As directed, I kept my mask down as we walked into the club. Nick, dressed as a hot bartender, looked up from behind the bar. I thought he was going to shoo me out, yelling, “Who let a little fucking kid in here?” But he just watched me walk past and make my way up to the stage.

It was hard to breath in this thing. I was closer to Darth Vader than Iron Man. Raspy noises escaped through the cheap plastic, so using the mic would be a challenge. People were starting to file inside, and in the corner, Rick leaned against the doorway to the office, shaking his head as Jack helped me set up the equipment.

Then Jack leaned into my mask. “Don’t be mad.”

“Why?” I turned, flexing my padded bicep at him. “You tell me anymore bad news and I’m going to beat your ass, Dimebag.”

Jack smiled and jumped off the stage. At a rapid pace, he spat out, “I invited the guys from the team.” Then he ran across the dance floor as I lifted my repulsor rays and shot them repeatedly at his head. Zaps and dinging followed him to a table where Allison sat.

I smiled as he sat in the chair next to her and leaned in a bit to talk to her. He was talking to a girl. This was a good first step. Then she threw back her head, waving around those bulbous bee antennas attached to her headband, and laughed at whatever Jack was saying. His cheeks rose as he proudly smiled, and damn it, so did mine. That is until they hit the sharp plastic lining of the mask, reminding me of tonight’s fate. I didn’t understand how kids could wear these things.

Molly stepped around the bar, and Nick popped out, heading up to the stage with a water.

Placing it on the booth, he said, “Let me guess. You lost a bet? Or maybe you wanted to start your twenty-first year with a big fuck you to the management? Rick’s shaking his head so hard I think it’s going to break off.” He gave me a confident smile. “Personally, for what it’s worth, I think you look awesome. Hottest Iron Man I’ve ever seen.”

Chapter Fourteen

What can I say?

Sydney Porter can pull off a middle school Iron Man costume like nobody’s business. I knew she’d look hilarious, but I was here to witness, “This DJ Sucks Cock,” and I hoped the effects button would stick on repeat.

Fernando, Katharine, Chance, some blond chick, Allison, Jack, and I sat in a booth at the back of the club, watching Sinister’s set unfold. Apparently, it was a bit difficult to mix with repulsor rays strapped to one’s wrists. Unfortunately, she’d figured out if she turned her hands around, she could use the backs of them to pull the bars across.

When she said things into the microphone, they came out raspy but feminine. A little too sultry for my liking. But I had to chuckle every time she glanced down at the girl in the skull mask, sitting off to the side.

I’d put up a flyer in the drama department offering a hundred bucks if a girl would sit in the front row and stare at the DJ for the night. Of course, the money was wired from a dummy PayPal account as an extra precaution. I had no doubt in my mind Sydney wanted to jump off that stage and punch her in the face.

“Where’s the help in here?” Katharine snapped. She was dressed as a slutty nurse. Very cliché. Very boring. When she realized just opening her trap wasn’t going to magically make a waitress appear, she nudged me hard in the stomach. “Go get us drinks, Gray.” Her self-entitled pout face was enough send me running through the club doors, so welcoming a change of scenery, I made my way to the bar.

Nick was at the rail, staring at Iron Man, and I knocked on the counter to grab his attention.

“Hey, Gray. What’s up?” He peeked around my shoulder. “Katharine DeSonna, huh? Good luck with that one.”

I nodded. Coach’s warning was in the back of my mind. Keep it short and sweet, Peters. “Hey. Can I get a pitcher of whatever’s good on tap and three glasses?”

“Sure, man.” He grabbed an empty pitcher and began to fill it from the nearest tap. “She’s cute, huh?”

“Katharine?”

He shook his head. “No, DJ Sinister. You were just staring at her with a twisted grin on your face. Have you hit that or something? Looks like you’re reminiscing about taking her to Pound Town.”

Cringing at his words, I shook my head. “Nope. No way.”

At that moment, Sinister looked over at us and shot off a half dozen repulsor zaps at my head. I laughed and turned back to collect the pitcher.

Nick was staring at her in a strange way, like a cannibal about to devour a plate of brains. “Well, I’m taking her out tonight after her set. Should be fun.” He wagged his eyebrows suggestively, and I pushed down the lump building in my throat.

“It’s her twenty-first so I want to show her a good time. Here you go.” He slid the glasses and pitcher my way. “On the house.”

I pulled out a twenty. “No thanks, man. I’d rather pay.”

Nick frowned but kept his eyes on Sydney.

“Gotta keep the SpaceRoom in business,” I said, walking backward toward the table. Nick nodded absentmindedly, but his stare at the DJ never faltered.

Katharine watched me the entire way back to the table.

As I sat down, she leaned in and grabbed my arm. “Oh my God, is that Nick Sharbus? I can’t believe he’d show his face around here. He should’ve been kicked out of school a long time ago.”

I began pouring beer in the glasses. “What are you talking about?”

“Puh-lease,” she said, like I should’ve known this already. “I’ve warned all my sisters off him. He has a tried and true method of sleeping with women. Gross.”

My hand tightened around my glass, and I felt a weight pull across my shoulders. “What do you mean, Katharine?”

Her eyes remained wide as she cautiously glanced between Nick and me. “Well, let’s just say he’s a fan of pharmaceuticals,” she whispered, then took a sip of her beer.

Coach’s words popped into my head, and immediately, my eyes darted to Sydney, then over to Jack.

Sister. Shit.

No, I didn’t have a sister, but Jack did. I might want to crush Sydney’s soul, but I didn’t want to stand by the wayside and let her go out with a sleaze like Nick.

“God, look at her.” Katharine had moved off the subject of Predator Nick and onto Sydney. “She looks ridiculous up there. Seriously, why the hell would she wear that? It’s like she doesn’t even give a shit.”

Sydney was jumping around to the music, and every so often she’d flex for the audience and shoot off a repulsor ray. The crowd was eating it up, and she was enjoying herself. Then she yelled into the mic, “Five minutes,” and slipped on a premix.

The mob responded with one long groan, and that’s when I realized I could’ve put her in a Hitler costume and these people would still be on her side. My next move would have to be off her home turf.

“Drool much?”

I turned to find Katharine glaring at me.

“You’re looking at her like you want to rip off that costume.”

I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t. I was just looking into the crowd. There’s a hot chick in a hula girl outfit out there.”

Katharine slammed her glass on the table, sloshing beer over its side.

Sydney headed straight for us, wrapped a padded arm around Jack’s head, and playfully pretended to strangle him. She grabbed a straw off the table and plunked it into her water, pulling it under her mask. I hadn’t seen her face all night, just as my note specified. She took direction well.

She hopped from side to side, listening to the music as Nick walked up behind her. From over her shoulder, he handed her a shot. When he gave her a light slap on the ass, my first impulse was to break every finger in his hand. For Jack, of course. Then he rushed back to the bar.