Dating Him: The Series

by Michelle MacQueen

  “Lead the way, Nick-Nick.” Becks ran with him down the hall lit with fairy lights into the gym. At least a dozen other students rushed through the back doors to the small lot behind the gym. Nicky shoved Nari and Becks into the waiting Uber and sent them home to Nari’s house.

  “Just great.” Nicky watched them leave. “Even after two years, I still have a crush on my brother’s best friend.”

  2

  Beckett

  Home sweet home. Well, not home exactly for Beckett Anderson, current rising country star and future music legend—at least in his mind. No, this Cincinnati crowd wouldn’t resemble the small groups of people who’d once flocked to see him play as a part of the band Anonymous two towns over. But that was two years ago, a lifetime in the music industry. He’d seen stars rise and fall in that short time, ending with a crash.

  And each time the lights of Nashville dimmed, he just had to hope and pray he wouldn’t follow in their footsteps.

  Anyone who knew Beckett would probably claim it was his confidence that got him where he currently stood atop a wide stage with a sea of expectant faces stretching out before him.

  What would they do if they knew it was all a lie?

  A grin slid across Beckett’s face as he leaned into the microphone. They’d finished the first set and were due for a break. He already liked the festival setup more than any concert where he had to sweat through hours of playing before he got to rest.

  “Thank ya’ll for coming today.” He did his best to keep his fake Southern accent even. His public relations team insisted on it, and what they wanted, they got. They’d gotten him this far, so he rarely questioned their ideas.

  “Do you know I used to come to this festival every year with my little sister? I grew up right around the corner in Twin Rivers.” This next move was another idea from the brain trust that was his PR team. “This sister of mine plays music too. She was in my high school band.” He shot a glance over his shoulder where Nari stood behind her keyboard shaking her head, whispering, “No, Becks. Don’t do it.”

  She was right. Beckett was about to be a dead man.

  But he didn’t care. His eyes found Wylder standing to the side of the stage with Avery and Nicky, her eyes wide.

  “Who wants my sister to come up here?” A roar rose from the crowd. This was why Beckett had been able to climb the ladder to fame so quickly. He had people eating out of the palm of his hand.

  Wylder shook her head. Funny, she hadn’t seemed so shy about attention when she’d thrown an epic party in the freaking school halls. God, he loved his sister. She’d always been cooler than him.

  “Come on, sis!” Becks yelled over the noise of the waiting crowd. Wylder wasn’t the same girl who’d hammered on her drums every time Anonymous took the stage. There was something sad about her now. All Becks wanted was to see his sister smile up on stage. Music had always been their language. He wanted to prove to her she hadn’t forgotten the words.

  Becks pulled the guitar strap over his head and set it on the ground before running to the side of the stage. He took Wylder’s arm and pulled.

  Nari Won Song, Becks’ keyboardist and favorite person in the world because of her next actions, lifted her hands and started to clap, slow and rhythmic. She leaned in to her mic. “Wylder. Wylder.” The crowd picked up her chant. “Wylder. Wylder.”

  “I hate you for this,” Wylder mumbled under her breath as she gave in and let Becks lead her to the center of the stage.

  He winked at her. “Do you know ‘About a Boy’?”

  She sighed. “You mean the chart-topping, insipid song you remind me is amazing every time we talk?”

  “It was one time, Wylder.” Becks was the one person who never got offended by his sister’s attitude or harsh words. She didn’t have to tell him she was proud or that she loved him, because he already knew. “About a Boy” was the story of a girl who waited her whole life for someone who could love her like she deserved. It had been called heartbreaking, but that didn’t stop every radio station across the country from using it to turn Beckett into a household name.

  Nari set her hands on the keyboard, but Becks shook his head. “No instruments.”

  He pushed Wylder toward the mic and took his position next to her.

