“I say yes.” Sonya seems to really want these guys.

“You think they’re hot?” I ask without giving it a second thought.

She looks at me and then Tally.

“No, he was asking you, Sonya.” She giggles.

She nods. “They have a great look.”

“But would you bang ’em?” River asks.

“Would you?” she asks back, and the whole room busts up laughing.

“Probably not.” River smirks. “Now, if you’d asked me that three years ago, I may not have had the same answer. Right, Finn?”

“Fuck you, man.” I laugh.

“I’d bang Finn.” River winks at me.

“I’d like to see you try,” I growl at him.

“The road is a lonely place,” he sighs.

“Not for you.” Nick shoots him a look. “Beckett, where were you until five this morning?”

“That’s none of your damn business,” I tell him.

A knock on the door thankfully breaks up the bullshit.

“That better be breakfast. I worked up one hell of an appetite last night.”

“You must be lying down on the job, man. I got breakfast in bed.” River laughs.

“Yeah, slacking,” I say as I stand to get the door.

“So, I was thinking Tally and I could shout out the winner of the Houston audition now, and then, when we decide on Dallas, we’ll do that one.” I hear an excitement in her voice that I kind of like, but then I remember who she will be shouting out about, and it rubs me the wrong way.

“Sounds good. Let me give X a buzz first,” Nick answers her.

After Nick calls Xavier, Tainted Knights is moved to opening in Dallas. It will give Tally and Sonya more time to create a bigger buzz.

We decide on a band called Hoopla to open in Houston. They are local and don’t have an agent, and they have a very cool sound, more a pop rock than our kind of rock. The problem is they are a new band, so they only have a half hour set. Therefore, River ends up getting his twins in there, too. They will kick off the show, play for half an hour, Hoopla will then do the same, and then we will rock the crowd.

Sonya and Tally are buzzing all day on those damn devices. Nick even goes out and grabs two more iPads so Tally can run Memphis’s shit.

I lock myself down with a pen and paper.

***

I spent the night with her again. I couldn’t get enough of her or the natural beauty that now shined even brighter. But today, I went back to my room early. I needed sleep and so did she. Tonight is the fucking night we will rock Houston.

“Break a leg, Beckett.” I look back to see Sonya standing in the wings before I take the stage.

I look around. I’m the first one out.

I walk behind the speakers and motion for her to follow.

“I’m more than ready, but I have a problem,” I tell her.

“Are you sick, tired? Is something—”

“I see the way those fucks look at you, and I want to bash their heads in.” I point to the fucking Hoopla guys.

“You’re imagining it.” She giggles, not even looking.

“Nah, I’m not imagining shit. Tales even said you were hot, and she’s a straight chick.”

She shakes her head. “Stop it.”

“If I could stamp my name on your forehead, I’d feel better.”

“How about if you just remember that I’m the only one you’re over, and I’m the only one under you?”

“Hmm, I think that’ll get me through tonight, but then I’ll be walking on stage hard as hell.”

“Make sure you come back that way, too,” she says, shocking me.

“You have a thing for rock stars, Sonya?” I tease.

“Only the ones who play bass, sing, have beards, and make me feel so damn good every time we’re together.”

“That’s a damn good answer.” I grab the back of her head and pull her to me. Then I kiss her so hard she will feel it until I come back.

I pull back, and she licks her lips.

“I like you, Finn Beckett.”

“The feeling is mutual,” I say as I pull my aviators down, turn, and walk away.

We take the stage in a storm of electric steel and badass beats. Billy and River are in the zone, and I am finger fucking the strings, wishing the night away, because right now, that girl, that little brunette standing just off stage with all her electronic gadgets, has me by the balls.

Once Memphis takes the stage and starts belting out “Bang, Bang,” the crowd roars. He eats that shit up. Hell, I’m actually kind of enjoying it tonight, too. But the only roars that matter are the ones in my ear I know I will hear later tonight.

Memphis’s arm is still healing from his bar altercation in Miami, so Billy is sticking to acoustic tonight. I’m still not singing, and X-man and Nickie D are being patient with me.

Sonya doesn’t ask about my past, but shares a little more of hers every day. It seems to empower her. When the time comes, I will sing and release some of my past as I do. Right now, on this stage in Houston, Texas, I’m doing what I love, what I do best, and that’s creating music.

I’m looking at my here and now a lot differently.

After the show, I make sure everyone gets pictures. Lots of pictures.

I don’t mind this crowd; it’s well controlled. Not to mention, there is lots of security, and well, Finn is here. He doesn’t go far away from me, and I certainly don’t go far from him. He makes me feel good, safe even.

I watch him as he takes pictures with the girls who won backstage passes on the radio. Each of the five winners and three of their friends won a ten minute meet and greet with the band.

“I can take it for you,” I offer as one of the winners struggles to take her selfie with the “hottest bass player in the world,” as she calls him. She isn’t wrong—he is—but right now, I’m the only one under him.

“You good?” he asks between greetings when he goes out for a smoke and I follow.

“Yep,” I answer, rubbing the back of my neck.

He exhales. “You’re so full of shit.”

“She looked at you like she wanted to lick you. Now don’t get me wrong, that girl is so into herself that the pictures will be all over the World Wide Web in minutes, which is the point in these meet and greets, but I really, really want to lick you right now.”

“Well, step up; I’m right here,” he says with a cocky arrogance that makes me tingle from thinking of the first night together when I actually did lick him.

“You’re smoking.”

He tosses his cigarette, crushing it with his black, size thirteen boots. “You jealous of the cigarette and the girls, Sonya?” His eyes seem to dance a bit. He likes this. He likes that I’m jealous.

“No.” My voice squeaks at my lie … always a giveaway with me.

He wraps his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me in for a nice, hard kiss. “I like it.”

“You like my—”

“Jealousy, yes. But there is no reason for it.” He dips down, sucking on my neck a little.

“But necessary,” I say in a raspy voice he causes.

“Mmm.” His hands are on my hips now, his fingers gently digging into my flesh. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“Three more winners, Finn.” I step toward him instead of away like I should. “Go make me jealous.”

“If you say so, but you’re the only one licking me.” He leans in again before his tongue traces my lips slowly.

“Mmm,” I moan, and he echoes it.

After an hour more of snapping pictures of the guys with their new fans, the guys with Hoopla, and the guys with the twins, it’s time to head out.

We are on our way to The Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek, just outside of Dallas for the next show, which will be the next time I get to see the complete sexiness and extreme focus he shows only when he plays music … and when he is over me. Thinking of him either way works me into a frenzy. It is not a good time for that, though. Deciding to force myself to sleep, I close my eyes and lean back, trying my best not to think of Finn.