More Than Music (19 page)

“You totally cheated,” Jared said.

“Did not.”

Jared grabbed his brother and wrestled with him, their unshaved faces squished together while Kyle stuck out his tongue like he was dying. They had such a strong bond, and I loved seeing my two favorite guys being silly like this.

“Ow, beard friction,” Kyle said, rubbing his cheek.

“We’re so hot we’re starting fires with our faces.” Jared ran a hand along his matching dark stubble, and it took all my effort to not reach for him, too. Sometimes this secret romance thing was pretty damn frustrating.

Kyle grinned. “Hey, that can be our next song.”

Jared belted out, “Fire in our beards / Ice in our hearts / You’ll get seared / Here in the mart.”

I laughed. “Sounds like a hit.”

He gave a dramatic bow while Hector wheeled his cart over. Once we were all together, Jared announced, “Time to see what we all got. Kyle, as reigning champion you go first.”

“My theme is ‘candy fail,’” Kyle said and held up each item to show us. “Lollypops with spiders in them. Bacon-flavored breath mints. And mushroom-shaped gummies that look like dicks. Bam!”

“Ew,” I said, not sure which of those things grossed me out the most.

“Nice finds,” Hector said. “But I’ll see your dick gummies and raise you my Crunchy Nude Balls.” He held up a box of Korean rice candy with that name.

“Hector, there are ladies present,” Kyle said, in an overly shocked way.

I held my hand over my heart. “It’s true. I’m a delicate flower who is easily offended.”

Hector snorted. “Of course you are. I also found these.” He showed us his other two items: a Tea Bag Buddy for mugs and a bottle of something called Head Lube. For shaving, maybe?

Jared nodded. “The ‘unintentional sexual innuendos theme.’ Always a good one.”

“I knew you’d approve.”

“My turn,” Jared said. “The theme tonight, ladies and gentleman, is ‘strange things in your bathroom.’ First up, garlic shampoo, so you can ward off vampires at all times and probably everyone else, too. Next, men’s grooming wipes in ‘boardroom scent,’ for when you need to feel both clean and extra-manly down there. And finally, drumroll please…lightsaber-shaped lip balm.”

“Um, I kind of want that,” I said.

“I figured.” He grinned and tossed it into my cart. “You’re up, Maddie.”

“This theme is ‘crazy pet owners,’” I said, as I pulled each item out of my cart. “Number one: fruit smoothies for all those health-conscious dogs. Number two: water for turtles and tortoises, for the ones too spoiled to swim in regular water. And number three: a book called…
Crafting With Cat Hair
.”

“What the shit,” Hector said, taking the book to page through it. “I think you win with this alone.”

Kyle leaned closer to look inside. “Agreed. Nothing can top fingerless gloves made out of fur balls.”

Jared grabbed my arm and raised it over my head. “I’m proud to introduce our new champion, Maddie Taylor!”

“Woo!” I yelled, and the other guys applauded and hooted. Thank god the store was empty at this hour.

“Good job, everyone,” Jared said. “Let’s put this stuff back before the people who work here kick us out.”

We split up to return our treasures and grab the things we actually needed. While I was deciding which snacks to get, Jared’s arms slid around me from behind and he placed a kiss on my neck.

“Hey, stop that.” I glanced around quickly, but we were alone in this aisle. It was only the thought of Hector or Kyle walking over that kept me from kissing him back.

“I couldn’t resist.” He let me go, and we pulled apart to an innocent distance but did the rest of our shopping together.

While we grabbed some beer, a girl about our age with bright pink extensions swayed down the aisle and stopped in front of us. She stared at Jared with narrowed eyes and then asked, “Are you famous?”

“Nope.”

“You look like that guy on that show. Um, that one show on TV, you know? In that band?”

He waited for her to get it out, smiling the entire time. “Oh, yeah?”

“Wait, you
are
that guy! Right? You’re, like, totally famous!”

He laughed. “Yeah, I am that guy.”

“Oh my god, I love you, I love your band. Can I have a hug?”

“Sure.” He held his arms out, and she rushed into them. Over her shoulder, he raised his eyebrows at me, an amused expression on his face. I covered my mouth to suppress a laugh. This was just too surreal, being attacked by a drunk fan in the middle of the night in a supermarket. I wondered if this sort of thing happened often to Jared. The girl didn’t even seem to notice I was standing there, too, but that didn’t surprise me. Jared was the face of this band for good reason.

“My friend is never going to believe this. She knows, like, all your songs,” the girl said. “Can I get a photo so I can make her jealous?”

“Of course. But you have to include my lovely guitarist too.” He dragged me in, though I scowled at him, and took a selfie of the three of us with her phone. “There you go.”

“Oh my god, thank you, I love you!” She grabbed him again, pressing her face against his shoulder. I’d be jealous if this wasn’t so hilarious.

“This has been so much fun, but we have to run,” Jared said when the girl wouldn’t let go of him. He mouthed, “Help!” but I shook my head and grinned.

As soon as we managed to escape across the store, we burst into laughter. “Does that happen a lot?” I asked.

“No, that was new. And very weird. I kind of want a shower actually.”

“Better get used to it. You’re ‘famous’ now. Soon you’ll have fangirls ripping off your clothes every time you go out.”

He moved closer, a teasing smile on his lips. “The only one I want ripping off—”

He cut off as Kyle and Hector rounded the corner and joined us, but I knew what he meant. We returned to friend mode and told them about the girl, and the other guys all laughed with us. It was a new kind of agony, being near Jared but being unable to actually
be
with him. But at the same time, I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize this new family I’d become a part of either.

