Key Change: A Slow Burn Rockstar Romance (Common Threads Book 3)

by Heidi Hutchinson

  “Don’t…” Johnny stopped and took a deep breath. “Don’t get his hopes up, okay?”

  “Okay,” she managed to say around the tightness in her chest.

  He nodded once and spun back to his work.

  Hannah chewed on the inside of her cheek as she studied the small thumb drive in her hand.

  “I have to get set up for the list today. You can use this space if you want to.” Johnny nodded at her hands and then quickly left the room.

  She listened to him jog down the metal staircase, and the sound rattled through her mind.

  Taking a seat on Johnny’s customary stool, she had a perfect view of the live room below. He was down there, moving the drum kit out of the way and getting the pedals and cords arranged.

  She plugged in the thumb drive and put the headphones on.

  Her ears were filled with Shawn’s delicate guitar playing.

  There were echoes of Johnny in there, but mostly he had his own style and sound.

  Four tracks later and she had a page full of notes.

  The music ended and she tapped her pencil on the end of her nose as she watched Johnny work in the live room.

  Could she even do anything beneficial for Shawn? And could she do it without getting his hopes up?

  He had so much talent, he just needed a few tips to really punch it up.

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket, making her jump. She took the headphones off and moved to sit comfortably on the leather couch.

  “Hey, Brenda.” Hannah didn’t waste time. She info-dumped everything that had happened that week.

  “I get it better now, though I don’t fully, and I know that.” Hannah paused, trying to make sure she got all of her thoughts out and didn’t waste Brenda’s time. “But I get that there is more there than I can make up for. I did some damage to him. And he’s a good person. Like, take what you think a good person should be, and then add some Captain America to it. That’s Johnny. And I remember using his goodness…” She stopped, blinking back tears. “The worst part,” she whispered because her voice was suddenly gone. “The worst part is I know I would do it again. I’d take his goodness and use it for myself for as long as it lasted.”

  “So far, during this journey you haven’t had to face people who knew you from before. This is a new challenge and it’s okay that it feels so out of proportion.”

  “But how do I fix it?”

  “You can’t fix it,” Brenda reaffirmed what she already knew, but it fucking hurt to hear anyway. “But you can be careful with how you treat him now. Be more sensitive to his feelings. Don’t push him to act like he’s okay with you being there. He might not ever be. And that’s okay.”

  “That sucks, Brenda,” Hannah said forcefully, and Brenda laughed.

  “I know it feels that way. But you’re doing fine.”

  Hannah hung up the phone and stared at the floor, her emotions doing a bad impression of a limbo in her chest.

  “Hey.”

  She glanced up to find Johnny leaning into the doorway.

  “Can you come help me with something?” he asked, sounding just a little off. Had he heard her conversation with Brenda?

  “Yeah, for sure,” she replied quickly.

  She followed him down the stairs into the live room, where he handed her an electric bass. “You can play this, right?”

  She nodded. It might take her a minute to remember, but instruments were way easier than people to handle.

  Johnny looped a guitar strap over his head and pushed a pedal with his foot. He strummed a few practice chords and turned to face her.

  “What if we did something like…” And he started to play the melody of Sunshine’s last track.

  And she heard it.

  Exactly what he was going for. She contributed with the bass, and after a few false starts, they found their rhythm.

  A smile spread across Johnny’s face as they played together, in perfect syncopation.

  If only relationships were like music.

  A few false starts, but if they both kept at it, they’d find a brilliant and beautiful new sound.

  Hannah swallowed her remorse and focused on what Brenda had advised.

  She would be sensitive of his feelings and not force him to talk about anything he didn’t want to.

  JOHNNY

  The rest of the day was strictly professional.

  Well, as professional as a recording studio could be.

  Everyone did their jobs.

  What more could he ask for?

  He played the track back again. The one where he and Hannah had added their own energy to it.

  How she’d picked up his idea so quickly still sort of blew his mind.

  But there it was, evidence in the finished track.

  He hated to admit that they worked really well together. Better even than the clowns he called colleagues, who ran the studio with him.

  “This is your best work,” Nikki said quietly, sliding into the control room and onto the couch.

  “What are you still doing here?” he asked, turning off the music and shutting things down.

  “What are you still doing here?” she countered.

  “Working.”

  “Working or thinking?”

  His lips twitched. “A little of both. Are you checking up on me?”

  “Shawn asked me to see if you’d be home for dinner.”

  He frowned and spun around to face her. “You talk to Shawn a lot.”

  She picked at her nails and pursed her lips. “Not a lot. He texts me memes sometimes. Why?”

  “He has a crush on you, you know.”

  Nikki’s expression turned severe. “Jonathan Enamorado Torres, that is a serious brotherly betrayal! I can’t believe you’d violate his trust like that!”

  Johnny held up his hands. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  “Damn right you shouldn’t have said anything.” Nikki sounded like she was genuinely disappointed in him.

