by Amy Brent
For a moment, it felt like I was an outsider looking in, and I was hesitant to interrupt. The door behind me opened again.
I looked over my shoulder to see who else was joining us and smiled.
“Hi, Connor,” I said, greeting him as he walked closer. Connor was the lead singer of Obsidian, a local indie rock group that had just wrapped up a tour with Sam’s band, Moon. It had been a huge success despite everything that had happened over the past six months while traveling, not the least of which was Connor and Alice becoming an item, which I still wasn’t sure how I felt about.
Alice knew my rule. She even knew why I stayed away from men like Connor. He was handsome in that rugged, brooding way that called to something deep inside me, but I didn’t feel that same spark for the lead of Obsidian as I did for the dark-haired man sitting next to Alice.
Connor was more aggressive, more in your face. And he wore his arrogance like a coat. Not that Sam didn’t have his own fair share of ego. All musicians did. I knew that. But I also knew Alice was happy, and after everything she’d been through, she deserved to be happy.
“Faye.” He nodded at me, but his eyes were locked on Alice and he didn’t slow until he was by her side. There was real love in his eyes as he leaned down and they shared a kiss so intimate I had to look away.
“Ahem. Right. What about this big announcement of yours?” I said as I walked forward to join the small group.
Alice shared a long look with Connor, her cheeks flushing pink, which set off the streaks of purple in her hair. Then she shot a sidelong glance at Sam before taking a deep breath.
“Okay. Well, some of you know this already,” Alice said slowly. Sam had a small grin on his face that he was obviously trying and failing to hide. “I’m just going to come right out and say it. I’m…pregnant.”
My jaw dropped at Alice’s bombshell. Pregnant? That was the last thing in the world I expected from the surly, sarcastic lead singer of the band. Disbelief swirled through me for a second, and then the next thing I felt was a wave of pure, overwhelming joy.
“Oh my god! Alice! Oh my god! Congratulations!” I could barely get the words out as everyone seemed to be talking at once, but I pushed my way past Connor to pull her close for a big hug. “That’s amazing news.”
Alice turned to me with the most beatific smile. “It is, isn’t it?” I didn’t know what surprised me more, the sting of tears in Alice’s large gray eyes or in my own. I gave her another hug, fighting between crying and laughing.
“Congratulations,” I murmured again before giving Connor a bear hug as well. “I’m so happy for you.”
I pulled back, surreptitiously wiping at the moisture that pooled in the corner of each eye before giving Alice a serious look. “We will be talking about this later, girl to girl.”
Alice’s grin turned devilish. “Don’t worry, we will.”
Connor had the brains to look worried at Alice’s mischievous look, but my mind was already leaping ahead. I really was ecstatic for my friend, but as an agent, I knew this might complicate things after the baby was born.
Alice and Connor were both getting congratulations from Casey, and suddenly I felt a chill sweep through me. I knew he was standing behind me before I even turned around.
“Excuse me, Sam,” I said quickly, moving to walk past him, but he stopped me, stepping into my way. I glared at him, but it was like glaring at the sun. He didn’t even seem to notice.
“Can we talk?” he asked, and his voice, that soft, husky, soul-melting voice washed over me. No. I wasn’t going to give in. I wasn’t going to give him another inch.
“I…have to go,” I mumbled hastily, moving around him to head toward the door. My only thought was to get out of there before he could stop me again. I was always afraid the next time I wouldn’t be strong enough to walk the other way.
It hurt to talk to him since the one night we’d had together. As the agent for Moon over the past eighteen months, I’d tried to put it behind me, to stay professional. But he made it impossible for me.
And then there was that night on the tour, one moment of weakness where I’d given in and kissed him. That was all, just a kiss, but it had been just as powerful as our night together. And just as hard to forget. Not that Sam helped with that last one.
It also didn’t help that the chemistry between us had never gone away. It had never faded. The desire was always there like an ember, banked but still burning, underneath my skin. A constant reminder of how much my body still wanted him.
Sucking in a flustered breath, I rushed outside to the parking lot. I wasn’t sure where I was going. I just knew I needed to escape the suddenly claustrophobic studio. And to escape Sam.
My feet walked me in the direction of my car that was parked out front, and something fluttering on the windshield drew my attention. Thinking it was just a flyer someone had papered the cars with, I grabbed it but froze when I saw what it was I held in my hands.
“What the hell?”
*
Sam
I wasn’t going to let her get away this time. Faye had run away from me too many times. This time she was going to listen to me damn it. Now that the band was in the studio and not moving around as much as we had been on the tour, I had hoped…
I shook my head bitterly, cutting off the thought. I had hoped Faye would listen to me, that she would give me a chance, give us a chance. That she would let me prove to her that I wasn’t like the other assholes who had broken her heart.
But in order to do that I needed to talk to her for more than thirty seconds at a time before she flittered off like a startled dove, leaving me empty.
I pushed back the spark of anger that flared to life inside me as I chased her outside. She had to stop avoiding me sometime. I hated to admit it to myself, but I…missed her. If she just gave me a shot she’d see I was different. But I had to get her to stand in one place long enough to prove it to her.
