Riff

by Skye Turner

  With a shake of my head, I grin and mutter, “So easy,” and grab my keys as I slam the door to head across town.

  Chapter Five

  Daisy

  Fannie, our very own Martha Stewart without the felony charges, cooked us all a huge breakfast this morning: scrambled and poached eggs, buttery salted grits, crispy bacon, French toast, and sliced fresh fruit. After clearing my plate and consuming two and a half cups of coffee, I lean back in my chair. “Oh my God… I’m stuffed. That was so good though. Thank you, Fannie. You’re going to get us fat before we head out on tour again.” My hands are rubbing my sides. They physically hurt and I feel like slipping into a food coma.

  Summer sips on her coffee and pushes her eggs around her plate. McKenzie is frowning at her phone and her fingers are flying over the keys. I ask, “Everything ok, Kenz?”

  She looks up from her phone and I can see tears sparkling in her eyes. “Yeah, fine. Sands is texting me about a photo I saw online first thing this morning.”

  I sigh and reach over for her hand. She jerks it back and hops to her feet. “I need to go call him. He’s freaking out about the tabloids trying to destroy us with another rumor.”

  My eyes widen and I open my mouth to spew an angry retort about Sands, but Fannie shakes her head. I know. It would be completely pointless. As smart as McKenzie is, she is an idiot over that stupid playboy. I can’t help but hope that one day someone kicks him so hard in the jewels they catch in his throat! That would be poetic justice.

  She leaves and I clear her plate along with mine. Her plate is pretty much untouched. I mutter as I scrape the food into the trash and place the dishes in the sink. “I hope she wakes up about that jackass soon! He cheats on her left and right! He doesn’t deserve her… at all!”

  Fannie and Summer agree with me and we clean the kitchen together.

  When we’re done, I head upstairs to dress for the day. I can’t be opening the door to the guys in my tiny shorts and t-shirt. I need to do something with this wavy mess on my head and at least take the shine off my face before I get dressed.

  Twenty minutes later, I’m in the music room straightening up and restocking the fridge in there. While we were working yesterday, apparently they cleared it out and no one thought to restock it.

  I’m bending over to place the last of the water in the produce drawers when I hear something behind me.

  Standing quickly, I almost lose my balance and have to grab onto the closest thing to me to stop from falling on my face. It’s a hand. The fingers close around mine and I’m able to stop my fall.

  I look up and my eyes widen as I focus on the light blue, amused eyes looking down at me. I quickly let go of his hand and mutter, “Thanks. You startled me. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Rafe smirks down at me. “My touch burn you there, princess?”

  Shaking my hands and wiping them against my pants in an attempt to remove his touch, I snap at him. “Not hardly.”

  He grins again and I want to slap him. I try to maneuver around him, but he has me blocked. I’m stuck until he wants to move.

  Raking him with my gaze, I roll my eyes. “Really, you need all that to come over here and work on the song?!”

  He frowns. “I need what?”

  I gesture at his face and sneer. “Adam Lambert called… he wants his look back!”

  He jerks back and then his eyes harden for a second before he smiles at me… coldly. “Did he now? You should have let me talk to him. Adam is my boy. Love that dude. Great guy.”

  I frown and try to step back, but there’s nowhere to go. “Somehow, I doubt that. I don’t see Adam hanging out with someone like you!”

  He leans down and stops an inch from my face. “Someone like me? What? Awesome? Of course he hangs out with me. Awesome people stick together.” He leans down farther and says, “Except now. In this case, I’m only here because I have to be. Lord knows, I would never choose to be around a bitch like you.”

  I gasp and my hands curl into his arms. I know my nails are biting into his skin, but he doesn’t even flinch. Standing on my tiptoes, I try to make myself taller. The thought that he’s lording over me has me furious.

  He sneers at me again.

  I go as far onto my toes as I can and try to gain just another millimeter, but it’s too much. I lose my balance and start to fall backwards. My hands desperately clench around his forearms to stop the fall, but it’s futile.

