Accidental Rock Star (12 page)

Garrett was shooting a
half-anime, half-live action film in L.A. with Max.

“A few.” Garrett gave
the uncharacteristic short response, probably to screw with Caz’s
head.

“Who?” Caz shifted his
gaze from Garrett to Marissa. “How many? What guys?”

Marissa waved him off.
“I’ll have Ashley call you.” She smiled back at Tyler. “You doing
okay, Sax?” Her concerned green eyes warmed him. “You still doing
okay there? Homesick?”

“It’s good.”

“Enough attention on
Sax. He’s doing fine.” Garrett rose, lifting Marissa and making her
squeal. “Later.” His frame went dark.

Tyler signed off with
the others and kicked back, hands behind his head. Fucking Gina. He
didn’t want to think about her. He wanted to think about Aria.
Maybe he should call Aria. Or Skype with her. Or text. Nah. She
needed chill time. If her non-response so far was any
indication.

A tap sounded on his
door.

“Come in.”

Baylee wore a tank and
cutoffs and she had her hair down. For the first time, he saw the
resemblance to Marissa. “You’re kind of hot when you put in some
effort.”

Baylee swatted at his
leg. “I told you, I want meaningful. A guy who sees through the
artifice. Not like you Hollywood brats.”

He pushed her with his
foot, making her stumble back. “Artifice? That on the SAT prep
sheet?”

She caught her balance
and nodded.

“Well, I’ll tell you
the truth here. Guys are visual. We have to spot our prey in an
instant. We don’t have time to dig deeper.”

Baylee shook her head.
“God. Guys.”

“Yeah. Guys. We’re
fucking awesome. If you want one, you got to put it out there. Let
’em know you’re on the market.”

“OMG.” She sat down on
the end of his bed, and he shifted his legs to make more room.
“How’d you screw up your date?”

“I didn’t.”

She stared at him.
“Spill it. I’ll just call Aria and find out anyway.”

“I didn’t. Really. I
took her to a nice place. The Merange Restaurant.”

Baylee choked. Her eyes
got big and her mouth dropped open. “
What?”

Relief floated into
him. It
was
the restaurant. Not him. Thank God.

“You took Aria to the
Prom Panty Dropper hotel? Aria?” She laughed.

He threw a pillow at
her.

Baylee rose, still
laughing, “Yeah. You don’t need my help at all. You’ve got this
town wired.”

***

Aria sifted through the
band invoices and tallied the total. Their budget was so small she
could do the math in her head.

Baylee stopped in the
doorway. “Hey, Aria.”

Your cousin’s a
perv. He looks nothing like you. He doesn’t know what state he’s
from. Dating him is like living inside a country song. Lies. Fast
truck. Smooth hands. Grr.
“Hey, Baylee.”

“So. About Tyler.”

“Did he ask you to talk
to me?”

“No.”

Why the hell
not?
“Oh.”

Baylee stepped in and
shut the door behind her. “He’s new here. He didn’t know about prom
hotel.”

“You’re covering for
him. I get it. I’d cover for my cousin, too.”

Baylee flushed and
didn’t meet her gaze. “He’s a good guy.”

Aria’s tension deflated
some, though it should be him in here talking to her and not his
cousin.

The bell rang,
indicating they should take their seats.

***

Aria wouldn’t even look
at him.

“Mr. Steele. Mr.
Steele.” Director Garcia clapped in his face.

Tyler blinked. He meant
him. Steele wasn’t his name, and he was distracted. He sat up in
his chair. “Yes?”

“You have a package at
the attendance office.”

He must have still
looked blank because Director Garcia said, “Aria, show Tyler where
the attendance office is.”

He knew where the
attendance office was, but he wasn’t missing an opportunity for
time with Aria so he didn’t correct the mistaken impression.

Aria worked her jaw a
bit and then nodded. “Yes, sir.” Still not looking at Tyler, she
shot for the door. He followed.

Silence.

He tried to think of
what to say and could think of nothing.

They got to the office,
and she hung around instead of ditching him. It was something.

The student office aide
handed him a package, had him sign for it, and reminded him
students weren’t supposed to receive packages. Why the hell was she
giving it to him then?

She winked. Oh.

Aria stiffened further,
so taut that if she were a guitar string she would have popped.