  He thought it would be some harmless ribbing. He didn’t realize she’d react so strongly.

  “Let’s just pretend like it didn’t happen,” he suggested. “What do you think about what you heard a minute ago?” he asked, changing the subject.

  She glowered for a few more seconds before sitting down again. “I already told you, it’s your best work.”

  He wagged his head back and forth. “Okay, but really. What do you think?”

  Nikki had a critical ear. She heard things that no one else did. He never felt finished with a project until she’d given him notes.

  “I know what you’re looking for and I just don’t have it. No notes.”

  “What?” He jerked his head back, rejecting her words. “No notes?” he scoffed. “Don’t be crazy.”

  She shrugged. “I mean, I’ll listen to it again when it’s finished. But so far, no notes.”

  She rubbed the space between her eyebrows with her fingertips and leaned forward. “Johnny, you’ve always been way too talented to be stuck here with us. And that becomes clearer every time you and Hannah have a moment.”

  He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Did you know that we call it the magic? Me and Justin and Chase. We sneak around here, listening to you two make shit up, and it’s giving us life. We’re here for it.”

  Johnny barked a laugh at her description. He shook his head because what she was saying was comical and absurd. Of course it seemed like that to them––they had no idea who she was and all she could do.

  “Laugh all you want, but you know it’s true.” Nikki stood up to leave. “Whatever she’s doing to get you to be your best, hold on to that. For all our sakes.”

  She left, and with her went the rest of his anger.

  An idea had been trying to form in the back of his mind since that morning, but he’d refused to give it space to coalesce. So far, it was a shapeless image of impressions and feelings.

  But what if…
<
br />   What if they could move away from their ugly history and make something new? This record they were making together was a hint at what they could accomplish when they worked together.

  What if instead of going back to work wherever she worked, she came to work with him?

  Would she ever consider making music full-time again?

  That was a huge question, filled with so many nuanced emotions and implications.

  He’d have to think about it before he brought it up with her.

  But what if, right?

  Chapter Eleven

  Kill the Lights

  HANNAH

  “He keeps reminding me you’re not a nice person.”

  Hannah watched Johnny from her seat on the piano bench of the live room. He was up in control, checking and double-checking all the things. His brow furrowed, his jaw tense with concentration.

  “He’s not wrong. I’m not a nice person.”

  Nikki sniffed in disbelief. “Nice people are just covering the fact that they’re assholes. I’d rather be around honest assholes than fake ones.”

  Hannah smiled, but it was a sad smile.

  Nikki might think that, but she didn’t know how mean Hannah had been. The potential she still carried to be that person. As much as she tried to change and be someone new, she would always be connected to Ashton James.

  And no one knew that more than those who had already had a run-in with Ashton.

  That included Johnny.

  Sunshine shuffled into the room and yawned. She played an intro for him on the piano.

  “How are you this chipper so early in the morning?” Sunshine rubbed his eyes and gave her a sleepy smile.

  “It’s ten, babe,” she replied, waggling her eyebrows, and added a dun dun dunnn with the piano.

  “I haven’t been to bed yet, babe,” he countered with a goofy grin.

  “And whose fault is that?”

  “Probably mine,” he conceded. “You know they don’t tell you how much hard work it takes to be this kind of popular.”

  You ain’t kidding about that, she thought but didn’t share.

  “How come you haven’t done anything more with this? I looked you up and asked around. No one knows you.”

  All at once, the world seemed to stop.

  Hannah kept her gaze fixed on the piano keys, like she hadn’t heard him.

  It had always been a risk making music and spending time with anyone in the industry. But she also knew that the industry changed drastically all the time. Her life’s Venn diagram didn’t intersect with Sunshine or any of his people. Alex had checked.

  But all it would take was one candid photo and a phone call, and everything could come crashing down.

  “Hannah? Hannah Lee,” Sunshine called.

  She looked up and raised her eyebrows. “What’s up?”

  He squinted at her suspiciously. “How long have you been doing this?”

  “Not long,” she lied.

  Liar, liar, pants on fire, her inner bitch mocked.

  Which was fine. She could handle being mocked internally. Just as long as that bitch stayed locked inside and didn’t come out to play, they were all safe.

  Sunshine looked at her with heavy skepticism.

  “Hannah,” Johnny called through the intercom. “Can you play something? I need to check some readings up here. Piano and vocals, please.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  Sunshine and Nikki made their way up the metal staircase to the control room.

  Thankfully, Hannah already had a song in her head from that morning. She and Piper had been listening to MisterWives’ “Superbloom” and dancing around the condo. The song was still stuck in her head.

  And it was such a fun song to sing and play on the piano.

  What Hannah wouldn’t give to be a part of a band like them.

  If she were still in the game, that is.

  By the end of the song, she was half standing on the piano bench as she sang and danced. It was just one of those songs that filled you up, and you had to let it out for fear you might die if you didn’t.

  JOHNNY

  Maybe that had been a bad idea.

