Broken Melody (Graffiti On Tour Series)

by Jennifer Miller

  I feel like I have so much to do. The first thing will be to talk to Dusty, if I can get up the nerve. I’m not looking forward to that conversation. I mentally prioritize the other items made on my to-do list while I was waiting and remind myself to speak with an accountant immediately and open whatever financial accounts he suggests. I pat my bag containing my first paycheck and feel the smile spread across my face. I think I’m going to take a picture of it so I can remember forever what it felt like today. Never have I seen a check with that many zeros.

  In addition to the list Leslie and I wrote, Rick also said there will be many interviews, fittings and practices lined up. My life is about to get insane. That’s okay. It’s an amazing kind of insane.

  Smiling at Leslie, we walk out of the building and I’m startled when sudden clapping and cheering rings out. Looking across the parking lot, I see Nixon, Henley and Rocco all running to me with Maddox behind them. They’re all smiling and I can’t help but return it. “Congratulations!” are thrown about and I can tell they genuinely mean it.

  “How are you guys here? How did you know I decided to sign?”

  “Rick had Bethany call Jace who called to let us know. We’ve been going crazy waiting for word – Jace had told us you were supposed to meet with Rick today, but we weren’t sure what time. After he called, we decided to come here and tell you in person how exited we are about you joining us.” Rocco says.

  “Really?” I ask unconvinced. I look around at each of them, meeting their eyes. They all nod.

  “Look, I’ll be honest, we weren’t thrilled at first,” Nixon says.

  “Especially me,” Maddox says arms crossed over his chest.

  “But once we heard you. Met you in person. We realized something,” Rocco says.

  “Yeah. We realized that maybe Rick is right and a change for a while will be a good thing,” Henley adds.

  “Oh yeah?” I ask with a raise of my brow. “Even you?” I ask looking directly at Maddox.

  Maddox smiles and good god, it changes his whole face. His eyes actually twinkle and I can easily see why women have flocked to him since the band had their first hit single. He’s completely riveting. “Even me.”

  “Welcome to the band,” Henley smiles. ”It will be a fun few months.”

  “Yeah, we should tell you thank you for saving our asses because let’s be honest, that’s what’s going on here,” Rocco says and Maddox glares at him.

  “It will be a lot of work,” Maddox says changing the subject and I nod. “But, we’ll definitely have some fun too.”

  A throat clearing captures all of our attention and I turn to find Leslie looking at the guys, and then at me, expectantly. I almost laugh at her lack of subtlety and the fact I completely forgot about her. “Oh, I’m sorry to be rude. Guys, this is my attorney Leslie Gold. Leslie, these are the guys,” I wave a hand encompassing all of them and they sweetly tell her hello. She gushes about what a fan she is and they kindly take pictures with her. When she leaves after hugging me and smiling like a loon, I turn to the guys to tell them I’ll see them at rehearsal tomorrow.

  “So, speaking of that fun,” Maddox says and I furrow my brow.

  “What about it?”

  “We want to take you out to celebrate tonight,” Henley says.

  “Yeah, we talked about it on the way over. We want to take you out for some drinks, maybe some dancing. You game?” Nixon adds.

  “Absolutely!” I tell them excitedly and smile with a small jump and clap that makes them laugh.

  “Great. Give us your address. We’ll pick you up, and your friend too if you’d like,” Maddox says.

  “Britt,” I offer helpfully and he smiles.

  “We will pick you and Britt up.” I give him my address and he tells me what time they’ll be there. Quickly hugging all of them, which makes them all smile in surprise, even Maddox, I wave and take off with a promise to see them later.

  When I’m home, I’m barely through the front door before Britt pounces. “Tell me everything!”

  The guys and I argue about picking up Sailor. I think it’s stupid for all of us to go together, but they don’t agree. Truth is I just want some one on one time with her. Maybe they suspect as much too, I don’t know, because they aren’t having it. We all climb into my BMW X3 and I type her address into maps on my phone to get directions.

  When I pull up to her apartment building twenty minutes later, I search for a parking spot. When I find one, we all shuffle into the lobby of the building to take the elevator up to her floor. The place isn’t in a bad part of town really, and it looks decent enough, but I can’t help but frown at the lack of security. There was a desk in the lobby, but no one stationed there keeping an eye on anything.

  “She needs a new place,” I mutter.

  “What? Why?” Rocco asks looking at me curiously.

  “There’s no security here whatsoever. The paparazzi are going to be on her soon like a fly on shit. She needs to be safe.”

  “Chill out, man. Let’s not uproot her whole life from the start, okay?” Nixon says. “The ink is barely dry on the contract she just signed. Besides, we prefer that she like us, not hate us immediately, remember?”

  “Well if that’s the case, Mad probably shouldn’t even have come,” Henley says snidely.

  “Very funny,” I reply even though I find his humor lacking.

  Henley knocks on the door and when it swings open, it’s not the face I’m expecting. “Hi,” Sailor’s friend, whatever her name is, says. “Come on in, nice to see you again.”

