Even Kyle, my favorite sound engineer, was spewing praises. “You really have unbelievable chemistry. I’ve never seen a session musician integrate so smoothly with a band.”
I know, asshole. I fucking know.
Her playing was impeccable. Somehow, over the past three and a half weeks, she had gotten even better than that first night at the Barnyard, and sometimes I got chills just listening to her play.
But they were all sleeping with her. That bothered me, and the problem was that I didn’t know if I wanted to stop them or join them. It was easier to stay away when I knew I wouldn’t be seeing her again in a week. But if she agreed to join us, how could I keep denying the attraction I felt?
She brought my muse out of its self-imposed coma. She was working fucking miracles, and as much as I hated it, a part of me was in awe of that as well.
On Tuesday, while she played, her tattoo peeked out of her sleeveless tank top, over and over again. It was a cheesy, basic, small-town-girl tattoo, but the word taunted me like a high school bully. How many times had she looked at that tattoo and found the courage she needed? How many times did I have to look at it for me to do the same?
As we were packing up to leave, I saw Ezra and Cole were eager to get out, so I pulled them aside.
“Stick around for a while longer.”
That seemed to irritate Cole. “Dude, we kinda have a thing.”
I didn’t miss how his eyes flashed toward Adeline, and it riled me up. She looked gorgeous today in her tight black jeans and a gray tank top that emphasized the soft curves of her chest. If I had to guess, these two were planning on doing things to her I’d been dreaming about for weeks.
“Do you want her to agree or not?” I bit out. “I have an idea.”
Cole sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”
He ran after her, probably to tell her that their fuckfest would have to be postponed.
Silas was sitting on a chair and studying me with thoughtful eyes. “If I didn’t know you better, I would think you were jealous.”
I glared at him, refusing to acknowledge his assumption, even though it was true.
Cole strutted back in and raised a brow at me. “So?”
I walked over to the desk and pulled out a few sheets of notes. “Here’s the song we wrote together. I think it fits with the album and could slide right in between track six and seven. I was thinking we figure out your parts, rehearse it a few times, and play it for her.”
Ezra’s face lit up with a smile. “That’s brilliant. Show her what our original material with her could sound like.”
I nodded. “We play it for her on Thursday, then we pop the question.”
“Didn’t know you could be such a romantic,” Cole jabbed.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
The guys were impressed with what we had written. “This is different,” Ezra mused, his finger tapping on his bottom lip. “But I’m digging it a lot. I think this could inform our direction for the following album.”
We worked on the song for a few hours, figuring out the other instruments and making small adjustments to what was already written. Last time we had tried to do this during rehearsals, we’d been at each other’s throats within the hour. Now, we were united by a common goal—getting Adeline onboard—and that was enough to keep all of the egos and pain at bay.
It was close to eleven when we finally called it quits.
Ezra stayed behind while the other two left. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, leveling me with his steady gaze.
“Talk about what?”
“What’s been going on between her and us.”
I grit my teeth. “You’re sleeping with her. You can spare me the details. If I want to learn about the specifics of three guys nailing a girl, I’ve got a dozen of websites for that.”
His expression didn’t waver. “You said you were worried about the band dynamic. Talk to me.”
Clearly, Ezra was back to his old ways. I rolled my eyes, rubbing at my cheek. I knew he wouldn’t let up until we had the conversation he wanted. “You’re operating in an alternate reality. As far as she’s concerned, after this week, she’s never going to see you again. You may have managed to convince her to be with you in the short term, but an occasional orgy is a hell of a lot different than being seriously involved with three dudes at the same time. Three dudes that want to become her bandmates. If she decided she wants to join the band but walk away from your relationship, are you going to be ready to accept that?”