Ever since the tour had ended, it seemed like she was avoiding me even more if that was possible. She went out of her way not to stop and talk to me.
Well, that was about to end. She would listen to me whether she liked it or not. There was nowhere for her to run.
Faye finally slowed down as she reached the parking lot, but I didn’t think she knew I was behind her. She hadn’t glanced back since fleeing the recording studio, and now all her attention seemed focused on something in front of her.
The sudden tension that filled her body made by brows furrow in concern that drove away most of my anger, but there was still a small ember burning in my chest as I walked within a few feet of her.
The residual anger was enough to have me opening my mouth and saying what I probably shouldn’t have.
“What the hell is going on, Faye?” The words burst out of me as I came to a stumbling halt behind her. “I told you we need to talk, and damn it, we’re going to talk if I have to haul you over my shoulder and drag you back…”
I stopped talking as I took a step closer and saw the frozen expression on Faye’s gorgeous face. Worry overrode every other emotion as I glanced down. My eyes went wide as I saw what she held clenched in her hands.
It was a computer printout, a pixelated version of a dark photograph. It was slightly blurry but still clear enough for me to make out what it was. And then the worry was gone in a wave of fury.
Pissed off, I reached around her to try to grab the photo to get a better look, but she held it too tightly. It didn’t matter. I could see enough. It was a photo of her and Archer standing on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building. My vision narrowed on the intimate way she held her hand against his chest, the way she was looking up into his face with such an earnest, serious expression.
“Really, Faye? Archer? What about your rule? I thought you didn’t date—”
“Shut up, Sam!”
Faye’s words were sharp, but there was a trembling edge to them that had me looking up i
nto her face. Her expression still had that cold, frozen quality that had worried me in the first place, and I forced myself to take a deep breath before reaching out again.
“Please, Faye, let me see it? Something about it is obviously bothering you.” It was bothering me too, but I didn’t add that last bit out loud.
“Yeah, no shit something’s bothering me.” Faye snorted as she tossed the photograph at me. I fumbled to catch it before it fell to the ground. “It’s pretty normal to be bothered by threats.”
Threats? I cast a quick glance down, and my breath caught as I saw what her hand had been covering before.
There was a red x marked across her body. Then pen had been pressed so hard that it had nearly torn through the paper. At the bottom was a scrawled message: Stay away.
That was it. There were no other words, but the “or else” was pretty apparent in the writing itself and the violent scrawl crossing out Faye’s image.
“Jesus, Faye… Who did this? Did someone send this to you?” I couldn’t stem the flood of questions, but Faye just shook her head, and anger washed through me at the terrified look on her face.
“I–I don’t know. I just found it on my car. It was tucked underneath one of my windshield wipers. It was waiting for me.”
“Fuck!” I had to fight the urge to crumple the goddamned thing in my hand. Who would have done this to her? Who would ever want to hurt Faye?
The thought alone had rage fueling me forward, and before I could stop myself, my arms were wrapping around her. I was surprised when Faye didn’t pull away. To melt against me, even for a moment, was a sign of how worried she really was.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. We’ll find whoever did this.” I muttered the words against the top of her dark, espresso-colored hair, inhaling the spicy, amber fragrance of her, but all too soon she was pulling away.
“Of course it’s going to be okay,” Faye said, and once again she had her no-nonsense, 100-percent professional mask firmly back in place. It made me want to growl out loud. She was already shaking off the whole incident as if it had never happened.
“It was probably just a stupid prank. Teenagers or something,” she said. I shot her a dubious look, but before I could say anything to convince her otherwise, she was moving. “Just…throw that thing away, will you?”
Faye waved a nonchalant hand at the threat I still held in a white-knuckled grip as she got in her car. It was as if the whole thing was just been some bad joke, already forgotten. I opened my mouth to tell her to stop, to go to the cops, to do something, but she was already starting her car and backing out of the parking lot. Still holding the photograph, I had no choice but to turn around and go back inside, alone.
Chapter 4
Faye
I drew in a deep breath and realized I’d been staring blankly at my closet for the past twenty minutes. I had been lost in thought, something that had happened over and over again for the past twenty-four hours.
I just couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened yesterday. The photograph, the threatening message. But even more on my mind was what had happened with Sam.
Every single time I was around him, he made me weak. I had given in to him, even if it had just been for a moment. I couldn’t let that happen again. But God, it had felt so good to have his arms around me like that, to have someone to lean on, even for a few minutes.
But I knew Sam would break my heart, just like every other guy I’d ever dated. Just like Bryce.
I gave myself a shake, telling myself to focus on the task at hand. There was no use crying over spilled milk. That was what my mom always used to say, and it was true. It was done and in the past. Better to just let it go and forget it had ever happened.
I leaned forward, searching through my closet for cloths to wear that day, but stopped when I heard a shuffling noise outside my apartment door. I tilted my head, trying to hear anything else, but shrugged it off when silence reigned.
