Scars and Songs (Mad World) Read online

  Without thinking, I jumped down in front of her. Her head lifted to reveal flawless ivory skin, her jet black hair cascading around a face that would haunt me forever. Her eyes shot up to meet mine and I had trouble breathing. They were the most unnerving color of light grey, more silver than anything, framed by thick, long, black lashes. No one should have eyes that color, with a touch of lavender that swam deep in their depths. I could bury myself in them and never resurface again. My God, she looked just like Selah.

  “Wow,” I breathed. It was the only freaking coherent thought that I had in my brain at that moment. My breaths were deep and uneven. Damn, I wanted her.

  She rolled her beautiful eyes and backed away a step when she got slammed from behind and vaulted into my arms. The sheer electric shock of touching her made me realize what it must feel like to be struck by lightning. She pushed off me as if I was the plague.

  The poor girl stepped right into the path of the fight and I had to grab her away from them before she was trampled.

  She looked behind her towards the fists and feet flying through the air, but didn’t seem the least bit scared or even affected by it. She just looked back into my eyes and covered her wet shirt with her arms. A rush of the most exquisite color of crimson flushed her cheeks. I wanted to reach my hand out and touch them; feel how soft they were; how warm her skin would be under mine. I wanted to taste her; sink myself deep inside that milky white flesh. Holy crap, I must be losing my mind.

  Maybe it wasn’t my mind. Maybe it was just me being stuck in this messed up body. Or, maybe it was those beautiful, plump, pink lips or the soft curve of her chin against the darkness of her hair.

  Ethan grabbed me by the shoulders and brought me back down to earth. “Come on, Shane!” He called, pulling me towards the fight.

  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from hers. “Yeah, one sec, bro,” I called to him. She was mortified, standing there wrapping her arms around herself. I had to help her. I took off my shirt and pushed it into her hands. For the first time, standing in front of her, I noticed, and I mean really noticed, how very wet her shirt was. My eyes slowly traveled down the milky white skin of her neck to the tight wet material of her shirt. It was completely see through, and holy shit, did she have on the hottest red bra that made the curves of her breasts look, well, let me put it this way; whoever I was taking home that night wouldn’t be who I was thinking of; she’d be the one on my mind.

  Shit, I could see myself taking her from the back and her beautiful face slamming into my mattress, her hair wildly covering the sheets. I gave her a wink before I joined in to break up the fight. I wondered how hard it would be to get her to come home with me. Probably not too hard, I was Shane Maxton after all. I had a liquid effect on all women’s panties. But she was too hot to just take in the back room. Yeah, I wanted to spend some time on her. Some time in her.

  Through the whole fight, I couldn’t shake those eyes from my thoughts. Getting an uppercut to my jaw rattled my head a bit, but even that didn’t divert my mind from her. I tried to look back in the direction she walked in, but all I could see were fists flying at me. Then the damn fight stopped. Marty, the bouncer at the front door, knocked the two opposing guy’s heads together and that was it. It was kind of comical in a way, how they just crumpled to the floor after they bounced off each other.

  Ethan gave me a high five, but I couldn’t have cared any less about the fight. I needed to find where the girl with the silver eyes went. “Bro, did you see where that girl went?” I craned my head around, looking all over for her.

  Ethan smiled wide and nodded. “The insanely hot one you were talking to when I pulled you into the fight?” Yeah, he certainly noticed her too. “Nah, I didn’t see which way she went.”

  I patted him on the back. “I gotta find her. Come on, walk around the bar with me, and help me look for her.”

  He laughed loudly. “Why, you want your shirt back? She’d definitely win any wet tee shirt contest, that’s for sure.”

  “No, dude, did you see her eyes? Holy crap,” I said.

  Ethan stopped walking and gawked at me as if I just kicked a puppy. “Her eyes? Really, Shane? Did you get knocked in the head hard or something? Shane Maxton noticing a girl’s eyes?”

  I shrugged and couldn’t get rid of the stupid grin I knew I was wearing on my face. I must have looked like a complete ass. I knew he never saw me smile like that before. “Dude, you didn’t see those eyes. Please, help me find her!” I laughed.