  “You too, uh-” I know Sailor told me her name, but all I remember is watching her lips when she was talking. A couple times I found myself so focused on them I wasn’t exactly listening to what came out of them.

  “I’m Britt, in case you forgot, Sailor’s best friend in the whole entire world and roommate,” she says with a little too much pep. “Sailor will be ready in a minute.”

  We all step inside and take a look around. The space is larger than it appears on the outside, and it’s decorated nicely. We’re standing immediately in a small living room with a couple couches, navy blue rug that looks soft to the touch, TV and a bookshelf. The kitchen is attached with a small dining area, and down a hallway in between the living room and kitchen are doors leading to various rooms. Everything is very neat and tidy, and it appears they like the color blue. Sailor is nowhere to be seen, so with curiosity I walk to a set of bookshelves on one side of the room both of which contain several framed photographs along with their book collection. Clearly they each have their own case. While the guys make small talk with Britt who seems content to talk their heads off, I check out each of their book collections and their photographs.

  Many of the photos depict a smiling Sailor and Britt. It looks like they have a lot of fun together, and I find Sailor’s smile infectious. There’s a photo of them with tiaras on their heads making kissing faces into the camera, there’s another of them at the entrance of Disneyland, accompanied by Pluto and Donald Duck. There’s one of them at a beach, and I totally check out Sailor’s body in the well-fitting bikini. I instantly wish to see that view in person.

  There are other photos - Sailor singing on stage, another with her boss smiling behind the bar. There are several of Britt too, but one thing I notice is that while Britt also has some pictures of herself with people that are clearly her brother and parents, given the family resemblance, Sailor has none. It makes me even more curious about her and her life.

  “Sorry I kept you waiting. I’m ready,” a voice says breathlessly and I spin around and when I get my first look at Sailor, I freeze. Well, almost every part of me does, but another makes its wish to stand at attention known. My gaze starts at her animal printed shoes, and moves up her bare legs to her short black shorts, over the sliver of skin I see at her stomach, past the tight black shirt that plunges revealing the top of perfectly round breasts. Her hair is down and flows around her shoulders. Her lips are painted bright red a
nd all I can think is that I wouldn’t care one bit if that stain was left on my mouth after being touched by hers. When our eyes connect, I’m positive she sees the heat in mine because she looks away quickly.

  “Alright, let’s go,” Nixon says with a clap of his hands and I jerk at the sound.

  Stalking to the door, I head out first and take a few seconds to calm the fuck down. The reaction I have to her is visceral. Just looking at her makes me think about all the things I’d like to do to her. None of which involve wearing clothes. I don’t know what it is that draws me to her exactly, and I’m not sure yet if it’s good or bad.

  When we reach my car, I open the passenger door, “Sailor, take the front.”

  She smiles and moves to me. I unabashedly look at her ass when she climbs in and when I look up I meet the gaze of Britt. She smirks at me and raises a brow as if to say, “busted.” I give her a smirk and shrug in return before I shut the door and run around to the driver’s side. When we are all inside, I head to the club the guys and I chose earlier.

  They automatically start talking in the back, but Sailor remains quiet, seeming to enjoy the ride. “So,” I begin, “how does it feel?”

  I can feel her gaze on my face while I drive and watch the road. “What? Making it official today?”

  I glance at her and nod, “Yes.”

  “It feels…kind of like I’m waiting for the next shoe to drop,” she says quietly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Come on,” she laughs a little. “This is all too good to be true. I never dreamed about something like this happening to me. I wouldn’t have dared.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I learned a long time ago that dreams are nothing but disappointment. Life never delivers in the way you hope it will. Or at least, my deliveries end up lost along the way. So, I tend to avoid the potential of setting myself up for something that isn’t likely to happen.”

  “But it did.”

  “It did, but you know what?” she leans toward me and when I glance at her I find myself drawn to those red lips again.

  “What?” I almost whisper back.

  “I keep pinching myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.” I chuckle, but she doesn’t. “I mean, I sing karaoke at the bar where I work. A record producer comes in, hears me, and asks me to audition for a band. I do, and I’m asked to sign with them? I mean, is this real life? It can’t be. I keep waiting to hear that someone is punking me.”

  “Punking you?”

  “You know…like on those reality TV shows.”

  “Ah, gotcha.”

  “Let me tell you, Maddox,” she says and I think it’s the first time she’s said my name. I like the way it sounds in her sexy gravelly voice. “Fact is, this kind of stuff just doesn’t happen.”

  “Sure it does – there are lots of stories of talent getting discovered in unexpected ways. There’s a famous actress and model that attended a basketball game. While she was there, her face was displayed on the fan cam when they did a random scan of the crowd. A modeling agent there tracked her down. Or how about the famous lingerie model that was discovered while shopping at the mall with her mom? A legit modeling agent thought she had the perfect look and gave the mom her business card. Stuff like that happens – maybe not a lot – but it does. So why not you this time?”

