Darius is quiet for a moment before he replies, “They won’t hate it.”
“Can we delete it? I’m not sure if I can handle finding out,” I ask. The nerves are eating me alive. Hell, I’m even losing sleep over it.
“They’ve been posted for hours,” Darius says, his voice low and soothing, but the wince on his face puts me on edge. “Come here, let’s take a look.”
He wraps his arm around me and tugs me into his side. I turn my head to look at him and find his face inches from mine. We pause, staring into each other’s eyes for a beat too long, making it feel intimate and entirely inappropriate.
I glance away, and Darius clears his throat as he unlocks his phone and opens the app. It’s easy to see right away that he has a ton of notifications. He clicks on the tab that brings him to his posted videos.
“Sorry, sweetheart, I think it’s a little too late to delete it. We already have one point eight million views. Even if I did take it down, people already have reaction videos up.”
“Oh noooo,” I groan, hiding my face in my hands.
The laugh that comes from Darius startles me. It’s quiet, but still echoes in the silence of the bus, filling it with a warmth that’s strangely intimate. I feel my cheeks heat as his gaze turns from questioning to teasing.
“Ye of little faith, Raina. Why don’t you trust your fans?” He jostles me with his arm, gaining my attention. “They love the song. I haven’t seen a single negative comment about it yet.”
“Really?” I lean into him, staring at the phone as he swipes through them.
Storm Chasers assemble!
Best song Raina has sung to date!
#TeamDarius
Wasn’t a fan before, but rock looks good on the pop princess.
Darius points to a comment, drawing my attention to it.
Dude! That riff they added in there is so freaking sick, someone by the name of riffmaster101 says. Of course that’s what he’d be remarking on with a name like that.
“That riff had been playing in my head for days now. Whenever I’m around you, it comes to mind.” He smiles at me, holding my gaze.
I feel dumb simply staring at him, but the man has truly struck me speechless. It doesn’t sound like a line at all, yet it’s the same kind of romantic things Tristan used to tell me.
“Why are you here, Darius?” I can’t help but ask. I need to know his true intentions.
He runs the tips of his fingers up and down on my shoulder, it’s a short movement that seems subconscious. “Because I want to be.”
There’s a tone in his answer, like he thought it was obvious, but I’m looking for something deeper. “No. I mean, why did you come to work with me? You have a talent that lets you practically switch places with any lead guitarist, but you show up right when I needed someone.”
“It was some damn lucky timing, I’ll say that. I was finishing up a gig laying some tracks for someone when the news of auditions posted. They didn’t even give anyone enough time to travel to get there, otherwise I would’ve been there in a heartbeat, but I couldn’t leave before finishing out my contract. A couple more days and I was free.”
He looks at his lap and shakes his head like he’s so freaking disappointed. Like he knows he lost his chance to no fault of his own. I had a feeling that the auditions were rigged to leave me with no talent. I’m surprised I didn’t think to ask any of the guys,although in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter. Not like I could change anything.
“That still doesn’t explain how you ended up here.” I almost want to hold my breath as I wait for his answer. This is drawing out to be longer than I expected.
“I decided to come out to your show in Chicago to see if I could get a spot as keyboardist, even if you already had a full band backing you. My manager got in contact with Alyssa since you didn’t have Izzy there yet, and she said she could make the meet happen.”
He turns to look at me again, so close it’s like we share the same breath. “I don’t want to sound like a total dick by asking this, but why aren’t you in a band?”
A soft laugh falls out of him, and he tilts his head forward. His nose grazes the length of mine like he forgot how close we are. My heart rate doubles, pounding in my chest like a gorilla.
Clearing my throat, I put a little more space between us. I don’t think any of my boyfriends would appreciate seeing us this close in the middle of the night. Lack of sleep and fear doesn’t make the best decisions…
“Fair enough,” he answers. He takes a deep breath and runs a hand over his face. “Have you ever noticed the more skilled you are, the less genuine people become around you?”
Boy, do I ever.
