Wild Collision, page 5
Honestly, they probably haven’t.
“Well, aren’t you the sweetest thing,” he retorts.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” she warns. Turning to me she asks, “You know these losers?”
I sigh. “Meet Hollis and Rush.” I point to each guy and they nod. “They’re in the band my dad signed,” I explain.
“Oh. In that case, give me your autograph so I can sell it on eBay,” she tells Rush and his brows raise. “I was joking.”
“Are you guys done recording for the day?” I ask, trying to be nice since Hollis and I have some sort of truce going on right now. Who knows how long it’ll last.
He nods. “Yeah, Midnight Eyes is pretty much wrapped up. Everything is going smoothly. There’s still some minor tweaking to be done on the producing end, and we might have to re-record some things, but for the most part, it’s done.”
“Cool,” I say, and realize once the word leaves my mouth how pathetic I sound. “Um …what can I get you guys?” I ask.
Hollis rattles off his order as well as two more for Fox and Cannon who didn’t come. Then I do Rush’s order and Kira wraps everything up, checking them out.
Rush heads out first followed by Hollis who stops with his hand on the door and looks back right at me.
“See you,” he says with a tiny little smile.
I’m baffled by it, by the shyness in it, almost like he’s not used to being genuine.
“Bye,” I say back and he ducks out the door, heading down the street to his hotel. I have no idea where they’re staying but it must be within walking distance to here and the studio. I saw no other cars parked in the lot yesterday, and I know my dad was providing them with vehicles. They wanted it to be a part of their contract to have transportation for themselves, and my dad being my dad bought them each a car. He’s a softy.
Kira turns to me. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“Um…” I hesitate, confused. “Because it wasn’t important.”
“You didn’t think it was important to tell your best friend one of the hot guys in your dad’s new band likes you?”
I snort. “Hollis? He doesn’t like me—not like that. I definitely don’t like him either.”
She gives me a look. “Are you stupid? He has the hots for you.”
I give her an incredulous look. “Nope, he doesn’t, I promise you. He’s … he’s the kind of guy who prefers a different girl warming his bed every night and I’m not that girl.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “I’m right and I know I’m right.” She places her hands on her hips.
“Kira, even if you are, I’m not interested.”
“Mhmm,” she hums. “Keep telling yourself that.”
I balk. “I’m serious. He’s arrogant, cocky, an asshole—”
“A hot, arrogant, cocky, asshole,” she interrupts.
“You’re impossible,” I groan, throwing my arms in the air.
“Impossibly right.” She sticks her tongue out at me.
With a sigh, I shake my head as another customer comes in and we get back to work.
* * *
I lie in bed, my damp hair spread around me, staring at the ceiling.
For some reason I can’t get Kira’s words out of my head about Hollis liking me. It doesn’t seem plausible. He can’t possibly like me. A guy like him looks for easy, for girls who throw themselves at him, and I’m not one of those girls. There’s nothing wrong with being that way, but it’s not me.
It makes no sense for him to like me, and if she’s right and he does, my dad would kill him for it, I’m certain. He’s never taken kindly to anyone I’ve dated in the past—not that I want to date Hollis—and I know he’d hate it if one of the guys from The Wild dated me. He’s always warned me away from guys in bands—and when I asked him why, considering he’s a musician and the best dad ever, he said he hadn’t always been the greatest person, he’d done many things he was ashamed of, but meeting my mom and me changed things for him.
I doubt he’d think Hollis was capable of change, and frankly, I’d agree with him.
I don’t even know the guy; a few encounters doesn’t make us best friends. We don’t know each other’s favorite color or finish each other’s sentences. Even if we were friends—which is laughable—I can’t imagine us as a couple.
Mia, why are you even thinking about this? Guys like him ultimately don’t give girls like you the time of day. Besides, you don’t even like him.
I don’t like him.
Not a little bit.
Nope.
I don’t.
I really don’t.
Why don’t I believe myself then?
6
Hollis
I nod along to the music, a smile on my face. The guitar notes for Midnight Eyes linger in the air as Fox redoes some of his part.
Magic, it’s what we’re creating here with Hayes. Our music is flowing and sounds like it never has before.
It’s better, somehow more powerful.
It’s a risk to release our ballad first, especially when pop is so huge, but this song encompasses who we are as a band. What we want to sound like, who we want to be, and Hayes agreeing with us means the world because he knows the music industry inside and out. If he didn’t think releasing this song first was wise, he’d strike us down and pick the single himself. He has the right to do it too.
In front of the booth Hayes grins from ear to ear, bopping his head along.
The door opens and Mia pops in with a cup holder full of coffees and in her other hand a bag of burgers from a local diner. Hayes asked her to run out since we were all starving and in no place to leave.
She doles out everyone’s coffee and food. We have regular drinks in the fridge and I grab a water since I have no desire to drink coffee with my burger.
Mia sits down in the chair we moved into the room for her since after the first day she refuses to sit on the couch and let me stand. In fact, she avoids me at all costs and it’s beginning to boil my blood. It’s not like I have some life threatening disease she’ll catch by breathing the same air as me.