  “Because stuff like this just doesn’t happen to girls like me.”

  “Girls like you?”

  “Yes.”

  I frown, wait for a second but when it’s obvious she isn’t going to expound, I ask, “What kind of stuff happens to you then?

  She laughs bitterly and the sound makes the hair on my arms rise. “The kind of stuff that could make your toes curl. The kind of stuff that gives you nightmares and breaks your heart, Maddox. Those are the kinds of things that happen to girls like me.”

  Her voice is quiet, and I get the feeling she’s trying to process all of this. It’s happened quickly and she has to be reeling. I remember when the guys and I signed. We felt like dust in the wind, floating and blowing all over the place for a few days while things became official. “Well not this time, songbird. This time, something amazing did happen to you.” I want to change the tenor of the conversation. I’ll come back here another time. After all, we’re supposed to be celebrating.

  “Songbird?” she asks and I can see her smile out of the corner of my eye and I shrug in response not really sure where it came from, it just seems fitting. “You’re right,” she says suddenly. “Why not me? Maybe this time, for once, the universe is on my side.”

  “I’d say it is,” I tell her and give her a quick smile before my attention is diverted due to our arrival at the club. The place is already packed given the fact there’s a line all the way down the street, and parking is hectic. I pull right up to valet parking, not wasting time looking for a spot. When we get to the door, we walk straight to the bouncer not even bothering with the line.

  “Hey Rico, how’s it going?” I greet the bouncer that seems to be here each time we come.

  “It’s all good, man. I’ll call up and let them know you’re on your way in. Have a good night,” he says as he lets us in immediately, not caring one bit about the people protesting in line. I wonder briefly how long they’ve been waiting. When he turns to them and yells, “Shut up!” Sailor giggles a bit uncomfortably and I smile with her.

  Once inside, I stop in the doorway for a moment to look around the room. It’s crowded. There are bodies writhing on the dance floor, alcohol is being poured in multiple glasses behind the bar, and lights flashing along with the loud music pumping through the speakers. Dolce Vita is one of the hottest clubs in L.A. We like to come here because the music they play is great, the bartenders mix a good drink if you like cocktails, and the VIP section is always made immediately available. Once they even kicked out another group to make room for us.

  The atmosphere tonight feels euphoric making the blood tingle in my veins. Sailor, who’s next to me, must feel it too because she’s unconsciously moving to the beat. I want to take her hand in mine, walk to the dance floor, pull her into my arms and move along with her. Instead, I take her hand and instruct, “Follow me.”

  I maneuver through the crowd and head to the VIP entrance at the back of the club. I’m met half way, “Mr. Colt, welcome back to Dolce Vita. I’m Meg, please come with me.” She opens the VIP door and we follow her up the stairs. When we reach the second floor, we’re led to our favorite room. It looks down over the dance floor and we have our own personal bar with a bartender inside. The rooms up here don’t have doors, only curtains, but a security guard stands outside of each to make sure uninvited people don’t receive access. There are plush couches and chairs lining the walls, and large glass pane doors that can be opened or closed separate us from the crowd below. As we walk to the glass and look down, a few people point and stare, but we’re mostly ignored – the sight of us here not uncommon.

  “Nice,” Sailor says as she looks around.

  “You’re in the big leagues now,” Henley teases with a laugh.

  “Sailor, let’s go down and dance,” Britt says.

  “I will, just not yet. I’m thinking a drink is in order,” she says and I follow her gaze to the bar and the bartender.

  “Do you want me to order you a drink?” I ask her.

  She looks at me and smiles, “Actually, am I allowed to go behind the bar and make everyone a drink?”

  “You don’t have to do that. We have someone that can do it for us.”

  “I know. But how are you guys going to find out what an amazing bartender I am if I don’t mix the drinks myself?”

  “Well, have at it then.”

  She smiles and does just that. She says a few words to the bartender and he smiles at her, and gestures for her to help herself. Of course he stands back and enjoys watching her do just that and part of me would like to punch him in the face given how he’s looking at her.

  “You can leave,” I tel
l him. He frowns but I hold his stare. “We’ll send for you if we need anything.”

  “Yes, sir,” he says and with one last look at Sailor, he leaves the room.

  “So, what can I get you fellas?” Sailor asks with a smile once she’s looked around and ascertained where everything is kept.

  With laughs and smiles we all go to the bar and start giving Sailor our drink orders. She mixes and pours, and when she’s done, she sets out six shot glasses and fills them up. She lifts one, and waits for all of us to do the same, “To you. Thank you for giving me a chance to sing with you. I’m excited for the adventure ahead.”

  “Here, here,” Rocco says with a smile. We all throw back our drinks and grimace. “Straight vodka?” I ask her and she smiles – not a grimace in sight. “Aw, poor little Maddox. Is vodka too much for wittle ‘ol you?”

  I smile at her because she’s funny, “I can take whatever you’re serving, songbird. Bring it.”