A One Night Stand Turned Complicated

Chapter 7

Camille was taking an order, when she felt someone nudge her. She glanced beside her to see Chanelle, grinning and pointing at the clock. She didn't have to look up to know that her break began, and it was time for the inevitable meeting with Jace.

"I'll take it over from here," Chanelle said, chirpily.

Camille narrowed her eyes at her persistent friend, but walked to the back room and, took off her checkered white and red apron, with Lucy's splattered across the middle. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration.

She headed out the back room, waving to a smug looking Chanelle, when she saw Viola pushing against the front door. She hurriedly opened the door and smiled at her. Viola in turn gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek.

Viola was a spunky seventy year old widow. She had purple streaks in her bouncy grey hair. When she smiled, her eyes crinkled around the edges in the most adorable way. Viola, at the moment, had on a purple and orange jumpsuit, which clashed completely with the restaurant's décor.

"Camille!" she cried. "How have you been?"

"I'm great Vi! How are you?"

"Well you know how us old people are; always cranky and in pain," Viola joked.

"Oh Vi, you're never cranky," Camille told her and Viola's eyes crinkled with amusement. "How are Lucy and her family?"

"Oh Lucy is great. I only hate that she moved all the way to Michigan;taking my grandbabies with her, but I understand. She got a job offer that she couldn't refuse. I only wish it were closer," she said, wistfully. Camille realized just how lonely her old friend was and decided she would try and visit her regularly.

"By the way, how is your mother?" she asked, concerned.

"Well you know…" Camille trailed off.

"Oh dear," she said, with a shake of her head. "You just hang in there. Ok dearie? And tell your mom and your sister the same too." Camille nodded.

She could feel the familiar tears, welling up, but she blinked them away. "Of course."

Trying to lighten the mood, Viola asked, "So where are you heading off to?"

Camille tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace. "I have a favor to do for someone."

Viola smiled. "Well it doesn't seem like something you want to do."

Camille shrugged, "Is it that obvious?" Viola laughed.

"Well I'm taking up your time. Next time you want to talk, you know where to reach me." And with that she waved her off and walked away.

She headed into her Toyota Camry and drove to Hal's, cursing her meddling best friend the entire way.

She reached in record time and saw only one car in the parking lot, a blue Ford F150.

She sighed as she headed inside and looked around. Hal's was practically deserted. Chairs were stacked on tables, glasses stacked on top of the bar counter.

Jace was sitting on the stage, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.His black hair was slightly spiked, his muscles rippled beneath the black t-shirt. The dark blue jeans he had on seem to hug him in all the right places. A shot of desire raced through her and her palms suddenly began to sweat. She rubbed them on her jeans before meeting his intense gaze.

"Camille," he said, softly.

She almost didn't hear it.

If she hadn't been watching his lips as he uttered the word, she wouldn't have noticed he spoke at all.

Stop it! She told herself as she tried to banish any existing thoughts about Jace and his soft lips. Camille squared her shoulders as she walked over to him but stopped some feet away from the stage.

"Jace," she said slowly. "Where is the rest of your band?"

He shrugged. "They’re on their way," he said, then smirked at the distance between them.

"C'mon over here Camille and tell me why I'm here," he said.

Except, she wasn't going anywhere near him, especially not after last night. Just thinking about it brought a new wave of guilt. Alice didn't deserve this.

"I'm fine over here thanks," she said and he smirked. "And I'll tell you what’s going on when the rest of your friends get here."

Camille then realized something as she scanned his face. It was smooth and flawless. No red or purple tinge and no hand print visible. She growled internally as she saw that she hadn't made him bruise after all.

"I just thought you would want to sit down, but if you want to stand for the next…I don't know five to ten minutes then be my guess."

She narrowed her eyes at him before accepting that he was right. She made her way to one of the booths she was closest to and sat down. Camille sighed then glanced up to see Jace making his way towards her, a smirk still on his face.

"What are you doing?" she asked, shakily. "Go back to where you were."

His eyes held an amused glint as he kept coming closer.

She didn't say anything as he sat down across from her.

Camille bit her lip then sighed.

"Jace, never kiss me again. You’re with my sister and I don’t want her to get hurt."

Jade didn't say anything, his expression masked.

"She doesn't deserve that," she told him.

"I'm going to break up with her."

Camille's eyes widened. A sudden triumphant feeling running through her.

This was exactly what needed to happen…

Jace was clearly a cheating asshole who needed to stay away from them both.

So then… why did something in her hesitate?

You know what will happen if he breaks up with her. You know how she will react. You know who she will blame.

You’ll lose her.

Can you handle that?

Camille swallowed hard as the thoughts swirled around her mind.

No she couldn't.

This was a mess.

And as much as she was going to hate what she was about to do, she knew it had to be done.

"Are you crazy?" she said.

"What?" he blinked.

"What kind of a solution is that?" Camille said, even though she knew she must have sounded insane.

Jace leaned back and crossed his arms, amusement now written all over his face.

She stared at him, "Jace," she pleaded, "don't break up with her."

Jace gave her a look before chuckling. "I'll think about it.”

Camille didn’t know what to do with that. She just hoped he wouldn’t. At least not yet. Not until she figured out how to get Alice to see how wrong he was for her and then her sister would break up with him herself.

