Read Online Lennon's Jinx by Chris Myers - Free Book Online

Clive’s gaze wanders all over her as if she’s
a tootsie roll pop that he’s about to cheat on by biting into its chewy center.
“You can’t just leave after enticing us with leather.”
    Jinx
cowers and trembles hard, like she did when she threw me out. She’s skittish like
a spooked horse. One fist still tightly grips a black cylinder.
    I
scoot my chair to face her. “Let’s see what you got, Jinx.”
    She
forces a smile, though I know it’s killing her, and sits down at her keyboard. It
dawns on me what she’s concealing from us in her hand. I get up and walk over
to her. She’s shaking harder now. I place my hand on hers that’s holding the pepper
spray. I had a bad reaction to the spray once. Some girl used it on another guy
at a club, and I happened to be in the way. My face blew up to the size of a
watermelon.
    Her
soft, delicate hand trembles in mine. I’d like to hold it longer.
    “No
one here is going to hurt you,” I say in a low voice.
    I
step away as Jinx slowly puts the spray in her bag and powers up her keyboard.
The melody that comes out is haunting, bleak, way cool. Her mouth opens and she
sings with a voice that spells erotica. It’s nothing like choir singing.
    The
whole band lets her finish. No one even interrupts or corrects her, which we
all normally do. It’s how we establish our pecking order.
    “Who
wrote that?” Danny Boy asks, equally amazed from his expression.
    “I
did,” she says with her chin pressed against her chest so that I barely hear
her.
    Danny
Boy hands her sheet music from one of our standard songs. She takes it and
blankly stares at it.
    “She
doesn’t read music,” Clive says. “Sorry, doll baby. We need someone to—”
    “Do
you play by ear?” I ask, still fantasizing about her tiny feet, not that she’ll
ever let me near them.
    She
nods. “I need the money. You do make money at this?”
    We
all laugh.
    “If
you want the dead presidents, you’re better off dating our fearless leader,”
Danny says, chuckling. “I have a second job, so what does that tell you?”
    “We
would make more money if Lennon would get off his bum and get us a real gig.”
Clive nudges me. “Not that I’m complaining. It’s the girls I’m after.”
    Jinx
grimaces. She’s still standing there like a popsicle.
    “We
have a good job this weekend,” I say.
    “That’s
good to know.” Her voice is even a little shaky. “So can I join you guys?”
    Clive
waggles his eyebrows at her. “You can’t be the first, but you could be the
next.”
    “Not
in this lifetime,” Jinx shoots back.
    “Nice,
a bird with a bite.” Clive picks up his bass. “You have nothing to worry about.
You’ve said no. I’ll be a good boy and move on.” That’s definitely not Clive.
He likes a challenge.
    Jinx
takes a step back from him. Strange. She is obviously afraid of us. To my
knowledge, we’re not terrifying. Most girls like us. Oh, I forgot. I’m talking
about Jinx, a girl searching for that perfect guy, who only exists in her dreams.
I’m no prince, so I have no shot with her. Why did I give her roses?
    I
swagger over to the keyboard and knock out the notes of a song we wrote. “Play
that back.”
    After
I step aside, Jinx rips through the number and adds a few more keys to give it
an edgier tone.
    She
is talented. Maybe she won’t think I’m a pig if she sees me as a professional and
I get us better jobs.
    “She’s
pretty good,” Danny Boy says. “What else can you play, Sugar Lips?”
    She
grits her teeth. “The guitar, a little bit of the banjo.”
    I
can tell the sexism grates on her and wonder how long she’ll last. The guys can
smell fear and pounce on it like lions stalking a gazelle. It’s only a game for
them, but it can be intimidating to a scared bunny like Jinx.
    I
hand her my custom made twelve-string Taylor that cost me fifteen grand. “Play
us something.”
    She
stares at it in awe. Holding it like it could break, she sits on a stool and
rips out a lick.