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His eyes were shrewd, his curiosity clearly piqued, as he’d stopped texting for the moment to see what the “newbie” was about to pull out of his ass. The MGA rep by his side merely stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, face impassive, like he couldn’t care less about being there. Or maybe that look meant he wasn’t expecting much.
I glanced over at the guys, who all watched me, ready for my signal, since the first song began with a piano intro. After giving them a nod, I adjusted the microphone in front of me and then began to play the opening of “Invitation.”
Any remaining nerves flew out the door once the guys joined in, rounding out the sound, and I relaxed into the music. My voice came out crisp and clear, and as I sang into the mic, I lifted my head to see Viper in my line of sight. His gaze was on me as he played, his back to our visitors, and as I sang the lyrics we’d written together, they took on a more intense meaning. Even from across the room, I could see Viper’s eyes darken as I sang, “I wanna be the one that makes you fall from grace.”
Viper had reworked that line yesterday, grinning at me in a way that told me it was exactly what he wanted to do. My dick had liked that a little too much.
As we launched into the chorus, I could see Brian out of the corner of my eye. He hadn’t once put down his fuckin’ phone since we started playing, which annoyed me to no end. I almost stopped the song right then to call his ass out, but the rational side of my brain won out and I focused back on Viper. His fingers were quick, his voice blending with mine as he joined in on background vocals.
With everyone playing their parts to perfection, it sounded unreal, and once again, it hit me that I was playing with the TBD, that we were singing one of my songs. How had I even gotten here? It seemed like I was still caught up in some far-fetched dream, but if that were true, then I had nothing to lose, did I? As the song came to a close, an idea I’d been thinking about for the last line crossed my mind again, and though I hadn’t practiced it before, I thought, Fuck it. Just go for it.
I ended the song on a high note—literally—and when I looked up again, Viper’s eyes had widened and then he mouthed, Damn. I grinned, pretty pleased at having pulled that off, and then I looked to where Brian finally lowered his phone, tucking it in his pocket, and then he clapped.
Wait…what? He was clapping? He hadn’t even been paying attention, or so I’d thought. The man standing next to him didn’t join in, but nodded in what looked like approval.
“Fuck yeah,” Killian said, coming over to throw a fist bump my way. “Where the hell did that come from?”
I shrugged. “It just seemed like it would fit.”
He shook his head then said to Brian, “What’d I tell you? We’ve got a genius on our hands.”
As I rounded the piano, Brian came over and held his hand out to me, the look he was giving me a complete one-eighty from the one he’d shot my way after the show-that-won’t-be-named.
“That was impressive,” he said, as I returned his handshake. “What’s your name again, kid?”
“It’s Halo,” Viper snapped from behind him. “Fuckin’ write that down.”
“You got anything else you wanna show me, Halo?” Brian asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, we’ve got another.”
“Good. That’s good.” Brian smoothed back his slicked-down hair and motioned for us to keep going as he took up his spot by the door again.
This time when I sang, I wasn’t able to look at Viper, since I was behind the mic stand beside him, but I felt his penetrating gaze on me the entire time, lighting my body from within and giving me the perfect amount of assertiveness to sing those filthy but sexy-as-hell lyrics.
Once we’d finished playing, Brian had nothing but praise for the direction we’d veered off to. The rep beside him said MGA would be in touch, but offered no more indication of whether he’d liked our new sound, and since it was MGA’s opinion that mattered, not Brian’s, we weren’t sure where that left us.
But as for the rest of us? We knew we’d left it all on the floor, so if MGA didn’t like it?
Fuck ’em.
Thirty-Two
Viper
THE SURPRISES COMING out of Halo at every turn were keeping the rest of us on our toes, that was for damn sure. If Brian and MGA couldn’t see his worth, then they were idiots, because Halo had just poured his heart and soul out, and I’d be damned if they went stepping on him again.
