After class, I was dragging my feet and feeling sorry for myself when War jogged up alongside me in the crowded hall.
“Hey, babe. Why are you frowning?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Long day.” I couldn’t talk to him about it. Not with Chad, Bryan, or anyone else, really.
“Heard Phillips was back at school? Did you see him?”
“I saw him,” I said dully.
A guy with unruly black hair stepped into pace on my other side. “He and Missy are a thing,” he said, seeming to think he was part of my conversation with War.
I gave him a questioning look. In return, he gave me a long head-to-toe scan with eyes the color of smoke. Offhandedly, I noted the headphones hanging around his neck had a roach clip with a blunt attached.
“Missy’s his chauffeur.” My frown deepened as I wondered who this guy was and how he came by his information. “With his injury, he can’t drive.” I gave the guy a look that I hoped would silence him and make him go away.
“He can drive, all right.” The guy waggled his brows. “His dick into Missy’s cunt.”
“Kyle, c’mon,” War said. “Lace doesn’t need to hear that shit.”
Kyle nodded. “Got it. She’s your lily-white rose and all. Well, until after you bring her to my place. Party there after prom, right?” Cackling a high-pitched stoner laugh, he said, “See you later, Lace.”
“What’s he talking about?” I asked, watching Kyle veer off at the juncture in the hall.
Not receiving an answer, I turned to War, only to discover that he was no longer beside me. He was hemmed in at the lockers, a half circle of nearly a dozen girls in front of him. The redhead who had been with Bryan in the quadrangle was one of them.
“Heard Tempest has a record deal,” she said, placing her hand on the center of War’s chest.
I saw red, not red-hair red but angry, fire-engine red. War and I had a standing agreement made a year ago, post-Missy. No touching by the opposite sex allowed. That agreement was more important than ever with the band’s popularity rising and girls flocking to him. Not just at the clubs Tempest played at, but at school now too.
“I heard more than one label wants him,” another girl said. “I want you too. What do you say, baby?” Pressing her large boobs into War’s arm, she looked up at him through her heavily mascaraed lashes.
“Not signed with anyone yet.” War glanced at me, his brow creased beneath his rolled red bandanna. The accessory he used to mostly wear onstage now seemed permanent.
“Rumors are usually based on facts.” The redhead moved closer. “Are you gonna sing at prom?”
“No, Scarlett.” He pried her hand away from his chest. “I’m gonna take my woman to prom. And you need to keep your hands to yourself and move your posse along so I can ask her properly.”
“You’re no fun anymore, War,” Scarlett said, sticking her nose in the air. “C’mon girls. Let’s go find Bullet.”
I glared at her as she walked away, and asked War as he put his arms around me, “Who’s Bullet?”
“Never mind.” War moved one of his hands to my face, turning my head. “Can you focus on me, babe? I’m trying to ask you something.”
“Huh?” I said, blinking at him distractedly. I spotted Bryan at the end of the hall, just as Scarlett and her crew circled him.
Was Bryan “Bullet”? Why would they call him that? What did it mean?
“Will you be my date for prom?” War asked me.
“You’re my boyfriend.”
“Yeah, but I don’t take you for granted. Or at least I try not to.” His brow creased. “So, will you go to prom with me?”
“Yes.” I went up on my toes and pressed my lips to his. “I’d love to.”
War
“How’s Lace?” Looking concerned, King glanced over his big shoulder toward the house.
“She’s still pretty shook up,” I said, though I didn’t get it. Not really, beyond her being blindsided by the news.
“She inside the house?” Sager asked, looking more serious than usual.
“No. She went to the cemetery with Diz and Bry.”
“Thought you’d talked her out of doing that,” King said. The overhead lights in the garage casting shadows on his full face, he studied me closely.
“I thought I had too.”
Lace’s old lady was dead. Overdosed, unsurprisingly. But gone was gone. Good riddance, in my opinion, with a mother like that. Why visit her grave?
