Chapter 8
Hunter
“You.”
The accusatory tone in that singular word had me freezing in place.
What the hell? Between the bright sunshine outside and the dim interior, I had a hard time focusing on the source.
Cautiously pushing the door open more, I found my goddess from last night—AKA Beau’s daughter—standing on the far side of the room.
Right.
This was awkward.
“Yeah. Me.” Shaking my head, I grabbed my cylindrical black nylon Tom bag and carried it over the threshold. “Do you know where we’re setting up?”
“But you’re not in the band.”
I definitely wasn’t imagining the biting tone.
Not up for an argument this early in the morning, I shook my head and answered, “Okay.”
She blinked a few times like she hadn’t expected that answer.
“Do you know where we’re practicing? Someone said something about a library…?”
But she just continued to stand there with a surprised expression.
“Right. While you think about that, I’m going to grab the rest of my kit.
” Leaving my tom bag next to the door, I headed back to my Charger to grab another bag.
This time I strapped my cymbal bag to my back, grabbed the bass drum bag in my left hand, and the hardware bag in my right.
I stomped back to the front door and left my haul next to the singular tom bag.
One more trip and my car was empty, but Beau’s front room was not.
And Isabella still stood there with her arms crossed over her delicious chest. Not that I was going to look…much. Fuck. Bandmate’s daughter, I reminded myself crossly.
“Library?” I bit out when she still didn’t say anything.
She flinched. “I, uh, don’t know really. I’ve only been here a few days. There’s, uh, a room with a desk and some books, maybe that’s it?”
I barely held back my eyeroll. Stomping across the room toward the hallway she’d indicated, I suddenly tripped over something. And I damn near went down.
My arms—full of bags and my bass stand—flailed.
And then she was next to me. Propping me up. Her tits literally under my nose, all supple skin and sweet smelling fragrance. Something fruity and sweet.
“Oomph,” she murmured. “Are you okay?”
I blinked at her for a beat then all but leapt away from her soft, curvy body. “What? Yeah. Just tripped.”
She winced. “Sorry about that. I’ll pick them up for you.” She bent down and grabbed a purse, a small bag, and a whole roller suitcase. “Didn’t know anyone was coming.”
“Are you going somewhere?” I don’t want to admit that I felt a pang at the thought of her leaving. Not that we were going to… Bandmate’s daughter.
Off limits.
“Uh, no. I mean, I was going to but—”
A car horn blared, interrupting her. Then a phone chimed in the depths of her purse.
“Crap. I forgot to cancel the car.” Bending over her bags, she pulled her phone out and tapped at the screen.
I tried and failed not to notice how amazing her ass looked in her tight jeans—all heart-shaped and fucking perfect. So different from the dress last night but still just as delicious.
“What the fuck, Izzy?” Beau suddenly bellowed from down a hallway. “You called a car?”
She stood up with a gasp, and her gaze bobbed between me and her old man. “I got distracted and forgot to cancel it.”
“Right.” Beau shook his head and came into the room with his hand out in a fist. “Hunter, man. I swear, shit isn’t usually so crazy around here.”
I bumped my fist holding my bass stand against his then shrugged. “No problem. We were just trying to figure out which room is the library. Izzy wasn’t exactly sure.”
“Phee didn’t give you the tour?”
Izzy pressed her lips together and shook her head wordlessly.
“Right.” Beau slow blinked. “We’ll be fixing that later. Sorry, kiddo.”
Iz shrugged like she wanted the attention off of her.
Meanwhile I was imagining her voluptuous body poured into one of those burlesque costumes—all corseted lace, feathers, and skin.
So much gorgeous skin.
“Hunter!” Beau barked. “You okay, man?”
I shook my head. “Yeah. Sorry. Just a bit early for me.”
“I know. We’re not supposed to meet for another hour.”
I winced. “I wanted to set up my kit so you all weren’t waiting on me. And I was eager, I guess.”
“I get it, kid, I get it. It’s not a bad thing. Let me help you out.” He grabbed the stand out of my hand and tipped his head toward the hallway he’d came from. “It’s down here.”
I nodded and took two steps after him before I stopped and turned back to Iz. “Thanks for the help, princess.”
Because that was what she was—Beau’s daughter, a rock princess, and the very definition of forbidden.
And it would do me good to remember it.
Thirty minutes later, I had my kit set up the way I wanted. Beau had wandered off to do something with his old lady. I didn’t ask. Just thinking about her pissed me off. So when the door opened, I was expecting Beau or maybe another bandmember.
Seeing Iz pop her head into the room, I was surprised.
“Ah, have you seen my er, Beau lately?”
I shook my head. “He went to check in on his wife a while ago.”
She pulled a face that had me chuckling, because same. Like I’d said, just thinking about her pissed me off.
“Yeah, princess. I’m not her biggest fan, either.” Then I sobered. “Not that I’m going to tell your dad that.”
She shrugged like she didn’t care. “Ditto. Uh, do you need anything? Water? Whiskey?”
“Nah, but thanks.”
She nodded again, waited a beat, and then slowly backed away, softly closing the door.
I sighed as I picked up my sticks. Something about her pained doe eyes and hesitant attitude made me want to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.
But then there was all that fire and sass she’d shown me this morning.
I muffled a groan and shifted on my stool.
If I had to pick one, it’d definitely be the latter.
Her bossing me around and looking all confident with those tits.
Fuck, I had to stop thinking like that.
I’d mostly got myself under control by the time the rest of the guys showed up.
Ryker was next to me, setting up his keyboard, Beau and Mal were drooling over Beau’s guitar collection, and Leif was going through some paperwork in a backpack he’d brought.
Probably had a whole plan cooked up of how he was going to fuck with my head.
He seemed to enjoy the power trip of being the lead singer.
