Strings by Kendall Grey Read Free Book Online Page A

past is over. I have a few rules I expect to be
followed. If you break them, I walk.
    “ You don’t have to like
each other. You don’t have to respect each other. You don’t even
have to talk to each other. But when we’re in public—on stage, in a
restaurant, or in a goddamn alley—you will pretend to get along. Sing
‘Kumba-fucking-ya’ in your head if you have to, but outside the
tour bus, you’d better smile like you all have matching best-friend
necklaces.”
    Kate scowls. Jinx fiddles with her
fingernails.
    Rax’s lip twitches. Toombs doesn’t move an
inch.
    And Shades? He’s grinning at me. Most likely
to the tune of Joan Jett’s “Do You Wanna Touch Me?” The
bastard.
    My twat churns out a fresh batch of batter
in my drawers.
    Did he know who I was when he picked me up
last night? What if he plotted our little romp from the get-go?
Sneaky, devious motherfucker.
    I wriggle and straighten. This whole thing
stinks. My long-awaited chance to break out, and all it’ll take is
one slip of the lip for Shades to ruin everything. If Kate finds
out about us, it’s over.
    Worse, what if he decides he likes me? The
last thing I want is a guy hanging all over me, blackmailing me
into sex with him every night.
    I sneak a glance at him, relaxed into the
chair like he owns the fucking world. With his dad’s money, he
probably owns a nice chunk of it. Smug, self-assured, cocky. Only
thing he’s missing is a smoking jacket, a pipe, and a bevy of
Playboy Bunnies surrounding him.
    But God damn , he’s a fine piece
of ass. And he certainly knows his way around the female body.
Maybe fucking him every night wouldn’t be that bad.
    Shut up, Letty.
    “ My other rule is that
while you’re on tour, you’ll work a forty-hour week like real
people do.” Jillian studies the girls on one side of the room, then
the boys on the other. I feel like I’m getting chewed out by the
coach in high school gym class for flushing maxi pads down the
toilet. She crosses her arms over her chest. “That means during the
day, you’re either rehearsing or writing music.”
    “ Oh right, so I can have
my tunes ripped off by a thieving asshole again?” Kate bares her
teeth at Rax. “Fuck that.”
    Rax sneers back.
    Jillian bitch-slaps Kate
with a scowl. “That’s what monitor headphones are for. And there’s
plenty of room on the bus for you to spread out. If you want to
make it, you gotta be in constant production mode. The more songs
you have, the better the chance you’ll get picked up when a record
exec stumbles upon you. This is a business . You have to treat it as
such. Both bands
have been screwing around, waiting for shit to happen for too long.
Shit doesn’t happen. Professionals make it happen.”
    “ Sounds like a challenge,”
Rax says, his gaze targeted right between Kate’s eyes.
    “ I do love a challenge.”
Her upper lip twitches with a Billy Idol snarl.
    Jillian butts in, “Good. Here’s one for you:
by the end of the tour, I want twelve new songs out of both
bands.”
    “ Too easy. I say we up the
stakes with a friendly wager.” Rax the snake coils into the couch,
ready to strike. “Something that’ll prove beyond a shadow of a
doubt which is the better band.”
    Toombs shifts the side of his mouth upward
in what must be his version of a grin.
    Jinx’s head pops up, but as usual, she
doesn’t say anything.
    “ First band to score a
record deal wins a prize.” Rax’s hypnotic eyes almost
swirl.
    Kate puffs out her chest. “Writing an album
is a piece of piss. But what if neither band gets a deal? I’d hate
for a draw to stop me from publicly humiliating you assholes. Give
me something more tangible to shoot for. Something fan-based.
They’re the ones we’ll be playing for over the next few months.
They’re the ones who really matter.”
    “ Okay. Whichever band has
the most number of likes on their fan page by January 1 wins a
prize.”
    “ Like what?” I ask. Not
that I’m worried. We’ll