An Illicit Gentleman II

                                                    Chapter One

AJ sat on the long leather couch as his head gently bobbed to the music.  They were playing back the track and discussing what needed to stay and what needed a tweak.  This new album was going to be hot; it was going to show the fans the new direction they were going.  Well it wasn’t new it was more like their old sound but updated.  It was a new time for the band, Kevin left and was doing his own thing, plus him and Kris were expecting.  He didn’t like Kevin not being there and truth be told he felt like it was sort of his fault and he knew it wasn’t but it was habit, he’s seen a lot of people leave his life and Kev was the last he thought would go.

“So you’ll never guess who I ran into.” Nick said at it broke him from his thoughts.

“Who?” Brian asked as he sat down with a soda.

“Eve” Nick said and AJ looked at him stunned.

“Eve?” Howie said looking at AJ and then back to Nick.

“Yeah” Nick nodded and his eyes went right to AJ.

“Where?” Howie asked as Nick looked back to D.

“Nashville, you know that restaurant Dan told us about, well turns out it’s hers.” Nick said and even AJ gasped when the others did.

“She was in Nashville this whole time? Why didn’t you say anything?” Howie asked looking at AJ.  He sat there staring at his friends, all of them looking at him waiting to answer.  He so did not want to get into it here.

“I didn’t know, haven’t talked to her in years.” AJ replied sharply.  “Nor do I want too.”

“O-kay.” Brian said raising his eyebrows.

“So what did she have to say, how is she?” Howie asked.

“She’s doing great, the restaurant is a hit and she looks great.” Nick told him as he kept his eye on AJ. 

“What?” AJ replied noticing Nick eyeing him.

“Nothing.” Nick replied sitting back.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked starting to get snippy.

“Calm down” Nick sighed.

“Well stop fucking staring at me.” AJ snapped as he sat back down.

“Well when we go back in a few days we should go and check it out.” Howie replied with a nod.

“Have fun” AJ mumbled.

“You don’t want to go?” Brian asked.

“Didn’t I just say I don’t want to talk to her? What makes you think I want to see her?” He snapped again.

“What the hell Alex?” Howie asked confused.

“Yeah man, what’s going on, thought you’d be happy she’s got her life together, it’s what you wanted wasn’t it?” Brian asked.

“What did she say?” Nick asked and AJ looked at him.

“What are you talking about?” He asked playing dumb.

“About Kaci that pissed you off so much?” Nick asked and AJ realized Nick had obviously talked to Eve.

“Well you seem chummy with her, ask her.” AJ replied back as he took a sip of his soda.  “I need a smoke.” He mumbled as he got up and walked out of the studio.

Great this was all he needed, them bugging him about Eve.  He thought it was in the past, gone, done and over with but no.  Pushing on the glass door he walked outside and pulled his smokes from his pocket.  As he took a drag of the lit cigarette his mind started to wonder.

“Evie!?” AJ shouted as he walked into his house.

“Kitchen.” She replied and he smiled, wondering what she was cooking today.

“How did I know?” AJ said with a smile as he walked in and saw her dicing onions up.  She smiled at him as he walked over to her.  “Got something for you?”

“What?” She asked as she wiped her hands on a towel.

“Now it’s just a suggestion, just something to think about, maybe sometime down the road cause you just finished the high school course.” He told her and she nodded, then he handed her the booklet.

“California School of Culinary Arts.” She read as she opened the book.

“There’s a course starting in a couple of months but you don’t have to go, you can look into it though, like I said sometime down the road.” He told her.

“It would be nice, I really like cooking.” She said as she looked at the book.

“I hear a but” AJ said.

“But I can’t afford this, at least not right now.” She said as she closed the book up.

“Well I can.” AJ replied with a light laugh.

“Alex.” She sighed.

“Evelyn.” He replied lovingly mocking her like he usually did when this subject came up.  Walking over to her he took her by the waist and pulled her close to him. “If this is what you want to do then I want to give it too you, you deserve to do something you love.”

The sound of the door opening behind him cleared his head and he looked over his shoulder.  “What?” He asked as Nick came out.

“I didn’t realize it would make you so mad, thought you’d be happy I ran into her.” Nick said as he walked up beside him.  “Like I mean I didn’t think you’d still be pissed at her over something she said about Kaci.”

“Well you were wrong.” AJ replied as he took a drag of his smoke.

“I should have known when she told me not to tell you.” Nick sighed.

“Tell me what?” AJ asked.

“That I saw you.” Nick replied.  “I asked her if she wanted me too tell you I saw her and she said no, it was ok.”

“Well you should have listened.” AJ said as he tossed his smoke to the ground and stepped on it.

“I don’t even listen to you guys, why would I listen to her.” Nick said jokingly but AJ didn’t laugh, he just grabbed the glass door and walked inside.

Ignoring Nick he walked back down the hall and into the private studio room.  Howie and Brian both looked at him as he walked in but he ignored them too, wondering what exactly Eve told Nick and what he told them.  Sitting back down on the couch he examined his nails, noting he needed them redone, the black was either chipped or bitten off.  When Nick walked in he peaked up and sighed with relief when he saw both Brian and Howie not looking at him anymore.

His phone started to vibrate and he reached into his pocket pulling it out. “Yellow?” He answered into it.  “Hey Rachel, how are you?” He asked as the woman on the other end answered.  “Absolutely I’d love too.” He replied and he felt the eyes of his band mates on him.  “Ok, talk to you tonight love.” And then he hung up.

“Who’s Rachel?” Howie asked.

“A friend” AJ replied as he put his phone back into his pocket.

“Eve was a friend too.” Nick mumbled and AJ shot him a look.

“Alright enough about Eve, let’s get back to work.” Brian sighed as he turned his chair to the mix board.

“Fine by me.” AJ replied as he stood up and took a seat by Brian.