Accidental Rock Star (15 page)

“Police.” That she
hadn’t expected.

“It got pretty bad.
Beyond crazy fan mail.”

He sounded
matter-of-fact, like fan mail was normal.

“So this isn’t some
reality-show joke you’re going to spring on us?”

“No. God. No.” He
looked her straight in the eyes. “After I broke up with Gina, my
crazy fan mail got weirder. Threats and shit. And some guys tried
to pull me out of a premiere. We didn’t realize Gina was behind it
until my last video shoot. She drugged me and tried to drag me out
of there. So security suggested I get out of town. That’s it. There
it is.”

Aria shoved her hair
back and pressed her fingers to her temples. None of it sounded in
her scope of what was possible. It shook her. It made her scared
for him. Tyler. Sax. Him. She reached for his hand and ran her
fingers over the calloused tips of his fingers. Heat rushed over
her, an embarrassed heat. “I don’t even know you.”

Tyler caught her hand
and squeezed her fingers. “You do know me better than anyone. I’m
me. I’m Tyler. And I’m not even sorry all this crap happened.
Actually, I’m glad, because it brought me here to you.”

“Why didn’t you tell
me? I mean, after we started dating.”

“I don’t know. I’m new
at this.” Tyler nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t. I should have told
you. You’re different. Back in L.A., I was always in a rush. More.
Faster. Different. Wilder. I don’t feel that way when I’m around
you.”

Aria stiffened and
withdrew her hand. “So what am I? A distraction while you’re
here?”

“It’s not like that.
Nothing’s missing when I’m with you. You don’t bore me. You’re
passionate about what I’m passionate about. You’re talented,
wickedly talented. You have standards.” He looked out the window
and then back at her. “I’m not saying this right. It’s more than
that.” He brushed his fingers down her bare arm. “More primal. Your
skin. The texture. I could spend a year tracing every inch, every
curve, and not get bored. I wake up shaking at the thought of my
hands on your skin. My mouth on you. Me on you.”

Beautiful. Hot. She
shivered a visible shiver. Her lips parted.

“Yeah. And I know I
should be watching my mouth right now. I get that. But with you, I
just want to be honest. To say it. To be open for once. Because
despite every reason, everything I just said, there is no reason.
It’s just a peace and a feeling I can’t shake. I don’t want to
shake. Now I put it out there. All that I know right now. Say
something. You know who I am. All of it. Give me something. Do you
still want us to be together?”

She couldn’t
answer.

“Don’t back off. I mean
together
. Boyfriend-girlfriend together. ’Cause I want
that.”

There was only one
answer. “Yes.”

Aria stuffed her bag in
her band hall locker between Dylan’s and Ethan’s. She returned
their greetings and covered her yawn. Monday mornings. Blech. Her
phone buzzed with a text from Hunter.
There’s no Tyler Steele
who looks like him. Senior. At any high school in Missouri or
Montana or Mississippi or Maine. So where’s he’s going back to when
he’s gone from here? ’Cause it ain’t any of them.

Aria froze at the
thought of Tyler going home. He was leaving her. Leaving the band.
Leaving. She searched for him in the crowd of Monday morning
students shuffling in the hallway.

Tyler shoved his lock
closed on his locker and came over to her. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re going to quit,
aren’t you?” She addressed the least painful part of the thought.
“Quit the drum line.”

Dylan and Ethan stopped
talking and got in their circle. Ethan was eating a banana nut
muffin from the cafeteria, and Dylan stared at her like she’d said
Mozart had talent. “Of course he is,” Dylan said. “When he goes
back to L.A.”

Tyler gone. Another
band member gone. Tyler gone. Aria made a gurgling sound.

Tyler shot Dylan a look
and grabbed her arms. “As long as I’m enrolled, I’ll be in the
Mighty Lizard drum line. Okay?”

She nodded, her
shoulders easing.

“Yeah, he’ll have to
quit at some point.” Ethan grinned. “But you’ll still be in When
Worlds Appear, right?” Naïve optimism rang in his voice. “We
rock.”

Dylan’s gaze pitied
him. “Bud.”

Her stomach tightened.
She knew the answer without seeing Tyler’s softened expression.

“Guys. I have a band,”
Tyler said. “Jerry. Ian. Hugh.”

He named the famous
trio like they were guys on the track team. Jealousy she couldn’t
begin to understand twisted in her stomach. Ethan’s gaze lowered,
and his mouth twisted. The muffin dropped to his side. “Yeah. I
know. I guess. I just thought.” He shrugged and turned away. “We’re
good, you know.”