He tightened his grip
on the box and looked down. His mind flashed to all the past crap
his anonymous stalker had sent. Back when Gina was an anonymous
stalker. He checked the return address and his shoulders eased.
Mr. Edinburgh. Perfect Lane.

Garrett. Maybe he’d
sent something to help. Though the box was way too small to be a
cello.

Tyler tore the seam and
looked in.
Neon. Flavored. Assorted condoms. Size: small.
Fucking asshole. He bit off the curse and glanced at Aria, who was
looking at the wrapped package with arched brows. Like she didn’t
think he was enough of a perv. He was so getting Garrett back for
this. Maybe he’d send Marissa some tacky lingerie. The real trashy
stuff. He’d sign the card
Garrett
. Or
Marry me.
Garrett.

“What is it?”

He was glad he was so
much taller than her. Because no way was she seeing this. No way in
hell. He held the box tighter. “Prank from a friend back home.”

“Missouri?”

“Yeah.”

Aria waved her
smartphone at him. “Really, because I got a text that said you were
from Montana.”

Was it Montana? Dammit,
he had to focus. “I’ve been around a lot.”

“I bet you have.”

He reached for her
phone. “Who texted you?”

Aria backed up and
shoved her phone in her pocket. She eyed the box.

Fucking Garrett. He
tossed the box in the nearest trash can.

“You just threw that
away.” Aria sounded outraged.

“Yep.” Tyler stared
straight into her angry dark blue eyes. She wasn’t mad about his
wastefulness. “I
didn’t know
about the restaurant. Why
people go there. I didn’t know.”

“Swear?

“I swear.”

Her expression wavered.
“Maybe you should have found out?”

Harsh.
“Definitely.”

She chewed on her
bottom lip, and her gaze darted around like she was thinking.

Better. Time to push.
“Maybe we should…”

Aria turned toward band
hall. “We’ve got to return to class.”

Yeah. He’d been leading
with some weak-ass shit anyway:
Maybe we should
… What kind
of man talked like that? He’d been living with chicks too long. He
strode back toward the band hall, his longer legs forcing her to
follow him.

***

Aria kind of believed
him, but there was something he wasn’t telling her. And to just
throw a delivery away, weird. They got back to band hall, and Aria
pointed to the new shipment of boxes, which had been stacked
against the wall. The band hall quieted. Heads turned, but no one
moved toward the boxes. She faced the drum section, keeping her
gaze on Dylan and Ethan and off of Tyler. She arched her eyebrows.
“Guys? You mind?”

Tyler jumped up
first.

Whatever.

Dylan and Ethan rose,
too, and they hefted the boxes to the center of the room. Tyler
tore the strip of packing tape off the largest one and pried the
lid back. His biceps tensed, like they did when he played
drums.

So hot.

Aria wasn’t the only
one who noticed. Megan pointed and Katy sat up straighter.
Whatever. She hurried to his side and lifted out one of the
packages. She tossed the first to Ethan. “These are for
everyone.”

Ethan ripped the
wrapping open. A dark green shirt fell out. “Band T-shirts.” His
voice lit up.

The cutout neon lizard
wasn’t as cool as it had looked onscreen when she ordered them. And
it was supposed to say
Mighty Lizard Marching Band
. Instead,
it read
Mighty Marching Lizards
. Their mascot lizard crawled
under the words, and his tail curled around to the back. Her
shoulders sagged, and she lifted a shirt free. She must’ve messed
up the text in the order. She’d thought it’d be a new, undamaged
piece of the uniform they could all wear. They’d be the same.
They’d be new. They’d be cool. These weren’t cool. Not cool at all.
Irritation rose inside her. She caught Tyler watching her carefully
and tried to smile like it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be bothered
in front of him.

Tyler held her gaze. He
turned his back fully to the risers and unbuttoned the top button
of his shirt. He continued down. Button after button. Then he
shrugged out of the shirt. He wore a white cotton undershirt
underneath. The thin fabric stretched across his shoulders and lay
flat over his abs.

Megan and Katy
wolf-whistled.

Tyler pulled the
undershirt over his head. Tyler was ripped. Like an athlete. Like a
model. The T-shirt crumpled under her sweaty fingers.

