Page 28 of Next Time I Fall (Excess All Areas 2)

It was late. Late enough that he was starting to feel the telltale itch of overuse in the back of this throat. They’d been recording all day. A part of him knew they were all tired and fucking starving, but it didn’t seem to matter.

He shoved the microphone stand to the ground, then realised as sound reverberated around the room that the mic was still tucked in it. He turned his back to the production desk, sound engineers, and Jimmy Bexter, and tugged on his hair.

“I’m with Matt, I think it should stay in the major key,” Bexter said.

Jase looked over to Alex. The one person he could usually rely on. “This is what I was talking about at breakfast on Monday. There’s a tone to these songs.” He turned to look at Matt. “They are all starting to sound the same, and it’s a mindfuck that none of you can hear it.”

Matt cricked his neck to the left and then the right and looked down at his phone. “I sort of get what you are saying, but maybe this isn’t the song we change.”

“I think we’re all getting a bit punchy,” Bexter said. “It’s late. Let’s call it a day. Go blow off some steam.”

“I’m out.” Jase ripped his coat from the back of the leather sofa.

“Jase,” Alex urged. “Stay. We can work through it.”

“No. We can’t. Because you always fall in line with what Matt wants. So, the only thing we’ll be discussing will be how to get Jase to capitulate and fall in line.”

“That’s not fair, we—”

“We what, Matt? Tell me when you have ever fucking bent for me. Never. Because everyone else follows you, and I’m the asshole. You cling to your idea of the song so fucking tight you aren’t willing to listen to another perspective. So, I’ll be back on Monday, and we’ll record it just the way you want it.”

As he slammed the studio doors shut, Cerys’s question haunted him.

Where does your creativity come from?

He didn’t have a creative process, wouldn’t know where to fucking start. He was the show pony, on stage to open his mouth and sing someone else’s words.

Perhaps that was what had been missing from his life. A way to channel everything that raged around inside him. One thing he knew was that it wasn’t here, in this studio. He wasn’t even sure it was with these men. Without trust and honesty with each other, could he even begin to open up and share what he carried with him?

His mind swirling with thoughts of escape, to anywhere, he stepped out into the parking lot and stormed towards the road when three things collided.

A beeping horn, the feel of his knee smashing up against something hard, and the wide-open mouth of Cerys as she tried to steer her car away from him.

“Jesus Christ,” Cerys mouthed, bringing the car to a screeching halt as Jase slammed his hands on the front of the car.

She threw open the door. “What on earth do you think you’re doing?”

Jase rubbed his knee. “Seeing you’re the one who just nearly ran me over, shouldn’t you be more apologetic?”

“Jase. You just ran out of a building straight into the road. That’s like primary school road safety.” She placed her hand on his back. “Is anything broken?”

Jase winced. “Can you just get me the fuck out of here?”

Cerys sucked in a breath. “Seriously, let’s just get you somewhere where—”

“Cerys. Sweetheart. Can you just get me out of here? Please.”

He hobbled to the passenger side, and she helped him as best she could, given he weighed almost twice as much as she did. Then she hurried to her side of the car. “Do you need some ice or something to stop any swelling?”

Cerys leaned across him to reach for the seatbelt. “Let me get that for you.” He tried to ignore the way her breasts pressed up against his chest, a minor feat, given it felt so good. As she clicked the buckle into the slot, he softly inhaled, his nose brushing against her hair.

“Just drive,” he said gruffly, moving away from her to look towards the door. “Any minute now, Alex is going to burst through it. And they always send Alex because they know I won’t hit him.”

“Really. You fight that often?”

“Yes, we do. And I really don’t want to do that here.”

“Urgh. Fine. I’ll take you to your hotel?”

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