wasn’t allowed to date. It was fun to just look sometimes. Especially when the person you were looking at was as gorgeous as Ariel Fox.
Jesus, she wasn’t just pretty, but abso-fucking-lutely stunning. How had I never noticed before?
I turned just as she glanced up, and for a fraction of a second, everything stopped again. Our eyes met, and boom! There was no one in the room but us. Then it was gone, and she morphed back into the vacant, expressionless Ariel who kept her eyes averted.
“Lexi! Good to see you.” The big, burly man I assumed was Ariel’s father pumped Lexi’s hand until she winced.
“Hello, Douglas.” She smiled politely before turning to Ariel and reaching out to give her a hug. “How are you? It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it has.” Ariel’s voice was soft and well-modulated, but without much expression.
“Hello, boys. Lexi.” Darren Randall was watching us with a faint smile on his face.
I’d never liked the powerful bastard, but he’d adored Casey, so she’d been able to run interference and we’d rarely had to interact. Now I was somehow the unofficial leader of the band, and while I would do what I had to do, I didn’t like the position I was in.
“Tyler.” Darren shook my hand and met my gaze directly. “It sounded good tonight. You might think about the setlist, though.”
I arched my brows. “What’s wrong with the setlist?”
“Far too hard for what we’ve discussed.”
My gut reaction was to tell him to go fuck himself, but I couldn’t do that with millions of dollars on the line, so I took a long pull of the beer Bash had just put in my hand and mentally counted to ten.
“We’re not a pop band,” I said after a moment. “We’re a rock band. I know you want some music that’s a little more commercial, but if you’re looking for Matchbox 20, that’s not us.”
“There’s already a Matchbox 20,” he countered. “I’m looking for something newer and hotter.”
“I’m not sure that can be us.”
“I have millions of dollars that say it can.”
Sonofabitch.
He was waving that money in my face, and even though I didn’t need it, I knew Lexi, Ford, and Stu did. “We’ll have to have a team meeting,” was all I could think to say.
“The reason I brought Ariel here tonight was to show you the star power we could utilize if you do things my way. I was thinking of a duet. She and Lexi would be hot together, both musically and in a video, and her name will legitimize what you’re trying to do.”
“I’m pretty sure my name does that,” I said.
“Not like hers does.”
“Tyler, have you and Ariel ever met?” Lexi interrupted us.
“No.”
“Hang on, let me introduce everyone.” She tugged Ariel forward and turned to Bash, who politely shook her hand, though Ariel mostly kept her eyes averted. She did the same with Stu and Ford, so I was expecting a half-assed response to my greeting. Instead, she hit that damn internal switch, and when she smiled at me, it lit up the whole room.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, letting my hand linger on hers a moment longer than it should have.
“Likewise.” Our eyes met, lightning crashed, and then it was gone. All in an instant.
I was getting emotional whiplash, and we’d barely said five words to each other.
“‘Revved on Remorse’ is one of my all-time favorite songs,” she said quietly. “The melody is so intricate for such a heavy beat, and the lyrics are soul-bending. Truly a special piece of music.”
“Thank you.” I was a little surprised at the praise. I’d written “Revved on Remorse” for Pretty Harts, and while it hadn’t been a big hit, we’d played it live a lot because concert-goers seemed to love it.
“Ariel and I are going to go powder our noses,” Lexi said, linking her arm through Ariel’s. “We can chat about future projects when we get back.”
I watched them go, my eyes never leaving Ariel’s long legs.
“It’s like you’ve never seen a hot woman before,” Ford murmured, following my gaze as I continued to look in the direction they’d gone.
“Not like that one.”
2
Ariel
I’d learned a long time ago to keep my emotions bottled up as tightly as possible. Any spark of vulnerability inevitably led to punishment—usually mine—and self-preservation had to be my priority. I’d been under my father’s thumb for so long it was now second nature to be as emotionless and apathetic as possible. But once in a while, something got my heart beating