“But you know Lace. Stubborn as shit.” I shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal her going and Bryan tagging along, even after I’d strongly advised against it.
“They gonna be back in time for practice?” King asked.
“Not likely.” And that was another reason I was pissed.
“Why are we here then?” Sager asked, and he and King exchanged a look.
“I wanted to talk to both of you.”
“About what?” King planted his tree-trunk legs and crossed his thick arms over his wide chest.
“The band,” I said. “And the offers we’ve been getting.”
“We know about them. Everyone’s talking about it at school. Has something changed?” Sager’s dark brown brows knitted together. “Must be something that you don’t want the others to know, apparently.”
“Yeah, Sage.” I nodded at him. He was way too smart. “The Black Cat rep got wind of my friendship with Kyle, et cetera, and got a stick up her ass about it.”
King frowned. “Weren’t you paying attention when Vanessa mentioned a drug test being a requirement before Black Cat would give us an advance?”
I glared at him. “What I put in my body isn’t anyone’s business but my own.”
“If it gets out of hand, it’s band business, ese.” King glared back at me.
“Fuck Black Cat.” Why was everybody disrespecting my authority today? It was my band. I needed to rein in the subordinates. “It’s either Zenith or RCA now.”
“Two’s not bad,” Sager said.
“It’s trickier.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Only two to play off each other.” Plus, Vanessa might not have wanted Lace in the band, but she liked her. The remaining two, on the other hand, weren’t ambivalent about Lace. They were directly opposed.
“I can see where that might be more difficult.” King stroked his whiskery chin.
“They’re both in the two fifty range. Probably won’t go much higher until we have a recorded album to negotiate with. RCA is flying us down to LA to have a chat. Zenith too. Both are paying for our expenses.”
“Field trip. LA and San Fran.” Sage nodded approvingly.
“Órale!” King pumped a fist in the air. “When?”
“Soon,” I said. “We’ll have to be out of school a couple of days. That work for you two?”
King nodded. “Yeah, we’re in. But what about Lace? School’s important to her.”
“She’s not coming,” I said. “Tests and all.”
Truthfully, the labels hadn’t invited Lace. Her tests being the week we were scheduled to go made for a convenient excuse.
I wasn’t ready to tell her or the guys that all the offers unanimously excluded her. Selfishly, I wanted to wait until after prom to break the news. I didn’t want anything interfering with making her mine.
• • •
“No, War,” Lace said firmly later that night at Footit’s.
“C’mon, Lacey.” I backed her against the dressing room wall. I’d sent away the others, leaving just the two of us.
“I’m too emotional.” Tears brimmed in her amber eyes, but she blinked quickly to clear them.
“I told you not to go to the cemetery. What the fuck did you hope to accomplish?”
Stubbornly, she lifted her chin. “I needed the closure.”
“Yeah, like a kick to the head, maybe.” I frowned, seeing the strain in her features. “You should’ve listened to me.”
“I have a mind of my own
, Warren.”
“Sure, but you were wrong about that. All it did was upset you, and you’re wrong about this.”
“Don’t push me right now. I’ll consider doing a solo, just not tonight.”
“The rep from RCA is here.” It had to be tonight. Last-ditch effort by me. Maybe if I put Lace at center stage, I could change the rep’s mind about her.
“I haven’t even practiced that number yet.”
“How about if we do it together? Like we did the first time we sang in the garage.”
“That’s a good memory.” She smiled softly, and I pressed my advantage.
“You were so beautiful.” I lowered my voice and my head, warming her soft skin with my breath before I touched my lips to it.
“Were?” she whispered, forgetting to argue as she twisted her neck so more of it was exposed.
I traced her taut tendon with the tip of my tongue.
“Oh, War.” Shuddering, she moaned, and I felt it in my dick. “That feels so good.”
“You taste so good.” Like everything I ever wanted, only dipped in vanilla.
