Jovi is going to die when I tell her about tonight, but now that I think about it, I might not have to. I'm sure someone here will call her before I even leave Carol’s.
CHAPTER 4
AXL
‘TIS THE SEASON FOR MILD PANIC
“Okay. Nobody freak out,”I say as I pace backstage the same way Travis did earlier. Only for a completely different reason.
Shiloh Fox saw us play.
Correction.Shiloh Fox was standing in the front row while we played four songs off an album written entirely because none of us are even remotely over her, and fuck! She’s so goddamn pretty. I had to do a double take because the Shiloh we remember was not the person we saw standing in the crowd. No. The woman we saw was exactly that—a woman.
She stole all the air from my lungs, even if the lighting wasn’t the brightest, and for the first time since we started the fucking band, I fumbled. Badly.
“Baby, come here,” Zane says, his deep, calmingvoice like a sedative. I walk over to the couch where he sits, his brow raised, because I am literally the only one who’s freaking out. I shoot him a glare before taking a seat beside him. “Go get her,” Phoenix says to Travis, who stands there with a confused look on his face.
“Oh, no. We arenotdoing that.”
“Then I’ll go out there and bring her back here myself.” Phoenix turns, but Travis stops him.
“Fine, asshole. I'll go get her. I swear to fucking God if this ends up on the internet, Nina will be so pissed, and it won't be you she aims her wrath toward. It will be me.” Travis storms out of the room, mumbling something under his breath, but not one of us cares what he feels at the moment. The dude is shit scared of Nina, our publicist guru, who was supposed to be here tonight, but instead, she's stuck at an airport because of the weather warnings.
“She's…different,” Zane says, and I flick my gaze to Phoenix, staring at the wall, no doubt processing the fact that the girl we've all been hung up on since we were a bunch of teenagers was standing in the front row, no more than an arm's length from the stage.
“She’s perfect,” my brother finally says, scrubbing a hand down his face and turning toward the door through which Travis disappeared. We each say nothing. It's all I can do to act natural as we sit and wait for Shiloh to walk in. I've imagined seeing her again at least a million times in a million different ways since shemoved away, and each time, I was a lot less panic and way more disco.
“Are you gonna tell her?” Zane says, reaching for my hand. Oh God. We have to tell her? Is that what's happening? I am so unprepared. Our masks are still on, and before
I can remove mine, my brother shakes his head.
“No. Not yet. She thinks she's meeting the band.”
“Sheismeeting the band,” Zane points out, and my stomach dips with apprehension and anticipation all rolled into one. I feel like I'm a teenager all over again.
There were moments when we were younger that we’d talk ourselves into asking her out, but whenever one of us went to do it, we’d choke. As the years went by, we were no longer the innocent boys she once knew, and instead, by some strange twist of fate, we had actually become popular. With everyone except the parents and adults around here. Eventually, we rolled in different crowds, and when our relationship with Zane grew to more than friends, we were as good as riff raff to the folks around here, and we couldn't drag her into our bullshit. God, Shiloh’s father would literally cut all our dicks off if he knew of all the depraved and nasty things we wanted to do to his daughter.
Life isn’t what it used to be. We’re not naive kids anymore. We learned the hard way that hesitation costs you everything. Now, when we want something, we don't fucking flinch. We don’t apologize. We go after it.
And we want Shiloh.
Every goddamn piece of her.
The sound of footfalls fills the quiet room, and I go completely still. Zane straightens beside me, and even though he's usually the calm to our chaos, I can sense the wave of nervous energy hit him like a bucket of ice water. Phoenix leans back against the wall, nonchalant as always, but he's not fooling fucking anyone. When Travis opens the door, he stands to the side, making room for Shiloh. My mouth goes dry, and I clear my throat as the prettiest woman I have ever laid eyes on comes into view, walking into the room like a fucking angel.
I don't breathe.
“Don't be too long. We've gotta wrap this up in about thirty minutes. I'm staying upstairs because the highway is closed.” Without another word, Travis walks out, closing the door behind him.
Words.
Somebody say words.
“Hi,” Shiloh says, her voice as smooth as velvet, dripping with a layer of warm honey, and holy fucking shit, she is covered in tattoos. Mr. Fox’s good girl has gone bad, and my cock is well and truly awake, straining against my jeans.
Not now. Do not fuck this up for me!
Her hair, so long and black it's almost blue, shines beneath the glow of the fluorescent light, and my eyes follow the strands down, down, before settling on her exposed stomach.Fuck me.She's even got tattoos there.
