Page 73 of Rebel

“Thank you!” the speaker calls, and I stand, clapping with everyone else. I spare her a look to see her panting, still sitting heavily in her chair. “It’s rude not to applaud, pretty girl.”

Standing with a shaky breath, she claps at my side, and I lean in, unable to help myself. “Next time, I want to be on my knees, buried between your pretty thighs, tasting you. I want to hear you scream for me like you did for Trav last night.” I focus back on everyone else, smiling and clapping as she huffs at my side.

After-parties are usually boring. There are too many rules, and despite the “let loose” pictures they release, you still have to be careful since there are so many eyes and ears in here. It’s the unofficial after-parties you want, but we agreed to give Beck the full awards show routine, which means I’m standing here, bored, at the after-party.

Celebs dance and drink, take photos, and gossip like they aren’t all acting and doing it for the cameras. Beck stands at my side, nursing a glass, while Trav and Kolton are at the bar, getting us more drinks. “Well shit, I thought it would be more?—”

“Rock and roll?” a voice suggests, and Beck whirls around, her eyes widening. “Hi, I’m Fallon. You’re Beck, right? Beck Danvers?”

Beck just stares, her eyes wide. I spare Fallon a glance and nod. We’ve met a few times. She’s hot in that perfect model way, but she seems way too high maintenance for me, too perfect. I like a girl who can get down and dirty, like my Beck, but she is a nice person, and Beck clearly idolizes her. I nudge her with my elbow when she just stares. “Lost your tongue, pretty girl?”

She glares at me, and I can’t help but grin. “Shut up, Reed,” she snaps and smiles brightly at Fallon. “Hi, sorry, yes, I’m Beck, and you’re Fallon. Shit, you know that.” She shakes Fallon’s hand when she holds it out. “Sorry, I’m just a huge fan.”

“Really?” Fallon’s eyes widen before she smiles a genuine smile. “I wouldn’t have guessed. First time at the afters?” Beck nods as Fallon joins her, leaning into her like gossiping sisters. “How bored are you?”

“So bored,” Beck admits with a grin. “I thought it would be more fun, more scandalous.”

“Ah, they save that for when the cameras aren’t around at the after-after-party. Drugs and drink run rampant, and everyone fucks everyone.” Fallon winks. I fist my hand, fighting back memories of parties exactly like that. I was so coked up, I can’t even remember who or what I did.

Something soft brings me from my memories and the clawing voice inside me. I look down to see Beck’s hand gripping mine. She gives me a look, a silent one that asks if I’m okay, and I can do nothing but nod. I become lost in her gaze before she turns away. Even while meeting her idol, she checked on me, knowing how hard it is to fight back the need.

Jesus Christ, when did I start falling for Beck Danvers?

As I watch her chat and giggle, I can’t deny it. I am falling for her. When did anyone ever give a shit about me being okay? Never. No one checks in, but she does. She doesn’t want anything in return, no fame or money. She just did it to make sure I’m okay.

I was right all along—Beck Danvers is dangerous, but not to the band. To my heart.

“So what do you think of the lifestyle so far?” Fallon asks.

“It’s . . . different,” Beck replies, and they share a knowing look.

“Trust me, it doesn’t get easier, not as a woman. The bigger you get, the crazier the life is—more fans, more stalkers, more men trying to use you.” She sounds jaded, but I see the exhaustion in Fallon’s eyes, and for the first time, I really look at her. She’s considered the perfect celebrity, one that can do it all—model, act, and sing. She built her name despite her father and is always with a different man, but as Beck covers her arm, she obviously sees something no one else has.

“Do you have any friends?” Fallon blinks at her as Beck smiles. “It sounds like you need some, good ones at that. It might be hard, but you don’t have to do it alone. You obviously became a singer for a reason.”

“My father,” Fallon admits.

“To follow in his footsteps?” Beck asks, no doubt knowing who he was. Who doesn’t?

“No, to give him a big fuck you and prove I could be better than him.” That makes Beck bark out a laugh, and Fallon smiles with her. “Now I do it because I love it. I couldn’t do anything else. I don’t mean to complain, I love my fans and the lifestyle I’ve worked hard for, but sometimes I think it would be easier to be a man.”

“Tell me about it.” Beck nods. “You get the underwear question a lot too?”

“All the time. You get the dating or sex one yet?” Fallon asks.

“Eh, just last week.” They lean together, and I step back to give them their space.

We’re her band, and we protect her from creeps as much as we can, but Beck is right. There are some things only a woman can understand, and as Fallon and her talk, falling into an easy friendship, I begin to understand why Willa did what she did.

This lifestyle isn’t easy, but it’s even harder to be a woman in it. Did she feel that?

Is it why she did what she did?

My thoughts turn sour, and I blink when I see “dark and sexy,” as Beck called him, heading our way. Kage’s eyes are locked on Fallon, but she sees him too and sighs. “That’s my cue to leave,” she tells Beck. “Here, give me your phone.” Beck hands it over, and then Fallon types before passing it back. “You’re right, I could use some friends, so don’t be a stranger, Beck.”

Fallon turns, and with a perfect hair flip, she walks away, leaving Kage staring after her, determination and annoyance in his eyes.

“They are so going to fuck.”

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