Kiss the Stars (Falling Stars #1)(42)

“I was busy.” Ash cracked a grin.

“Busy?” Lyrik was nothing but incredulous.

“Uh . . . I think you forget how hot my wife is. And I found myself in need of a little inspiration this morning. Don’t judge me. You’ll thank me later. Almost as profusely as I was thanking Willow. You wanted magic. Here it is.” Ash winked, all kinds of smug.

I had to stop myself from busting out laughing. Was pretty sure it went against protocol to laugh about a man’s girl, especially when I couldn’t exactly consider myself tight with the band.

But still, there was no missing the closeness—the complete easiness—that radiated between them.

Lyrik chuckled a wry sound and scratched his index finger at his temple, flashing the words on his knuckles of that hand that were inked with the word sing. “And you think it’s any easier for me to pry myself away from my wife? Sometimes we just gotta make the sacrifice.”

“All of you are pathetic,” Austin piped in from where he was flipping through a tattered pile of notebooks strewn across a grungy coffee table. “Won’t be more than two or three hours before your girls come over for the barbeque. Think you can handle it.”

Ash tossed a pick at him. Austin deflected it with a swat of his hand. “Dude. Are you for real right now? Your wife is in the room right next door, watching through the window on the couch. Talk about pathetic, man. She’s got you wrapped tight.”

“She’s just making sure I’m on key. Here to offer advice if we need it.” Austin shrugged in innocence.

“Liar!” Ash accused, pointing at him.

Lyrik laughed. “All right. All right. Can we just get this shit over with so we can get on with our day? Don’t think any of us want to be in here any longer than we have to be. Have better things to do.”

He raked his teeth over his bottom lip as he answered a text that was clearly from Tamar.

My eyes darted around to take in the three of them.

Just awesome.

I was surrounded by the love-fucked.

Was pretty sure they were split between the love of their music and the love of their wives. Loyalty pulling them in both directions, and they were balancing on a tightrope.

Understood it on a level that I wished I didn’t.

Loyalty.

Being tugged in opposite directions.

Fighting for both and knowing you were going to fail because you knew full well you were never destined for harmony.

Wanted to refuse the vision that clamored through my mind. Black hair and sable eyes. The taste of the girl lingering on my tongue. My fingers itching to get another feel of Mia West.

My guts were still twisted in knots of lust that I doubted could be undone any time soon.

The door jerked open and Baz strode in. He glanced around.“Everyone good? Need anything?”

Lyrik nodded. “Yup. All’s good. Want to run through a couple songs I’ve been working on getting down. Weave some shit in. Maybe we can test them out on a couple tracks in an hour or so?”

“Sounds good. Going to be upstairs on a call. Just holler when you’re ready for me or if you need anything.”

“We’ve got it,” Austin told him.

“Know you do,” Baz returned with a slight smile over his shoulder as he disappeared back out the door.

“Let’s do this. We might do things a little unorthodox, Leif, but I’m sure you can keep up.” Lyrik moved over to the sofa were Austin was sifting through the notebooks. He dug through, blindly pulling out one that was leather bound. “Been working on this one for a while. Like it . . . it’s got an edge that I’m going for. But there’s something missing. Something I can’t put my finger on.”

I glanced that way as he flipped it open to a page where a river of words had been scratched and slashed out and rewritten across the paper.

Incoherent.

A disjointed ramble that made no sense.

But I got that he knew. That he already recognized the words as his eyes dropped closed and he played a few chords.

The strains of a choppy melody filled the space.

Something seductive and dark.

Ash started to tap the toe of his Vans on the floor, head slowly bouncing in time before he started to pluck at the strings of his bass.

A new thread twined.

“You got a range on it, Austin?” Lyrik asked.

Austin began to hum, strumming quiet at the strings of his acoustic guitar. “Yeah. Think so.”

My attention darted between the three of them as I let their process seep in. Getting it.

Realizing this was the way their magic was made.

There was a reason Sunder was one of the biggest bands in the world.

Their style setting a trend that had begun years before and had never found its end.

Powerful and gritty and raw.

The melody curled around me.

A perfect storm.

A beautiful nightmare.

I didn’t know.

Only thing I knew was I felt it way down deep. Speaking directly to my spirit. I tapped my drumsticks against my thigh, letting the rhythm simmer and soak and become something fluid in my mind.

Couple of seconds later, Lyrik drove into a thrashing beat. Knocking us out of the quiet trance and catapulting us straight into the bedlam that was the music of Sunder.

Aggressive and hard and loud.

Austin climbed to his feet, his head thrashing as he found the rhythm. The lyrics choppy and sparse as he tried to make sense of them. As he tested the waters and brought them to life.