That would be the best case scenario.

Camille shook her head in frustration. She knew she was being a coward, but the fear of losing her sister was too great. And her sister was too fragile to see reason at the moment.

Camille sighed. "You know you were a complete asshole for kissing me last night.”

"First of all, I believe I rescued you from a drunken shithead and did I get a 'thanks Jace'?" he asked mockingly. "No, I didn't,” he said. “Secondly, we both know you enjoyed every second of it," he continued arrogantly.

"This is just what I'm talking about," Camille snapped, getting up from the booth. "I'm so glad I slapped you!"

"I've gotten harder hits from my ten year old sister," he said, laughing.

"Trust me, next time I’ll make sure you bruise," she hissed.

"How about you try again right now?" he said, while getting up to move closer to her. He shoved his hands in his pockets and placed himself right in front of her, his eyes amused.

"You do not want that, " she said, annoyed.

He smirked. "Why not? I'm sure I wouldn’t even notice. Just like last time."

Her jaw slackened and he laughed. She growled internally and felt her hand raise again, when he caught it and pulled her to him until she was just inches from his face.

"Let me go, Jace," she said harshly.

"Why would I?" he paused, his eyes flickering down to her lips. "Besides, I would rather do something else."

She couldn't speak as he lifted her chin and leaned down, his lips brushing against hers.

Camille shivered.

She really wanted to kiss him...

"Jace," she breathed, her skin heating up.

Suddenly, the door opened and voices filled the air.

Camille quickly pulled herself from his grasp as three guys walked in and stared at them.

"This is why you called us at eight freaking o' clock Jace? To meet your freakin' girl?" a buff guy with dark brown hair and brown eyes asked.

She looked at Jace to see that he was composed, even amused at his friend's response.

"One, Camille is not my girl, and two, she has something important to tell us," Jace said calmly before turning to her. “Now let me introduce you to the gang.”

The first guy Jace introduced her to was—" Asher, our guitarist." He had shaggy blonde hair and clear sky blue eyes. He looked like he was the goofball of the band and she instantly took a liking to him. When she extended her hand, he grabbed her into a hug; which startled her to say the least.

"This is Derek, our bassist." Derek had hazel eyes and black hair in a crew cut style. When she extended her hand, he shook it, his grip firm. He looked like the more serious one in the group.

The last person in the group –the angry buff guy- was introduced as, "Mike, our drummer."

Before she could extend her hand, he just nodded at her, and something told her to keep her hands to herself. "Hey," Camille greeted politely.

Mike had his hair in faux Mohawk and had chocolate brown eyes. The dude had some serious muscles and an impressive scar, which extended from his hairline to his left eyebrow. He also had tattoos that littered both of his arms. Everything about him screamed 'danger'.

"Now it's your turn, Camille." She looked at all them, taking in a breath before starting. She left her gaze on Asher who seemed the most harmless.

"Ok…what if I told you guys I could help you get signed by a record label." Camille watched their eyes widen.

Asher was the first to respond. "Are you serious? How?"

"My best friend's fiancée is an A&R for Black Diamond records and he says he thinks you guys have the potential to be signed on," she explained.

"Hey didn't we send a demo to that company? I don't think we got back a response," Derek said, skeptically. Camille noticed an almost imperceptible tick in Jace’s jaw.

"Who cares?" came Asher's excited response. "How do we do it?"

"Well when he comes back from California, then he'll talk to you guys personally. Unfortunately, he won't be back for maybe another month." Asher's enthusiasm didn't falter even as she said this.

"This is where I come in. I'm going to need to record you guys on and off the stage, you know like when you guys practice." She looked at each face to see how they were responding to her news. Mike was indifferent. Derek was skeptical. Jace’s expression was blank and Asher was excited.

"That's it?" Derek asked hesitantly.

"Yeah pretty much. I just need to know the days you guys rehearse and perform."

"Well we usually rehearse Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, normally at Jace's. We perform here at Hal’s on Fridays and Saturdays, mainly," Asher told her enthusiastically.

"That's it?" Derek asked again, still not believing his ears.

"Yep," she said reassuringly. "And what time do you normally rehearse?"

"Five till whenever," Jace said. "How long will you be recording us?"

"Umm…I need about 36 hours of footage…" She looked up to see the reactions.

"Interesting," Derek said.

"So all you have to do is tape us and we have a chance to be signed?" Asher asked.

"Yes. I promise there are no other weird conditions."

"Why are you doing this?" Jace asked, his arms crossed.

"Um…I'm doing it as a favor to a friend and it would be a win-win for everyone.” Camille said. “Besides, my job isn't hard," she added.

Asher grabbed her into a hug. "This is awesome Camille!"

She laughed as he let her go."I didn't do anything," she reminded him, but Asher continued smiling.

"So we have a deal guys?"

"I'm in," Derek said. Mike shrugged and didn't offer anything more. She guessed that was his way of saying "I'm in." Now the only person left was Jace.

Jace was silent for a moment before a smirk graced his lips. "Well it's about time someone noticed us.”

As she stared at the look in Jace’s eyes, she remembered how close she had been to kissing him earlier.

She really was the worst.

So much for staying away.