Even if I’m irritated by her behavior I can’t help but watch her every time she’s near.
I try not to, oh how I try not to, especially with Hayes so close, but she’s like a siren and I’m caught in her dangerous melody. The way she moves, the way her hair falls over her shoulders, the way her eyes flicker taking in everything around her, it all draws me in. I’ve never been like this before. Not ever. I don’t know what it is about her that’s different. I haven’t even thought about going out and picking up a chick since I first encountered Mia. It’s … weird. I don’t even know what I want from her, if it’s even anything, but she fascinates me. Not because she’s beautiful, which she is, but she’s … different. Unique. I’ve never met anyone else like her.
I try my best to force thoughts of the redhead from my mind, but even as I eat, my eyes keep straying in her direction. Thank God Hayes is so into what’s happening in the booth he doesn’t notice me glancing at his daughter every two seconds.
I only wish I could understand why I’m so drawn to her. Yes, she’s beautiful, fucking gorgeous actually, but millions of women are. It has to be more than her looks and those staggering curves, something only Mia possesses.
Rush nudges his leg against mine and I know he’s caught my wandering eye.
A silent reminder of everything I could fuck up if I pursue this … thing I feel.
I know, I know. As much as I want to see where these feelings could lead I’m forbidden from it.
I can’t risk this for the guys, and I can’t risk it for me either, not over a woman.
I give her one last lingering stare as she curls her legs under her, eating her burger without a care in the world. A lot of women would’ve gotten a salad, not wanting to look like a pig in front of us guys—guys who are definitely pigs in more ways than one. But Mia doesn’t care. She’s not looking to impress anyone, especially not us, and it’s refreshing if I’m honest with myself.
Even with our moderate success, women still push themselves at us. I guess to brag about bagging some guy in a band. We’re nothing to them as much as they’re nothing to us. They use our fame and we use their bodies. It’s mutual, but someone like Mia … she looks down at us. Fuck, if it doesn’t make me look down at myself for everything I’ve done in the past. Everyone I’ve used for one brief moment of pleasure. She doesn’t know the long list of mistakes I’ve made. She barely talks to me, avoids me, all she judges my character by is her assumptions. If she knew … well, everything she already thinks and her reasons for avoidance would indeed be valid.
I swallow past the lump in my throat, not used to the shame clinging to me like a second skin.
What’s happening to me?
Why the fuck do I care what she thinks?
She’s nothing.
We’re nothing.
Not even friends.
Definitely not lovers.
I stare down at the food in my lap, making myself eat, but not actually tasting it.
When I finish it’s my turn to re-record some of the vocals on the bridge.
I head into the booth and when I sit down, slipping the headphones on, I look out and she’s gone.
* * *
Once again, I find myself lingering as the guys go back to the hotel and Hayes leaves.
I made it seem like I was leaving since Mia had to stay behind to clean up, restock the refrigerator and do other odd things around the studio.
Now, I slip back inside. Already, she has music playing. I can’t place the song, it’s not one I recognize but it’s hypnotic. The female’s voice alluring, the words poetry.
I stalk through the studio and find her in the kitchen area, standing on her tiptoes to place a box of cereal on a top shelf.
“Let me get it,” I say, reaching out for the box.
She startles, and jumps, falling into my chest. Her body is soft and warm against mine, her curves pressing into me.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” she seethes, slapping my chest. It leaves a sting, but I know I deserve it. I didn’t mean to scare her, but I should’ve known I would.
I put the cereal away and face her.
“I thought you left,” she accuses. “Why are you still here?”
“You left,” I blurt.
Her brows furrow. “Uh … no. I’m pretty sure I’ve been here the whole time.”
I shake my head. “No, the recording room. You left when I went in.”
“Oh.” She looks away, nibbling her plump bottom lip.
My eyes zero in on her lips and I’m helpless to look away.
“Why?” I ask.
It shouldn’t matter.
It doesn’t matter.
Lies.
It does matter.
She shrugs, wrapping her arms around herself. “It’s too much,” she finally responds after a moment of pause.
“What is?” I ask, and somehow I’ve moved closer to her without doing it consciously.
She swallows thickly. Her impossibly blue eyes, so striking with her red hair and creamy skin, look helplessly up at me.
“Feeling.” Her answer is no more than a whisper. Barely a breath.
“Shouldn’t feeling be a good thing?”
She shakes her head, taking a step away from me. “Not this kind.”
“Why?” I approach her. I’m afraid if I let her get too far she’ll flee. I wouldn’t stop her, but I don’t want her to go. I guess it makes me a selfish bastard, but I already knew I was one.
“I don’t want you to make me feel anything.”
A stab to my heart. I’ve never had words pierce me before. Not like hers do.
“Why are you afraid of me?” I ask, my voice low, my head angled toward her.