  “Hush now,” Becks told the crowd with a wink. “My sister is about to steal your hearts, and you don’t want to miss a word.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, knowing how happy his PR people would be at how much he’d played up the siblings angle. Girls around the country would watch this on YouTube tomorrow and swoon. It was the Beckett power. But Wylder… Most people discounted her. With her blond dreadlocks and a constant scowl, she was suited to the drums she loved, rarely stepping forward to show anyone the voice Becks knew she had. She’d shocked him the night before as she’d danced and laughed in the very school that didn’t want her anymore. Becks wanted to hate Twin Rivers High for kicking her out even with the constant trouble she found herself in. He wanted to burn the place down for not allowing his sister to pass her junior year after she’d struggled through some hard times.

  The first verse started and Becks’ voice covered the crowd like a blanket, cloaking them in solitary comfort. When Wylder joined him and eventually Nari, he wondered why they ever needed instruments. Tears built in the corners of his eyes as he hit the final verse.

  I waited my whole life

  To be set free

  I waited my whole life

  For you and me

  Nari’s voice faded out, and Becks let his drop as well even though he normally sang the last lines alone. Wylder’s sweet voice carried them to the end.

  And what if you never come

  I waited my whole life

  Dreaming of the day I let you go

  As the crowd cheered, some wiped tears from their eyes. Beckett hugged Wylder to his side and kissed the top of her head. In the two years he’d been gone from Ohio, he hadn’t returned home, but he still loved his family and constantly begged them to come to Nashville. They’d visited a few times. Wylder needed him. He hadn’t realized how much until the day before when she’d told him about the expulsion. He’d make sure she had everything. Dropping out wasn’t an option. It would cost a lot, but he’d get her into Defiance Academy. Whatever it took.

  Wylder ducked out of his embrace and sprinted off stage. Becks leaned back in to the microphone. “I am Beckett Anderson, and we’ll be back this evening. Enjoy the other bands while I’m sleeping off all the beer ya’ll have been throwing at me.” With a final wink, he pulled out his earpiece, letting the cord hang around his neck. The noise from the crowd was deafening, but he loved it.

  Some people complained about fame, but Beckett embraced it. What was the point of being a country star if you didn’t have girls screaming your name and men buying you drinks everywhere you went?

  Arms slipped around Beckett’s waist from behind, and he shot Nicky and Avery a grin before turning to face Sofie, assistant extraordinaire.

  “Oops.” She laughed. “Didn’t mean to get so close to you.” She held out a bottle of water, her face the picture of innocence. He took the water and uncapped it before swigging it back. Leveling her with a gaze again, his lips ticked up. “You mean you didn’t want your hand caressing my abs?”

  “Babe, if you think that was a caress, you need to get out more.”

  “No one got me any water,” Nari grumbled as she wiped her face with a towel. Their other two band members, Quinn and Harrison, both looked ready to jump at Nari’s command.

  Nari didn’t seem to want their help. She approached Sofie. “You’re not Beckett Anderson’s assistant. Your official title is assistant to Beckett and the band.” She pointed from herself to Quinn and Harrison. “We’re the band part of that title.”

  Sofie suppressed a grin and lifted her hand in mock salute. “Aye-aye, Captain.” She marched toward a table piled high with food and drinks, grabbing three bottles of water and lobbing them at each band member
. Nari ducked hers, and it hit Avery.

  Wanting to keep everything under control as he always did, Beckett nodded toward the back of the stage. “Uh, Sof… I think we need to talk logistics for tonight’s concert.”

  She nodded. “Yes. We do.” They left the others staring after them.

  “Logistics, my ass.” It was Nicky’s voice that followed them, and something about that didn’t sit well with Becks. But he didn’t have time to think about it before Sofie pulled him into a dark corner, pressing him against the wall.

  “So,” she whispered. “About these logistics.”

  He kissed her as he’d done a million times over the last two years. She’d been assigned to Beckett at the same time the label brought Quinn and Harrison on board. They stole their first moments together later that same day.

