Page 49 of My Three Billionaire Rockstars

I know I shouldn’t.

Every instinct I have says don’t get drawn in, don’t start talking like their plans are your business, don’t stand in the middle of their music fortress and offer thoughts no one asked for.

Unfortunately, my mouth was apparently not invited to that meeting.

“People in Redemption Falls don’t care about the music industry,” I say. “Not really. They care whether the diner gets overrun by tourists. Whether rent goes up. Whether somebody decides to turn Main Street into a boutique apocalypse. Whether all this…” I gesture around us, “means the town stops feeling like theirs.”

Julian glances at Gabe. Gabe is still looking at me.

“Well,” Julian says eventually, “that got unexpectedly hot.”

I blink. “What?”

He nods toward me. “The righteous indignation. Very compelling.”

I stare at him. “You need hobbies.”

“I have hobbies. You’re standing in several of them.”

Gabe’s mouth twitches again. “She’s not wrong.”

That catches me off guard.

“The town’s reaction matters,” he says. “More than people think.”

Hearing that from him, hearing that they’ve at least considered it, takes a little of the fight out of me.

I resent that.

“Well,” I say, adjusting my order board against my hip, “good. Because if you ruin the Sunday market, Bill Smith will probably die of spite and take half the town with him.”

Julian laughs. “Who’s Bill Smith?”

We start walking down the long hallway, past open rooms filled with instruments and conversation, Julian leading the way with that same lazy confidence. I try to keep my focus on him, on the ridiculousness of the situation, but it’s hard to ignore how the house seems to stretch on forever. The walls, the windows, the endless space.

“The mercantile.”

“The grumpy guy with the hat?”

“Yes.”

“He hates us already?”

“I’m sure you’ll recover.”

“Barely.”

Before I can shoot back another sarcastic remark, a voice interrupts us. It cuts through the space like an ice pick, and I freeze.

“Julian?”

My chest tightens, my feet halting mid-step as I hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

I should’ve gone. Why didn’t I just leave? This was a mistake.

And there he is.

Xander.