She slathered herself in lotion with that scent, smudged it on the sound equipment. One whiff while moving an amp tonight had made me hard. Her tits to my chest, her taste on my tongue, I was fully extended now.
A knock on the door made her jump.
Opening it, Bryan stuck his head inside. He frowned, seeming to disapprove of how close we were standing to each other. “Rep from RCA’s asking for you, man.”
“Fuck.” I pecked Lace’s lips, then narrowed my gaze at her. “Later. You are singing at center mic.”
“Okay.” She sighed, surrendering, and I had the thought that it was easier negotiating with A&R agents than it was talking her into doing what I wanted.
Even when what I wanted was for her own fucking good.
Lace
I let my fingers drift over the keys of the piano at my uncle’s place. The tinkling notes were light at first, then as I pounded, somber and more intense, the way I felt lately.
Since my mom’s death, since War had put me on the spot in front of the RCA rep.
The guy didn’t even like me, and his opinion hadn’t improved after I’d sung a ballad with War. He thought the guys should rage rock, and nothing else. I disagreed. I thought music should be more about putting into melodies and lyrics those things you didn’t know how to express or were too afraid to say.
But then again, what the hell did I know?
I was questioning everything.
My mother’s death was a big part of it. I hadn’t loved her, or so I told myself. But it hurt that she was gone. War didn’t understand. He hated his mother. But Bryan understood my conflicted emotions, and him being beside me at her grave and listening to me meant a lot. He got that all my life, I’d wanted to prove to her that I was worth something. That it was my fuel for my dream.
With that motivation yanked away, I felt untethered and unsure, and War had forced me onstage in that frame of mind. Weeks later, the rift it had created between us persisted, making me feel like I had to guard myself even more around him.
“Hey, that’s a pretty piece.” Bryan stepped inside the living room, my brother right behind him. “What is it?”
“Just me playing around.” I dropped my chin, and he slipped onto the piano bench beside me.
“Doesn’t sound like playing around. Sounds serious.”
“I’m heading upstairs to change,” Dizzy said. He always disappeared whenever I said something serious, especially lately. He was doing some processing of his own where our mother was concerned. “I’ll be right back.”
“Sure, man,” Bryan said, but he was looking straight at me and didn’t catch the warning glance my brother shot me.
Dizzy knew I had feelings for Bryan. He just didn’t know how deep. I kept that secret close, knowing he feared that if I unleashed my feelings, it might cause irreparable trouble in the group. I worried about that too.
“Did you and Diz have a good workout?” I asked, scooting a safer distance away from Bryan on the bench.
“Yeah. We wanna look good for those test shots the labels want to take of us without our shirts.”
The guys were leaving in a couple of days. LA first for RCA, then Zenith in San Fran.
I couldn’t go with them. I had tests to take, midterms that I still hadn’t studied for. My motivation across the board sucked. I wondered if, in the end, any of my hard work with school would matter.
My SAT results were due to arrive at any moment. I checked the mailbox religiously. As it was, I’d barely make the deadline for the University of Washington scholarship application. But would that even matter if my test scores weren’t good enough to apply?
“Hey. Where’d you go just now?” Bryan asked, eliminating the space between us, his muscular thigh in cutoff sweats bumping my slender one encased in denim.
“Worrying about school. The SAT results. The scholarship.” Since our graveside visit, the only secret I kept from him was that I loved him.
“Don’t worry,” he said firmly.
“Easy to say, but difficult not to,” I whispered while staring and losing myself in Bryan’s gorgeous gray-green eyes.
“Do what you can do.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “Then let the uncontrollable stuff go. Worry’s not going to change anything.”
I wondered if that could apply to my feelings for him. I wanted to tell him how I felt before prom.
War had made arrangements. I knew he expected me to go all the way with him. I was ready. Mostly. My only reservation being the guy beside me.
