by Meghan Quinn
Quinn blew by Landon while laughing and shaking her head. “I can’t even stand you right now,” she joked, while getting into bed.
Jumping like an idiot, he flopped into bed next to her and straddled her body while she giggled.
“Don’t even try to act like you didn’t like that story.”
“Was any of it true?”
“Every single bit of it was. If Grey ever talks to me again, maybe you can ask him one day about it.”
Quinn’s face softened as the knot in Landon’s stomach twisted just an inch tighter at the mention of his brother. Damn it if he didn’t miss Grey.
Pressing the palm of her hand to his face, Quinn transferred her love to him in that small touch.
“He’ll come around, Landon, and if he doesn’t, then I’ll go talk to him.”
“You will not!” Landon said. “This is not your problem to fix.”
“But, isn’t it? I think it’s time I stepped in. Maybe Grey needs closure. Maybe he needs to have a postmortem of our relationship, finally shut the door on the past.”
“No,” Landon shook his head, putting his foot down. He didn’t want Quinn to get involved; it wasn’t her fight.
“Why do you have that look on your face?” she asked as she studied him. “Oh, my God, Landon, do you think if I talk to him, something will happen between us?”
He didn’t want to say it out loud, but there was a little part of him that thought if Quinn saw Grey, maybe she would regret her decision to be with him and go back to Grey.
Out of the two Cross boys, Grey was always the one who had the girls, he was the more attractive one. He was the pretty boy, and Landon was good looking, but was known as the goofball, and he was cool with that…up until Quinn finally came into his life. Now that he had her, he didn’t want to lose her; he couldn’t.
“No,” he said hesitantly.
“Landon, do you not trust me?” Quinn asked, slightly insulted.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Landon answered. “It’s that,” he ran his hand over his face and continued, “I don’t want to lose you, and the thought of you talking to Grey makes me worry that once you take one look at him, you’ll regret your decision and think that you went with the wrong Cross boy.”
Understanding flashed over Quinn’s features. He could see the lightness in her face and the love for him pour out of her, right then and there.
“Oh, Landon, I made the wrong decision the first time. I should have been with you the minute I walked into your house for the first time. I wouldn’t make that mistake again. You know you’re mine. You’re all I want. Grey, he’s just a friend, that’s all.”
“That’s all?” Landon asked, showing his insecurity.
“That is all. You’re it, Landon.”
Smiling brightly, Landon bent down and captured Quinn’s lips with his. This woman, she made him happier than he ever thought he could be. Thank God for weird miracles, because he didn’t think he could have survived his life without knowing how she felt against his body, how she smelled up close, and how her lips matched so perfectly with his. Life wouldn’t have been worth living.
Chapter Eleven
**Maisy**
Nerves flitted through Maisy’s body as she waited patiently in the hallway of her record label’s offices. Not so shockingly, Shattered Souls hadn’t shown up yet, and they were ten minutes late.
Pete, their manager as well as Shattered Souls’ manager, waited with them, constantly checking his watch and phone to see where the guys were. Maisy didn’t really care about their whereabouts, because now that they were no longer on tour with them, they were no longer attached, so they could go ahead and screw themselves for all she cared.
Willow didn’t show up at the house until this morning, looking so beyond busted that Kaid and Maisy quickly washed her up, braided her hair, shoved coffee in her mouth, and made her semi-presentable. She wanted to wear her sunglasses inside, but Kaid told her that was a for sure sign that she was hung over, so he put some saline drops in her eyes, lightly tapped her face to wake her up, and told her to be on her best behavior. Apparently, he was going to have to have a talk with her later, because Kaid was getting rather annoyed with her partying.
“Where the hell are those guys?” Pete said, while he looked down the hallway.
“Who cares?” Willow said in a groggy voice that was borderline man-like.
The shocked look on Pete’s face at Willow’s voice was almost priceless as he looked down at her and took in her appearance.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Willow winked at him and said, “Fun, try having it some time.”
Pete pointed a finger at her and said, “Don’t talk in there. You sound like you’ve been taking testosterone pills for the past three months. Christ, Willow.”
Laughing, Willow leaned her head against the wall and took a sip from the water bottle the receptionist gave them. “Relax, Pete.”
“Relaxing is impossible when representing you two bands. I am going to die an early death from…”
Just as Pete was about to finish his sentence, the doors to the hallway opened and in walked Shattered Souls.
It was like slow motion eye porn for Maisy, seeing them all walk in together in their combination of denim, leather and tweeds, with some of their pants rolled up, some wearing vests, and others wearing sunglasses. They were all incredibly sexy, but the man standing in the forefront, walking around like he owned the damn building, was the one that caught her eye.
Rook walked toward them wearing dark jeans, deep brown boots with his pants cuffed around them, and a plain white V-neck T-shirt that showed off the muscles in his chest. He still wore the necklace he’d had on, increasing his sex appeal for some damn reason. His hair looked effortless and the beard that he had grown was well-trimmed, but still very much present. It must have been a new look he was going for, and damn if it wasn’t working.
