“Fuck me,” Killian said, getting to his feet. “Jesus, V. I don’t know what got into you last night, but that’s fucking unreal. Maybe you shouldn’t get laid more often.”
I shot him the finger. “Shut the hell up.”
Killian laughed and then looked to Halo. “Come ooon, you know that shit’s amazing, right?”
Halo nodded. “Yeah, it really is. I just…” He paused and looked in my direction. “How do you want me to play this? I mean, is the guy angry? Does he hate the person he’s wanting to, um…”
“Fuck for hours?” I said. “If you can’t say the words, how are you gonna sing them?”
“Shiiit,” Jagger said as he stood and walked to Halo, his hand outstretched. “Hand it over, Halo. I want to see the rest of this thing.”
“I’ll sing them. I just want to know more so I can get inside his head,” Halo said as he passed the paper to Jagger.
The air in the room suddenly felt about a million times hotter than it had a second ago, as I held Halo’s direct stare in a stalemate of sorts. “He’s not angry. He’s frustrated. His dick wants something it can’t have, and that’s making him a little bit irritable.”
“A little bit?” Jagger said as he finished reading the lyrics. “V, dude, I’m close to shelling out some serious cash to get you laid, my friend.”
“What’d you think, Halo? You got it?” Killian said before I could tell Jagger to make sure whoever he bought and paid for had eyes the color of sea glass and blond hair that matched our lead singer.
“Yeah, I think so,” Halo said.
“Good. That’s good. I think if we can really nail this, we could call Brian down here to listen to these two we’ve been working on. See how he feels about them.”
Slade, Jagger, and Killian moved back to the couch, and when I inclined my head in Halo’s direction and he indicated he was ready, I started the intro again.
For a couple of hours we played around with the song, changing up melodies for the chorus once we reached it. We had Halo try different notes on certain words—adding more emphasis or taking it away—but by the start of the third hour, I was done.
Something was missing here. I’d heard the song so clearly in my head, known exactly the way it needed to sound, and while it was okay, better than it had been when we’d started, it still wasn’t packing the punch I knew it could.
“How about we call it for the day?” I sighed as I looked at the rest of the guys. “I’m tired, didn’t get much sleep last night, and something’s not working here.”
Everyone but Halo nodded. Slade and Jagger headed out to Killian’s kitchen for some food, as Halo picked up the bottle of water at his feet and took a few chugs.
Killian came over. “You okay?”
A frown pulled between my brows. “Okay?”
“Yeah.” Killian lowered his voice. “Not sleeping. Not fucking. Writing lyrics titled ‘Hard.’” Killian glanced over his shoulder to where Halo was sitting on a couch with the lyrics and a pen in his hand. “I’m not blind, V.”
“You don’t say.” I shut my guitar case and picked it up.
“Look, the song’s killer. But don’t think for a minute I don’t know who it’s about.” Killian ran a hand through his hair. “Tread carefully there. Give him a chance to get it right. He’s good, but this is…a lot of song.”
“Got it,” I said. “Can I go now, sir?”
“Fuck you.”
“If only you were my type.”
I stepped around Killian and headed out of the rehearsal room, saying my goodbyes to everyone as I went for the front door. As I made my way to the elevator and pushed the button, I heard someone call out my name, and was more than a little shocked to see that Halo had stepped out into the hallway with his jacket and backpack in place.
“Yeah? What is it, Angel?”
As he walked down the hall, I noticed he still clutched the lyrics in his fist like he was afraid he might lose them. “Are you angry with me?”
Angry? Why would I—
“Because I’m not getting this?” he said, holding up the paper.
“You’re getting it. It’s just taking a moment.”
Halo looked down to the words and shook his head, and when all that blond hair shifted around his face, the scent of his shampoo filled my head and lungs. Fucking delicious.
“I’m not. I can’t put my finger on why this is so hard for me.”
When Halo raised his eyes to mine, a smirk crossed my lips. “Pun intended?”
“Wh— Oh,” Halo said. “I guess. But something’s not working, and I know you’re disappointed. Do you think…” Halo chewed his lower lip. “Look, I don’t want to be the reason this doesn’t work out. Do you think you could maybe help me? Show me what you want?”