But I was determined to swallow anything and everything he threw my way. I was the new guy. I still had to earn their respect. And I desperately wanted to keep my spot. The upcoming vote and their NDA made it clear: I was replaceable. For the next year, I was a contract gig drummer.
It was up to me to change their minds. To be worthy of being a Lick.
“Here you go, kid.” Leif appeared in front of me while I’d been deep in my mental peptalk. “I got all our sheet music together for you.”
Surprised, I dropped my sticks to take the papers from him. “I, uh, thanks, man.”
Leif tipped his head. “You shocked the hell out of me with how well you know most of our songs. And I really like your sound. You’ve got a crisp style. It’s sweet.”
“Thanks,” I repeated like a tool. Honestly, this was coming out of left field. I’d been expecting the asshole from my audition. I didn’t really know what to say to Nice Leif.
“Just don’t fuck it up.” He pointed at me with a finger gun. “We got a lot riding on you working out, kid.”
Ah, there was the Leif I knew.
I snorted. “No pressure.”
“All right, children!” Leif shouted. “Let’s get this show on the road before the wives start rioting.”
“Fuck off,” Mal scoffed, shaking his head. “You know you’re just jealous. You wish you had a quality woman like mine back home in your bed.”
“Fuck no.” Leif laughed. “Your woman scares the shit out of me.”
“Didn’t stop you from fucking with her bestie.” And just like that, all the levity from earlier had been sucked out of the room.
Beau waved his hands. “All right you two, take your corners. Nothing productive is gonna get done if you two are busy pissing on your territory.” He shoved Mal toward the other side of the room.
“Probably a good thing we didn’t practice at your house, buddy.
He can’t fuck with her friend if he’s not tripping over her all the fucking time. ”
Mal just grunted and kept his eyes on Leif the entire time he walked across the room and picked up his guitar.
Whew. Nothing like some good old fashioned band hostilities.
I knew this had been too good to be true.
“She threw herself at me,” Leif protested, lifting his hands in a display of innocence. “Not my fault.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Mal bit out. “It’s an unspoken rule and you know it. Wives, girlfriends, and family are off limits. Fucker.”
I swallowed hard at the reminder.
Off limits.
“We didn’t even fuck!” Leif suddenly shouted. “I can’t believe I’m getting so much shit for her kissing me.”
“That’s bullshit! Ryker walked in on the two of you!” Mal shoved his guitar around to his back just before he flew at Leif.
Then it was mayhem.
Leif threw a punch. Mal grabbed him in a headlock. Beau waded in to separate them.
“Shit,” Ryker muttered as he scuttled out from behind his keyboard.
“That’s fucking bullshit!” Leif shouted, pointing a scraped finger at Ryker while Beau held him back. “I didn’t fuck her!”
“I never said you did,” Ryker exclaimed, shaking his head. “I don’t know what the hell Mal is talking about.”
Mal scoffed as he held the heel of his hand against his bleeding nose. “You told me that you walked in on the two of them in that waiting room at the hospital after Saylor’s kidnapping. You said they were—”
“Looking up shit on her phone,” Ryker finished. “She was showing him pics from our last concert she’d taken. That’s all I saw. And that’s what I said.”
“No.” Mal shook his head vehemently. “You said they were hooking up. Hooking up AKA fucking. That’s what you said!”
“Whoa!” Ryker backed up. “I swear I didn’t. I said they were getting along in the waiting room and looking up something on her phone.”
Mal stared at Ryker in confusion. “You didn’t. I swear you didn’t.”
“You were a little crazed at the time.” Ryker shrugged. “I can’t help what you thought you heard.”
“But… That’s not…” Mal groaned and swiped at his nose again. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Ryker nodded.
“That’s what I’ve been saying, man.” Leif tipped his head and gave Mal a grave look.
“But Paige said…” Mal groaned and scrubbed at his face. “Shit, she said she wanted to see you again. I thought she meant because you two…”
Leif shook his head. “She’s a nice girl, but I wouldn’t fuck with the band like that. Like I’ve been saying.”
“Fuck.” Mal groaned. “Sorry, man. My bad.”
“Obviously.” Leif scoffed.
“Now shake hands like good boys,” Beau instructed, looming over both of them.
I bit back my laughter.
But Mal and Leif dutifully shook hands before retreating to their respective corners.
As Ryker came back to his keyboard next to me, I leaned over and asked, “Uh, is this a usual thing?”
Ryker shook his head then stopped. “Well…”
“Right.” I sighed.
I don’t know why I expected a long-term, prestigious band to actually have their shit together.
Apparently we were all a little bit broken here.
“Right. If we’re all done fucking around, maybe we could get to practicing something before my wife comes in and interrupts us?” Beau rumbled from behind his bass guitar. His large body looked ridiculous perched on the same sized stool as the rest of ours.
“What I was going to say before things went off the rails—” Leif tossed a look at a still bleeding Mal. “Is that I think we should practice our Infamous Tour setlist to get a feel for the newbie. Those songs should be the freshest for us since we just finished the tour.”
The rest of the guys didn’t comment as they nodded their agreement.
“Kid,” Leif called. “The setlist is that first page on the packet I gave you. If you’re as amazing as you think you are, you should know most of the songs already.”
I raised an eyebrow as I read over the setlist. It started with ‘Shameless’ then ran through twenty-ish songs before ending with their encore song of ‘One for the Road.’
I knew most of the songs.
“Let’s go.” I tipped my chin at him.
Leif chuckled lightly. “Lead us off, kid.”
I wasn’t going to let him get under my skin.
But maybe I could see now why Mal had his boxers in a bunch about this fucker.
Lifting my sticks, I gave them a three count then brought my sticks down and played the opening beat of ‘Shameless.’