“Where the hell have you been?” Pete asked, practically sweating in relief.
Rook clapped him on the shoulder and smiled broadly at him. “Not to worry, Pete, we’re here.”
Looking down at his watch, Pete said, “Twelve minutes late.”
Waving it off, as if their tardiness was nothing, Rook said, “Nah, these meetings always run late; we’re right on time.”
And just as he said that, the doors to the meeting room opened and an assistant welcomed them in while saying, “We’re ready to see you now.”
Rook winked up at Pete, as if saying, “told you so.” Cocky bastard.
Tring to ignore the heated glare Rook gave her right before she walked into the meeting space, she chose a seat as far away from him as possible. There was no way she wanted to have him in her line of vision. She didn’t need to be distracted right now, especially when she should be paying attention to what the label had to say.
Scanning the room, Maisy noticed that Rob Hanson, the president of the label sat at the head of the table, with a tight-lipped look on his face. Derek was there as well, and studied everyone in the room as they sat down, his eyes mainly going to Willow, who, even though Kaid and Maisy tried their best, still looked like a girl doing her very own walk of shame.
Once everyone was seated, Rob stood up and gripped the conference table with his hands, while looking directly at Shattered Souls, who sat along one half of the long table.
“First of all, congratulations are to be given to our very own Shattered Souls for bringing home a Grammy. We are very proud of you guys. That being said, there are a couple of things we need to talk about. First of all, what the hell happened at the after party? Was it really necessary to get into another fight with Meyer’s Men?” Rob looked directly at Rook.
Leaning back in his seat and grabbing his chair from behind his head in a relaxed movement, Rook nodded his head. “Yup, pretty much. Sorry about that, boss. Can’t promise it won’t happen again, though. The guy was a complete dick to Maisy, and I won’t stand for that.�
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“It’s not in your contract to protect Maisy,” Rob responded tersely. “It is in your contract, though, to represent this label in a good light, and getting into fights with other bands who share the same label will not be tolerated.”
Rook nodded his head, but didn’t look fazed by Rob’s apparent idle threat. If Maisy was Rook, she would mostly likely be shaking in her seat, on the verge of peeing her pants. Apparently, losing his contract with the label and his job didn’t matter to him. That was, at least, the vibe he was giving off.
“Now that we got that out of the way, the attention you drew from your antics have shed a new light on your bands, a light I wasn’t prepared to find out about.” Rob stood up and went to a giant flipchart that had their names on it. He grabbed a marker and started drawing lines, connecting names together; once he was done, he capped the pen off and sat down.
Gesturing to the flip chart, he said, “Do you know what that is? That’s all kind of fucked up.”
Maisy studied the chart, and instantly saw her name connected with Rook’s with a dark black line. Her name also was dotted to Cruz’s name, which confused her. Grey had a dotted line to Willow, while Willow had a black line to Cruz. There was also a dashed line between Grey and Landon, whereas Landon had a dark line to Quinn, who was off to the side, and Quinn had a dashed line to Grey. The only person who was unscathed by a line was Kaid.
From the lines and who they were connected to, Maisy could decipher what Rob was trying to say, they really were all kinds of fucked up.
Rob held up his fingers as if he was counting off and said, “So, we have two lead singers who were once together, but are now apart because one of them tried to be gallant and save the other…”
Save the other? Maisy took a quick glance at Rook, whose head was down, and for once, the smirk that had been on his face since the meeting started was no longer present, but instead, a creased brow. What did Rob mean by Rook being gallant?
“…then you have two brothers fighting over a girl, who isn’t part of the band, but works for us, and because of that, the brothers are astray. When you’d think that would be enough, it’s not, because you have Latin lover, Cruz, in the mix, who’d been mixing it up with the lead singer’s girl, Maisy, then going after Grey’s interest, who also happens to be the blonde bassist for Twisted Perfection, Willow, which is all kinds of fucked up, because the boy bassist, Grey, was supposed to be in a heartfelt relationship with Quinn.” Rob gripped his head and shook it. “You all are going to give me a Goddamn ulcer. I can’t keep up with all of it.”
Maisy agreed; she couldn’t keep up with it. She was concerned for a second when he talked about her and Cruz, because never once were they together, but then she thought about their close relationship before Rook started to talk to her; she could see what Rob was talking about now.
God, they were one giant pool of musician incest.
Derek handed a piece of paper to Rob, who looked at it, stunned, while continuing to shake his head.
“And, yet, with all that you two bands have been through, the passing around of partners, if you will, you’re still my two most lucrative bands, now that Twisted Perfection is climbing the charts. So, what should a man like myself, who is number driven, do about the two of you? A part of me wants to destroy your contracts and send you on your way because, frankly, I don’t want to deal with your bullshit anymore.”
Instantly, the bottom of Maisy’s stomach dropped out at the mention of her no longer having a contract with her label, all because of her association with Shattered Souls. She knew from the moment that she met them all they were going to be able to make her band famous, as well as so easily break them. Their fame was toxic in so many ways.