  Then, strong arms reach around me and I’m no longer falling. I’m leaning backwards in Rafe’s arms and he’s supporting my dangling body. My hands reach up and slide up his arms and toward his shoulders. Our mouths are very close together and I can feel his breath against my lips and chin. My breath completely stalls in my chest and my head starts to swim. I feel light headed and I can feel every part of me that’s touching Rafe as if it’s engulfed in flames.

  His eyes are wide and blue as they stare down into mine. I’m gazing back up at him with the same expression. He straightens me and his hands rest lightly on the arch of my back, right above my waistband.

  My hands grip his shoulders and I start to lean up slightly.

  This is madness, but I want it… I have to do this… I can’t prevent myself from reacting this way.

  Rafe lowers his head. His lips are a hairsbreadth above mine. I can’t breathe.

  My heart is racing in my chest and my blood is rushing through my veins. I feel like I’m on fire.

  I lean up to close the last remaining distance and hear voices coming down the hall.

  Rafe jerks his hands off my hips and pushes me off him. My jaw drops and I blink in astonishment. He says calmly, “Steady there, sweetheart. For a second there, I forgot who you were.”

  It’s like he just threw a bucket of ice water on me. The pain in my gut is so sharp, I can’t catch my breath.

  Stepping around him, I quickly cross the room and grab stuff off the table to have something in my hands. The urge to rake my nails down Rafe’s face is almost too strong to stem.

  Rafe

  Goddammit! That was close. I was literally a split second away from kissing her.

  That would have been the stupidest fucking thing ever!

  Thank God, everyone came in and broke the spell.

  Daisy is slinging stuff around the room. She’s dropped several things and refuses to sit down. Her sister is looking at her curiously, but she won’t meet her eyes. And she’s doing everything in her power to act like I don’t even exist.

  She cannot possibly be upset that I didn’t kiss her? No, she’s probably pissed that I kept her from falling and had to touch her.

  There’s no way she wanted me to kiss her.

  No way…

  Right?!

  Finally, she asks the room at large, “So, are we ready to lay track for this damn song so we can pitch it to the label?”

  Everyone is gaping at her. She sounds completely pissed off. Summer’s brow wrinkles as she says, “Daisy, what’s wrong? What the hell happened?” She looks over to me and I see her eyes harden before she dismisses me and looks back at her sister. “You were fine a half hour ago…” She wrings her hands together. “Besides, we have to wait for Roman and the sound engineer to get here… Traffic is bad and he’s stuck on the Interstate behind a bad wreck.”

  The other two girls and Sean are looking between the two of us with perplexed expressions. Xavior meets my eyes and smirks. I snarl and his grin widens. Russ just looks at me and mouths, “The fuck did you do?”

  I ignore him and stare at Daisy. She ignores me and addresses everyone. “Nothing is wrong with me. I’m just ready to do this. I have other shit to do today and I don’t want to spend all my time in here. I’ll be stuck with this damn group more than enough over the next damn year!”

  Sean mutters, “Now, wait just a damn minute…”

  Summer gasps and screeches, “Daisy!”

  Daisy looks at her and says rudely, “What? I have shit to do!”

  Summer
mutters something under her breath we can’t really catch, but Sean glances at her and frowns.

  When no one else says anything, I stand and hold out my phone. “So, do you want to record it on my phone or what?”

  Daisy looks at me like I’m the dumbest person on the planet. She laughs at me and shakes her head. “No, dumbass. We have this fantastic thing called a recording studio. It’s that large expensive room in the corner. Perhaps you’ve heard of one…

  But Roman needs to hurry the hell up and get here or I’m calling this a day!”

  I glare at her and she glares back.

  God, she’s a bitch!

  Of course I know what a fucking recording studio is! We have hits, too. Damn bitch!

  They have a fully functioning recording studio… in their fucking house…

  I don’t appreciate her making me feel like an idiot though.

