Read GRIT (The Silver Nitrate Series Book 2) for Free Online

nostrils as he drew closer and stood under the vibrant, neon blue lights. Suddenly, he felt arms snake around his waist. He looked over his shoulder, getting an eyeful of a doe-eyed dark-haired woman with lips like Kim Kardashian.
    “Heeeey.” She smiled, squeezing him. “You play really great, you know that?”
    “Thanks.” He gently pushed her hands away. She stepped to his side, and then another woman joined her, this one with long blond hair and light gray eyes.
    “This is my friend, Tori.” The dark-haired one hitched her thumb in her friend’s direction.
    Two for one deal… Well, goddamn…
    “Nice to meet you, Tori. Hey, let me get a Bloody Mary, man.” He raised his hand in the air and waved two fingers in the bartender’s direction. The man nodded and turned away, taking another order.
    “My name is Heidi. We wanted to know if you uh, do private lessons?” They both smiled mischievously at one another and giggled.
    “Nah, sorry… I don’t.” He didn’t miss the look of surprise on the groupies’ faces.
    “What?” was all dark-haired Heidi seemed to muster.
    “Ladies, as flattering as this is…” He placed his hand happily over his heart, his gaze unflinching on them. “And trust me, it is truly flattering… you’ve just offered a dream come true after all, but I gotta lady, okay? And I’m faithful…and I don’t believe that me giving you two anything other than an autograph would sit right with her, alright? I’m sure you understand.” He turned away and drew closer to the bar, a smirk on his face as he took the Bloody Mary from the bartender’s hand and handed the man a ten-dollar bill. “Get these lovely ladies a drink, too, okay? It’s on me!” He pointed in their direction, turned, and winked at them, then stepped away. “You two have a good night, alright?”
    “What tha fuck?!” one of them uttered, but he kept on his path. As he made his way back towards the stage, he could hear the faint sound of footsteps behind him. The noisiness of the place seemed to echo, so he shrugged it off and kept on his way. Before he could manage to step upon the platform, a hand reached for his arm, tugging him around.
    Not this shit again…
    “Come on, I told you I gotta girlfriend.” He swung in the opposite direction, almost spilling his drink only to be met by surprise. A man stood there, dressed in a perfectly smooth and tailored black suit. It looked expensive, and so did his damn shoes that he could clearly see his reflection in. The man looked out of place.
    He set his beverage down on top of a speaker and just kept staring at the guy. He was tall and thin, skin the color of unbaked, raw clay. The slight ashy grayness reminded him of deathly pallor, though his eyes were warm, inviting. A gleam sparked in his irises, dancing between colors of warm medium brown to light amber.
    “Been a busy night, huh?” the man joked, his speech slightly hoarse with smoker’s voice. He leaned back and crossed his arms, looking confident, sounding in the know.
    “Yeah.” Zenith chuckled. “Sorry about that. What’s up? What can I do for you?” He turned away from the man and assessed his drums.
    This will take at least twenty minutes to pack up tonight…
    “Your name is Zenith Taylor, correct?”
    Zenith tilted his head in curiosity and turned back towards the guy, who’d sounded awfully formal.
    “Yeah…”
    They shook hands. Zenith tucked his hands under his arms and leaned to one side, waiting for the rest of the fellow’s spiel.
    “I’ve seen Pure Grit play at least twelve times, closer to probably fifteen, actually. You guys are really good.”
    “Well, thank you. I hope you enjoyed the show tonight, too.” He grabbed his drink and climbed up the steps of the platform to continue the aggravating process of disassembling his kit.
    “Oh yes, I did.” The man rocked back on his heels. “And so did some other people as well.”
    Zenith took a sip of his bloody Mary and set it