8
Ispent the night upset with myself and dreaded walking into the studio the next day after I ran out of the club.
After I ran away from Liam.
I didn’t want to show my face. I should have had more control over myself, over my reactions. That familiar smell shouldn’t have pushed me over the edge like that. It was distressing. I'd spent years trying to get over what had happened. Iwasover it.
I spent the night upset with myself and vowing to keep it together next time I saw Liam.
My resolve almost went out the window when he walked into the studio.
Liam was wearing a tight, black t-shirt, showing off his inked muscular arms. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was also wearing the faintest hint of eyeliner.
Damn. That man was calling my bluff, wasn’t he?
I stood frozen in the doorway.
Liam was talking with Seth. He didn’t notice me for the first few seconds. He turned his head and caught me staring at him. I thought he would give me a knowing look, the kind that saidI’m-hot-and-you-know-it. Instead, his eyes were only filled with concern.
That was almost worse. My bandmates already worried about me too much. I didn’t need the same from Liam.
"Is everyone here?" I asked as I walked in.
"Just missing Gael," Seth said.
"He’s probably still in bed with Jessie,” Nathan smirked. "You took off early. Did you find some man-candy last night?"
My eyes flicked to Liam quickly without input from my brain. The look of concern in his eyes was replaced with a smug tilt of his chin, no doubt thinking that he was the man-candy Nathan was referring to.
"Let’s get started without Gael," I said. "We’ve got to get Liam caught up with our songs. We don’t have time to mess around."
"I agree," Liam said. "If we’re going to be ready in time, we’ll need to use every minute we have."
We had only just begun to set up our instruments when Gael breezed in, looking pleased with himself.
"Sorry I’m late," he said, sounding completely unrepentant. "Jessie and I—"
"Stop," I said. "I don’t need to hear what you and your girlfriend were getting up to this morning."
Gael faked an affronted look. "I would never," he said. "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
"Gentleman?" Nathan looked around the room with an exaggerated swing of his head back and forth. "I don’t see a gentleman around here."
Gael just laughed, slinging his bass guitar strap around his shoulder.
"Let’s start with one of the newer songs," I suggested.
The guys agreed. I shuffled through our folder of sheet music and handed the correct piece to Liam.
"Think you can play this on the fly?" I asked him.
"I’m insulted you would doubt my ability."
When we started playing, Liam was perfectly capable of keeping up with us. He was almost so good I had to wonder if he’d spent some time listening to our newer stuff. But he’d only auditioned less than a week ago. He wouldn’t have had enough time.
Liam really was just that good. As much as I thought I’d personally made a mistake in hiring him, I couldn’t deny that having this man in my band could only benefit us. We played through several songs without a hitch.
Maybe this would be easier than I thought. With Liam’s talent, I had no doubt that we would be ready for our tour on time.