She’d touched his arm,
his shoulder, his chest even. She’d had no idea how he’d look
without his shirt. Holy cow. The whistles grew louder, and all they
could see was his back. She wanted him to turn around so she could
see his back, too. But she also wanted him to stay facing her so
she could enjoy the private view. She wanted him closer.

Aria put a hand to her
hot cheek and couldn’t have looked away if Swift, Strait, and
Shelton had walked through the door.

Green fabric came down,
concealing Tyler’s chest. The new T-shirt. Once his abs were
concealed, the spell was broken. Aria blinked. Half the guys had
come down for shirts and copied him. The girls, too, at least the
ones who wore tanks or sports bras. She looked at Tyler again. The
shirt molded to his shoulders and draped looser at the waist. He
rocked it. The shirt was ridiculous. But he rocked it, and she
adored him for it.

He moved forward and
snagged the hem of her shirt. He raised it an inch. She wore a tank
so she lifted her arms straight in the air and let him lift it off.
Though the act was about solidarity, it shook her, like it was
something meaningful, something intimate. Heat pooled in her veins.
Hot. The green shirt covered her eyes and then slid into place.
Tyler flattened his hands along her sides as if to smooth the
fabric. She shivered.

His green eyes, made
deeper by the dark green shirt, lit as he took her in. “Looks good
on you.”

She glanced down and
then back at him. They were rocking matching T-shirts like a
super-cute couple.

Tyler cupped her face
and kissed her. The noise stopped. Warmth. Quick. Just a brush.
Just a touch. So hot. Oh, my.

He pulled back, staring
into her eyes. “Let me try again. Please. I can do better.”

“Yes.” The word was
pulled from her.

The whoops and catcalls
from her bandmates drew her back to Leithville.

“Get it, Steele.”

“Get a room.”

“Take it to
Li-War.”

Director Garcia cleared
his throat from the door. “All right, you deviants. Back in your
chairs. Clothes on.”

Mom leaned on her
doorway as Aria got ready, watching her like she was a baby in a
crib. “So his name is Tyler.”

Hair blown out. Makeup.
Cute blue dress. Flats. Music note earrings from Aunt Bev. Silver
necklace, music note charm, also from Aunt Bev. “Yeah.”

“What’s he like?”

He’s gorgeous. His
kisses are intense. He loves music. He lets me talk about music
constantly, and he seems fascinated. If I’m not talking about
music, he brings it up. He seems really into me. I’m crazy into
him.

She didn’t look at Mom,
but focused on her eyeliner. “He’s a guy. In my class. Baylee’s
cousin.” The eyeliner line wasn’t perfectly smooth, so she ran a
cotton swab over the edge.

Her phone played the
text ringtone. Aria grabbed it off the vanity and checked the time.
She hoped Tyler wasn’t here yet, because she was only partly
ready.

The text was from
Hunter.
Heard you were going out with Tyler Steele.

Yeah,
she texted
back.

Do you even know
anything about him? Why he’s here? Transferring senior year? And
not with his parents?

How irritating.
Don’t worry about it. Noneya.
She hit send.

Mom left her alone
during the texting, and she went back to getting ready.

Her phone beeped. Grr.
Oh. Tyler.

His text said,
I’m
here.

Aria typed,
Ring
bell. Parents want to meet you. Don’t mention band.

The doorbell rang.
Excitement filtered through her veins. She beat her parents to the
door.

Tyler grinned at her.
“Cute dress. Pretty.”

Aria smiled back at
him. “Thanks.” He wore an off-white Henley, jeans, and boots. Hot.
She gripped his arm. “Come say hi to my parents.”

Tyler followed her
through the foyer, past the framed family pictures. He paused at
one with her and Aunt Bev. She held a guitar taller than Aria was.
“Adorable.” Tyler glanced away from the picture toward the living
room. “I’ve never ‘met the parents’ before.”

She stopped abruptly,
forcing him to halt. “Why?”

He looked around the
foyer and shrugged.

Maybe no one mattered
before? She grinned, and he took her hand and slid it down his arm
and into his free hand. Nice.

Aria squeezed his hand
but she shook free before going into the living room.

“Where are you kids
going?” Dad asked. Her parents both wore weekend casual and were
watching a movie. Mom muted it.

Tyler smiled easily and
shook their hands. “To hear a band. We have a triple date with
Ethan, Dylan and their dates.”