Page 10 of A Billionaire Rebel

“What time did you get here this morning?” Bair asked as he joined the rest of us on the stage. “We’ve got a pool going. I said ten.”

I rolled my eyes. “Eight.”

“Dammit,” Bair muttered.

“Pay up!” Kalini held out her hand. “Come on. Don’t make me take it from you.”

Anyone else, seeing a woman who wasn’t even five feet tall threaten three men who could easily bench-press her, would’ve laughed. The men in question, however, immediately dug into their pockets and gave her what they owed.

“Now that everyone’s had their fun at my expense, do you guys think we can get some work done?” I asked, shaking my head at them.

Bair flipped me off but went to the drums while the others went to their instruments. The grin on his face made me laugh. One of the things I loved about these guys was they knew how to mix humor and hard work. Even though I sometimes worked longer hours, I never felt like they weren’t pulling their weight.

Everyone else was already in position, having come in an hour or so ago to set everything up. As routine took over, it was easy to slip into the place where I moved as a part of a team, each of us doing the part that was uniquely ours.

I loved my family, and I would do anything for my brothers, but there were times when I was with the band that I felt like they understood me far better than anyone back home. I’d never felt like I really…fitthere. Not Houston, but the Holden family. They supported my career, but it wasn’t the same as feeling like I belonged with them.

“I like that,” Kalini said after I finished my check. “Are you thinking about keeping it that way?”

“I’m not sure.” I liked the feel and sound of it with just a guitar and a voice, but I was always hesitant to suggest a song stay that way.

I’d put the band together and been the financial backing in those years before we’d been signed, but I never wanted the others feeling like it was all about me. I sometimes wondered if they regretted pushing me to use my last name for the band since it seemed like that made everyone assume that I was the one ‘in charge.’ Sure, I kept us on track and organized, more since Cathy had gone on maternity leave, but they were four of the most talented, hardest working people I’d ever met.

“You should,” Hawk said from where he was sitting behind the keyboard. “I think it’d be a mistake to try to force it into something more complex.”

“I agree,” Otis said as he set his bass down. “Just play it like you did here.”

I looked at Bair, who shrugged.

I shrugged in return. “I’m game for whatever you want to do.”

“Then it’s settled,” Kalini said. “That one’s all yours.”

I strummed my thumb over the strings. “All right, but if you guys change your mind, tell me.”

Kalini rolled her eyes and turned to the sound guys. “We all set?”

One of them gave her a thumb’s up, and we were done until the concert.

“We’re going to hit a couple casinos before tonight.” Bair came out from behind the drums.

“Maybe you should catch a nap,” I suggested. “Your eyes are pretty blood-shot. Rough night?”

I couldn’t smell alcohol on him, but I knew his eyes weren’t red because of lack of sleep. Everyone did. What had started out as him indulging because he’d caught his wife cheating on him was fast becoming an unhealthy way of coping with life in general.

Having gone through something similar, Otis had tried telling him about better ways to deal, but Bair had blown him off. Cathy had said she’d talked to him about it before she’d gone on maternity leave, but nothing seemed to have changed. I’d probably need to step in if things didn’t get better soon.

I really hoped it didn’t come to that.

“I’m fine.” His normal cheerfulness sounded forced, and I wondered how long it would be before he couldn’t pretend anymore.

“Are you going to come with us, or have you had enough gambling this week?” Hawk asked, his attempt to change the topic obvious but welcomed.

“You guys go ahead,” I said. “I think I figured out what I need to tweak to make this work.”

It was an excuse, albeit an honest one, but no one called me on it. I was all for good, clean fun – and great, dirty fun too – but whenever I got it in my head that I needed to find ways to improve, nothing could distract me. They were pretty much the only ones who realized that about me.

My family never thought I could be serious about anything. Part of that was my own fault, I knew. I’d never let them see that part of me when I was growing up, so any attempt to do it now would only lead to them thinking I was playing a joke on them.

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