“You are good.” Tyler
dropped his hand on Ethan’s shoulder, stopping him. “And you can
come out to L.A. I’ll introduce you around.” Tyler let go and waved
his hand to include Dylan. “Some band’s always looking for a good
musician.”

Dylan shrugged. Tyler
said it so casually, like any of them could afford to go out to
L.A.

Ethan perked up.
“That’d be cool.” He held out his fist, and Tyler bumped it. “Can I
ask you something else?”

“The thing in Greece
wasn’t true.” Tyler lowered his voice. “Yes, my drummer’s a total
junkie, and no, I’m not telling you how many women I’ve slept
with.”

Aria slapped him in the
side. Tyler grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. “Sorry,
babe.”

“Uh.” Ethan flushed
dark red. “No.” He squirmed but looked determined. “Do you really
know Caz Thaymore, Max Stone,
and
Garrett Campbell?” The
words came out in a rush. “Or is that like a media thing? And if
you really know them, can you get me their autographs?”

“Oh, man, you don’t
know what that’ll cost me.” Tyler closed his eyes. “Fuck. Yes. I
can do it.”

“Cool.” Ethan sounded
elated, completely indifferent to Tyler’s reluctance. “While you’re
here, we’re a band, right? Even if we can’t ever tell anyone about
you after you leave.”

Tyler nodded. “While
I’m here. Yeah.”

Tyler eased Aria’s
phone from her sweaty hand. He checked the screen.

“Boundaries.” Aria
grabbed for it. “Hey. You can’t read my texts.”

“I’m your
boyfriend.”

Boyfriend. He said it
easily when it suited him. “And?”

“Why the fuck is Hunter
still texting you?”

“You sound like you’re
accusing me of something. Like
I’m
the one hiding
something.”

“No.” His tone
lightened.

“Hunter’s the town
busybody. He texts everybody.” She turned to Ethan and Dylan for
support. “Right?”

Dylan shrugged. “Hunter
doesn’t text me.”

“Me neither,” Ethan
said.

“Fu—”

She gave Tyler a
look.

Tyler’s expression said
she was naïve. “Hunter’s into you. And he’s texting shit about
me.”

Aria snatched the phone
back and slid it into her pocket. “It’s not like he’s wrong.”

Tyler clenched his
fists. “He’s every level wrong.”

“Well, what do you want
me to say? Rest easy, Hunter. Tyler Steele didn’t show up on your
search because he’s really
Tyler Saxon Grayson.
As in
Sax
Grayson
.”

Ethan eyed the hall.
“Sheez, Aria, lower your voice.”

“Sorry.”

Tyler reached for the
phone. “I’ll show you what to text him.”

Aria wiggled out of
reach. “No.”

“Speaking of texts,”
Ethan’s face flamed, “Baylee hasn’t texted me back. You think you
can talk me up to her?”

“No.” Tyler spoke
without looking at him. “Hands off my cousin. She’s not ready to
date any guy yet. She’s a kid.”

“She’s our age. And
she’s not really your cousin. Uh. Is she?”

“She feels like my
cousin. Go hit on Dylan’s sister.”

Dylan kicked the side
of the lockers. “Hell, no. Leave Cassidy out of this. Neither of
you are getting your grubby hands on her. Hunter’s texting Aria
because she went out with him, and he wants her back.”

Tyler faced her dead
on. “
What the fuck?
You went out with that douchebag? That
douchebag thinks you’ll go out with him again?”

Aria dragged Tyler away
from Ethan and Dylan toward the band hall, smacking Dylan as she
passed him. She took Tyler to a corner by the risers. “We went out
once
.” She wondered why she had to justify it. “It’s not
like you’ve never dated.” She lowered her voice. “Type
your
name into Google sometime.”

Tyler flinched. He
shook his head. “You really shouldn’t do that.”

“Too late. Look, Tyler.
You’re not mad about Hunter.” Aria crossed her arms over her chest.
“You’re mad because it feels like we know each other. And then
something shows us that we don’t know each other at all.”

“We do know each other.
We know what matters. What’d you see online?” He shook his head
again. “If there’s something you want to know, ask me straight
up.”

“Who are you
dating?”

“You. Only you. I
swear.”

“Good answer.”

“And I don’t text my
exes.” The outrage left his voice.

