“Sure,” Nikki replied. “Or you could pick your five favorites and do an EP. A Sunshine and Zara collab.”
His eyes met Zara’s and she looked interested. “Or… We could do two EPs. Where we switch off the lead. And then we could use more of what we’ve written.”
“There’s a lot here.” Nikki clicked through the files in the computer. “Can I play with these a little?”
“Of course,” Dave agreed. That’s why he’d gone to find her.
Zara’s phone pinged and she glanced down at the device in her hand.
Dave pointed to the file he wanted Nikki to hear and she clicked on it.
“Hey, Dave…”
The tone in Zara’s voice was wary, and both he and Nikki looked at her.
“Don’t freak out.”
Dave eased his body into a relaxed posture. Being told not to freak out was one of his most disliked phrases. Mostly because it assumed he was going to freak out which wasn’t something he generally did. But also, it implied he viewed things the same as others. Which he did not.
“Mandy is stopping by the studio. She’s just coming to pick me up before we go back to the hotel. I promise she won’t stay long. And she won’t cause a scene.”
Mandy?
For some reason Dave couldn’t place the name.
And then he did.
Mandy his ex. Who was friends with Zara.
He shrugged. “Okay.”
Zara’s eyebrows dipped and Nikki swiveled slightly on the stool to look at him.
But he didn’t know why.
He and Mandy hadn’t been together in two years. He hadn’t even seen her around. Why would he freak out?
Nikki spun back to face Zara. “This is a drama free recording studio,” she said, warning in her voice.
Zara held up her hands. “She will be on her best behavior. My security is here—” She gestured over her shoulder in the general direction of where one of her bodyguards sat in the lounge area. “There won’t be drama.”
“Honestly, it’s not me that you should be worried about,” Dave said with a short laugh. “It was Max’s car she wrecked.”
“What about Max’s car?” Max asked, entering the control room.
“Oh look, Max is here,” Dave said.
“This is the hang out place, isn’t it? The place where we all hang out?” Max asked.
Nikki looked like she was at a loss. “Sure.”
And then the light of his life entered the small control room.
Well, she stopped in the doorway.
“Hey,” Sabine said, a crooked smile making her dimple pop.
Dave opened his arms and flicked his fingers, beckoning her toward him. She shook her head, but the smile grew a fraction.