Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
XANDER
Stone and I settle into his suite to work on new music. I want him to look over the lyrics I wrote while I watched Jade sleep back at my house. I’ve changed them and then changed them back again so many times that at this point I just have to hand them over for someone else to look at.
Writing anything but actual music is so far out of my wheelhouse I’m completely at a loss. Stone is so good at writing, though, that I am almost too nervous to hand over my ideas. Which is why I hesitate when he plops down on the other end of the couch and holds out his hand for my phone.
“Let me see what you’ve got.” He wiggles his fingers impatiently.
“Fuck,” I groan and unlock my phone, handing it to him.
“Don’t be scared.” He pats my knee. “I’ll be gentle.”
“Fuck you,” I say with no heat.
“Hazel has me covered.”
I throw a pillow at him. He tucks it under his arm and starts to scroll through.
Without my phone I have nothing to fiddle with, so I grab the closest guitar and start tuning it.
My eyes flick to Stone when he grabs his notebook and turns to a blank page.
He starts writing without taking his eyes from my phone.
“This is really good.” He looks over at me. “Like multi-platinum good.”
I scoff, but he cuts me off.
“No. I’m dead serious. Just the lyrics alone gave me chills.” He holds up his arm to show me. “And that’s without any music backing it.”
The tension eases from my chest. “I’m glad you like it. It came to me in a rush.”
Stone tosses my phone into my lap. “Who is it about? A certain fiery redhead we all know and love?”
I’m not sure how to answer. Before he’s a bandmate, he’s my best friend, a brother.
Jade doesn’t want anyone to know what happened last night, but I’m sure she’ll tell the girls’ group chat.
Those four don’t have any secrets between them.
Just like Stone, Tobias, and I don’t. Not to mention, Stone knows the entire backstory.
I have to talk to someone, if only to have a sounding board.
I nod. “I wrote them while I sat next to her asleep in my bed.”
“Really?” His brows nearly meet his hairline. “About time, but also how? You were going tit for tat weeks ago.”
“After our show in LA, I asked her to come over for dinner. Just to talk about everything. I made us pancakes, and we walked along the beach. But we didn’t talk about the past. Every time I’d bring something up, she shifted the conversation.
It never felt like the right time. Then we got back to the house, and I went to grab my keys.
When I came out, she’d passed out on my couch. ”
“So, are you good?”
I run a hand over my face before answering.
“I think we’re better. We actually talked last night.
There are things she didn’t know. Things I didn’t know.
The shit she went through,” I sigh, trailing off.
“It’s not my place to tell, but I feel so fucking awful.
I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for it. ”
“Is that where you were this morning when Darren couldn’t find you?”
“Christ, did he ask everyone?”
“Probably. You know how he gets.”
I nod. “Yeah, I stayed in her room. We, uh, slept together.”
Stone turns fully toward me, happiness painted on his face. “Finally.”
“Don’t get excited. Before I left this morning, she said it couldn’t happen again. She’s worried about it being unprofessional.”
He slumps. “She’s right.
I open my mouth to disagree, but he holds a placating hand up.
“I don’t mean that I think it would be unprofessional. Personally, I think it’s about fucking time. That said, from an outside perspective, you know how people would look at her. She’d have to deal with people accusing her of sleeping her way to the top and other misogynistic bullshit.”
“I don’t want it to be a dirty little secret.”
“So the impasse is why there was so much tension between you two this morning.”
“You noticed, huh?”
He looks at me from the side of his eyes.
“I’m pretty sure a beetle on the street outside could have noticed.
” He looks back down at what he scribbled on his notebook.
“The good news is that all your pain and yearning really translates well to the page. If we wanted to thematically sequence the new album, we could start with your songs and then move to mine.”
The door opens, and Darren and Tobias enter.
I watch with wariness as Tobias pulls drumsticks from his back pocket and sets them on the end table before taking a seat in the armchair.
Every day he seems more and more unstable.
I’m worried that he’s about to slip into either a manic or depressive state.
We all thought he was in a good place with his current medications, but with the street drugs he’s been doing, who knows.
“Stop looking at me like I’m about to break,” he grits out, looking back and forth between Stone and me.
“You have perfect timing, actually.” Stone tosses his notebook to him. “Xander has written our next hit record.”
Tobias pulls his hair back into a bun and taps his thumb against the arm rest of his chair while he reads. His body rocks to a rhythm building in his mind. I know he’s got something when he looks up at us, a gleam back in his eyes.
“Let’s finish it.”
Stone stands and grabs his keyboard from the other room. “I think you should take lead vocals on this one,” he says to me.
“Me?” I point at myself in confusion. “I’m not the lead vocalist.”
“People love your voice.”
