Page 128 of Jace
Missy nods, thumbing my and Asher’s way. “Thanks to those two. They have a knack for writing music.”
Madden only nods, face neutral. Bryson–the bassist–is silent as well, studying us.
“Can we use your, ehh, stuff? We have our guitars back in the car, we can get them?” Ava asks, voice still small. I’ve never seen her shy in my life. But there’s a first for everything, I guess.
“Nah. Just go wild, kids,” Bryson says–the first thing he says actually–his eyes almost hidden in the shadow of his hood he has pulled over his head, arms crossed.
“Yeah, go wild. Can do that,” I mutter to myself as I get up when the celebrities stay silent, my friends following my example. I eye my soda, secretly wishing I had a shot of Sambuca right now to loosen me the fuck up. Not that I would find one here, everybody knows that Madden is a recovering addict.
When we get settled inside the studio, I find my place behind the mic, holding on to the stand. With a deep inhale and eyes closed, I bring the leather bracelet to my lips and kiss it, trying to calm myself. Don’t know why the fuck I do it, but I just feel like I need to.
Tyler always centers me. So even though he can't be here in person, for me, he’s here in spirit, helping me.
“Ready?” Asher asks when we’re all in place, and I nod, ready as I’ll ever be.
Iamready. I can do this. It’s just another gig.
So when he taps his drumsticks together, and starts with the heavy beat of ‘Breached,’ I let the music wash over me, letting Jace the performer come out.
And perform I do.
I throw everything I have in the song, inTy’ssong, in the small, diverse set we’ve selected on our drive over here. We already expected to have to sing something, so we chose songs that show all our different sides.
I own this small stage, looking every one of my idols dead in the eye with arrogance to spare as I belt out line after line, thrusting my hips on the beat, smirking my ass off.
We sound awesome, amazing even, perfectly in sync, and I couldn’t be any prouder of my bandmates if I tried.
So when we exit the room, and get back on the couches with 4A, I’m not afraid. The jitters have vanished, and I’m my usual, confident self.
With the adrenaline riding high in my veins, I give them my lopsided smirk, pushing my now sweaty hair backwards. “Good enough?”
Wolf is the first to respond, starting a damn slow-clap, his grin getting wider by the second when the others chime in. “That. Was. Epic,” he states, getting up again and practically bouncing on his feet.
Madden grabs him by the back of his flowery pants and pulls Wolf back on the couch in between him and Bryson.
“Yeah,” Madden starts, nodding, making eye-contact with his two bandmates. “I think we can agree that it was indeed quite epic.”
I fall back on the cushions in relief, laughing to the ceiling. Fuck yeah. I throw my fists in the air with a small ‘whoop!’ my shirt riding up. My bandmates laugh at me, and when I lean my elbows back on my knees, I get several slaps on my back from them.
My smirk gets wider when Evan’s eyes linger on my stomach, where a sliver of skin must’ve shown just now. I wink at her when she makes eye contact again.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Wolf snaps his fingers at me, breaking my stare with Evan. “None of that, you handsome fuck! She already has enough boyfriends,thank you very much.”
Evan scrapes her throat. “Yes, I do. But I think I understand why you guys are buzzing in the business, now. Christ, that was some charisma.”
Wolf squints at me. “You’re right, I would do him, too.”
I cock my head at the eccentric musician. “Who’s to say it wouldn’t be the other way around?” I take a sip from my soda, my throat dry from the singing.
“Oh, I like him,” Madden interjects, bouncing the toddler up and down on his leg again. “He’s got big enough balls to not make an ass of himself.”
“Please,” Missy butts in, eye-rolling. “He only has attention for one ass in particular, anyway.”
“That’s good as well,” Madden goes on, “this business can be brutal. If you have someone who can keep you sane, centered, that’s only a plus.” His dark eyes briefly flicker to Evan.
“The guy in the video?” Evan asks me, and I snap my head to my band members.Fuck.I kinda forgot about the fact that Tyler was the one filming the video… And we kind of made it into an R-rated thing that would be better suited for OnlyFans.
And I know that he came out, that he’s proud of who he is, who he’s becoming. But the league still didn’t catch on…And he’s out of the spotlight now for a bit. If I fucked that up for him…