  About half an hour later, the doorbell rings and Summer runs to answer it with something that seems like relief.

  Shit, I’d have answered to door to get out of Antarctica. That’s what the temperature feels like in here!

  A balding man with a ponytail walks in with Roman. He introduces himself to us as Jeff, the sound engineer, and says it’s nice to meet us. He says he’s a fan and is happy to be working with us.

  My face must show my disbelief at his remark. I laugh. “Sure you are, man. It’s ok. You don’t have to lie about listening to us. It’s not like we care if you don’t.”

  His eyes widen and he cracks a smiles at me. “Oh, I am a fan, Mr. Rider. I enjoy your sound very much. I have very eclectic music tastes.”

  He sounds sincere. Well, damn.

  I nod and smile back at him. “Well, thank you! Appreciate that.”

  Daisy is glaring at him like the very idea of him listening to us is appalling. He ignores her and addresses everyone. “How about we do a run through a few times? I’ll record and can splice and play with it later, but it’ll give me the most to work with.” He looks at Daisy and then the room again. “Roman has assured me that the song is amazing and while I don’t disbelieve him, I think it’s best to run through it a few times that way I have what I need and we don’t have to come back in here and do this over and over. We’ll spend enough time together when it’s time to lay the track.”

  I nod and agree with him. “I agree. We don’t need the label shooting it down when it’s fantastic because we rush through it. Let’s sing it a few times, oil our pipes, and give you a broad selection.”

  Daisy’s lips are pursed so tightly, I can see white around her nostrils.

  She stalks across the room and enters the studio, leaving everyone else in the main room. Jeff calls her back. “Let’s try it out here and I’ll use my voice recorder. It’s more casual and I think this is best for right now.” She glares at him and stomps back into the room, making sure to keep a wide berth from me and tells Summer to scoot over.

  Roman stops her. “Daisy, you and Rafe are singing lead? Go sit by him so you can harmonize. The others are fine where they are.”

  She glares at him and then at me and taps her foot like she’s not going to do it. Roman just looks at her and finally she mutters something extremely rude and stalks over to me. She sits next to me, but makes certain to leave about a foot between us. She’s practically sitting on Russ’ lap and the look on his face has me wanting to bust out laughing but I have a feeling if I do, she’ll stab me or something.

  What a temper.

  I love it and the fact that she can’t seem to stand me just makes me want to piss her off more and more.

  She’s sexy as shit when she’s enraged.

  Whoa… shut up.

  Stop this bullshit right now.

  Roman smirks and says, “Comfy now? Are we ready to roll then?”

  She jerkily nods and reaches for her guitar. I also grab the one I laid by my feet and watch as Sean and Russ pick up their own guitars. Summer grabs her fiddle. Fannie is already positioned by her keyboard and McKenzie picks up her acoustic guitar. When we’re all settled, Roman says, “I’m going to record this on my phone as y’all work through everything. This will be great for promotion and we can use it as raw footage in the music video as well.”

  Everyone nods and strums their instruments a few times.

  A few minutes later, we’re ready. Roman counts off and we go. It goes almost flawlessly and sounds amazing. When the last notes from the guitars fade into the room, no one speaks.

  We’re all just waiting for Jeff’s reaction.

  My eyes raise and meet his and I’m taken aback by the raw wonder on his face. He’s grinning from ear to ear.

  He claps and nods. “That is damn awesome! I think with a few tweaks y’all are looking at a number one hit right here!”

  We nod and everyone is feeling pretty good. We run through it a few more times.

  Two weeks later

  The label executives received the demo track about a week ago. They’ve arranged a video call with us to discuss the song, any changes, and the timeline to release the single to radio as well as the tour.

  We’re back at the girl’s house for the call. Both managers as well as both bands are in the room as they play the demo…The song is only three minutes and forty-seven seconds long, but the silence after we finish feels longer than the song.