“Yeah, on background vocals.”
“Nope,” Darren calls from the table in the corner of the room where he sat down to work. “Check the post that Jade made on your account. It’s going crazy on all the social media channels.”
I grab my phone and open up one of the apps to find a video taken of me while I was at the piano in Phoenix. Over a million views in less than two hours, hundreds of thousands of likes. “Holy shit.”
“Yep,” Stone points at me. “You’re singing this one.”
By the end of the show, I’m a sweat-covered mess.
Darren informed us earlier today that we’ll have half an hour to clean up and change before the meet and greet.
The three of us strip out of our clothes and walk into the locker room showers, each taking a semi-private stall.
At least the water is hot and the pressure strong.
We’ve definitely used some that weren’t over the years.
I finish first and walk out to find Darren waiting. He’s brought our clothes in and leans against the wall, his head in his phone as usual. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t sleep attached to it.
Once we’re dressed and ready, he leads us upstairs to a suite. There’s a long table with three chairs and stacks of concert posters for us to sign. Each seat has a water bottle and sharpie waiting for us. Tobias takes the first seat, Stone the second, and I the third.
A couple of the station executives walk over and introduce themselves.
We chat for a few minutes with them, laying on the charm.
At least I was trying to until I noticed Jade speaking to a man in the corner.
He says something, and her head falls back as she laughs.
He takes the opportunity to sweep his eyes down her body.
Which, fuck me, I did too earlier. But it pisses me off that he’s doing it.
She’s gorgeous as usual. Tonight she’s wearing a forest green dress that wraps around her body and ties at the side.
It skims her body beautifully with the hem ending with a flutter around her knees.
The fact that she picked a dress in my favorite color to wear today and is now flirting with another man irritates the fuck out of me.
Stone kicks my chair to get my attention. Apparently, the station president asked me a question I didn’t hear because I was too focused on her. I force myself to relax and answer him, apologizing for zoning out. From the corner of my eye, I see Darren walk over to Jade and douche bag.
Thank fuck.
“Be nice,” Stone says through his smile as the douche bag in question comes up to the table.
“Hi.” He holds out a hand to Tobias. “I’m Chaz. The morning DJ.”
“Hey man, nice to meet you.” Stone shakes his hand next.
“Hello.” I stand as I grip his hand, the only one of us to do so. Is it a dick move? Absolutely, and I don’t give a fuck. I tower over him to the point he has to tilt his head back to keep eye contact.
“The show was great. You guys are always a blast to watch live.”
“Thank you,” Stone says graciously.
“Can I ask you guys a question?” He flicks a glance at Jade who is now schmoozing with the execs. “How hard would I need to work to get your PR girl to come home with me? She’s hot as fuck.”
I bristle at the question, ready to land a blow. Every physical altercation I’ve been in always revolves around her. Her shitty high school boyfriend. My shitty surf buddy. Apparently, this clown wants to be the third.
“She’s into chicks,” Tobias says before I can say anything.
“And she’s taken I’m afraid,” Stone adds.
“Really? Damn.” He turns to give her another appreciative look. “Such a waste, but if her girl is as hot as she is, I wouldn’t mind watching.” He looks back at us with a sleazy smile, expecting us to be in on the joke.
We’re not.
“I don’t know, man. I don’t spend my time sexualizing women like that. Especially not at their place of work where they’re the utmost professional. She’s the best in the business and a woman,” I emphasize the word after he called her a girl, “who deserves respect.”
He looks between the three of us. “Of course. I meant no disrespect.”
“Right.” I still haven’t sat down.
“Can I get a picture with you three for the station socials? They’re about to open the doors.”
The three of us walk over to the backdrop covered in the radio station’s logo for the photo.
Chaz stands in the middle and strikes the most ridiculous pose.
Jade does a double take when she sees us having the photo taken and comes over.
Her brows pull together when her gaze skims over the three of us. I assume none of us are smiling.
Chaz shakes our hands one more time and walks away, nodding at Jade. As soon as he walks off, she strides over to the three of us. She doesn’t need to say anything to communicate her anger.
“What is your problem? Be fucking nice,” she growls quietly.
“No,” Tobias says, flicking his lip ring with his tongue.
She shakes her head and looks at Stone, then me. “I expect you guys to behave and be cordial.”
“He called you our PR girl,” Stone says, “and wants to get in your pants.”
Her eyes flick to me and then back to Stone. “It’s my business who gets in my pants. I can handle myself.”
“That so?” I ask darkly while Stone and Tobias go sit back down at the table.
“Yep.” She pops the P with extra attitude.
“Okay,” I give her my fake ass smile.
Game on. If she wants to play it this way, let’s fucking go.