the only life I have, you know?”
“But you still stand back sometimes, like an outsider looking in.”
“I do. Self-preservation, I guess. Pretending I don’t care about anyone enough to hurt me if things go wrong again.”
“Story of my life.”
“It’ll be all right, lass.” He put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “You’ve got all of us now.”
“Who do you have?” I asked quietly.
“All of you, I’d say.”
I met his gaze for a moment before I smiled.
Maybe I wasn’t an outsider after all.
19
Tyler
The next couple of days were quiet since we only met up with the band for a few hours the day after the gig and cut out early the day after that. We’d recorded “Bedroom Lies” and “Taking Shots,” and were trying to finish up “Wicked X.” Ariel had sung background vocals on “Taking Shots,” which was great, and I’d casually dropped it into conversation that I thought it would be fun if she did background vocals for us whenever possible. Everyone had agreed, and though Ariel smiled, she hadn’t said anything.
Our week together was coming to an end, and there was no doubt she’d been thinking about it. I hadn’t said much about our unofficial deadline because I didn’t want to upset her, but today marked a week since she’d gotten here, and if she was going to leave me tomorrow, I needed to know.
I rolled onto my side and stared at her beautiful face. She was on her side, facing me, one hand tucked under her pillow and the other out in front of her on the sheet. We always fell asleep tangled up in each other but tended to wake up on opposite sides of the bed. She moved a lot in her sleep and alternated between burrowing under the covers and throwing them off. It was kind of cute, and I realized how much I was going to miss her when she left.
I reached out and gently tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear, and though she stirred, she didn’t wake up. She was so beautiful, even without a stitch of makeup, and it didn’t seem fair I was going to lose her before I even had a chance to truly enjoy her. We had a fantastic connection, unlike any other, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to convince her to stay with me. I was well aware that it was complicated for her, and her father would do everything in his power to bring her back to L.A., but we could fight him. I’d been with her twenty-four-seven for a week and had seen zero signs of mania or depression or anything out of the ordinary. I was confident her bipolar was manageable and wanted to be with her regardless.
In a very short amount of time, Ariel had become one of us, even if she wasn’t technically part of the band. She and Stu seemed to have formed their own friendship, separate from me, and she and Lexi giggled a lot, which wasn’t something I expected from either of them. Her ice princess persona had disappeared, and though she was a little nervous sometimes, she seemed to be coming out of her shell more and more with each passing minute. She was a talented singer and songwriter, and despite her pop background, she was already making us better as a band, which was an unexpected bonus of our relationship.
She’d been forced on us because Whiplash wanted us to change our music style, and they’d used a big contract to entice us, but now that she was here, she brought a lot to the table. Everyone liked her, her voice was fabulous, and we were going to use some of the arrangements she’d done on a couple of our songs. In one short week, she’d completely immersed herself in my life and that of the band, so I couldn’t imagine not having her around anymore.
“Why are you watching me sleep?” she murmured.
“Because you’re beautiful. Also because I’m trying to work up the nerve to ask you something.”
She blinked, going from sleepy to thoughtful in just a few seconds. “Why do you need to work up the nerve to ask me anything?”
Both of our phones buzzed at the same time, and I rolled over to grab mine because that couldn’t be a coincidence. I saw that Bash had texted me multiple times, and I opened the program to see what was up.
And there were pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.
Nothing incriminating, but