Page 19 of Cadence
But then Paige showed up, stepping into the gap like Austin left it purposely just for her.
Her timing is perfect, and I can see the girl now, the girl I’ve been watching on my screen at one a.m., careful not to give myself away. Her sticks glide over the kit like it’s an extension of her body, the way she plays…it’s reminiscent of the way I play guitar.
My fingers dig into the strings as I come in last, dragging the chord raw and gritting. I barely register the melody, just the burn in my gut as we play a track we haven’t touched in years.
Not since…
I shove the thought away, easily replacing it with the acrid ones that circle my stomach like vultures. It’s pathetic, the way I’m acting, but like a scab you never let heal, I keep picking.
Singing, the words pour out of me like always, but they feel disconnected. The chills I usually get at the bridge don’t come. I barely even hear them.
Not when all I feel iscontempt.For a girl who has more talent in her body than most musicians earn in their lifetime.
She’s syncing to me, reading me in a way she shouldn’t be able to. Not yet.
I glance at Beau as he joins in on the chorus, his voice slipping under mine. Normally, I’d feed off it, build the energy, ride that harmony like I do when we’re live, living in the moment our fans lose their shit over.
But I can’t. I’m stuck on the loop that is Paige Erikson.
Focus, Maddox.
My eyes find her again, waiting for—needing—a mistake, a stumble, something I know she won’t give me. But if she does, if she cracks just once, I’ll be right.
She doesn’t belong here; she’s the outsider, not me.
But she just keeps going, nailing every transition. My pulse hammers behind my ribs, my brain scrambles to make it fit. People like her don’t end up in bands like ours by chance. They’re headhunted, signed, molded by the industry before their first gig.
And yet she’s here.
So why the fuck does it feel like a setup?
The thought wedges into my chest, fusing with the dark and ugly parts that only came alive the more I saw her on screen. Performing like she had the world at her feet. And I snap, doing something only an asshole would do.
I change the structure mid-loop.
Not the tempo, not the groove, just…the math.
Four bars become five. A small shift, subtle really, barely noticeable unless you’re counting. Unless you’re paying attention. The kind of thing that exposes who’s riding on instinct and who’s just guessing.
This is sabotage, a test she didn’t ask for, a way to see her finally break.
Paige’s head snaps up, eyes locking onto mine. There’s a flicker, confusion, maybe panic, and her sticks stutter for half a beat. It’s almost nothing. Ablink-and-you’ll-miss-itmistake.
But I don’t blink.
I catch her face when realization hits, slamming straight across her expression. Her brows draw in, her jaw firms, and then she… adjusts. Like it never happened, like she’d been ready for it all along.
Out of the corner of my eye, Beau’s head tilts slightly, his hand faltering on a chord for a split second. Eli glances at me, then at Paige, a frown forming at the corners of his mouth. But we keep playing.
Paige keeps her eyes on me now, fierce and unyielding, a challenge in her stare.Come on, it says.Do it again. I fucking dare you.
Beau’s gaze jumps between us, not missing the silent battle taking place across the room. Eli mutters something too low to hear over the music, matching the shift in rhythm like I knew he would.
My grip tightens around the neck of my guitar as Beau slides into his solo, the song fading beneath the pounding in my ears. My mouth dries out, vision narrows, and still, I can’t stop watching her.
She plays through the off-kilter structure like it’s natural. Each hit of the toms a thud through my chest, through my ribs, through everything I’m failing to keep under control. It’s not the music, or adrenaline or tempo. It’sher,reading me without permission and with a defiance in her eyes like she knows I want to knock her off balance and she’s begging me to try.
My cock twitches, heat pulsing low and powerfully under my skin. And before I can stop it, I picture her again, bent over the kit, breathless and furious, mouth sharp with threats. That stare, that challenge. Me fucking that defiance out of her until her legs shake and her pride breaks.