  We ran through the bar like two horny fourteen year olds. I turned around every dark haired girl I saw (a few guys too) to look into their faces, but I couldn’t find her. I even tried to beg one of the waitresses to go in the back to the bathrooms to see if a silver-eyed girl was in there, but she just laughed at me. Janie. She was probably still pissed at me about not calling her back. I told her I wouldn’t. I even told her not to give me her number. I told her I wasn’t one for more than a one night thing. Every girl thought they could change my mind. It cracked me up, really.

  I swear, I think we looked for at least thirty minutes. I even ran outside and down the block. I was a man obsessed.

  Alex was the one that got me to stop looking for her. He smacked me in the back of the head and introduced me to some blonde girl with a huge rack. Alex was hooking up with what had to be the girl’s sister, because they looked almost like twins.

  She started talking to me about how great I played and how hot I was on stage. Blah, blah, blah, what-the-hell-ever. Her voice was irritating and I was quickly getting pissed off that I couldn’t spend the rest of the night looking for the silver-eyed girl. She just went on and on trying to have this serious conversation with me, and all I could think about were all the sexual positions I wanted to bend the silver-eyed girl in.

  I told Alex I was going home. The blonde chick begged me to stay, said it would be worth my while. I highly doubted it; there wasn’t anything she could do that some other girl couldn’t. They all felt the same on the inside.

  That’s when I saw her.

  Waves of black silky hair crashed down around the most perfect face I’d ever seen. My stomach tied itself in knots. Dressed in my huge tee shirt, she sat next to my friend Lea. My best friend Conner sat behind Lea, his hands wrapped around his girl’s waist, practically holding her up. Tucker sat on the other side of the silver-eyed beauty, ogling her as if she was the last girl on earth. I couldn’t blame him, she put every other girl in the bar to shame; everyone looked plain compared to her. Coughing and sputtering into my hands I had raised to cover my face, I had trouble swallowing the huge freaking lump in my throat.

  Clearing my throat, I pulled up a chair and placed it right between her and Lea. “Hey, how’d you like the brawl?” I asked everyone. I only looked at her though.

  Unfortunately, the blonde chick was still following me as if she was my lost little puppy. I ignored her. The only thing I saw were those silver eyes, the waves of her dark hair and that perfect creamy skin that I needed to sweep with my tongue.

  I was freaking myself out. I never got crazy like this over anyone. I couldnʼt even tell you the last time I actually looked into a girl’s eyes and noticed their color. I wasn’t one for looking in anybody’s eyes.

  Some people say you could see right into a person’s soul through their eyes. Being stuck here in this world, surrounded by humans and their ignorant blind emotional flesh was one thing. Looking into their souls and seeing the depth of faith and hope was another thing. A thing I couldn’t do. The eyes before me were demanding and strong, and I was drowning in them. I couldn’t look away. Shit.

  Sitting down, I continued to stare right at her. I must have looked like a starving man, because that’s how I felt. My palms started sweating. Damn, that never happened before either.

  Then, of everything that could possibly freaking happen, the blonde Barbie doll who was following me, plopped her ass right on my lap and started sucking on my neck and biting my ear. Like a fucking blood
sucking vampire. My first impulse was to stand up and dump the bitch on the floor, but I didn’t want everyone to think I was that much of a douche.

  The whole time, the gorgeous girl that I’d been looking all over the bar for was just looking at me with an unaffected look on her face. This was insane. Yeah, she was hot, beyond hot. Okay, hotter than the hottest freaking girl I'd ever seen. Shit - I had to stop. The real Shane would never be doing this.

  She was just a piece of ass, just like all the others. She’d be easy to score. So why the hell were my palms sweating, and my heart thudding in my chest? Because I wasnʼt really Shane, and she looked so damn much like Selah.

  I groaned inwardly, trying to think of some way to get this other girl off me, so I could talk to silver eyes. Before I could say anything, Lea drunkenly belted out, “Ugh, Shane, get a kennel for your lapdog, the sounds of her slopping your ear is making me wanna hurl again!” Ha, I loved Lea when she was drunk, she was hysterical!

