AllFreeNovel
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Michael blew out a breath and tipped back his head. “It’s not like that.”
“No?”
“No. Not anymore.”
Nick crossed his arms. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“She was amazing to me after my parents divorced, and okay, yeah, fine, maybe some inappropriate feelings sprouted up.”
“Dude, I know exactly what ‘sprouted up’. I have one. I know how it works.”
Michael surprised him by laughing. “You’re basically the anti-Lila.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Nick muttered.
“She’s happy with you.” Michael thumped the flat of his hand on his guitar. “Seriously happy. In a way she never was with my father. So if I even had a little of that…sprouting still going on, I’d find a way to kill it, because she’s not meant for me and I’d never risk our relationship over an erection.”
“Or murder. I would kill you if you even so much as thought about trying it.” Nick flexed his fingers. “I wouldn’t even wear gloves. Bloody handprints on the wall, son.”
Michael’s eyebrow with the spike rose. “Do you vet all new students this way or am I lucky?”
“You’re lucky, all right. Not only do I believe you, but I’m also going to play with your sorry ass. Voluntarily. Even knowing you’ve imagined my girl naked.”
“Not imagined.” Michael strummed through the G chord. “Saw.”
“Excuse me?”
“Swimming pool. Top came off. I didn’t take video. Except mentally.”
“Testing me?”
“Maybe a little. But honestly, I don’t see her that way anymore. She’s been way too cool to me for me to make it about sex. She’s kind of like a mom to me, but not.”
Nick grabbed his own guitar from beside the couch. The immediate threat seemed to have passed. “A mom with boobs you ogle now and then?”
“Nah. I’m more of an ass man, actually.”
Nick ignored him. “Tell me what you’re looking for from this session and we’ll get to it.”
“I want to get better. I want to be able to you know, fucking lead my band. It feels like I don’t have enough style to make me unique yet.”
“Like Hendrix and Page and all the other greats?”
“Hell yeah.”
“You’re right. You don’t.” Ignoring Michael’s frown, Nick continued. “I don’t either. That shit doesn’t happen overnight. You know what gets you there faster? When you stop imitating and you work your ass off until your fingers bleed.” He cocked his head. “You use a pic?”
“Sometimes. Until I get really into it and then I drop it and forget about it.”
“How many hours a day do you practice?”
Michael shrugged. “A couple. Not every day. Most days.”
“Every fucking day, man. First thing in the morning, soon as you roll your ugly ass out of bed. You have a job?” Before Michael had a chance to reply, Nick shook his head. “Never mind. Forgot you have a silver spoon up your ass. Then you definitely have no excuse. You want this? You eat, breathe and live it. Don’t use your guitar as a dick substitute either. Girls you get with it won’t be around when the spotlight fades.”
“Words of experience? Oh, and by the way, my spotlight isn’t fading. We’re not going out like Oblivion. No offense.”
The quick twist in his ribs was expected. And as painful as a punch. “Truth. First you have to rise as high as Oblivion, and you haven’t done that yet either.”
