Page 79 of Filthy Rock Stars

He frowns. “Doesn’t that mean you have to piss?”

“Whatever.” I clasp his shoulder as my car rolls up, my bike back at the loft since I knew it was a drinking day. “Catch you tomorrow?”

I give Nico a heads-up that I’m a little tipsy, and my driver drops me a few blocks from his apartment. It’s been quiet there, no paparazzi or any bullshit lately, but I still wrap a light scarf around my face, pop on my sunglasses, and creep through the alleys to reach him.

Nico ushers me in and, once we’ve shut the door, pulls the scarf off to kiss me.

“Getting drunk at work?”

I grin. “Just a little.” It feels so good to be back at his place. It’s just this tiny little apartment, but I’m instantly comfortable in a way I almost never am.

My smile collapses when I remember the latest news. “You see the video?”

Nico wrinkles his button nose. “I did. Mare’s beating herself up. Is your band overreacting?”

“I’d imagine. I split after the initial shock.”

Nico smiles. “That’s smart.” He takes my hand, and his voice lifts nervously. “I do have an update.”

“Oh yeah?” We walk over to the couch, and when we sit, I pull his legs onto my lap. “Good or bad?”

“Good. I think. The band wants to talk to you.”

I tense. “Right. Of course. They want to size me up.”

Nico laughs. “That makes it sound like you’re going to box each other.”

“Fuck, I hope not. Three against one? And Star must have a mean hook.” I shrug, joking to hide how nervous I suddenly am. “I understand if they want to slap me around a little bit.”

“They’re not like that,” Nico says quickly. “I swear it won’t be an ambush.”

I remember Elle’s threat that I shouldn’t even take a phone call from Mare. As a true sign of how over this shit I am, though, that just seems like more reason to do it.

“Right,” I tell him, pushing through my nerves. “Of course. I’ll be happy to meet them. Anything for you, Nico.”

It’s the closest I can come to telling him how I feel, since actually telling him that would be impossible. I’m not a person who falls in love. How do I even know that’s what this is?

Except I do know. And the truth of it swirls through my tipsy brain, clouding any other thoughts.

Terrifying me because how am I good enough to love him?

“Thank you,” Nico says softly. “I really appreciate it.”

I rub his foot. “Of course. But you know, there’s even more pressing business.”

He sits up, alert. “Oh?”

I nod to the bookshelves. “I finished that book with all the interdimensional dinosaurs last night. What do you got for me next?”

CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE

NICO

The daythe band is set to meet Shadow, we spend a long afternoon in the studio first. Case woke up with an idea for a song, an orchestral, dreamy song about falling in love with a cloud that’s in the shape of a hamburger, and despite how ridiculous that is, we’ve all happily spent the day writing it together.

Star collapses back on the couch and tosses her tie over her shoulder. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think your weird cloud hamburger song might be a chart-topper.”

Case flashes his teeth with a wide smile. “I knew it when my head was still on the pillow.”

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