talks to someone else.”

“Classy image,” Cruz says.

“Accurate image,” Jax shoots back.

I drain the whiskey because my hands want something worse than a glass. “You two finished?”

“Not even close,” Jax says. “You don’t get to treat her like band property when someone else sees her.”

“Fuck off, Jax.” I turn on Cruz before Jax can keep digging. “And you can fuck off too. Go get your cock sucked by your little entourage before one of them sobers up and remembers she has standards.”

Cruz’s grin sharpens. “Careful, Phoenix. You keep talking like that and people might realize the big bad frontman is jealous as fuck.”

“I don’t get jealous.”

“Sure,” he says, glancing at Willow again. “You just threaten roadies for breathing near the one woman you actually give a shit about.”

“Is that what you think?”

“That’s what everyone with eyes thinks,” Jax says. “You’re just the only dumb fuck still pretending it’s about the band.”

I look past them to the couch where Cruz’s girls are still waiting for him. One of them is blonde, all bare legs, red lips, and fuck-me confidence, leaning forward as if she has been waiting all night for someone to give her attention.

Fine.

I can do that. Be the one who takes what is offered and never looks back long enough to care what it costs.

Jax and Cruz want to stand there and talk about jealousy as if they know a damn thing about what is crawling under my skin? Fuck them.

I push away from the bar and move past Cruz.

“Phoenix,” Jax warns.

I ignore him.

The blonde looks up as I stop in front of her. Her eyes widen, then heat.

It’s so fucking easy it almost bores me.