Pleasure filled me at the same time I clammed up. I knew there was no danger from this man, but I couldn’t seem to get my tongue to unglue itself from the roof of my mouth.
“Thanks, man,” Aubree told him when I was unable to speak. “We’re proud of our little Ro-Ro.”
I shot her a look of thanks, and she squeezed my hand.
“I need to bring Annabelle in the next time she and Z are in town,” Natalie told us, speaking of the third partner in her business with Emmie Armstrong. “That should be in a few weeks. We’ll talk again later.”
With a wave, the couple left, and I stood there shaking from the possible implications of what she’d just said. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, didn’t even want to let myself think about them, but if Natalie wanted to bring her other partner in to listen to us perform, maybe she wanted to work with us.
Having Natalie Cutter as our manager was just as good as having Emmie. The redhead had trained Natalie herself, everyone knew that. And once Emmie’s business had become more stable, she brought her pseudo-sister-in-law in as a partner with her and Annabelle Brockman.
London and Genesis must have thought the same thing I was thinking, because I heard them both give a quiet squeal from either side of me. Aubree, never one to beat around the bush, confronted Harris. “Does that mean—”
He smiled but shook his head, cutting her off. “It doesn’t mean anything right now. But if Annabelle likes what she hears, then the two of them can bring you on with a vote. Emmie wouldn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“Oh my fucking God!” London whispered.
“But regardless of what they do, I would still like to extend your contract here, if that’s something you want to do. The crowd every Thursday night only gets bigger and bigger. You’re developing a following, and I think it would benefit all of us in the long run.”
Peyton shot us an “I told you so” look, which we all tried not to snicker at. Here the guy was trying to talk business, and all she heard was “Stay on, I love you, I can’t live without you, don’t leave me.” Bitch was deranged.
“Think it over, and we can revisit before the contract is up to confirm what you want to do.”
“Harris!” I lifted my eyes to find Kin Montez practically skipping toward us, an envelope in her hand. She smiled at us, giving a small wave as she pushed the envelope against his chest. “There. Now you can’t say I didn’t invite you.”
“To what?” he asked, his voice dry.
“My graduation.”
It was curious how his face tightened and there was a flash of intense agony in his eyes before he masked it. Why this girl’s high school graduation would cause him pain was beyond me, but I wasn’t about to pry.
“And…” Kin paused for half a second before continuing. “Well, Jace and Angie are giving me…us…a graduation party at my apartment. You’re not allowed to say no.”
He was staring down at the invitation in his hands now, his jaw tense, his throat bobbing as he swallowed. “Kin, I don’t want to ruin your graduation. Or hers.”
“Then come,” she urged. “You’ll never know what will happen if you don’t show up. It’s been months, Harris. You two should talk.”
“Kin,” he groaned her name, slapping the envelope against his thigh. “You don’t know what you’re screwing around with.”
“Sure, I do. I was there, remember?” She hugged him then quickly stepped back. “You have to come to both the graduation and the party. Relax. It’s still a few weeks away. You have plenty of time to work up the nerve to see Lucy.”
Turning around, she faced us, effortlessly cutting off the conversation the two of them were having while we shamelessly listened in. “Sorry I missed the show tonight. When my best
friend comes to town, I’ll drag her sexy ass down here so she can soak up the kick-ass girl power with me. In the meantime, here.” She pulled something from her back jeans pocket and pushed it into London’s hand, but her eyes were on me. “Free of charge. Just remember me when your record label is looking for songs to have you bitches record once you hit it big.”
London made a choking sound when she looked down at the sheet of paper in her hands. “You wrote us a song?”
“Looks like it. I wrote it, but I didn’t think it would suit Jace’s voice. Then I thought of Roanna. So it’s yours. Let me know if you have any questions about tempos. But in my head, it’s on the sultry side.”
“Noted.” London embraced her. “Thank you for this. We’ll work on it and maybe play it next week if possible.”
“No rush, but I am excited to hear it.”
London gave the song to me, and I glanced over the words. “Holy shit, this is sexual as hell, Kin.”
She laughed. “It may have been written during some postcoital euphoria.”
Reading some of the lyrics had my hands shaking a little, but I pasted on a smile. How the hell was I going to sing this song? I didn’t have a clue, but I would do my best. This song was perfect, and I could already foresee it turning into a crowd favorite.