"Thank you," I cut in over the music, long before Liam was done playing the song. "I think we've heard enough."
Liam stopped with a screech. He placed his hands flat on the strings to quiet them and looked at me expectantly.
"Thanks, we'll let you know," I said.
Liam stared at me. He nodded once. He turned to Gael. "Will you be making your decision today?"
"We’ll need to discuss with the other members of our band,” Gael said. “Would you mind sticking around?”
"No worries," Liam said. "I've got all the time in the world."
Without even looking at me, Liam left the room.
"Him," Gael immediately said. "He's the one."
"Definitely," Nathan nodded.
"We haven't listened to the others yet," I protested.
"Do we need to?" Gael asked. "This guy is even better than Nathan. Sorry, Nate," Gael tossed out.
"Ouch," Nathan said, deadpan. "My wounded ego."
"But—" I started to say.
I had nothing. They were right. No one was going to be better than Liam. If it hadn't been for their breakup, his old band could have rivaled some of the greats. They'd been that good.
"I recognize him from somewhere," Gael mused. "Wasn't he in some band before?"
"Forever Night," I said grudgingly.
Gael’s eyes lit up. “Right. I know them. They were awesome.” He looked to Nathan. "So we're in agreement?" he asked. Nate nodded. Gael looked to me. "Any objections?" he asked.
Yes. A million objections. A war raged within me.
"No," I said, giving up. "You're right. He's the best. But—" I held a hand up before Gael could respond. “We need to make sure he sounds good with the whole band. Seth and Julian have to work well with him.”
Gael and Nathan nodded.
“We’ll do a jam session,” Nathan said. “See how we sound together.”
“Agreed,” Gael said. “I’ll go tell the guy we need him to come back for another round.”
"Let me," I said. "I'll tell him."
"Don't scare him away with some sort of,you-better-not-fuck-up-or-else, speech," Nathan said.
"I won't scare him away.”
And it was true. I didn't want to scare him away.
Because Liam's audition had been awe-inspiring.
That was good for the band. It meant we could hire someone who could keep up with us.
It was bad for me. It meant we were hiring someone who turned my insides into knots. Someone who made me want to just go for it and fuck the consequences.
I had barely been able to resist him before. Would I be able to resist him again? Would I be able to keep myself together if I had to work with him, day in and day out, as we rehearsed for the tour?
