“Because I’m not his type.” She waves a hand in front of her boobs.

Ollie laughs.

I kick his chair. “Why don’t you do it?”

“Oh no, you’re much prettier than I am. Our best shot is sending in the ringer.”

He and Sydney both stare at me expectantly.

“No. No way. It’s a terrible plan.”

Sydney looks at me with those big, brown eyes. “What if that cute singer is Jonah’s soul mate and he never meets him because he was too shy? Can you really live with that guilt?”

12

SYDNEY

“What is he doing?” Jonah asks as Tanner approaches the stage where the band is packing up.

We gave Jonah until the end of the set to make a move, but as Ollie predicted, he only stared at the handsome lead singer.

“He’s being your wingman,” I tell him with a little poke in the chest.

Jonah’s brows shoot up under the dark red hair falling onto his forehead. Then he laughs. “Well, that’s ironic. The only guy in this place that’s more chickenshit than me is helping me out. Fuck.” He pushes off the bar and his jaw flexes. “All right.” He strides toward them.

“What just happened?” I ask Ollie on my other side.

“Our plan worked.” He shrugs.

Jonah squeezes Tanner’s shoulder and says something that makes the singer laugh. Tanner opens his stance, and the three of them talk back and forth for a few minutes before the suspense is killing me, and I go in.

Tanner glances up as I get near and smiles. He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me to his side. I love when he claims me like this, even if it’s only meant to be a friendly gesture. Maybe it should annoy me because it undoubtedly scares men away, but I really don’t care.

“Was the last song an original?” Jonah is asking the singer. “I’ve never heard it before.”

“Yeah.” He shoves his hands in the front of his jeans pockets. Without a microphone, he looks a lot shier than he did. He’s got a nice, friendly smile. I can see why Jonah’s into him. “Did it suck?”

“What? No way. You should play more originals. It was bomb.” Jonah tilts his head toward the bar. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“I should help the guys load up first. Will you be around for a while?”

After making plans to meet up with us, hottie singer whose name I find out is Richard, goes back to his band, and Jonah wears the largest grin I’ve ever seen as we go back to the table.

“Nice work,” Tanner tells him. “Knew you had it in you. You just needed a little competition.”

“Please. Even if you were gay, you are so not his type.”