Page 141 of My Three Billionaire Rockstars

Lena notices first. “You do that when you think?”

I look up. “Do what?”

“The humming.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t even realized.

She grins. “Cute.”

“Let’s not make it weird.”

“Too late,” says the guitarist.

Gabe, to his credit, says nothing.

The next room has a completely different sound.

Older band. Heavier. Less tentative. Three men and a woman in their late twenties, maybe early thirties, all of them carrying themselves like they’ve already had one bad label deal and lived to become suspicious about all future human interaction.

These ones I understand even faster.

Their lead singer, Talia, has that look people get when they’ve had to become their own defense attorney too many times. She shakes my hand like she’s testing whether I’ll waste her time.

I don’t let that bother me.

The first thing I learn about them is that they hate the photos their old management used.

The second is that nobody ever let them decide how to tell their own story.

By then, I’m all in.

“That’s your problem,” I say before I can stop myself.

Talia raises a brow. “Excuse me?”

“Not you,” I say quickly. “Them. Whoever handled your rollout before. They treated you like a product line.”

Gabe’s attention shifts to me fully at that.

Talia folds her arms. “That’s exactly what they did.”

“Yeah,” I say, already flipping to a new page. “And the audience can feel that. The music says one thing, the branding says another, and then everybody acts shocked when people don’t stick.”

The guitarist, Mason, lets out a short laugh. “You sure you don’t do this for a living?”

“No. I carry pancakes to ungrateful men and occasionally get yelled at by tourists.”

“That feels like transferable experience.”

“It is.”

We spend the better part of an hour with them.

I ask about fans. Touring. What they wish people understood about their sound. Which songs mean the most and which ones perform the best and whether those are the same. Usually they aren’t.

By the time we break, my notebook is a mess of arrows and underlines and names and ideas.

I’ve also completely forgotten to be nervous.