“Hello, Las Vegas.”Lark laughed, standing behind the keyboard someone had moved to center stage.Her dress sparkled in the stage lights, sending a cascade of reflected light glittering over the audience.“Well, this is a surprise for us.”
“Yeah, I don’t have my guitar, but I’ll try to make Xander’s work for me.”Bailey grinned.“It’s a little different from mine.Nicer.”
“More expensive.One day you’ll have one that awesome.”Lark grinned at her.“Like Chase said, we’re Tattered Monarchs.And our drummer, Alice Rose is the true composer of ‘Lost Boys.’If you’ve never heard the original, it goes a little something like this.”
Then the arena vibrated with the haunting melody of their song.
Lark sang about a charismatic guy who made promises but always flew away.Someone who would never grow up to be a man.A lost boy.
I’d heard the song so many times over the past few weeks.But there was something poignant about hearing it now.Listening to it with a couple thousand others, watching them all fall in love with my girl, made the lyrics hit differently.Harder.
And then I realized why.
I was the man in the song.
Alice had written it about me.
Chapter 30
Alice
So many people congratulated us as we left the stage.I’d tried to give Noah a hug, but he’d dodged me.Wouldn’t look at me.All but ran to take his stool behind his drum set.
I couldn’t deny that it hurt.
I thought he’d be happy for us.We were out as a couple.Why was he being all weird?
“That was amazing!”Lark crowed.“Such a huge high singing in front of so many people.I can’t wait until we can fill up a stadium like that.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”Tyler stepped up behind her and offered his knuckles to her.“You guys lit that stage up.”
Lark tapped her knuckles against his with a grin.
“Thanks, Tyler.”I smiled at him as I followed with my own knuckles.Why couldn’t my own boyfriend say as much?
“Have you heard back from your lawyer?”Tyler asked with a concerned frown.
“Yeah, that’s what we were doing before the show.”Lark nodded.“Well, me and Alice.Bailey had to work the merch desk.Alice texted our lawyer all the evidence she has—her copyright filing, pictures of the saved file dates showing their age, and the weblink fromthe Babblerof when Parker got thrown out of our show.It looks like he filed for copyright two weeks ago, so it’ll be a slam dunk.Our lawsuit should be filed in the next day or so.”
“Fantastic.”Tyler grinned.“And what about our contract?I’d love to be able to field calls from media and labels on your behalf ASAP.”
I laughed.“We signed it this afternoon.Our lawyer should’ve sent over your copies earlier today.We are officially Tyler Worthington clients.”
Tyler only nodded stoically as he took in the information.I don’t know why I thought he’d be happier.“Fantastic.I’m glad.I can’t wait to work with you, ladies.”
I exchanged a look with Lark and Bailey.
But Tyler went on, undeterred.“I’ll reach out to your lawyer and work on our press release.”
“We want total approval of any statement issued.”Lark gave him her no bullshit stare.“It doesn’t go out until we say so.”
“Of course,” Tyler answered with a toothy smile.“We’ll talk tomorrow.Enjoy your evening, ladies.We’ll be hitting the ground running in the morning.”
He tapped knuckles with us again and then headed off down the hall.
I turned to Bailey.“Would it be uncool to scream right now?”
“Um, yes.”Lark laughed.“The guys are still playing out there.We don’t need to freak out anyone.”