  Only this time, half an hour away from Twin Rivers and all the memories associated with the place, he couldn’t turn his mind off and get lost in Sofie. Not when he couldn’t help but think he should be sharing this homecoming with Nari and Avery who’d grown up there as well. And Nicky? Avery’s little brother was all grown up now, a man. He’d always been smarter than the rest of them, but now, something else lived in his eyes. Some secret Becks wanted, needed, to know.

  He pushed away from Sofie.

  “Everything okay, baby?” She’d started calling him that lately, and he didn’t like it. It reeked of a relationship title, and Beckett Anderson didn’t do commitment.

  But he didn’t want to hurt her, so he kept his mouth shut.

  Because he was Becks: a good-time guy who never rocked the boat. And if he was going to survive life in the spotlight, he had to stay that way.

  How could the rest of the band nap?

  The adrenaline from the concert continued to buzz through Becks long after they returned to the hotel. Last night, they’d stayed in Twin Rivers, but the label claimed a hotel was more suitable for the two-day festival. Luckily, the Beckett Anderson band only had to play on day one.

  But that meant two performances within twenty-four hours.

  Becks leaned back in his chair at the hotel’s rooftop bar overlooking the city. The bar was closed, but the manager was a big fan and had let him sit on the deck. He’d always loved coming to Cincinnati when he was a kid. The rolling hills and rivers felt like home. A home that wasn’t his anymore.

  Now, he found himself missing the streets of Nashville that teemed with musicians who needed to make music just to get through the day.

  Beckett’s knee shook. He always got this way after a performance. It took a long time for the excitement to wear off. He glanced down at the notebook in his lap and tapped the pencil against the wiry spine.

  He needed Nari. She’d been with him since the first time he stepped onto a stage years ago. Nowadays, he wrote most of his songs with her and hated that he’d somehow lost the ability to do it on his own. Did he have nothing left to say?

  Footsteps approached him, but he figured it was only Avery being nosy as usual. They’d been friends since high school, even moving to Nashville together, but every time Avery took one of his psych classes at Vanderbilt, he suddenly thought he could see inside Beckett’s head.

  But no one knew what Becks was feeling. Ever. It was something he’d perfected over the years—hiding any shred of emotion behind a layer of humor.

  He scratched out the last line he’d written as someone took a seat across from him.

  “Shouldn’t you be resting?” Nicky’s voice was the last thing Beckett expected to hear.

  He met his gaze. “You sound like your brother.”

  Nicky groaned. “Take that back.”

  “No.”

  “Fine.” Nicky leaned forward. “Then I’ll just have to take a peek here.” He snatched Beckett’s notebook.

  Becks jumped toward him, tackling him back into his chair. “Come on, Nick-Nick. We’re practically brothers. Don’t be a dick.”

  Nicky froze, pushing Becks off him. “We aren’t brothers, Beckett. My brother has actually kept in contact since leaving two years ago.”

  Becks flinched. “Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh…sorry. I’ve been—”

  “Busy. I get it, Becks. I do. I shouldn’t have brought that up.” Nicky shifted his eyes away, and Beckett cursed himself.

  The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt Avery’s brother. If he were honest, he’d become friends with Nicky outside of his friendship with Avery. Leaving him had sucked as much as leaving his own family, but Nashville was a new world full of new people. He wouldn’t lie and say he hadn’t gotten lost in it.

  Leaning back in his chair, he held his notebook to his chest. “I guess I need to thank you for getting me out of the party last night. My PR team would’ve freaked if I’d been arrested.” He paused to study his old friend. “How have you been, Nicky?”

  Nicky shrugged. “You don’t really want to know. I’ve spent the last two years in Twin Rivers. That’s boring compared to your new life.”

  “But I do. Want to know, I mean.”

  Nicky sighed. “Fine. You asked for it. I’ve spent the past two years back in a closet of someone else’s making, hiding my relationship with him because his parents are assholes, only to learn that the real asshole was him. My life in a nutshell. Next question?”

