Page 21 of Places I've Never Been

The fact that Mattie had picked up on it impressed him even more than her voice. The girl he’d crushed on was still there, and he was in the same room with her.

The song ended, and for a few seconds, everyone was silent.

“Wow.” Cooper stared at Mattie. “That’s…how’d you do that?”

“We’ve been working on this one for months.” Brandon hit a few notes. “We never got the sound like that. I like it slower.”

“It fits,” Flynn said. “Think I’ll change up some stuff. Go softer. It doesn’t needa lot of help.”

“Yeah, maybe we should take it the whole first verse with just the piano,” LT suggested. “Then push it more through the chorus.”

Adam turned to Mattie. “That was amazing.”

“Sometimes all you need is an outside perspective, that’s all. You almost had it there. I just added window dressing.” She smiled, and this time her eyes sparkled. “It’s a good song. It’s not exactly your usual style, though. Is the rest of the album like this?”

“Not exactly,” Adam said.

“We were trying to give this one an edge like the others, but it wasn’t working.” Brandon pounded out a few of the notes. “I think we’re having an identity crisis.”

“Speak for yourself,” Cooper said. “Just because you haven’t grown up yet doesn’t mean we’re in crisis.”

“Just because you were old before you were born doesn’t mean the rest of us have to act that way,” Flynn said.

“Guys.” Adam gave them his best settle-down-or-I’ll-end-you look, then turned to Mattie. “That’s the only soft one. The rest are more in line with our usual stuff. We can run through them for you.”

Mattie’s phone chimed. She tugged it out and checked a text. “Um, sure.”

She drifted out the door.

Adam watched her go, then turned to the band. They all looked as confused as he felt.

“Hang tight. I’ll be right back.”

Chapter Five

Mattie glared at the phone and thought seriously about changing her number. That way Della couldn’t text her at odd moments and stir up her emotions again.

I love you Mattie Cake. I miss you. Please talk to me.

What was she supposed to say to that? She thought about it, then tapped out a quick response.In a meeting.

She was about to go back into the studio when another text came through. This time from Piper.When did this happen?

Piper included a link to an article on theLA POPwebsite. Mattie tapped the link and waited for it to load while dread danced in her stomach.

When the headline came up, she swore.

Mattie Bellamy Moves on to Next Victim?

Beneath it was a blurry image of her standing just inside the front door of the Delusions of Glory studio, shaking hands with Adam Brooks.

Mattie checked the hallway. She didn’t think anyone could get a good shot all the way back here, but she instinctively stepped out of sight just in case.

She closed her eyes and tried not to panic. She wouldn’t normally care what they said, but with everything Devon had posted over the past few days she was more than a little jumpy. A headline like this would make his lies sound true.

This couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t possible that gossip blogs had picked up the story so fast. They must have followed her from her house. Nobody knew she was coming here.

She thought about that. Kat knew. So did Adam’s manager, because he’d made the call to Kat. The entire band and maybe their families knew, too, of course.

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