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“What’s that?”
Asa clicked the lock button on his phone before turning around.
Shawn Torres lifted his chin in greeting as he took a seat on the leather couch in the control room of Studio X.
Asa tugged at his left earlobe. “How much did you hear?” he asked the younger musician.
A crooked smile slowly spread across the twenty-one-year old’s face. “Why? Is it a secret?”
This cocky son of a bitch. Asa couldn’t help the chuckle that rumbled out of him.
Shawn had basically grown up in the studio his brother owned. It hadn’t been a secret that he wanted to be a recording artist on the same level as Sunshine Capone and Zara Lorna. But Johnny had been reluctant in letting him chase that wild dream.
For good reason, in Asa’s opinion.
But Shawn had been persistent (and smart) and he was well on his way to making a name for himself.
In fact…
“When did you get back?” Asa asked.
Last he’d checked, Shawn was opening for Sunshine Capone on tour. Talk about opportunity. He was getting out there and being heard and seen in a way that didn’t make Johnny want to rip out all his hair.
Opening for a huge name like Sunshine was a dream gig for new artists. As far as Asa knew, it had been going very well indeed.
“A couple days ago,” Shawn answered his question stretching his long arms up and folding his hands behind his head. “Don’t change the subject. What were you working on?”
Pesky, pesky.
Even though he was irritated that Shawn had overheard the voice memo, he wasn’t that upset. The kid had an ear and a passion that rivaled… Zara’s, actually. Huh.
That thought led to a mad scramble of ideas involving getting Shawn and Zara to work together.
Which, mysteriously and shockingly, sent a spike of jealousy shooting through the center of him.
Weird.
“I wasn’t working on anything.” Lie. His brain immediately rebelled. “Nothing important,” he clarified.
“Uh-huh,” Shawn replied. “All I was gonna say is if youwereworking on something, I want to hear it because it’s been a long time. Hasn’t it?”
Asa shrugged. Shawn’s brown eyes narrowed just slightly before he pumped his eyebrows and changed the subject. Sort of. “Do you ever sit in on writing sessions with anyone here?” he asked a little too casually.
Asa hummed and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s not really my thing. Nikki does, but she’s out for a few weeks. You looking for a writing partner?”
Shawn shook his head as his gaze lost focus.
It wasn’t often that Shawn came to him for advice, a pep talk, whatever. He had Johnny and Hannah Lee and Nikki. The few times he’d come to Asa were because he had things he wanted to work through that he didn’t feel he could with the others. They knew him differently. In a familial way. And they couldn’t look at him without that filter in place.
But Asa talked to him like he would any other artist. Not like he was a kid.
Shawn’s eyes focused on him again. “Can I ask you something?”
Asa was pretty sure that was a given but okay. “Go for it.”
“Have you ever had a muse?” Shawn asked.
Asa kept from smiling when he really wanted to. “Why? You got one?”