  Something tightened in Beckett’s gut. “Nicky, you better not tell me you’ve spent the last two years dating that Defiance Academy douche bag.”

  “Okay, I won’t tell you then.”

  Becks blew out a frustrated breath. “Why? Kenny is and always will be a tool. You shouldn’t give any of yourself to someone like that.”

  Nicky scrubbed a hand over his face and tilted his head back to look up at the brilliant blue sky. “Don’t go all big brother on me, Becks. I’ve heard it enough from Avery.”

  “I’m not concerned as a brother. Just a friend. Why, Nicky?”

  Nicky shrugged. “I liked him.”

  “That’s not a good enough answer.”

  “Maybe I didn’t want to be alone.”

  “Nicky, you don’t need to date a jerk just because he’s there. There are other people out there.”

  Nicky shot to his feet, towering over Becks. Two years ago, he’d been shorter and considerably less muscular. Some things were bound to change, but others never did not. “That’s rich coming from someone whose assistant probably spends more time in his bed than on the job.”

  “That’s not fair, Nick.” He didn’t know how this had turned into an argument.

  “I’m gay, Becks. In case you haven’t noticed. Twin Rivers isn’t exactly swimming in gay men. You think I have options? Some of us have to just make do with what’s there. Kenny was a jerk, but not all the time. He was never mean to me.” He lifted his shoulders. “He was the best I could do, maybe the best I’ll ever do.” An angry tear broke through. “The old Becks would have understood.” With one final look, he turned on his heel and crossed the rooftop, yanking open the heavy metal door and disappearing.

  Becks sucked in a breath, not completely understanding what just happened. He wanted to go after Nicky, to tell him he was the best person Beckett knew—even back in high school when their two-year age gap meant more than it did now.

  But before he could stand, the door opened again and Sofie appeared. “Beckett, it’s time to get ready for the next show.”

  He followed her inside to where his band waited. They were his family in a way his high school friends had once been—including Nicky. He’d do anything for them. But a part of him wondered if the only way to help Nicky was to stay away and let him deal with this on his own like he seemed to want.

  Yet, Beckett had always been a meddler. Why did that have to change now?

  Becks loved playing at festivals because he got to be around so many country stars he’d grown up idolizing. They saw him as one of them. The girl currently dancing across the stage was someone Becks knew but also didn’t know. There was a lot of that going around
in the music business.

  Nari stepped up to Beckett’s side and leaned in. “What’s wrong?”

  He sighed. Once upon a time, he’d have lied to her and told her he was as good as always, but she could read him better than anyone else. “I don’t know.”

  She slipped her hand into his. Harrison and Quinn stood in front of them, both bouncing with nervous energy as they always did before a show. Harry was a drummer like no other. Talent oozed from his fingertips, but his quiet personality and smart-guy looks stood in contrast to his profession.

  Quinn, on the other hand, played into the rock star image. Long hair, tied away from his face, tattoos stretching up his arms. He looked as if he belonged in a grunge band rather than backing up the all-American good boy country singer Beckett Anderson.

  Nari squeezed his hand, drawing his attention back to her. “I can’t remember seeing you this tense before a show.”

  He wouldn’t admit it, but the upcoming performance barely registered in his mind as he replayed his fight with Nicky. Beckett always had a need to please people, to make them like him. He rarely got into arguments, even with his difficult sister. It was all part of the face he showed the world. No cracks except the one parting his lips into a smile.

  But he wasn’t smiling anymore. “Why didn’t you tell me Nicky was still dating Kenny?”

  Nari pushed pink-highlighted dark hair out of her face and peered up at him. “Umm… I guess I didn’t think about it. Avery told me you weren’t keeping in contact with anyone back home except your family.”

  She wasn’t wrong. He’d moved on from his life in Twin Rivers, yet thinking of Nicky hiding who he was for some guy twisted his gut. He’d always been protective of the kid, but Nicky wasn’t a kid anymore.