Maid for the Rock Star

Part 11

Eleven

He hunched over in the armchair across from her, gripping his beer with both hands for what seemed like an eternity. "This is stupid. I don't know you. You don't like me, so there's no way you could want to help me. You're nothing like my sister. And as long as you're wearing a shirt that shows your tits, I'm going to stare at them."

Yes, this was stupid, but if it saved her from cleaning blood off the floor and worrying about her brother... "Fine," she relented. "If you feel more comfortable talking to my chest than my face, do it. Not knowing me didn't stop you from wanting to get naked with me this afternoon, and talking is nowhere near as personal as that. But if it helps..." She took a deep breath. "Hi. My name is Audra. I've been working here at the Romance Island Resort in housekeeping for a few months now. Since graduation. I'll probably work here until I get a job in something more related to my degree. I have two older brothers and one younger one who've been bringing their problems to me since they could talk, and I usually find some way to solve them, so they keep coming back to me. Sometimes I don't like them much, either, but I still help. And I may not be like your sister, the lady I met earlier today, but you remind me of my brother."

"Do I look like him?"

Audra laughed softly. Jay might be a prick, but he was a perfect physical specimen. "No. Tad's...well, he has more of a keg than a six-pack. And a beard. One of those bushy, hipster ones." Because he doesn't trust himself with a razor anymore, she thought sadly. "No, you're better looking than my brother. But Tad video calls me at least once a week. Whenever he gets lonely. Just like you're calling your sister."

He chewed his lip. "I don't get lonely that often. I don't call her every week. I'm a rock star. I'm usually surrounded by people." He stuck his chin out. "What're you? A shrink?"

"Hell, no. My degree's in atmospheric science. Meteorology and weather, mostly."

It was Jay's turn to laugh. "A weather girl. I'm going to tell a weather girl my problems and then you'll forecast fine weather and sunny skies for me? Why are you here, Audrey the weather girl?"

She gritted her teeth, but turned it into a smile. "Audra. My name's Audra. Not Audrey."

"You look like that classic movie chick called Audrey. The one with the dark hair and big eyes who smoked a long cigarette with her breakfast." Jay took a deep pull of his beer.

"You mean Audrey Hepburn?" Well, there were worse people to be compared to. Coming from him, it was quite a compliment. Especially alongside the weather girl joke. If she had a dollar for every time someone had said it, she wouldn't be doing this job, that's for sure. "Um, thank you. But my name really is Audra. And aren't you the one who's supposed to be talking? It's my job to listen."

Jay nodded, drained his drink and headed to the kitchen for more. When he offered Audra another, she shook her head and held up her barely touched beer. She didn't dare have more than one – not being able to afford much alcohol messed with her already low tolerance for the stuff.

He returned to the lounge but rejected his armchair for a sofa he could recline on instead – fortunately, wearing more than just his undies. "Do you know how Chaya started?"

Audra shook her head and sipped her drink. Damn, it was sweet, but good.

"I started getting a couple of live gigs in small bars on weeknights, just me and my guitar. It was all right, but not much money. In school, I was in a band with my sister and her best friend. That girl had...music in her head like magic, you know? She'd come in to practice and tell us to stop whatever we were doing to try something new she'd come up with last night. We'd whinge and complain, but we'd always give in because whatever it was would just be fucking awesome, better than anything we'd ever done before. And when the bars started looking for bigger bands than just some bloke with a guitar, I gave them one of our high school demo tracks by mistake. They fucking loved it – wanted to know if the rest of my band could come in and play. Except I didn't have a band. The girls were still at school and she was a year younger than my sister. So I waited, still playing small gigs and making a name for myself, until my band were all over eighteen and could play in pubs on a Friday and Saturday night. Sunday sessions. The bigger stuff.