way. A few more days can’t make that big of a difference, can it? I sit and watch as they finish up practice and Luna says goodbye to Mack as she heads out of the store. Luna walks up to me slowly. Her arms come out, circling around me. “Are you ready to be my pretend boyfriend again?”
I hug her tightly and look down at her. “I can think of no better way to spend my evening.” I lean my head down, quickly pressing my lips to hers. “I think we’re getting in some good practice. Hell, I bet everyone would say we’re actually together.”
She giggles. “Well, that isn’t a bad thing, right?”
“You don’t see me arguing. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Five
Luna
I know I’m not supposed to let myself fall for him, but he’s perfect in every possible way. He’s a great guy who treats me well, plus he has a stable job. He doesn’t try to control me or have a fit because I’m in a band with a bunch of guys. He isn’t insecure, a drug addict, or an alcoholic. For the first time in my life, I actually picked the right guy and here we are, about to have so many miles between us. I could always give up my lifelong dream to be with him, but I won’t allow myself to ruin this for the band. We’ve worked so hard to get here and they deserve it as much as I do. I’ve been telling myself since day one to pull away, but every time I see him, I get so excited and happy that he’s around that I can’t even think of pushing him away. I know one thing for sure: I’m falling for him faster than I thought possible.
I’ll admit, when I first asked Daniel to be the buffer between Wesley and me, it was because I was still a little heartbroken over Wesley and I didn’t want him to know. Wesley and I didn’t work as a couple. He worked days where I worked most nights. He’s the jealous type and we got into plenty of fights because of it—mostly due to my rowdy male fans. And after we started dating, he suddenly didn’t like the revealing things I wore on stage. But we had a connection and really good sex. When we called it off, I was relieved but still upset. Then Daniel entered the picture and I thought hey, why not? I could have fun with Daniel while pushing myself to get over Wesley—all while making him jealous. But now, Wesley is the last thing on my mind. I’m completely caught up in Daniel, and even though I know Wesley doesn’t want to get back together, it’s my little way of keeping Daniel around as long and as much as I can.
We make it to band practice, and as I thought, Wesley is here armed with his professional camera. Daniel takes a seat off to the side while I grab my guitar and pull the strap over my head. I take my place behind the mic, then the guys and I have a brief discussion about what we’ll work on tonight. We settle on one of our new ones, “27 Hates Me.” It’s a song we wrote about a person whose life starts to unravel when they turn 27. It’s also a reference to the 27 Club and the fallen rock legends before us.
We start rocking out with Lane and me on vocals. Daniel watches us—mostly me—with interest. I don’t know why, but watching him watch me on stage is a major turn-on. He looks at me with such intensity, passion, and lust that I can barely hold myself back from pulling him outside to have a quickie in the bushes. Wesley gets busy snapping pictures of everyone in the band, lingering a bit longer on me since I’m usually up front with Lane in all of our pictures.
We finish the song and move into “Death Defy.” Daniel taps his foot and nods his head to the beat, and I can’t keep the smile off my face as I watch him. Wesley finishes with the pictures and we end up taking a break so the guys can say their goodbyes. I head over to Daniel. “What did you think of the new stuff?”
“It’s amazing. There’s no way you’re not going to get signed.” He smiles a sweet, boyish grin.
I return his smile and bump my shoulder against his. “Wesley