Dirty. Sexy. Love.[*Complete*]

Chapter Fourteen -- Asher

Asher

The phone rang...and rang and rang. She didn't pick up. Since Chicago, she'd gone cold and distant. Sometimes she wouldn't answer my texts, sometimes she wouldn't take my calls. She always had an excuse, then another for why our conversations were only two minutes long. I caught a flight home instead of taking the tour bus, so we could make up for lost time. I wanted to surprise her, but she wasn't at the office or at home.

Taking my out my cell, I did a quick search for her band and found out that they had a show she never told me about. They were playing in a venue that used to be an old theater. When I pulled into the parking lot, I was surprised to see that they were unloading. I recognized all of her band members, but she wasn't there. I wasn't thinking about anything other than the fact that Jez was dodging me. I hadn't grabbed the fake glasses out of the glove box and walked up looking undeniably like myself.

"Hey!" I jogged over to them and a red-haired woman in jean shorts and ripped Chuck Taylor's dropped the speaker case she carried.

"You're Asher Prince," the redhead gaped at me.

"Uhh, yeah..." I wet my lips. "Have you heard from Jez?"

"Jezable Rue? Five three, black hair, scowly, cranky, Jez?"

Linds walked from the back of the van with the case for her bass drum. "Jez is repping UT now. And no, we haven't seen her. She's supposed to be here eventually. Is she not answering her phone?"

"Yeah, I tried her a bunch of times, but she's not answering."

"Hmm... that doesn't sound like her." Linds yawned.

"Rough night?"

"Yep, we pre-gamed it pretty hard."

"Ah."

"Let me give her a quick call." Linds set down the large case with a grunt and took her cell out of her back pocket. It wasn't even a second "Hey...you're coming tonight, right? ...That's what I thought. ...Okay. Uh, Asher from UT is here looking for you... Huh? ...Fine. ...Okay. See you." She hit the end call button and put her phone away. "Jez will be here in a minute. She doesn't sound happy about you being here, so I bet you did something stupid she had to deal with. Huh?"

"Something like that." I swallowed.

"You can go inside if you want and sit in the green room. Or you can help us unload, the choice is yours." Linds went back inside, and I walked in and saw Jez's guitar case. I picked it up and carried it in, following Linds through the backstage area.

"Who are you guys opening for?" I asked as I watched Linds set her things up on the stage. It had been about a decade since the last time I played at the venue. Now it seemed so small and intimate when I used to think it was huge.

"The Incredible Mr. Black, which if you want to hear something fucked up, is fronted by someone I babysat when they were in diapers." She laughed and popped open the case.

"That's the cycle though. At least you guys are performing again."

"We're hobbyists now." Linds cackled. "But it's nice to hang out with my girls again. Even if we have to schedule everything around Mommy and me."

"I heard that!" the redhead called from the wings.

The front door squealed, and Jez walked in dressed down like she usually was outside of the office. She had on a pair of torn up jeans and a tight black shirt with her band's old logo on it, a cartoon of pills with Sugar Pill written in menacing serif font stretched tall. Over her shoulder was a tote bag and she had oversized sunglasses resting on top of her head. She paused when her eyes fell on me and then visibly sagged before continuing on.