Page 31 of Before You Fell

“And you are so insufferable.”

For a moment, neither of us speaks.

The hallway is too quiet. My heart beats hard enough to piss me off.

His eyes move over my face, lingering from my eyes to my mouth as if he has the right to glance there. As if he is remembering something he has no business taking.

It would be so easy for him to lean in. That’s the worst part. One tilt of his head. One filthy little mistake, dressed up as a kiss.

He has only kissed me once. At a party when we were fifteen. Cheap beer and bad music. His mouth tasted like beer, weed, and the kind of trouble I should have known better than to want.

I have spent eight years pretending I had forgotten it.

But Phoenix looks at my lips as if he knows I didn’t.

Footsteps echo down the hallway and Phoenix’s eyes leave my mouth.

We both turn as a security guard stops a few feet away, one hand pressed to his earpiece.

“Phoenix. There’s a blonde out front. She says her name is Mickey. She says you told her to come by.”

For one second, Phoenix is motionless. The almost-human he was seconds ago disappears so quickly I feel stupid for having seen it at all.

“Yeah,” he says.

And just like that, the boy is gone and in his place stands this asshole, already making room for another girl.

Phoenix walks off with the security guard, swagger in his step and that filthy rockstar skin sliding back over him.

The guys are exactly where I left them and their conversation dies the second I step inside. They glance at me, at the door behind me, before looking back at me.

They know.

Whatever lives between Phoenix and me is too ugly to hide and too fucked up to bury. It follows us into every room, lingers in the air, seeps into the songs, and turns quiet things sharp.

Not one of them has ever said a word to me about it. And right now, that’s the only thing in this room I’m fucking grateful for.

The studio door opens again. Phoenix walks in with the blonde beside him. Tiny skirt. High fuck-me boots. Glossy mouth. Big eyes fixed on him as if he were already a story she plans to tell tomorrow.

Damon knocks on the glass. “Who is that?”

“This is Mickey,” Phoenix says, a cocky smile already in place. “She’s here to watch the magic.” He turns slightly. “Meet the rest of the band. Jax, Wills, Jett, and Cruz over there.”

Damon’s voice sharpens. “Groupies are not permitted in the studio while we are working.”

Phoenix ignores him and walks past us with Mickey beside him.

None of the guys move.

Jax mutters, “For fuck’s sake.”

Damon points toward the hall. “She can wait outside.”

Phoenix barely looks at him. “No.”

He finds a stool in the corner, gestures for Mickey to sit, and then smiles at her.

The blonde smiles back, nervous and thrilled, and I hate that I feel sorry for her. She has no idea she’s not special. She’s just another pretty place for Phoenix to put his cock in tonight or in the next twenty minutes if he gets bored enough.