Kiss the Stars (Falling Stars #1)(13)

I hesitated. Only good thing I’d ever learned from my pile-of-shit mother was if something seemed too good to be true, it probably was.

And why the hell did I want this, anyway?

But it was there . . . the thirst to play.

The thing I’d kept for myself.

My one love when the rest of it had been ripped from me.

I bounced my knee. “How long do you plan on being in the studio?”

Sebastian rubbed his hand over his face, contemplating. “Six weeks . . . two months tops.”

“And we all have places there . . . you’re welcome to stay with any one of us.” Austin Stone seemed to be the most reserved of the group. Something deeply thoughtful about him. “Or we can put you up in your own apartment if you’re more comfortable with that. I mean, basically whatever it takes for you to agree.” There was the tug of a smile from him at that.

Lyrik stretched his long legs out in front of him and rocked farther back against the desk. “My wife and I actually have a guest house on our property. At the risk of soundin’ cocky, it’s pretty damn sick. Yours if you want it.”

“You? Cocky? Never.” Ash smacked him on the back. Probably a little harder than necessary.

“Fuck off, dude, you want me to take you out?” Lyrik threw an aimless punch at him. Ash jumped back and returned the favor, laughing hard. “Try it, fucker.”

Two were acting like they were thirteen and hanging at a graffitied skate park rather than in a multi-million-dollar mansion.

“So that’s it? Play some music with you, and then I go on my merry way? No questions? No attachments?”

“That’s it,” Baz said, elbows on the desk, angling my direction. “It’s great exposure. Know Carolina George has been in talks with Mylton Records about a possible deal. This can only help you.”

Disbelief pulled at my brow as a chuckle ripped free. “Last time I checked, you and the CEO of Mylton records weren’t exactly friends.”

Their band had almost fallen apart because of the pressure from their old label, which was the reason Sebastian had started his own.

Didn’t necessarily like the head of Mylton Records myself. Karl Fitzgerald was a fucking scumbag. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t do great things for our band.

“How much?” I asked.

“Thirty K a week . . . plus royalties.” Sebastian lifted his chin.

Like he was daring me to pass it up.

Holy shit.

That was a lot of change, and I couldn’t help but think that might finally get me where I needed to be.

Enough cash to make it happen.

To pay and swindle and bribe myself in through the backdoor.

That prick unaware before it was too late.

“I’ve got one requirement.”

“What’s that?”

“Need you to use my stage name. Don’t want anyone tying me back to the old days.”

Didn’t that sound pretentious as fuck?

They didn’t need to know the actual reason.

He shrugged. “No biggie. Tons of people do. Par for the course in this game.”

“My band needs me? I go,” I added.

If I was going to do this, they needed to know Carolina George had to be my first priority.

“Not a problem.” Lyrik gave a tight nod. Relief pulsed through his demeanor, right before his expression hardened. “One more thing you need to know before we all agree to this.”

“Yeah?”

He looked around at his friends before pinning me with his dark stare. Eyes so dark they were almost black.

Something familiar rocked through me.

That girl slammed into my mind.

I roughed my fingers through my hair.

Fuck.

I needed to scrape her from my being.

Forget it.

Because she was something I couldn’t have. One encounter, and she was haunting me.

“Just need to make it clear that we walk a straight line. All of us have families. All the bullshit we were into in the past is exactly that—in the past.”

Knew exactly what Lyrik was telling me. He was right back to the days that Ash had been referring to when I’d walked through the door.

The depravity and the wickedness and the evil.

Thing was, Lyrik didn’t know the first of it. If he did, there was no chance in hell he would be inviting me to his place.

“Haven’t touched that shit in years,” I told him.

Didn’t mean I wasn’t still a prisoner.

“Good. Because I protect my family at any cost. We all do. They will always come first.”

It was a point-blank warning.

“As you should.”

It was the only thing any of us had. Fighting for our families.

“Good.”

“So, you’re in?” Zee asked, more eager than he probably wanted to let on.

I roughed a hand through my hair. This was crazy.

But just like when the SOS had come in, asking me to be here, I couldn’t find it in myself to say no.

“Yeah, count me in.”

He blew out a sigh. “Thanks, man. That’s a huge relief. Don’t want to let down the band, but I can’t let down my kid. Hard balancing, you know? But family has to come first.”

Grief constricted my throat. I shoved it down, let it feed the fury.