“Jumping at shadows,” I muttered to myself. Another thing my mother used to say to me. With another shake of my head, I flicked through my closet. I paused at a bright red dress that was short enough to skim my thighs and tight enough to flaunt all my curves. For a moment, my thoughts wandered, imagining Sam seeing me in it before I could stop myself.
“Right, that’s just what I need.” I huffed in frustration. Not! Deliberately, I pushed the red dress aside and pulled out the staid navy slacks along with the matching blazer. I was a professional damn it and would look the part. That was what I told myself as I dressed even though it felt more like I was donning armor than a tasteful suit set.
I glanced at myself in the mirror critically. My long, normally wild and wavy dark hair was pulled back into a twist that contained the curls. My dark eyes were emphasized with a swipe of mascara on my lashes and a hint of blush but no other embellishments.
I was a professional. And if I found that my nights were getting more and more lonely, well, I could do whatever I wanted to about that. If I wanted to.
There was always Archer. I let out a soft laugh at the thought. Yeah, right. The owner of Eureka Records was so arrogant, I doubted he had any idea how to treat a woman right.
The man was handsome; I could give him that. But I knew firsthand that a beautiful face could hide an ugly soul. What was on the inside rarely matched what was on the outside, and it was what was on the inside that mattered.
Not Sam, though. I hesitated as the thought flew through my mind, but I couldn’t deny that it was true. No, not Sam. I’d learned over the last year that his handsome face hid a loyal, honorable man, at least when it came to his family, to the band.
But what about the groupies? I shook my head at the thought, more frustrated at the jealousy that tried to rise up inside me than anything else. He wasn’t mine to be jealous over. He’d offered, more than once, and there had been a moment on the tour when I’d almost given in to him, but I had made a promise to myself. And I always kept my promises.
Fed up with arguing with myself, I flicked off the bedroom lights and strode into the kitchen. It took only a few moments to fill up the travel mug and grab my bag before heading to the door. Damn Sam. The man really did steal my wits at the most inconvenient of times.
I was still so distracted, trying not to think about Sam, that I nearly tripped over the shoe box sitting in front of my apartment door as I hurried to head to the studio.
With a frown, I paused and bent down to pick it up. There wasn’t anything on the outside of the box. It was just a small thing wrapped in brown paper, no tag or card to say who it was from or even who had delivered it.
Curious, I carried it inside and set it down on the coffee table, juggling my keys and bag and coffee mug all in one hand so I could free the other one to open up the package.
I struggled to tear the paper open and lift the lid off the box, and when I did my whole body when numb.
Everything I held dropped to the floor, my bag and keys landing with a jangle and my coffee spilling onto the hard wood floor and splashing the living room rug. It would stain if I didn’t clean it up soon. That thought was oddly distant, and I didn’t move. My feet stayed planted right where they were.
I didn’t want to look at the box again, but I couldn’t stop my eyes from dragging back and examining the contents. It wasn’t as much of a shock this time, but it still had bile rising in my throat as I took it in.
There was a small dead bird sitting perfectly in the center of the box. The poor thing’s wings had been broken. Underneath, I saw another printout. It was the same photograph that had been stuck to my windshield the day before.
There were more angry red marks crossing me out, nearly obliterating my face this time. Scribbled at the bottom was another message, somehow more violent this time.
I told you to stay away. This is your last warning.
Yesterday, it had been easy enough to brush the whole thing off as a prank, but this time i
t had icy cold fear settling inside me.
I reached for my phone with trembling hands and didn’t think as I dialed. I couldn’t think. My mind was awash with panic as I called the first person who came to my mind. I just prayed he would answer.
*
Sam
I couldn’t help the smile of pure pleasure that spread across my face as I glanced over at Alice. She had oversized headphones on as she sang into the microphone in front of her, and she was as lost in the lyrics of the song we were recording as I was.
Take me away. Darlin’, take me away. Somewhere soft and sweet and quiet enough that I can hear the way you sigh like summer winds and your heart beats wild and free…for me.
It was one of the newer songs we were working on for this album. It was softer than some of our earlier songs even though there was still a bluesy rock edge howling from my guitar and Alice’s husky voice would never be anything but the powerhouse it was.
I glanced behind me at Casey. He had his eyes closed as he pounded out a driving rhythm on the drums. Suddenly his eyes popped open and he shot me a wide-eyed, goofy grin that had me fighting back a laugh.
All I could do was shake my head. Leave it to Case to break a perfectly nice, serious moment. The guy didn’t have a serious bone in his body despite his rough experiences growing up.
I had lost my parents in the fire when I was twelve, an accident that still haunted my dreams every night, but at least I’d had Alice to look out for me. We hadn’t met Casey until high school, and by that time he’d already had his class-clown mask firmly in place.
Casey had grown up with an alcoholic father, and even though he never talked about it, I knew there was abuse in his past. Instead of becoming a bully like so many others, he’d become the funny guy, but I knew it was just a facade. He’d been wearing the mask for so long though, who know where the real Casey began and the fake one let off.