C
arla hopped out of her ‘67 Mustang and grabbed me in a hug, and Julie dashed around to join us. With Dan’s help, I’d been able to score VIP tickets for tonight’s live show for my two favorite ladies, who were both back in town.

“I’m so happy you’re here!” I hugged them back hard. After being surrounded by nothing but testosterone for weeks, I really needed my girls again.

“I demand to see everything,” Julie said. “Dazzle me with your rock-star lifestyle.”

Carla shook her head, her dark curls bouncing. “She’s been talking nonstop the entire drive over. I kept turning the music up, but she just got louder.”

“What? I’m so freaking proud of Maddie I could scream.” She shrieked to demonstrate, and it echoed across the open-air parking lot.

“How are things going?” Carla asked me.

“Things are great. The show is amazing, and I’ve improved so much in these last few weeks, and playing with the band and on stage…there’s nothing like it in the world.”

“You do seem a lot happier than you’ve been in months. Maybe years.”

As we headed toward the Nokia Theatre, we passed the massive line of people hoping to get into tonight’s show.

“Thank god we don’t have to wait in that mess,” Julie said.

“Nope, you get the VIP treatment tonight. Backstage tour and—” I slid to a halt when I saw Jared ahead of us, near the front of the line. Groupies surrounded him, taking pictures with him and having him sign everything from their phones to their bra straps to their bare skin. He wore dark sunglasses and a black leather jacket, and with his hair spiked up, he looked every bit the bad boy rock star. A girl in a slinky dress pressed her red lips to his cheek, and he never dropped his smile. I wondered if any of his groupies could tell it was his stage smile and not his real one or if I was the only girl who knew that.

“Maddie?” Carla asked. She followed my gaze and then said, “Ah.”

I tore my eyes away after another girl squeezed her body against him for a photo, and he whispered something in her ear. It was actually really cool of Jared to take the time to meet our fans. I didn’t know of any other musician on
The Sound
who did that, and there was no doubt all those people would vote for our band now. But these women were so much more aggressive than the one in the supermarket, and I wanted to shove them all aside and prop a big sign on him that said, “MINE.” I knew he had to keep up his reputation for the show, but god, it hurt to see him do it in front of me.

Julie clucked her tongue at me. “Still obsessed with him, I see.”

“I’m not obsessed.” Okay, maybe a little. For good reason. “Besides, we’re just friends.”

She nudged me with her hip. “Yeah, but you’d like to be more, right?”

“So nothing’s happened with him?” Carla asked.

“No,” I said, and my chest tightened up at the lie. I never kept anything from them, but there was too much at stake with the show and I didn’t know if the girls would be able to stay quiet tonight if I told them what was really going on. Especially Julie. She meant well, but she was terrible at keeping secrets. I’d tell them when our time on
The Sound
was over, assuming my whatever-this-was with Jared lasted that long.

I led my friends around the crowd, away from the Jared Cross Fan Club, and into the backstage area of the theater. I hoped giving them a behind-the-scenes tour of
The Sound
would keep all our minds off of my love life, but no such luck.

Near the rotating stage, Sean was talking to one of the roadies, and he perked up when he saw us. “Hey, Maddie. Are these your friends?” He held out his hand to each of them. “I’m Sean. Nice to meet you.”

Both Carla and Julie grinned at him like he was a giant chocolate cake, and I introduced them. “They’re here for the show tonight,” I added.

“You’re in The Static Klingons!” Julie blurted out. “I love you guys!”

He laughed and turned to me. “You didn’t tell me your friends were not only beautiful, but had great taste in music, too.”

I grinned. “They’re here with me, isn’t that obvious?”

“Good point. Hey, do you want to grab that bite to eat sometime this week? Assuming we’re both still around after tomorrow, that is.”

The girls nodded frantically at me, and I plastered a smile on. “Um, sure. Let me get back to you on when I’m free.”

“Great! Good luck tonight.” He saluted my friends. “Ladies, have fun.”

He walked off, and the girls checked him out from behind. “Holy hotness,” Julie said, with a low whistle.

“He seems to like you,” Carla said to me. “He asked you out in front of your friends—that’s pretty bold.”

“I know. He’s cute and nice but…” I shrugged. “He just doesn’t do it for me.”

“How is that possible?” Julie asked.

Carla set her hand lightly on my arm. “Maybe you’re so focused on Jared that you’re ignoring the guy practically throwing himself at your feet.”

“I’m not—” I started to protest. Was she really giving me guy advice when she was
still
with Daryl? I took a deep breath and started again. “Sean’s just not my type, that’s all.”

“He’s exactly your type, and he seems like the perfect guy to help you forget Jared,” Julie said.

“You’re the one who told me to go after Jared in the first place!” I blurted out, and then I glanced around quickly, hoping no one had heard me. Here they were, teaming up against me again. I loved my friends, but not the way they always wanted to run my life for me. I’d definitely not missed this over the last few weeks.

“Yeah, at the party. But you’ve known him for weeks, and if he hasn’t seen how amazing you are by now, he’s hopeless.”

“But—” I bit my lip. I couldn’t very well tell them the truth about Jared now. They’d just say he was going to hurt me, that this was only going to end badly, and a dozen other things I knew in my head but didn’t want to hear in my heart. “Let’s just drop this, okay?”

Carla gave me a pitying look. “We just don’t want you to get your heart broken, that’s all.”

I assured the girls I wasn’t interested in Jared and resumed the tour, but I didn’t think they believed me. And a nagging feeling in my gut told me they were probably right about him. This thing between us could only end badly, but when I was alone with him, I didn’t care.