“How was lockdown?” Hudson asked from across the room.
“Fuck you, Ryker.”
“Glad to see you didn’t lose your sense of humor.” He smirked.
I flipped him off and moved deeper into the studio, dropping down on a leather couch. The recording booth was beyond the huge glass partition. But I didn’t feel the usual tingle I felt whenever we were about to record something new.
There was a commotion over by the door, and my brother and Eva entered the studio, laughing and joking. They might as well have been in their own little world.
I rubbed my jaw, stuffing down the urge to run. I was contracted to be here. That’s what happened when you sold your soul to the devil.
Razorsharp Records owned my ass, whether I liked it or not. I could refuse to be here, take off on one of my benders and leave it to Rafe and the guys to pick up the pieces... and believe me, part of me wanted to. Part of me didn’t want to be here, watching my brother and his girl, feeling their love infect everything around them. But the other part, the tiny sliver of humanity I managed to cling onto, knew I couldn’t walk out on them. Not this time.
This was my mess.
I did this.
So come hell or high water, no matter how much it sucked for me, I had to try to fix it.
But a collaboration with Eva?
Fuck.
I would have gladly taken anything but that.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to sing with Eva, she was amazing. Talent bled from her pores like sweat. We sang all the time together on stage for the tour—but this was different. This was us creating something together. Inviting her into my head like that, it scared the fuck out of me.
“Levi.” Her voice was like an explosion in my brain.
“Y- yeah?” I blinked up at Eva, and her smile softened.
“I asked how you were?” Concerned glittered in her eyes.
Once upon a time, I would have mistaken it for a play. But I knew she was Rafe’s. She’d chosen him. My brother. The better half of my fucking soul.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Levi.” The warning in Rafe’s voice made my jaw tic.
“Yeah, yeah, okay. Fine. I got the memo, brother.”
Just then, Letty and Alistair entered their studio. “How are we this morning?” he asked, letting his narrowed gaze settle on me.
“Peachy with a side of keen,” I drawled.
“Good to hear it. This is Letty’s idea so she’s running the show.”
“Where’s Pheebs?” Hudson chimed, throwing me a knowing look.
Fucker.
“She’s... taken a personal day. Don’t worry, she’ll be back tomorrow.”
My brows furrowed.
A personal day?
Something inside me twisted. Was she avoiding me?
I couldn’t blame her if she was.
After Alistair announced the label wanted to take the tour international—with the band and Eva—we’d celebrated. Nothing crazy, just the band, Eva’s parents, and her best friend from back home, and some people from our inner circle. I’d ended up spending the night with Phoebe.
She’d blown my fucking mind, and I couldn’t get enough of her. But then, morning had rolled around and with it, news that a video was going viral of me and Riley. Phoebe had barely looked twice at me since.
Fuck.
My fist clenched against the arm of the couch. Just when things were starting to look up. The band was in a good place, the tour was going better than any of us expected, and I felt more stable than I had in a while. Then everything came crashing down around me, reminding me that my life would never be my own. That every mistake, every moment of madness, every time I slipped off the wagon... a hungry pack of wolves would be right there waiting to capture it on camera and share it with the world.
Newsflash: Levi Hunter fucked up... again.
But this time was different because Riley had betrayed us. She’d manipulated me and used me to her own ends, and now, all I could think about was destroying her. The need for revenge was like poison in my veins. She came after me, came after the band. And now I wanted her to pay.
But the self-loathing I felt was almost as bad.
“Okay,” Letty pulled off her skull and bones scarf and draped it over a chair. “So this is what I was thinking. What about if we take the song Levi played at Damon’s party, Drown, and develop it into a power ballad?”
“No.”
No fucking way.
Drown was my song. It was personal. Sure, I’d sung it at Damon’s birthday party a couple of weeks back, but there had been a good reason for that.
“Do you have a better suggestion?” Letty scowled at me.
“We write something new. I’m sure Eva has plenty of ideas.”
“We don’t have time to write something new,” Letty interjected. “We have the studios for the next three days. We need to nail this. You need to nail this.” She let out an exasperated breath, flicking a concerned brow toward Alistair. His cell began ringing and he held up a finger, checking the screen.
“I need to take this. You need to figure this out and fast. If we don’t get the tour back on track ASAP, I don’t need to tell you there will be no more studio time.”
A tremor rippled through the room. Hudson looked at Damon, who looked at Rafe, who looked at me.
“What?” I shrugged.
“You’re a real fucking asshole sometimes,” Hudson sneered. “It’s just a song.”
But it wasn’t just any song.
“This is the plan.” Letty rolled her shoulders back and I knew she meant business. She’d been with us since the beginning. Our rise to fame and fortune didn’t intimidate her. To her we were nothing more than her responsibility... her job. Sometimes, we were also her friends.
But right now, she was our boss, and we were going to fall in line whether we liked it or not.
“How much of the song is written?”
“Knowing Levi, it’s a whole goddamn album.” Hudson snorted and I flipped him off.
“Everyone just take a breath.” Damon stepped forward. “Maybe we should hear Levi out. If the song is personal to him—”
“It can’t be that personal, he sang it for you in front of half of the crew.”
“Hud,” Rafe warned, glancing at me with concerned eyes.
“You really don’t want to use it?” Letty asked. “Because we all heard you that night. It was something special, Levi. I think we can really make something of it, especially with Eva on the track.”
“I don’t want to upset anyone,” Eva said. “Maybe this isn’t the best—”
“We’ll use it,” I said with a defeated breath.
“Yeah?” Relief washed over Letty. “I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think—”
“Yeah, yeah, Panem, save the dramatics.” I got up and headed for the door.
“Levi, where are you going?” she asked.
“What?” I glanced back. “I can’t take a piss now without everyone needing to know?”
No one else said a word as I slipped out of the room. Truth was, I didn’t need a piss, I needed a second.
Drown was my song. Something I’d been working on the last few weeks. Yeah, I’d sang a couple of verses at Damon’s party, but I never wrote it for public consumption. They owned enough of me already. Now Letty wanted to have the guys and Eva come in on it.