Chapter 1
Knox
“Uh oh.” I knew that look. My back-up singer was spittin’ fire from those pretty emerald greens. That could only mean one thing. Her ex was hassling her. “He givin’ you grief again?” I asked, side-eyeing her while I tuned my classic Gibson.
“Why won’t he take the hint?” She threw her hands up in the air, stomping around the stage in her custom cowboy boots like she wished his head was under the heel of those cute little shit kickers. “I’ve told him a thousand times, I’m not takin’ him back!”
I knew I should fire his ass, but he was a damn good sound technician and those weren’t easy to find. Personally, I hated him. Professionally, I respected his skill and work ethic. But if he didn’t quit pissing my girl off he and I were gonna have a problem.
“You want me to talk to him?” We’d been on the road together almost five years. She was one of my original crew and there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. She was like family.
“It wouldn’t do any good.” She growled while fisting her ginger corkscrew curls.
Cece had the craziest, and best hair, in our business. I loved it.
“It might,” I said, grinning. “I still have a little pull around here.” I was a control freak and while I had a solid team backing me, I ran the show. Couldn’t have it any other way.
She covered her face with her hands and tipped her head back.
She was wearing short denim shorts and a white cotton t-shirt tied just under her boobs. Her body was ridiculous. Not that I noticed. Much. Sometimes it was hard to ignore. Like now.Friends, just friends.That was my mantra whenever I had to tame the beast.
There’d been a few drunken kisses with Cece. Even got her off in my dressing room once, but our friendship was too important to jeopardize for a one-night stand. Besides, she’d been dating the sound tool for the past two years so she’d been off limits.
“I just wanna get on with my life, which is damn hard to do with him sniffin’ around all the time.” Cece was a fiery southern girl with a temper to match that hair. When she got going, look out.
“Get on with your life, huh?” I knew what that meant. “You got your eye on somebody new, Cec?”
She tipped her head from side to side as the color rose in her cheeks. She looked so damn cute when she was being called out. “I might.”
I rolled my tongue in my cheek. “Oh yeah? Who is it?”
She stepped closer, obviously willing to share her secret. “Swear you won’t breathe a word?”
I crossed my chest. She knew I’d take her secrets to the grave. “Now who is it?”
“Auden.”
A surge I couldn’t decipher nearly knocked me on my ass when I heard her whisper the name of my opening act. The kid was good. Damn good. And the girls had been lining up for selfies and autographs with him at every stop. I told myself I didn’t want to see Cece take another hard fall, but when I thought of them together… I didn’t like it. At all.
“We kind of…” That tell-tale blush stained her cheeks again and that uneasy feeling spread through my chest. “Hooked up in Austin.”
We’d been in Austin three days ago. I’d asked her to go out for a bite to eat with us after the show but she’d blown me off. Now I knew why.
I swallowed the lump of… irritation… in my throat and asked, “Leo knows? That’s why he’s hasslin’ you?” It’s not like there were any rules against my crew dating. I normally didn’t give a shit what they did during their down time, but this pissed me off for reasons I couldn’t understand.
Cece was one of my best friends. Sure, there’d been a time we considered a friends-with-benefits arrangement, but that had been for, like, a minute, before we decided it could get too complicated.
“He suspects,” she said, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms. “But he can’t prove anything. I know Auden wouldn’t say anything and I sure as hell haven’t.” She gestured to me. “Well, except to you.” Uncertainty creased her face. “Do you think I’m crazy for crushin’ on him? Tell the truth.”
She was crushing on him? The uneasy feeling in my chest spread like wildfire. Cece had been known to enjoy a one-night stand or two when she was between boyfriends, but she was telling me this hook-up was more than that.
“Uh, I don’t know. Don’t know the guy that well.” He was a talented musician. I wouldn’t have chosen him to open for me if he wasn’t, but if Cece was looking for a ringing endorsement she’d have to look elsewhere because she wasn’t getting it from me.
“I don’t know.” She pinched her full lips together. “Guys like that make me nervous.”
“Nervous how?” If he was making her uncomfortable I wouldn’t hesitate to cut him loose. I could find another opening act but there was only one Cece.
“I don’t know.”