  That did the trick and the blonde chick stopped molesting me. “Jealous much?” Blondie said back to Lea. Eh, she had balls.

  I watched those silver eyes roll and her lips turned up into a smile that made sweat break out on my forehead. What the fuck? I must have been losing it.

  Lea continued to mouth off at the blonde, which didn’t bother me a bit; it made her keep her mouth off me. “Yeah, I’m always jealous of Shane’s conquests. They are the equivalent of a blow up doll. With the brains to match.” Ha, that was a good one, Lea. Although, I wouldn’t call any of these girls conquests, it wasn’t a conquest if they were giving themselves freely. I hadn’t won anything. They weren’t a prize, they were just a distraction.

  True to form, the blonde came back with, “What the hell does that mean?” Silver eyes seemed to be enjoying the bantering. Her smile widened and she laughed along with Lea. It sounded like music. Yeah, I was fucking losing it. I had to stay away from her. She would bring a man to his knees.

  “See, you just proved my point.” Lea slurred and looked at the silver-eyed girl and smiled. “Maybe if we use big words, it will leave?”

  I was just about to get up and leave. I just wanted to walk away and never lay my eyes on her again. One night would never be enough for me with a girl who looked like that. I’d been to hell and back, and she scared me more.

  When I leaned forward to get up, that’s when I saw it. The mischievous way those eyes sparkled and the devil may care smile that lit up her face. I couldn’t fucking move.

  “Lea, you should never have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.” Her voice pierced me to my seat. I needed to leave. Yeah, but I just sat there like an ass, staring at her.

  “Shut up, skanks! You’re both just jealous.” The vampire who was just sucking on my neck couldn’t think of anything better to say. She just stuck out her tits, like that was her ace of spades in the game.

  “Slut,” Lea smiled drunkenly.

  Then silver eyes got serious and leaned in closer to us. “Yeah, listen, you should really stop now, because I’m betting that the smartest thing that could ever come out of your mouth would be a penis. And, that’s not going to make you winner of this war of words, sweetie.” Damn, I had never been more turned on by someone in my life. Lives. Whatever. Maybe someone slipped something in my drink? I was definitely losing it. Crap, I had to adjust myself in my pants.

  Lea laughed so hard at what her friend said that she spit water all over the place. That made the blonde get off my lap, scream and dance around. I had no freaking clue what she was screaming. My eyes were locked on those silver ones, and they were looking right back at me. My breath left me. Who the hell was this girl? And why did the blood in my veins slam through my body like that? Pulsing. Pounding. Surging.

  I smiled. I thought it was one of the best smiles I ever gave too. It did shit. She just sat there laughing along with Lea and ignored my smile completely.

  I tensed my muscles and grabbed the bottom of my chair to keep myself seated. The sane part of me wanted to walk away, the rest of me wanted to jump on her and taste her lips. She rolled her fucking gorgeous eyes at me as if she could read my mind.

  “Hey, thanks for the shirt before. Would have been cold walking home like that. You didn’t have to do that,” she laughed sweetly.

  Oh, hell yes I did. I had to do anything to talk to her. Her eyes were piercing me to my seat, and I had to kill the urge to drag my hands through that dark, ink-black hair and touch her until she moaned my name in a sexy whisper.

  The blonde chick continued to freakin’ dance around and yell.

  The silver-eyed girl broke our stare as if it didn’t just freaking kill me. She motioned to Lea and they started getting their stuff together to leave. Holy crap! I needed her to stay. No, no. I needed her to go.

  That wicked smile teased at the corner of her lips again. She stepped closer to the blonde. “Just think of it like this. I got him half naked for you already. Try to enjoy yourself. He looks like someone who has a land mine in his pants.”

  “Huh?” The blonde asked.

  “You know a land mine; small, hidden, and explodes on contact.” That was the best insult I’d ever heard. And I’d make it this life’s goal to prove her wrong.

  I jumped up and practically killed myself trying to block her from moving any further. Her hair brushed over me and the smell of wildflowers filled my senses. Holy shit. She bit her lower lip between her teeth and it took all the restraint I had in me not to reach out and touch her skin, or grab a handful of that thick black hair and pull her towards me, crushing her lips to mine.

