The four of us pile into the elevator and I press the button for the top floor. Even if we wanted to go out, we’re tired. There’s something about being in the studio, that while exhilarating, is entirely draining.
The elevator doors open and we don’t have to walk far to the suite door. I swipe my key to unlock it and it swings open. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one staring in shock.
I mean, I expected a decent place to crash but not this and not in this small ass town.
“We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore,” Rush whistles lowly, then takes a running start and jumps on the blue velvet couch.
The place is decorated to the nine’s. It looks like something you’d find in a Las Vegas resort, not a tiny college town seventy-five miles west of Washington D.C. and in the middle of nowhere. I find myself beginning to sweat as I think about how much this room, the cars, everything must be costing Hayes. It shows how much faith he has in us and if we screw up … if I screw up the consequences will be dire.
Our bags sit in the foyer of the suite. I have no clue how they got here, but Hayes is bound to have an assistant.
The guys and I explore the rest of the suite and then fight over who gets which room. It’s ridiculous since they’re all basically the same size with their own en suite bathroom.
I crash onto my bed and stretch my arms and legs out, laying claim.
I can’t help but think back to my ten-year-old self first learning I had a voice, music bleeding into my soul, and dreaming of the day when all this could be mine.
I wish I could go back in time and tell him, “You’ll do it. Never stop believing in the power of you.”
When you take the time to believe in yourself, you’re unstoppable.
3
Mia
“Shit, shit, shit, fuck.”
I dash around my room, yanking on jea
ns and nearly falling over. My alarm chose not to go off this morning and now I’m going to be late for my first class. I won’t have time for breakfast either, and I turn into a hangry bitch when I don’t eat.
I yank on a tank top, since the September weather has been unseasonably warm, but grab a cardigan since some of the classrooms are as cold as the Arctic.
I struggle into a pair of Vans and grab my yellow backpack off the floor.
There was no time for makeup and I barely managed to brush my hair or teeth, so I’m looking like a hot mess.
I take the stairs two at a time, call out a “Bye Mom,” and I’m gone.
Outside I climb into my red Audi TTS Coupe. If there’s anything my dad will splurge on, it’s cars.
The engine purrs to life and hums as I gun it down the long driveway and onto the windy private road.
I reach the gate a mile away and push the garage opener type button that opens the huge wrought iron monstrosity.
My dad takes safety very seriously after I was kidnapped by my ‘real’ dad when I was three. I don’t even remember the guy and never think of him as my father—only my sperm donor. Joshua Hayes is my dad. He chose me and I chose him.
If I’ve learned anything in my short twenty-two years it’s the people you choose to love are as important as the blood relations. I love my immediate family and I love the ‘cousins’ I have in the kids of my dad’s bandmates. I look at all of those guys as my uncles and their wives my aunts.
I turn onto route seven heading toward Winchester and my University. I keep eyeing the time and cringing. Being late is my biggest pet peeve. I know when I arrive to the lecture hall all eyes will turn in my direction. At least most of my classes don’t have many students … but maybe that makes it worse, because then there’s no being discreet. Ugh.
I drive as fast as I safely can and as I approach Winchester my chest grows even tighter. Class starts in five minutes and I know there’s no chance I’ll ever make it, but maybe I’ll only be a few minutes late.
Luck is not on my side however as traffic grows heavier as I reach the town. In fact, it crawls at a damn snail’s pace.
My fingers tighten around the steering wheel.
Finally, I resolve myself to my fate and some of the tension leaves.