  Johnny had overheard Sunshine’s question and he’d offered a distraction.

  But if he thought asking Hannah Lee to play and sing on her own would hide her immense talent, he had woken up stupider than usual that morning.

  Her crystal voice rang through the live room, picked up by the mics he’d set up that morning and piping that sound into the control room.

  He didn’t recognize the song, but he was going to be asking about it later because holy crap! The way her fingers flew on the keys while also sounding powerful sent chills down his spine.

  All of it was a visceral reminder of who he was dealing with.

  She wasn’t just the alluring young woman of his past who broke his heart and shattered his dreams.

  She had been the reigning queen of pop music. She may have abdicated her royal crown, but that didn’t change the fact that this woman, this inexplicable powerhouse of artistic energy, still had all the skill to return to the throne at any time if she chose.

  When Hannah began dancing on the piano bench (without missing a single key stroke), he was reminded of Sir Elton John and Lady Gaga and all the greats who had come before.

  The music was inside her.

  And every once in a while, she graced them with her talent.

  “What the fuck?” Sunshine mumbled from his side.

  “Pure magic,” Nikki agreed, elbowing Johnny in the ribs on his other side.

  He didn’t respond, choosing to keep a stoic expression.

  But both the current number one artist in the nation and his longtime sound engineer were correct.

  She was fucking magic.

  And if Johnny could figure out how to get past just a couple of things, he was going to tell her.

  PIPER

  “Your mom packs your lunch every day, huh?”

  Piper glanced up, unsure if she was the one being spoken to.

  Ana was looking directly at her and lifted an eyebrow in encouragement. Piper shifted in her seat, her gaze drifting through the other students at the lunch table. They weren’t exactly staring at her, but they were listening.

  “Um, no. But yes,” she quickly corrected. “She’s not my mom.”

  “What happened to your mom?” a boy sitting beside Ana asked. Ana elbowed him.

  “She died in a car accident.” Piper shrugged and took another bite of her sandwich.

  “Whoa,” said the boy.

  Sure. Whoa. Maybe to others.

  To Piper it still felt weird.

  Not good. Not bad. But definitely not good.

  Her mom dying in a car accident had seemed almost…expected.

  “So you live with your sister?” Ana asked. She batted her round brown eyes, trying to keep her talking.

  Piper nodded.

  On one hand, it was nice not having to sit alone at lunch. But on the other, she still felt out of place.

  She finished her sandwich and reached for her water bottle.

  At first, transitioning to a private school had really sucked.

  Carlton Baxter Christian Academy was exactly how she’d pictured it when Hannah had told her. Stuffy, boring, and terrifying.

  Piper had only ever gone to public school before. Except for that year and a half she basically didn’t go to school at all.

  “Where did you go to school last year?” Ana asked.

  “Oh, I was homeschooled,” Piper said. It wasn’t totally the truth, but it’s what she’d decided to say instead of trying to explain it. Besides, she’d have to lie through most of the explanation anyway since she couldn’t exactly tell people she’d been privately tutored in the Hollywood Hills until her sister got everything in order and moved them to the middle of the country.

  At first, she’d tried to get Hannah to let her go back to public school.

  But she quickly rea
lized that was a losing battle.

  Though it was kind of a new sensation being able to battle for herself at all.

  “Homeschooled? That sounds awesome,” Ana commented. She gathered her tray and stood up. “What class do you have next?”

  “Study hall.”

  “In the auditorium or the library?”

  “Auditorium.”

  “I’ll walk with you. I have science.”

  Piper stood off to the side, trying not to feel conspicuous as she waited for Ana to return her lunch tray. It was probably just her imagination, but it always felt like everyone was constantly looking at her. Wondering why she was there.

  Ana returned and pulled a package of wet wipes out of her backpack. “Here.” She handed one to Piper. “They don’t give us enough time between classes to wash our hands.”

  “Thanks.” Piper smiled at her teammate. Maybe they were becoming friends? She would like that. Ana was a really great ballplayer, but she was also funny without being mean.

  Piper had decided that a good sense of humor was going to be important for a solid friendship of any kind.

  Well, that and not being an asshole.

  They tossed their used wipes into the trash and Ana squeezed her hand at the doorway to the auditorium.

  Piper was startled by the unexpected contact and failed to squeeze back. But Ana didn’t seem to notice. She just grinned at Piper and kept going.

  “See you at practice,” Ana called over her shoulder.

  Piper tried to reply with an affirmative, but it was stuck in her throat. And then someone pushed her from behind and she was shuffled through the bottleneck of the doorway into the large auditorium.

  “Fucking hallways clots,” an angry upperclassman muttered as he shoved by her.

  It was strange to be in a school with grades six through twelve. At first she thought they’d be more separated. But the size of the campus didn’t seem to be up to the task. She was twelve and was very often being batted through the halls and classrooms like a pinball.

  Half pint knocked into the garbage bin, fifty points.