Halo (Fallen Angel, #1)(24)

That may be true, but I was getting some seriously confusing signals here. Or was I? The guy flirted with everything that moved, so was this just the way it was with him, or was he hitting on me? I’d made it clear from day one that I was straight, but maybe I needed to remind him of that fact again?

I gripped my hair as I exhaled and turned back to face him. “Look, I appreciate your support. Really, I do. But if I’m going to be a part of this band, I feel like I need to make it clear that nothing’s gonna happen here.”

He didn’t react. “Here?”

“Yeah. Between me and you.”

Viper’s lips quirked up at the sides, and something about his expression made my palms sweat.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” I repeated back to him like a moron, and then, just in case he didn’t get it the first time, I added, “I’m straight.”

Viper chuckled and nodded. “I know. That doesn’t change the fact that what you played kicked ass. The guys’ll like it.”

Shit. Okay, maybe I’d read his signals wrong. “Uh, I don’t know.” I wasn’t so sure about opening up that much here, in front of everyone. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that vulnerable.

Viper stepped around me, and as he headed back across the living space, he called over his shoulder, “There’s a piano in the rehearsal room. You need to go and show them.”

Just as his words trailed off, Killian pushed through the front door and looked in my direction.

“Show us what?” he asked, as he and the others headed back inside.

“Nothin’,” I said quickly.

Viper gave me a pointed look. “Didn’t sound like nothin’ to me the first time I heard it.”

Jesus Christ, Viper, shut up.

“I wanna hear it,” Jagger said.

Slade nodded. “Me too.”

And just like that, I was outnumbered.

“Well…” I chewed my lower lip as I walked around the island. “I was just playing around with something the other night.”

“And you’re only mentioning that now?” Killian said, as we headed into the rehearsal space.

“I didn’t think it was your thing.”

“Our thing?” Killian grinned. “Well, we’re lookin’ for a new thing now, so go for it.”

My eyes darted around at the rest of the guys staring at me until they finally landed on Viper, who nodded toward the piano.

Okay. I guess I was doing this.

I took a seat behind the baby grand, and Viper backed away, giving me space. Thinking back to the melody, I exhaled and placed my fingers on the keys.





Sixteen





Viper





ALL RIGHT, ANGEL. Show ’em what you got.

Blowing out a breath, Halo laid his fingers atop the keys, and after several beats, he began to play the repeating piano riff I’d heard that night in the hotel lounge. His shoulders visibly relaxed as he went along, as though he’d managed to block us all out and only the music mattered.

Watching Halo was like poetry in motion. His hands glided over the keys with ease, his whole body following along where his fingers guided. I couldn’t tell you how long it lasted, how long he played, but all too soon it was over, and as Halo lowered his hands from the keys, his eyes lifted to where the four of us stood a few feet away, staring at him with blank expressions—well, except for me. I had a smug-ass smile on my face, because fuck if he didn’t sound as brilliant behind that piano today as he had the first time I’d heard him.

The silence in the room as he sat there looking at us was close to deafening, and I couldn’t get a read on what the rest of the guys were thinking. Did they like it as much as I did? Did they think I’d lost my mind making Halo show them?

Whatever. It was badass, and surely they would realize that, once they wrapped their heads around just how different it was from our usual sound. I mean, that was what Killian had said he wanted. Right?

When the guys continued to stand there like shags on a rock, Halo stood and walked to where Killian’s bass sat cradled in its stand. He gestured to it. “I can show you more? If you like?”

Killian blinked a couple of times, as though trying to understand what Halo was asking him, and I almost laughed. He was completely gobsmacked. And I could tell he was feeling the same way I had the first time I’d heard Halo play—blown the fuck away.

Killian nodded. “I didn’t know you played.”

“Yep,” Halo said, his lips curling up at the edge now, as he picked up the instrument. He was beginning to enjoy this, showing us what he could do, and it was becoming more and more apparent there was a lot we didn’t know about him. “Okay, so obviously this is all a little different from what you guys are used to—”

“Nothing wrong with that,” I interjected. “Right, Kill? What was that about the damn zombies rising?”

“Right.” Killian rubbed his chin. “Yeah, totally, we want a change.”

Taking that as permission to continue, Halo ran his fingers up the neck of the bass until they were in place. Then he stroked his thumb down the strings, getting a feel for Killian’s bass, before he shut his eyes and began to play. As he plucked away at the strings, Halo lost himself in the cadence of it, letting the tune build inside him, the same way he had on the piano.