Page 60 of Filthy Rock Stars

“I’ll whisk us off to the hotel with the fancy waffles. We’ll use embarrassing luxury to ease our pain, like rock stars are supposed to.”

Nico laughs. “Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

I drive across town, aching with how much I want to see him, but dreading the talk we’ll have. There’s no easy solution, just a voice getting louder in the back of my head that I should stop this, leave him before I fuck up his whole life.

Do the right thing no matter how bad it hurts.

Then I roll up in his alley, behind a little building on a quiet street, dark in the shadows of old trees. A light flicks off a couple stories up, and with my helmet obscuring my face, I watch Nico scramble out.

He drops from the fire escape and stumbles his landing. He’s dressed in his standard look, his collared shirt unbuttoned at the top.

His Converse scuffle the pavement. Nico glances around furtively and rushes to me.

“Hi,” he says. His face is covered with a scarf, but in his sweet voice, I can hear his smile.

I hand him a helmet. “Hop on. Let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTERTWENTY

NICO

“She saidwhat?”

We’re back in the luxury hotel, standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows as spring winds toss the water below. Shadow’s chewing on his lip studs, something I’ve never seen him do before. I suppose he’s nervous, and that makes me nervous.

“I called my lawyer. He’s going to explain it all to me tomorrow, but basically, they own everything. Everything I’ve done and everything I will do, too. If I leave, I have to pay them damages for the music I agreed to record, and I’m barred from releasing anything hard rock for years. They’ve got their claws in my catalog, my rights, all of it.”

“Oh. Damn.” I rub the back of my head, thinking carefully. “That’s awful, Shadow.”

He shakes his head. “It’s my own fucking fault. But that’s not the real shit. I saw something in Adrian that I don’t like, something I’m not sure I’ve seen before. In Elle, too. If they think I’m betraying the band, they’ll come for me. Hard. And that means you’re vulnerable, too, Nico.”

His brow is tight, his forehead wrinkled. Shadow’s voice is low and steady, and I know he means this.

His band could destroy me and not even think twice about it. I feel nauseous.

I swallow. “I should mention. Kissing Dirt asked me to join the band.”

Shadow’s eyebrows pop up. “Whoa, really?” he says, then lets out a low chuckle. “Shit! That’s amazing, Nico. Congratulations.” The ramifications must catch up with him because his expression falls again.

Shadow leans back on the couch, his inked arms bare in a white T-shirt that stretches thin across his chest. “You have to accept their offer.”

“I know,” I agree. “I’m going to.” That became clear to me as soon as I told Owen and Damian. “But I can’t keep us a secret from them. Even if I wanted to, I’m a horrible liar. I start sweating, and I make this choking sound.”

“I don’t want you to lie,” Shadow says. He shakes his head. “And I can’t blame them if they hate me. It’s not like I’ve earned a lot of goodwill. When do you see them next?”

“A week or so, I think. They’re taking a retreat to hide from the media storm. Phones off and everything.”

Shadow frowns. Whenever I talk about the manufactured feud, I can see how much he hates the whole thing.

“When do you see Forbidden Destiny?”

“A couple weeks. We’ve got a show in LA. I’m off until then.”

We look at each other, and Shadow gives me his rakish grin.

“What?” I ask with a laugh.

He stands to full height and crosses to me. “Let me get this straight. We both have time off, and we can do whatever we want, just so long as no one sees us.”

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