Blair Babylon [Rock Stars in What a Girl Wants (epub)

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.He drummed harder.Tattoos of scarlet roses and black swirls peeked through rips in his white tee shirt as his muscles flexed with the beat.When she had blasted the last note, the drummer turned toward her from his slouch and took his sunglasses off.His dark, dark eyes, as mysterious and inky as his middle name, Diavolos, settled on her for a second, like he hadn’t looked at her until just then.Rhiannon had committed every word of that Rolling Stone article to memory and was in desperate danger of shrieking a fangirl squee.Tryp Areleous tossed her resume down the table at the other guys.“She’s got a rocker name, Rhiannon.That’s cool.” He pronounced it just like Stevie Nicks had, Ree-ANN-un, the right way.Tryp continued, “And her last name is a scotch whiskey.”Yep, Macallen.Rhiannon’s thighs weakened, and her breath floated high in her chest when he said something nice.Tiny, tiny, tiny flickers of hope for a callback flickered in her head.Wisps of dreams that they might hire her didn’t even poke out their ghostly heads.“I am less concerned with her name,” Xan Valentine said.He had been working both thumbs over his phone the whole time, only glancing up at her once with little expression.His long, brown hair had been bleached pale blond below his shoulders.His posh British accent was pronounced when he spoke, but she had never heard any of it in his singing voice.The Rolling Stone article hadn’t said if he was from England or not.“Names can be changed, if they haven’t already.Her voice is interesting.”Two other guys, Rade Delcore and Grayson Jones, most likely, seemed deeply asleep, sprawled back in their chairs.The last guy, Cadell Glynn, the lead guitarist, was working on something on a tablet and yawning.“Hey, Rhiannon,” Tryp said, jutting his chin at her.“You wanna suck my dick?”Rhiannon blinked.Her eyelids fell over her eyes.The room turned black.Her lashes clapped together, and conflict swarmed in her head.If she sucked his dick, maybe they would give her the job.They would see that she was a team player, that she did what she was told.If she sucked his dick, then she would be just another cock-sucking groupie to them, not an equal, not a band member.If she sucked him off really well, maybe they would overlook her lumpy body and curly strawberry blond hair and too-operatic voice for rock.Maybe they would like her.One of her knees trembled, ready to bend.She shouldn’t have to blow somebody to get this job.But the next girl might do it.Or the next one.Or the one after that.There were probably a hundred more singers out there, and at least some of them were desperate enough to blow the whole band, every night, if that’s what it took.Or, she could be the funny redhead and throw it back at him.Her glowing red eyelashes lifted.Light flooded her eyes.Tryp was still grinning at her, inordinately proud that he had said something so crass.“Oh, hell, no,” Rhiannon told him.“That’s what the fucking groupies are for.”Tryp laughed and put his sunglasses back on, leaning back and continuing beating out his rhythm line on his legs and the table.Xan Valentine slapped his phone on the table.“Piss off, Tryp,” Xan Valentine said, scowling at the drummer.He turned back to Rhiannon.“Sorry about that.He’s a wanker, sometimes.What instruments do you play?”“Guitar and bass.”“And what have you been doing to prepare for a career as a musician?”Rhiannon whipped her phone out of her purse and thumbed open the calendar, setting it to the week-at-a-glance view, which looked like a seven-row quilt blocked in with primary colors.“The black blocks are travel time, because this is L.A.Other than that, almost every waking minute is rehearsing, performing, or coaching sessions.” And just enough of a part-time job to eat.“I sleep four hours a night.”Xan Valentine held out his hand, palm up, fingers wide.Rhiannon faked some confidence and walked across the carpet to hand him her phone.His long, pale fingers closed around it.The death’s head rings and silver chains on his wrists clashed with the black, well-cut suit he wore.He perused her phone.If she could get a picture of him holding that phone in his hands, she could sell the outdated thing on Ebay for three times what it was worth, but her camera was in the phone.He asked, “What is this Blue Mountain River Band?”“A southern folk-rock ensemble that I sing with.There are three principal singers, singing harmony.”“And Leapin Lightning?”“Hard rock.I’m the principal singer, there.I write most of the lyrics for that band, too.”“I don’t see any social time on here, time for friends.”“I’ll make friends after my first album goes platinum.”He glanced up at her, and one dark eyebrow rose.“Or a significant other?”“No boyfriend,” she said.“Music is a jealous bitch.”Xan Valentine raised both eyebrows.“Indeed, she is.You’re interesting, Rhiannon.What would you do with all these other commitments?”“All of them are scratch bands, not permanent.They all break up and reform every six months or so.It won’t be a problem.” No one was safe from being summarily tossed out on their ass, and some people just picked up and left with no warning, just stopped coming to rehearsals and taking the band’s calls.Every time she played with every one of those guys, she wondered if it would be the last time she saw them.He tapped Rhiannon’s phone and held it to his ear, staring at her with his intense brown eyes.She fought the urge to turn, to protect her lumpy body from his inspection.He asked, “It’s ‘Rhiannon,’ correct?”His pronunciation was right, if British, so she nodded.“Gaston,” Xan Valentine said into the phone, still looking up at her.He said it with a straight-French accent, so very European.Gaston was the name of Leapin Lightning’s lead guitarist.Her knees were feeling a little wobbly, like she might be sick.Xan Valentine said, “I’ve got your lead singer Rhiannon here, and I’m considering offering her a job with our band.Is there anything I should know?”Rhiannon’s face burned like she’d been splashed with a bucket of hot water.“I see.Thank you.” He hung up her phone.“He said that you indeed have that flexibility and then called me several compound words.I think he should like to keep you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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