Unfamiliar (26 page)

The way I feel for you I can't ignore

He's not the one for you, he's not the one.

It’s do or die don't hesitate, I see it in your eyes,
see it in your eyes

Just listen when I’m screaming

This unfamiliar feeling is what I hold

We only have one night to make this right

Don't waste your breath on this

Don’t waste your breath on this

You’re wasting so much time just living in your lies

And just like that, we were done. The crowd cheered. I exchange
d back slaps and high-fives with the other guys, congratulating them on the awesome show. We packed up our stuff and hauled it off to Jonathan’s van. After everything had been put away, I prepared to go out into the crowd to find the girl I’d fallen in love with, holding tightly onto her planner.

“Chase?”

Her voice was quiet and timid, but I heard her anyway. She was waiting backstage for me, and that’s when I knew that she’d chosen me. There was no other reason why she would be here, but I needed to hear it from her.

I tried to act cool as I held out her planner. “Here’s your planner.”

She seemed nervous as she took it from me. “Did you read it?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“And?” She chewed on her bottom lip.

“Do you have something to say to me?” Yep, I was still playing it cool.

Hailey took an uncertain step towards me. “Chase, I know I’m probably too late. I know I took a long time to figure things out and I understand if you’ve moved onto something better. I just, I guess I wanted you to know that you’re the one who makes me happy. I thought about everything you said, and you’re right. I do need to get busy living my own life. I need to make my own choices and I wanted to start by saying that I choose you.”

I stayed silent, studying the way her face scrunched up as she spoke. It was the cutest expression I’d ever seen. I wanted so badly to kiss her right now so she knew that everything was fine, but it wouldn’t hurt to make her wonder for a second. After all, she had rejected me like twenty times.

“Say something!” She looked really worried now.

I gave her a shrug. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist me and my muscles for too long. You had to come back for more of these sexy abs.”

“Chase!” She shoved me. “You are so frustrating!”

Laughing, I pulled her into my arms. “Oh, stop. You know I love messing with you.”

Hailey rolled her eyes at me. “Will you please let me know what you think so I know you’re serious about this?”

I pulled her in for a kiss, letting my hands roam all over the curves of her body. I could definitely get used to this.

“There were a million thoughts running through my mind, but every thought kept coming back to you. Every moment that made me smile was with you. Everything was confusion and darkness before you, and you gave everything a meaning. There's no way I'll ever let go of that. There’s no way I’ll ever let go of you.”

“So you still want me?”

“I’ll always want you.” And then I kissed her again.

“Chase Lancaster?”

I broke away from Hailey to find an older guy standing a couple of feet away from us. He was dressed casually and looked to be in his mid-thirties. He approached us with a smile.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Brent, from the Vibe Group. I assume Parker told you I’d be coming.”

No way. Brent was actually here. He’d actually come to see us play. This wasn’t happening.

“Hey, I’m so glad you could make it.” Hailey gave my hand a squeeze and it immediately calmed me down having her beside me.

“I’m glad I made it too,” Brent continued, “you guys were great. You really have a lot of energy on stage. I’ve been looking for a band with your sound for a long time.”

All I could do was nod. I didn’t even know what to say.

“Do you think that management is something your band is looking for? I feel like we could help you advance your goals by putting you in touch with the right people.”

“That sounds great. We would love to sign with a management company that could help to take us to the next level.” I was still nodding, but at least I’d managed to form words this time.

“How about I shoot you an email with all the info and you can talk to the other guys in the band about it more?”

“Yeah, that sounds great.” Okay, I’d already said that. “This is exactly the kind of break we’ve been looking for.”

“It’s been great talking to you, Chase. Let me know if you have any questions.” Brent stuck out his hand. “I look forward to working with
Set the Flames
.”

As I shook his hand, something Hailey had said echoed through my mind. “Actually, we had a change of lineup in the band, so we decided we needed a new name.” I knew the guys wouldn’t care what I was about to do. “We’re not
Set the Flames
anymore, we’re
Get Busy Living
.”

“Okay, I’ll make note of that,” Brent said with a nod, “It was good meeting you, Chase.”

“You too.”

After Brent left, Hailey turned to me, a smile on her face. She rested her head on my shoulder but looked up to study me with her green eyes that had become so familiar to me. “
Get Busy Living
? I like it.”

“Good,” I said, kissing her forehead, “because that’s what we’re going to be doing with the rest of our lives.”

Chase

Hailey sat beside me, squeezing my hand so tightly I was pretty sure she was cutting off my circulation.

“Hailey, I can’t feel my fingers,” I said with a laugh.

She gave me a look of embarrassment and loosened her grip. “I’m sorry! I’m just so excited! Aren’t you excited?”

Hell yeah, I was excited. I was also nervous as hell. This was a big deal. I still couldn’t believe this was happening. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.

“I am.” I kissed her hand. “I just don’t want to pass out from lack of blood circulation before I get to hear it.”