Rob continued, “But I’m not going to do that, because I was presented with a money making opportunity that I just couldn’t possibly refuse.”
Maisy looked around, as Rob paused to look down at the piece of paper in his hand. She was so beyond confused, along with everyone else in the room, except for Rook, who seemed to have that smirk on his face again, waiting in anticipation for what Rob was about to say.
“Starting tomorrow, both bands, Shattered Souls and Twisted Perfection, will be moving into the label’s house, where you will not only be working on your albums together, but you will be filmed by a crew from the E Channel as a prelude for the next five month tour you will be going on together. Get comfy; you’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”
Like a man in charge, he tossed the paper in his hand on the table for everyone to see, and then walked out of the conference room, leaving Maisy completely stunned and rather sick to her stomach.
Not only was she going to have to write an album with Rook, but she had to live in the same house as him, be filmed with him, and then go on tour together.
What the hell just happened?
Still unaware of everything, Maisy looked down at the paper in front of her and noticed it was a note to Rob from Rook. Grabbing it quickly to read, she held it close, as she felt prying eyes on her.
Rob,
First of all, I want to apologize for my terrible behavior and disappearance for the past six months. I was in a dark place that I had a hard time digging myself out of. Luckily, the bright smile of this girl I used to be with helped me through it.
I need to be honest with you, in case any of this comes out in the media. It’s better to be in front of it than on the defensive. A couple days before our tour ended, I had a visit from my dad. I appreciate the efforts you and your team put forth to keep him away from me, but this time, he slipped past, and I didn’t dare make a scene. He approached me and threatened the safety of the most important person in my life in exchange for money, and he promised to continue to do so unless I supported him financially. I was at a loss and didn’t know what to do. So, I gave him the money, and then did the only thing I could think of to keep that one person safe and out of the hell of the life I was living, I pushed her away.
This was the biggest mistake of my life, but I still agree with what I did because it kept her safe, even if for a short period of time. I am telling you this because it has put a fence between two of your bands, something I know you despise and, once again, I am the cause of it. I couldn’t be sorrier for disappointing you once again.
I have a proposition for you, to make my mistake lucrative rather than damaging for you. If you’re interested, please contact me so we can set up a time to meet.
Moving forward, you can expect me to stay clean, to continue to write number one hits, and to make you and the label proud to have signed my boys and me. If anything, they deserve a chance to continue to do what they love best, make music and respect the label, which has made us who we are today.
Forever grateful,
Rook Tyler
Bile started to rise in Maisy’s throat as she dropped the paper on the table and bolted for the door. She ignored the calls from Kaid as she ran to the bathroom. She sat in front of the toilet, dry heaving and replaying the written words of Rook Tyler over and over in her head.
He was trying to protect her, to save her…
Bullshit, she thought. Bullshit! She cried into her hands as she thought about that day, that unfaithful day that haunted her. She would never forget it, and there was a grand possibility that she would never forgive.
**Rook**
“Why can’t you just leave her alone?” Kaid asked, after he read the paper in his hand. Willow and Pete left the room, leaving Kaid alone with the guys.
“Because I love her,” Rook said, without taking a second to blink.
“If you loved her, then you would let her go. Don’t you see you’re torturing her?”
Rook leaned back in his chair and said, “I’m hurting her more by not being with her, both you and I know that. She needs me, Kaid.”
“Then why the fuck did you push her away the way you did? Why didn’t you just talk to her? You annihilated her, Rook. You broke her spirit. She hasn’t b
een the same since.”
As if Rook didn’t know that already. He did because he could see it in the way she carried herself, in the look in her eyes. She almost looked like she was in some far off place, never really in the present, and it killed him to see her like that.
“Like I don’t fucking know that, Kaid? I see what I’ve done to her. I’ve seen the way her eyes are hollow and how she’s just going through the motions of life. I see it every time she’s in my presence, and I’ll be damned if she continues to live her life that way. I broke everything in her; it’s my responsibility to sew her soul back together, and I will do whatever it fucking takes to make that happen.”
Rook stood up from the table and left the room; he needed to catch Maisy before she left the building. He needed to talk to her, to gauge her reaction from the letter he wrote to Rob.
He was just as surprised as Maisy was when Rob decided to share his email. It was supposed to be private, but, apparently, nothing was private between the two bands, and they were going to become even more exposed to each other once they moved into the label’s house.
Just as Rook was leaving the room, he could hear Landon behind him, asking him to slow up.
Rook slowed his pace, but still continued toward the private parking garage under the building.
“Dude, what the hell?” Landon asked, catching up to him. “Could you be any more fucking selfish? I was just about to ask Quinn to marry me, and now I have to live in some stupid fucking house so you can attempt to patch up your problems? I love you, dude, but fuck, come on.”
Stopping in his tracks, Rook turned toward Landon and said, “Quinn is supposed to be in the house too, so put your penis on ice, fuck stick.”