  “So, you must be Lea’s best friend, the one she grew up with and talks about all the time, huh?” Okay, so that wasn’t the most intelligent thing I could have said. But, really at that moment, I was surprised I was capable of more than me want you now, grrr.ʼ

  “Must be,” she teased.

  Shit. I was so screwed. I gave her another one of my charming smiles. “Do you have a name?”

  “Yes, I do,” she said; she just didn’t bother telling it to me.

  She looked me in the eyes, biting her lip again and slid past me. The way she did, not breaking eye contact with me, was so freaking erotic, the damn land mine in my pants almost did go off.

  Lea whispered in the background to Conner loud enough for everyone in the bar to hear, “Conner, watch her outwit him, just watch.”

  I glanced at Lea and rolled my eyes. When I locked my eyes back to those silver ones, they smiled right back at me. My dumb mouth just started talking before my brain did any of the thinking. “Iʼll just call you Red then, since I can’t get my mind off that sexy little bra I saw you in before.” AH HELL! WHY DID I JUST SAY THAT? I just wanted to say anything to make her stay, even if she got pissed off at me. Crap, I was Shane at fourteen again.

  She leaned in so close to me that my heart skipped a few beats. She looked down at my lips and back up to my eyes. My heart hammered in my chest erratically. I thought she was just about to kiss me and that I was going to have a heart attack at the same freaking time.

  “Why not, Lacy? Or, did you miss out on the soft silk and lace material it was made from? Too bad you’ll only get to see the color.” She fluttered her gorgeous eyes at me and continued, “You know, if you’re going to be a smart ass, you should start with being smart. Otherwise, you’re really just an ass. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

  My heart stopped. I opened my mouth to say some smart-ass flirty remark back, but she held up a creamy delicate hand to my face. All I could do was think about where Iʼd like to feel that hand on me.

  “Please, save your breath, you might need it to blow up your date later.” She walked past me and out the front door.

  Yeah, I was screwed. I met my match. She’d brought me to my knees already.

  My heart sank when I watched Tucker scramble after them with Conner taking up the rear. Tucker was all fucking smiles and opening doors; jealously streaked through me. He better not put his fucking hands on her
.

  I looked down and saw how tight my fists were clenched. What the hell was this about? I seriously need to go throw myself off a bridge right now; I didn’t even know who I was. She was just another human girl!

  Ethan sauntered up beside me with a beer in hand. “Did I just witness a girl flat out not even notice you?”

  I nodded. “Dude, I can’t even breathe right now. I need a drink before I do something stupid, like run after her.”

  A giant grin plastered itself over Ethan’s face as he shook his head and handed me his beer.

  I chugged the whole thing down. That just made it worse. I just have to get her face out of my head. “Hey, where’s Alex with those blondes?”

  Ethan silently grimaced at the empty bottle I handed back to him.

  I turned around to the table and there they were, except for now, they doubled and there were four blondes sitting at the table. All were patiently waiting for the band’s attention. Alex sat in the middle of them smiling. Thankfully, the one who had just been yelling and screaming was calmer. Sitting down, pouting and moaning, but calmer.

  I sat down hard on the chair opposite the table from them, “Ladies,” I smiled.

  Alex slid a cold beer across the table to me and nodded in the direction of the front door. “Who was the goddess wearing your shirt?”

  I shrugged as if she didn’t matter. “I think that’s Lea’s roommate. She’s hot.” All the girls at the table moaned in annoyance. That just cracked me up.

  Ethan sat in the chair next to me, and chuckled low. “The word hot does not do that girl justice.”

  One of the girls at the table pouted. “You know, there are four very hot girls sitting right here and you are talking about some other girl who already left!”

  Alex grabbed the girl and just started kissing her. It was like the beginning of a really bad porno film. I had to look away. But, I was happy he shut her up. I didn’t want her to start talking shit about the silver-eyed girl. There would be no way I’d let her say anything bad about her. Yeah, then I’d look like a real sappy knight in shining armor’s ass.