Page 60 of Ravaged By Lust

“But why my song?”

“Maybe I just thought I’ll be cooler for singing it, had you thought of that? Maybe I deserve to be in a band.”

“You always said you didn’t want to audition.”

“Well, here we are.”

“We’re over,” I seethe at him. “Forever. I never want to see you again.”

Bishop scoffs. “I figured.”

And it’s at this moment when Axel reappears with a bag of tissues. He sees Bishop. He stops.

There’s a wariness between the two best friends I’ve never seen before. They both stare each other down.

“Axel…”

I start, but Bishop doesn’t let me finish. He jumps in, facing my brother.

“Chloe has just told me we’re over, Axel. That’s it. Done. You can stop hating me now and let’s be members of this band with no animosity.”

Bishop then smirks at me.

That’s enough for me.

He’s won. He’s got his revenge. He’s hurt me where it hurts.

I lost.

And I turn and walk away, crying once again. The tears are unrestrained now as I head off out of the school.

Axel doesn’t follow me. I guess this new band is more important than his little sister.

My love life is ruined. Bishop has just mocked me in front of the entire school and my brother, and I just know that it’s going to be a long fucking time before I can ever even think of performing in public again.

22

BISHOP

Chloe walks through the door and the first thing she does is glare at me. If looks could kill, then I’d be dead. Her eyes drift from me to Mickey Miller. I’m standing next to the record producer sitting at his desk.

Her face betrays trepidation, anger… and a little bit of hope.

I’m glad she’s come back. I honestly thought that her determination never to see me again would take priority over her music career.

After I saw her downstairs – when she ran into me and blurted out how bad the meeting went – I immediately made my way up here. I stormed past Mickey’s protesting receptionist and burst into this room. I told Mickey Miller – the biggest fucking voice in the music industry - in no uncertain terms that he was making a big fucking mistake not even considering bringing Chloe on. He told me she choked up when he asked her to sing. I told him to give her another chance.

And he has.

And now she’s here, and I don’t dare speak. I leave all that to the producer next to me.

Mickey Miller and I go way back. To the very beginning of Ravaged. He was the first producer to see our potential. Signing on with him was the beginning of the boys and me becoming the stars we are today. Sure, we never saw much of the man. He’s not exactly the type to come to recording studios and mingle with his stars, but he is the man with the power. All of the power, in fact. This man sitting next to me is the North American music scene.

And, like many hundreds before her, he has Chloe’s entire future life in his hands.

Technically, he could even ruin mine as well for how I’ve burst into his office. Everyone, even the biggest stars on the planet, is terrified of this man. But I don’t care. Not when I need him to give my girl a second chance.

“Chloe. Welcome back,” Mickey Miller says in his flat drawl. “I’m going to give you another shot. Bishop has been quite persuasive that you’re a better musician than I gave you credit for. That you ain’t just a passing internet fad. So I’m going to organize for you to sing in front of my executive team in three days. We’ll see then if you live up to what Bishop promises. Are you going to be ready for that?”