Aria stared at him.
“Given what you’ve told me about Gina, I’d worry if you did.” The
thought made her laugh, totally, inappropriately laugh.

Tyler’s lips twitched
and the jealousy left his green eyes. “I guess we make our own
rules. I won’t text the girls I dated if you promise not to text
the guys you dated.”

“Okay.”

The bell rang on her
promise.

In the main hallway,
two cheerleaders turned to them. “Rock on.”

Tyler held up his hand
and made the ‘rock on’ sign, his index finger and pinkie up like
horns, his middle fingers trapped by his thumb.

They giggled.

One of the members of
the drill team held up a sign that said
When Worlds Appear
.
She winked at Tyler. “I love Sax Grayson.” She closed her eyes and
grinned. “I’m seeing him in Austin in the spring. I’ve pre-ordered
my tickets.”

“That’ll be a great
show,” Tyler said.

Aria looped her arm
through his and lowered her voice. “They know you lip-sync,
right?”

“I don’t.” Tyler
grinned down at her. “And you know it.”

The praise followed
them down the hall. This was a minuscule fraction of the attention
he must get in L.A. or at a concert, or anywhere where they knew
the real him.

Four freshman girls
yelled, “Tyler! We love you, Tyler!”

Tyler didn’t look over.
He watched her instead—like she was a windshield that had just been
dinged by a flying rock. Would the event leave no trace, or would
it chip; would the crack spread and ruin the view, eventually
forcing him to replace the windshield?

“You coming to Ethan’s
to practice after school?” He said it almost like a question.

She wished it were
afternoon already. “Yes.”

“It’s going to be
fun.”

“Yes.” She grinned.
“I’m guessing you’ll be singing.”

“I might be
persuaded.”

“Yo, Aria,” Hunter
called.

Ah, fresh hell. She
turned off her grin and waited for it.

Hunter gave her a
thumbs up while walking backward, his big jersey-clad shoulders
clearing the way. “Looking hoooot Saturday night.”

Whatever.

Tyler stiffened and
took a step forward. “What the fuck?”

She got in front of
him. “Tyler. Eight girls just waved signs at you. How is that
different?”

“It is.” He muttered a
curse, his eyes on the backward-jogging player who’d now turned
around.

Aria touched his arm.
“You.”

“Me?” Tyler turned back
to her. “Me?”

“I’m only dating
you
.” She jerked her thumb backward. “Hunter doesn’t matter
to me. You do.”

***

They showed up at
Ethan’s like normal, but only the surface was normal. Dylan
fidgeted with the drumsticks and didn’t look at Tyler. Ethan pulled
up one song on the wall, then another. Aria strummed random chords
on her guitar, totally focused on it, like it would reveal the
release date of her favorite singer’s next album.

He wasn’t having it.
“Pull out
Dark Sky
.” He’d named one of his massive hits.

Ethan calmed down. He
handed out tabs to everyone but Tyler.

Tyler wiggled his
fingers. “I know the lyrics, but I need a copy of the bass.”

“Oh. Right.” Ethan
flushed and handed it over. “So you really don’t play your own
stuff?”

“The label’s not big on
it. They’re all about the vocals, performance, and press. That’s
their trinity for me.”

Ethan and Dylan
stared.

“This is better.”

Ethan nodded.

“Damn straight,” Dylan
said.

“Damn straight.” Tyler
tapped the belly of the guitar three times. The three reacted as
they’d been conditioned and played the opening lines.

Tyler sang, holding
nothing back. The band faltered at first and then got into it. They
challenged him with lower ranges, pauses, riffs and he kept in it,
renewed and playful in a way he wasn’t at the studio. He moved
closer to Aria for the chorus. She was staring at him, her blue
eyes huge and considering. He kept eye contact, forging a link, and
pushed the mic her way. He challenged her with a look.

She joined him, their
voices harmonizing, following, leading, melding. They ended the
last note on a whisper. He didn’t move. Crap. Singing with her was
massive. Better than any sex he’d ever had. He rubbed his eyebrow
and backed off, losing her gaze. She meant more to him than a
thousand screams, and that shook him.

***

Garage band practice
had been incredible all week. Tyler didn’t just sing. He performed,
like a pro, like Sax Grayson. He was talented. He played off them
and made them better than they thought they could be. And the music
they were making was addictive. They’d been good before, but now,
with Tyler singing, they were on a whole new level. It was one of
those unspoken unquestionable realities.