Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“Still none of your business,” I say dryly. “Could we please try this again?”
I nod to Jake, who begins on the guitar, and then Cage, who comes in on point this time.
Yeah, he was probably doing fine. I think I’m just…
I don’t fucking know. I tossed and turned all night. Dragon must not have noticed, or if he did, he hasn’t mentioned it to me.
“Stop, stop, stop…” Rory says.
“What is it now?” I say.
“You didn’t start that time, Jesse.” She huffs.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, man?” This from Jake, who doesn’t talk much more than Dragon.
“Exhausted. I’m fucking exhausted,” I grit out. “But we have to get through this rehearsal. Let’s just get it done.”
“To do it, we need to get you to come in on time,” Rory says.
“Sis, I fucking know that. Jesus Christ.” I nod to Dragon. “Let’s start again.”
This time I manage to come in on cue, and we get through the song. Rory sounds great, of course, and the others do their job well.
My voice sounds like a croaking frog.
“Good job,” I say when we’re done.
“You call that good?” Cage asks. “What the hell is wrong with your voice, Jess?”
“A little bit of a dry throat. Dehydration from yesterday. The traveling and all.”
Rory shakes her head at me. “You’d better get it together before the concert in two days.”
“Yeah. I will. Don’t worry.” I take a long drink from my water bottle. My throat is still parched. “All right. Let’s run through it again.”
After rehearsal, Cage, Jake, and Dragon go out for a pint, but Rory grabs my arm.
“You’re with me, Jess.” She drags me up to the hotel suite she shares with Brock, which is a carbon copy of the one Brianna and I…
Fuck.
“Where’s your other half?” I ask.
“Sightseeing. Then they’re going to Ennis Ainsley’s for tea.”
“Who?”
“The original Steel winemaker.”
I plunk down on the leather sofa. “Who cares?”
“I care,” she says. “I’m missing tea with Ennis Ainsley, who I like, for rehearsal. Only to have you be a complete asshole.” She sits next to me. “You better level with me now, Jesse. Because if you and I aren’t at our best for this tour, we can forget ever being asked to tour with any big name again.”
My sister’s right. The sound of our voices together is what made Jett Draconis and Zane Michaels notice us, think we were something special.
“Don’t screw this up for us,” she continues. “The guys will never forgive you.”
“And you?”
“I want this chance as much as they do,” she says, “but you’re my brother. I will always forgive you.”
She doesn’t need the money, though. She’s marrying Brock Steel. The other guys? I can’t let them down.
I sigh. “I’m fine. I just didn’t get any sleep last night, and I really needed it.”
She rubs her forehead, as if to ease an ache. “Why were you out past midnight? You were supposed to go straight home after dinner and go to bed.”
“Who are you now, my mommy?”
“Be serious for a minute, Jesse. You know what jet lag does. You didn’t sleep on the plane, mostly because of your own stubbornness.”
I open my mouth to argue, but she holds up a hand.
“Don’t. I heard you the first time. You tried, but all the first-class seats were taken. If you’d gotten over your stubborn pride in the beginning, we would’ve all been in first class from the outset.”
Again, she’s right.
I don’t bother opening my mouth to argue this time.
Besides, she keeps chattering.
“This is our one shot, Jesse. Sometimes you only get one, and we’d better not blow it.”
“I—”
“Shut up. I’m not finished yet.” She shakes her head. “This isn’t just your shot. It’s mine. All those years I thought a performance career wasn’t in the cards for me. The opera industry rejected me. So I was teaching the students of Snow Creek how to play piano and sing. I thought that was all I was good enough for until now. I’ve been given a second chance at a performance career, and no one—especially not my big brother—is going to screw this up for me.”
As if I couldn’t feel like more of a dick…
Not only did I take a young woman’s virginity, but now my sister and the rest of the band think I’m destroying their chance at the big time.
“Rory…”
“Not finished yet.”
I sigh. “Fine. Let me have it.”
“Callie texted me.”
“Oh?”
“She told me you were down at the bar last night. That you were with Brianna Steel when she and Donny went to bed.”
“So?”
Rory digs her phone out of her back pocket and scrolls through her texts. “Maddie texted me this morning. Frantic. Brianna didn’t come back to the room last night.”
“You heard Dragon. I got back at one.”
“Which leaves several hours for you and Brianna unaccounted for. What the hell, Jesse?”
“Nothing.”
Rory holds up her hand. “Don’t you give me that. Brianna Steel is Maddie’s age. She’s young and impressionable.”