“I’m not afraid,” she says vehemently. “But I won’t have my heart broken—not when I know better. I know your type. You use, you use, and you use again and again with no care for who you hurt, even yourself. I won’t be a part of it. I’m too smart to fall for it.”
“You think this is an act?” Anger laces my words.
She nods.
“I wouldn’t pretend to get in your pants if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m as confused by this as you are, but you can’t deny it either can you?”
“Deny what?” Her eyes shift away.
She already knows.
“The chemistry, this thing between us. You felt it the first time we met too. I know you did.”
“Stop it,” she growls out. “Leave me alone, please.”
“I wish I could,” I admit. “It’d be easier. I risk everything with every second I’m near you.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“My dad,” she whispers on a sigh.
“I still want to know you,” I admit.
“Know me?” she repeats.
I can’t help smiling. “Yeah, I want to know you. Maybe be your friend.”
“Hollis Wilder, I think you’re incapable of being any female’s friend.”
“I’m willing to find out if you are.”
Her eyes dart away. “Even if nothing happens between us my dad will assume if he catches us.”
I give her a toothy smile, like a shark, a predator. “Then we’ll make sure he doesn’t find out.”
7
Mia
I sit across from Hollis at the pub a block from the studio.
How on Earth did I end up here?
How did I allow myself to get suckered into this?
I’m lying to myself. I know why.
Because Hollis is right. I can deny it all I want, but ever since the first time I met him there’s been something drawing us together. A tug. A bond. It makes no sense. I hated him on sight, his cocky smirk and every word that left his stupid smart-ass mouth.
We ordered our food, and I got a drink, a strong one, in order to get through this without spontaneously combusting on the spot. I have to limit myself to only one since I have to drive home and it doesn’t sit well with me. A drunken stupor would be helpful at a time like this. Then I could pretend this whole encounter was a dream.
The Wild has barely been in Virginia a week, and here I am. Out with Hollis as friends when we both know the simmering heat between us does not lead to friendship.
More like friction between the sheets.
But I refuse to go down that path. I’ve been burned in the past before and not by someone in a band who is known to be the worst for loving and leaving. I refuse to be another tally in whatever book he keeps of his conquests.
Hollis takes a swig of beer, his throat bobbing with the motion.
Even his throat is sexy. It’s entirely unfair.
“Why are we here?” I ask, spreading my arms wide.
We’re sitting on the outdoor deck. It’s packed enough I have to raise my voice to be heard. Above us fans whirl quickly, trying to keep patrons cool from the humid evening air.
“Getting to know each other.” He lays his corded muscled arms on the table.
“So far, we haven’t done much of that,” I remind him.
He smiles. “Ask me something then.”
I press my lips together. “What’s your family like?”
“Dad left when I was barely two years old. Haven’t seen the bastard since. My mom worked her ass off to support us. She’s amazing. Her side of the family is all I know and they’re pretty cool too. All I want is to be able to take care of her so she doesn’t have to.”
I’d be lying if I said my heart doesn’t stir at his confession.
“Where’d you grow up?”
“Tennessee—that’s two questions so now I get two,” he warns, waving his fingers in front of my face.
“Fine,” I grumble.
“What’s your biggest desire?”
I narrow my eyes and he groans.
“Not what I meant. I mean, what do you wish for most? What do you hope for? Get it now?”
I sigh, thinking seriously about how I want to answer.
“I want to be successful on my own merit. I don’t want people to whisper I’m only where I am because of my dad or my last name. I want people to value my opinion because it’s good and important to them. I want to be my own person, Mia, not Joshua Hayes’s daughter.”
“I respect that. One more question.” He thinks for a moment. “If your life was a song, which would it be?”
“Beauty in Madness,” I say, referring to one of Willow Creek’s songs. “When you have a famous parent, there’s a lot of beauty to it, lots of amazing opportunities, but there’s the madness and chaos too. It can be a beautiful exhausting mess. My turn?”
He nods.
“Why am I different to you?”
I don’t know what makes me ask the question. Why it’s so important to hear his answer.
He swallows thickly, picking up his bottle of beer and swirling it around. He shakes his head. “I don’t know. You just are.” He takes a sip of the beer looking contemplative.
I’m not mad at his answer, because it’s sort of how I feel about him, so I understand.
He leans forward a bit, a smirk tilting his lips on one corner. “Easy one—what’s your favorite color?”
“Yellow,” I answer with a small laugh. “Yours?”
“Navy blue.”
“Interesting,” I muse.
“Why?”
“I expected you to say black.”
“Why?” he laughs.
“Isn’t it the color of debauchery?”
He shrugs. “I wouldn’t know.”
My lips twitch as I try not to laugh. “Funny, I thought you were King of the club.”
“They kicked me out,” he parries easily. “Apparently I’m not as much of a badass as they thought.”
“Really?”
“Yeah—apparently the motorcycle wasn’t enough.”
“You have a motorcycle?” My eyebrows rise in surprise. “I’m intrigued.”
His eyes glint with mischief, that strange amber color flashing. “I’ll take you for a ride some time.”
