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“…What?” Van’s gaze narrows toward mine. “What the hell, Gregory? You’re going to make thisflukeof a popstar the frontwoman for the band?”
“Oh come on, don’t be like that, Van dear,” Rhys replies, as he smiles down at me. “I for one would love a chance at getting behind you, Ms. Smith.”
“Christ, Rhys, come off it.” Cameron sighs, as he folds his arms across his chest. “Don’t you ever get tired of this schtick?”
“Who said anything about it being a schtick?” Rhys smirks.
“I’m not doing it, Gregory!” Van shouts, interrupting. “I’m not backing up someone who doesn’t know the first thing about—”
“If you don’t want to do it, I can always find someone else, Van,” Gregory replies, coolly. “And trust me, there are a million drummers out there, hungry and desperate, ready to take your place tomorrow. All I’d have to do is make the call.”
“…Fine.” Van backs down. “Fuck it. Whatever. It’s not like this isn’t just a temporary situation, anyway.”
“Right. Atemporarysituation,” Gregory says, before he turns toward me, offering me a playful wink.
Just then, something warms in my chest at the idea of Gregory Hanson having so much faith in my musical career, all of my dreams now seeming like they are only mere seconds away from coming true.
Chapter 3
Rhys
Alyssa Smith is my favorite kind of code to break.
She’s beautiful in that girl-next-door kind of way, her shiny brown hair falling in a sheet down her shoulders, her amber eyes perpetually filled with so much curiosity. She’s clearly driven and ambitious, or else she wouldn’t have dropped everything in her old life for a ticket out to L.A.
Every rehearsal so far, she’s also been solely focused on the music, rehearsing some of her songs with the band during our studio sessions without an ounce of distraction. It’s honestly been driving me a little crazy, throwing world-class flirting out at her and receiving nothing but a smile or two in return.
It’s that same push and pull that’s always driven me crazy when it comes to girls. I’m not sure I’d even know what to do with a girl if she were all over me from the start, which is one of several reasons I’ve never been the type of bloke to hook up with any of the groupies from the audience. And believe me, I’ve had about a million opportunities ever since I moved to America and started performing in bands during my last year of high school, right alongside Van and Cameron.
There’s just something about having to earn it from a woman, something I love about the chase of it all.
“What are you doing?” Cameron asks, breaking me out of my staring spell. I then look over at him, dragging my attention away from Alyssa, whose focus is solely on the lyrics sheet in front of her face.
“The same thing you’re doing,” I reply, sweeping my hand grandly along the strap and length of my guitar. “Rehearsing.”
“No, I mean, what are youdoing?” Cameron hisses. “With Alyssa?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not doing a thing with Alyssa.”
“Yeah, right.” Cameron scoffs. “I’m being serious, Rhys. Don’t turn this into another Matilda situation.”
My eyes narrow. “A Matilda situation?”
“Yeah, remember her?” Cameron presses. “The girl you claimed you were in love with? The one you ran off to Hawaii with the exact same week we had that big meeting with the label. Your little fling could’ve cost us everything, man.”
“Point taken, it could have, but it didn’t.” I chuckle. “We’re still here, aren’t we? Besides, did you ever consider that I really was in love, dickhead?”
“Not for a second,” Cameron shoots back. “Because you, Rhys Marshall, Fucker of Women, wouldn’t know what love was if it hit you right in the face.”
“Strong words from a virgin.” I smirk over at him.
“Jesus Christ, I’m not a fucking virgin,” Cameron replies, irritation obvious in his tone. “Just because I don’t bang everything that moves—”
“No, because you don’t fuck anyone, ever—”
“Fuck off, Rhys.” Cameron casually flips me off for added emphasis. “Don’t deflect. I’m telling you, don’t blow this for us, okay? Maybe try controlling your dick for once and not letting it control you?”
“What exactly do you think I’m going to do here?” I reply. “And even if I did hook up with Alyssa, do you really think that’s going to get us kicked off our contract? We’re this label’s premiere studio session musicians, Cameron. Living a little isn’t going to be the end of the world.”