  None of the label heads say a word as they look at each other. We can do nothing as we wait for a response to come across the video call. Their faces give nothing away.

  Finally, when my heart seems like it’s going to beat out of my chest and my anxiety is so high I feel like I’m going to pass out, they look into the camera. We all lean forward and wait…

  “Fantastic. I knew that pairing your two sounds together would be magical. I’m never wrong. This song proves I still know what I’m doing. Perfect! Line it up and let’s get this thing recorded. The track will release to the first stations in three weeks and we’ll add more once we receive response. That’s earlier than expected, but it won’t be a problem. People are salivating to see what comes out of this union.

  “We’ll do the single launch here in Nashville and release it to radio.

  “All of the details will be sent to your managers.

  “Congrats guys. This is going to take off.”

  They make a few more statements and then disconnect the call.

  We all sit in stunned silence.

  Holy shit… this is real. Destiny Fades to Blue and Sweet Southern Sass are about to record a single together and then hit the road for a seven to eight month tour…

  Whatever’s about to happen is about to happen, but damned if the idea isn’t growing on me now.

  Chapter Six

  Daisy

  I can’t breathe… That went better than expected, but it was so nerve-wracking. We nailed it though and the label loved it.

  Only now they’re moving the schedule up. This is happening so fast. We now have to record the track, start promotion, record the music video, and start getting ready for this tour. Set design, outfits, transitions, etc… So much to do… So much for having time to get used to the idea.

  Dear God… I’m not going to leave this tour with my sanity intact… or I’ll be in jail for murder!

  I need to get up and get some air. I’m about to stand when I feel a vibration near my hip. Somehow when we were singing, I ended up right next to Rafe. Looking down, I see Rafe reach into his pocket and grab his phone.

  I don’t mean to, or maybe I do, but I look as he opens the text.

  “Carlee

  Thanks for the good time last night.

  You were right, I can’t even sit down today.

  You tore my pussy… and my ass up.

  Let me know when you’re in the mood for more stud.

  XOXO”

  I gasp and jump off the couch. Rafe looks up at me and actually looks embarrassed.

  Whatever. He’s disgusting.

  What kind of woman sends a text like that?! A groupie sk
ank… that’s who!

  SEE! This is EXACTLY why you should have listened to your instincts about him.

  He is nothing like the kind of man you need to be attracted to!

  If I don’t leave this room, I’m going to punch him just for being a jerk.

  Ignoring everyone’s stares at my jumping up from the couch like my ass was on fire, I storm from the room. I don’t even know where I’m going, but I know that I need to get out of that room and away from Rafe Rider!

  My rage takes me through the kitchen and out the door. Suddenly, I know exactly where I want to go. Turning, I head toward the barn in the back of the yard. We actually own twenty acres here. I’m going for a ride.

  After entering through the barn door, the soft neighing from one of the stalls has me crossing over and reaching inside. Shadow nuzzles my hand and I caress her muzzle.

  Shadow is my horse. She’s a beauty with her shiny silver coat. Her forehead and feet are white, the same as her mane and tail. She’s striking and is my baby girl.

  She calls out to me to let me know she wants out and is ready for a ride. Murmuring to her the whole time, I open her stall and lead her out to the middle of the barn, stopping frequently to give her kisses. Within minutes, she’s saddled and pawing at the ground.

  I chuckle and rub her head once more as she sniffs around my pockets. “I don’t have a treat for you, baby girl. I didn’t know I was coming out here. I just needed to get out of the house.”

  She bumps me with her head to acknowledge she’s listening to me.

  “The label has lost their damn mind. They thought it would be so smart to pair us up with a stupid rock band. Some of the guys aren’t bad, but the lead singer… he’s a real asshole!

  “I can’t stand him. I thought I was misjudging him so I wanted to give him a chance and not just dislike him on principle, but then I go and find out he’s exactly like I assumed he’d be!

  “He’s disgusting and being around him makes me so angry. He makes me want to hit him in his sexy face with a 2x4.”