Amid a flurry of his footfalls, my brother reappeared. Exercise gear gone, his hair wet and slicked back, he was in jeans and a Tempest hurricane logo T-shirt. We’d only just started to seriously sell them at our shows.
“Change of plans,” Dizzy said. “Got a call. King’s having trouble with one of the fasteners on his kit. He’s waiting for me at the Troubadour. I’m headed there to see if this will do the trick.” He held up an adjustable wrench.
“Aw, man.” Bryan sighed. “I was really wanting to grab a burger before the show.”
My stomach grumbled. “That sounds good. I’m hungry.”
“Take Lace with you to get something. I’ll eat at the club. You guys better not be late, though. You know how War is about sound check lately.”
“Yeah, I know,” Bryan muttered. All our performances needed to be flawless now that fans were starting to record us and put their videos up on YouTube.
With a last glance at me, Dizzy took off, leaving Bryan and me alone.
Suddenly, I noticed how close he was. I felt his heat and mainlined his crisp, piney scent. Even after a workout, he smelled good . . . and all that goodness bore down on me like an avalanche the instant I heard the door to the house close behind Dizzy.
“Well, we’d better get going,” Bryan said, sliding away from me and standing.
“Yeah, I guess so.” I slid out the other way, when what I really wanted to do was throw myself at him and confess everything.
Maybe it was time. Maybe it wouldn’t change anything for Bryan to know how I felt, or maybe it would change everything.
Didn’t I owe it to myself to know? Wouldn’t that be taking his advice and doing what I could?
“Can we go for a walk on the beach before sound check?” I asked, my heart racing. “Maybe revisit that unfinished business between us?”
“Definitely.” His eyes hit mine with a force that rocked me.
War
“What the fuck?” I exclaimed, and Bryan and Lace broke apart from their embrace on the beach.
Lace was wide-eyed. She touched her lips as if being kissed by Bryan had made the heavens part and the angels sing, or some stupid shit.
Bryan stepped in front of her. “Man, don’t—”
“Don’t you fucking try to placate me, Bry.”
“But you don’t understand.”
“I understand just fine.
Get out of my face. I wanna talk to her right now. I’ll talk to you later.” My gaze narrowed. “You feeling me?”
“Yeah.” He took the steps up to the street level from the beach two at a time, joining Dizzy and me at the top. But once he was up, I moved down to where she was, my heart sinking lower as I descended.
“C’mon, Bry,” her brother said. “Let’s go inside.”
But I tuned him out, tuned out the waves, the sunset, the whole sappy beach setup—all of it except her.
“Did you sleep with him?” I asked her, getting right to it. If Bryan had gotten where I hadn’t, it was over. The band, everything, because I’d kill him.
“No, of course not.” She put her hands on her hips.
“The attitude isn’t justified, babe. We have a rule. No touching the opposite sex. You broke it, not me.”
“I know.” Her eyes were glassy, but she didn’t back down from me or what she’d done. She owned it. And she owned me too, obviously, since I could admire, love, and be furious with her right now, all at the same time.
I grabbed her and pulled her to me. I had to. Holding her settled me. “This has been going on a while, this dance with you and Bryan. I know he’s into you. What I wanna know is, has this happened before?”
“No,” she said, no hint of a lie.
“Okay.” That was something, though I ground my teeth so hard, I practically pulverized my molars. “So, no more unsupervised time with him anymore.”
“You’re not breaking up with me?” she asked, her expression puzzled.
“Do you want me to?” I asked.
“No, but—”
“Tell me this,” I said quickly. There was no way in hell I was giving her an out. “What happened before that kiss? Did he profess his undying love for you?”
“What? No.” She shook her head, looking at me as if that were completely impossible. “He told me we had to stop hanging out together, but I didn’t want that. I pushed it, and we kissed. That’s all.” Looking hurt and dejected more than anything, she closed her eyes and dropped her chin to her chest.
SOUTHSIDE HIGH: Rockstar Enemies to Lovers Romance (Tempest World Book 1) Page 22
