Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Chapter 3
Rhys
Alyssa Smith is my favorite kind of code to break.
She’s beautiful in that girl-next-door kind of way, her shiny brown hair falling in a sheet down her shoulders, her amber eyes perpetually filled with so much curiosity. She’s clearly driven and ambitious, or else she wouldn’t have dropped everything in her old life for a ticket out to L.A.
Every rehearsal so far, she’s also been solely focused on the music, rehearsing some of her songs with the band during our studio sessions without an ounce of distraction. It’s honestly been driving me a little crazy, throwing world-class flirting out at her and receiving nothing but a smile or two in return.
It’s that same push and pull that’s always driven me crazy when it comes to girls. I’m not sure I’d even know what to do with a girl if she were all over me from the start, which is one of several reasons I’ve never been the type of bloke to hook up with any of the groupies from the audience. And believe me, I’ve had about a million opportunities ever since I moved to America and started performing in bands during my last year of high school, right alongside Van and Cameron.
There’s just something about having to earn it from a woman, something I love about the chase of it all.
“What are you doing?” Cameron asks, breaking me out of my staring spell. I then look over at him, dragging my attention away from Alyssa, whose focus is solely on the lyrics sheet in front of her face.
“The same thing you’re doing,” I reply, sweeping my hand grandly along the strap and length of my guitar. “Rehearsing.”
“No, I mean, what are you doing?” Cameron hisses. “With Alyssa?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not doing a thing with Alyssa.”
“Yeah, right.” Cameron scoffs. “I’m being serious, Rhys. Don’t turn this into another Matilda situation.”
My eyes narrow. “A Matilda situation?”
“Yeah, remember her?” Cameron presses. “The girl you claimed you were in love with? The one you ran off to Hawaii with the exact same week we had that big meeting with the label. Your little fling could’ve cost us everything, man.”
“Point taken, it could have, but it didn’t.” I chuckle. “We’re still here, aren’t we? Besides, did you ever consider that I really was in love, dickhead?”
“Not for a second,” Cameron shoots back. “Because you, Rhys Marshall, Fucker of Women, wouldn’t know what love was if it hit you right in the face.”
“Strong words from a virgin.” I smirk over at him.
“Jesus Christ, I’m not a fucking virgin,” Cameron replies, irritation obvious in his tone. “Just because I don’t bang everything that moves—”
“No, because you don’t fuck anyone, ever—”
“Fuck off, Rhys.” Cameron casually flips me off for added emphasis. “Don’t deflect. I’m telling you, don’t blow this for us, okay? Maybe try controlling your dick for once and not letting it control you?”
“What exactly do you think I’m going to do here?” I reply. “And even if I did hook up with Alyssa, do you really think that’s going to get us kicked off our contract? We’re this label’s premiere studio session musicians, Cameron. Living a little isn’t going to be the end of the world.”
“Yeah, well maybe I’m tired of being a session musician,” he mutters. “Maybe I think it’s time we finally get a shot at going on tour—”
“It’s not my fault that you don’t know how to write a song, Alyssa!” Van’s shouting interrupts our conversation, his face only a few inches away from Alyssa’s. “This is exactly what I was talking about! You’re an amateur—”
“If you fucking call me an amateur again, I’m going to kick a fucking hole through one of your goddamn drums—”
“Is this how you think you’re going to get ahead? Being this fucking impossible?”
“I don’t know! You tell me! Is this how you got ahead? Being a total dick?”
“You know what?” Cameron chuckles. “Maybe you’re right, Rhys. Maybe you’re not going to be the end of this whole band experiment. I’m starting to think that Alyssa is only a few days away from sending Van to the hospital.”
“Yeah, and Van’s only a few days away from burning down the whole studio,” I joke right back, before my attention returns to Alyssa and Van, her finger held up toward his face in an accusatory manner. “I mean, those two are arguing like an old married couple—”
Just then, my face freezes.
Shit.
Is this why Alyssa has been so hard to get a read on? Was there some kind of past? A secret closet-fucking behind the scenes or something? It’s not like it’s completely out of the question for Van to get into a screaming match with the girl he’s hooking up with. And as memories of his last doomed relationship flash behind my eyes, I walk up to them both, gently pulling Alyssa away from his frame.