Page 30 of Verses

But I wanted to give our guitarist a few.

And what the fuck was I thinking anyway? Kyle and I still lived together, still shared a bed together. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t had sex in a while or that we barely spoke to one another. As long as we hadn’t called it quits, I had to control my feelings about Wolf.

It was fucking difficult…because there was something more electric than the guitar between us.

Chemistry—was that what they called it?

Whatever the case, I got way more from him than I ever had from Liam. Again, I didn’t want to dog the dead man, because he was truly a mastermind, and had he lived, we might have gone far. But maybe he’d beentootalented, too aware of his own gift, and that made it impossible for him to even consider what anyone else brought to the table.

Wolf, though, familiar with a band’s dynamic, had no problems being part of a group. I only hoped I wasn’t hogging him to myself.

But, of course, I wasn’t. He also played next to Pedro and Kyle and even played toward Adrian once or twice, his back to the audience.

When we finished playing the second-to-last song on our setlist, Kyle said, “You guys wanna call it a night?”

Pedro said, “We got one more, bro.”

“Yeah, but you guys look as tired as I feel.”

“You kidding? With this guy, I could go all night.”

It dawned on me then that maybe Kyle was feeling a little jealous—or maybe he felt guilty.

Another possibility was he’d seen Wolf and me practically flirting as we played together. But it might have been because of our last song, “Cat Fight.” He’d never seemed to care for it, and he’d never made a pretense about hating the lyrics I’d written. But it was my life and my words, and I’d written about a time in high school when a girl had kept bugging me for a fight.

She was Kyle’s ex.

He’d never told me why he wasn’t fond of the song, but I knew it was because of the words—because he’d liked it okay when Liam had brought the music to the group.

“Let’s do the last song,” Pedro said. “Hayley’s bringin’ it, baby!”

I loved how Pedro had enough enthusiasm and energy for all of us—and, with his blessing and encouragement, I nodded and smiled.

While Wolf played the aggressive opening riffs, I watched his fingers moving rapidly along the strings, nodding my head to the beat Adrian was pounding out. It was a great way to end a set, but these guys were tired. I decided I would suggest moving this song up in the setlist so they could play it while they felt fresher.

Pedro, though—that guy acted like it was the first song we’d played that evening. He was banging his head while he shredded, complementing Wolf and Kyle’s guitars.

I tried to ignore Kyle’s scowl as I began singing the words I’d written a couple of years earlier.

So you sizedme up and what did you see?

I am not that girl.

I’m no fighter but I’m far from prissy.

Please don’t fuck with me.

I just wantto do my own thing.

I just want you to go away.

What mustI say

to shine a light?

I want no part of

Your cat fight.

---