Free FUEL (DirtSlap Series Book 1) by Ashlynn Pearce Page A

wouldn’t work. Her hair was wrong, her eyes the wrong color, and that surgery sweet voice grated on his nerves. He was about to walk away, when Cassie showed up.
    His luck sucked ass.
    He jerked himself away from the woman and jumped on stage to finishing setting up and ignored Ryan’s amused expression.
    Over halfway through the set, Thrand thought his head might explode. Cassie had danced with every guy in the place, and it seemed she had finally settled on one—some blond cowboy who wouldn’t keep his hands to himself. On the verge of violence, Thrand kept breaking his sticks.
    Her hair curled down her back and her hips swayed to the beat of the music. His beat. She held a beer high above her head, danced, and completely ignored him. How could she do that when she was dancing to his beat?
    The song they played wasn’t even over when he stood up behind his set, making the rest of the band stop and turn in surprise. He banged his sticks together three times and the noise in the bar quieted a bit.
    Cassie turned to look at him, he pointed at her with one stick, then banged them together three more times. Her smile reached him from across the room. She hopped off the cowboys lap and took a few steps toward him through the crowd.
    Then he started playing her favorite song. Hard rock all the way. Not suited for Honky Tonk Row at all. He didn’t give two shits what he was supposed to be playing. Bedlam was lose and there was only one thing he wanted.
    Her attention.
    The guys in the band said something to him. He didn’t listen. They didn’t know the tune. But Cas did. She’d climbed on a chair, rocked it out, and her hair flew wild as she sang at the top of her lungs. The entire bar watched her and she didn’t care. Just kept right on doing her thing. Being everything that drew him in.
    But the best part? She kept shoving handsy cowboy away.
    Ryan caught on and joined in with some guitar riffs that made Cassie squeal with joy. Thrand didn’t know why she loved the song so much, but now, she was dancing to his beat and his beat alone.
    Adding fuel to his fire.
    He’d gotten exactly what he wanted…her focus on him.
    People poured into the bar from the streets, filling it to capacity as he played wildly and dumped all his feeling into the song. The crowd jammed with her, Lila included, but he ignored them. Cassie pumped her fist in the air as part of the crowd joined in with the chorus. Her face was flushed, her green eyes flashing bright as they bored into him.
    Sweat slid down his spine and the fire she created roared out of control. From the day he found her in Nashville, he knew she was going to be trouble.
    She wanted him?
    Let’s see if she could really handle him.
    *
    Cassie had done a good job pretending to ignore Thrand, but there was no way she could overlook the heat from his eyes as they followed her around the bar. She was still pissy about the girl, but when he knocked those sticks together right in the middle of a song, she couldn’t contain her excitement.
    He played her song. Not caring that all the band members, except for Ryan, were ticked. This was Bedlam. A part of him she hadn’t seen in a long time. The crazy, fuck-em-all, guy she knew so well was back.
    She was breathing hard when Thrand hit the last note and broke another stick. He stood, sweat sliding down his arms, his black cap on backwards. He hopped off the stage in one smooth move, the intensity on his face had her swallowing hard. He took only a couple of steps then stopped and cocked his head. His lips tugged into a smirk that sent her pulse racing.
    He crooked his finger for her to come closer.
    She tried not to rush, but she pushed through the crowd toward him, not caring how desperate she might look. She crashed into him, his arms wound tight around her and his lips landed hard on hers. His thrust his tongue into her mouth, demanding, not asking. She matched his ferocity. She’d wanted him for so long, there wasn’t any