Hailey released my hand and rolled her eyes. “You are such a brat. I’m not that strong.”

“
And now we’re going to play the single from a fresh pop punk band to hit the Kansas City scene. This is Get Busy Living’s debut single,
Unfamiliar
.”

“Oh my gosh! That’s you!” She grabbed my arm this time, digging her nails into my skin as the
  song came on the radio.

“Hailey, baby.” I couldn’t help but laugh again. “Save that for when you get crazy in bed.”

“Chase!” She was so outraged that she released my arm. “I’m not getting crazy in bed with you!”

“I’m just messing with you.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Thank you for being excited for me. I appreciate it.”

She cracked a smile at that and snuggled into me as the song played. Even though we’d both heard the song plenty of times, we still listened to it as though we were hearing it for the first time. It was our song. It was a piece of my relationship with Hailey that I’d managed to put into words.

She was the inspiration that I’d always been looking for. The song covered everything that our relationship was about. It was up and down. It wasn’t perfect. But it was perfect enough for us, and that’s all we needed.

When the song ended, Hailey kissed my chin. “I’m so proud of you.”

I shrugged. “It’s a start in the right direction. This will help us a lot.”

“Don’t forget me when you’re famous,” she said with a grin.

“That’s not possible.” And I meant it.

We stared at each other, this time not worrying about whether it was inappropriate or not. There was nothing holding us back. We were exactly where we needed to be.

This was my Hailey. Nobody else’s. I didn’t have to worry about her not wanting to be with me. I didn’t have to wonder if she had feelings for me. I already knew.

Finally, I broke the silence. “About before, it’s fine, you know.”

“What is?” A crease appeared on her brow.

A smile crept onto my face. “If you want to get crazy in bed. I wouldn’t mind.”

“Chase!” She playfully started slapping me on the arm, and all I did was laugh because I loved her and everything was easy with her.

“I’m sorry.” I grabbed her wrists. “I love you.”

And I meant it. I would never take her for granted. I would always try and keep that gorgeous smile on her face. And, maybe one day when we were both ready, we would take the next unfamiliar step forward in our relationship.

It was scary, but you had to live a little, right?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-good-memories-fade-ep/id798818510

You can also watch the music video for Unfamiliar on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1uhtcZZkA&app=desktop

Find out more about the guys from Get Busy Living:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/GetBusyLivingBand

Twitter:
@GBLband

We would like to extend a BIG thank you to the band Get Busy Living for writing such an awesome song for our book!

Thank you to Andrew Shepherd for filming the music video for the song, and Jonathan Hargett and Megan Derry for acting in it.

We would also like to thank Tera Lankard for taking the photo we used for the cover, as well as Karlie Monroe and Chase Petersen for agreeing to be our models/muses. We know that you were freezing and it was super early in the morning, but you all were such great sports.

Thank you Eden Crane Design for designing our beautiful cover—your talent never ceases to amaze us!

Also we want to thank Heather Sloan for helping us edit and everyone else that has been so supportive. We love you all!

Erica Cope and Komal Kant have been LDBFF (long-distance-best-friends-forever) since 2012 when they met through blogging, but it seems like they've known each other for much longer than that. They bonded over their mutual affection for King Dorian (Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series), Daemon Black (Jennifer Armentrout's Lux series), Beau Vincent (Abbi Glines' The Vincent Boys) and Ryan Gosling.

You can find out more about Erica at:
www.ericacope.com

You can find out more about Komal at:
http://komalkant.wordpress.com/

Sneak p
eek of PIECES OF ME

by Erica Cope

Available now on Amazon!

           “Where are we going?” Sean asked for the fiftieth time since we left this afternoon but I wasn't about to ruin my little surprise.  He always went all out for holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries and this anniversary was a big one. Well, to us anyway.  So I planned something special for him as a surprise.

 
          It was a gorgeous summer night here in the middle of Kansas. The full moon was high and the stars dotted the night sky. I had already called the hotel to let them know we'd be checking in late. I smiled to myself as I realized I had almost pulled this thing off. We were celebrating three-years together—which is a pretty big deal when you're only eighteen.

 
          “I told you, it's a surprise,” I said, unable to stop the huge grin from forming. He knew I hated surprises, but that didn't stop him from torturing me every time an opportunity presented itself, so I was enjoying having the shoe on the other foot for a change.

 
          “Come on, Aria. Give me a hint,” he begged, and because I was a sucker, I couldn't resist.

 
          “Oh, fine,” I said with an exasperated sigh. “Reach back there and grab my purse. Your hint is in the envelope.”       I tried to pretend I was irritated but really, I was just too excited and impatient to keep the secret from him any longer.

 
          He smiled at me like a child who was just given a cookie after being told he couldn't have any dessert. I smiled back as he unbuckled his seat belt and leaned back to reach my purse from where I'd set it behind my seat.