Page 91 of Closer

“Dude—”

Zed sticks out his tongue and makes the hand gesture for rock on. “Too soon?”

“Way too fucking soon, man,” Ryan says with clenched teeth. “Way too soon.”

We all catapult ourselves on stage. Of course, I use my right hand, and it threatens to go out from under me, but I recover quickly and glance around. No one saw. We shake hands with Kit, and Ryan asks if he knows all of our songs. He says yes, so we put him through his paces. It puts me through my paces too, but once Zed’s drums are reverberating through my feet, Kit’s bass kicks in, and Coop starts screaming the way only Cooper Ryan can, I fall into the rhythm, the synchronicity, and it’s a high I haven’t felt in months.

It’s better than drugs, and booze, and sex. Okay, maybe it’s on par with sex.

The new guy is vibing off the energy as much as the rest of us, and our little crowd of reporters are eating that shit up.

We’re supposed to sit through every audition, but I know without even talking to the others that Kit’s it, so I set down my axe and shake his hand. “That was sweet, man.”

“You have no idea how fucking cool that was,” Kit says on a sigh. He rakes his hand through his mop of sweaty hair. “I’m sorry, Jesus, I sound like a real arsehole. I’m trying not to fangirl over here, but fuck ... that was something else.”

“It was,” Ryan says. “I’m impressed.”

“Yeah!” Zed tosses his sticks up in the air and bounds over from behind his drumkit, practically knocking the kid off his feet in the process as he claps a huge hand on Kit’s shoulder. “That was fucking awesome, man.”

“What do you think, guys?” Ryan says, but he doesn’t bother glancing at either Zed or me, because all three of us already know.

“I think we’re done here,” I say.

Kit laughs and scrubs a hand down over his face, “You’re shitting me, right?”

“Nope,” Zed says, punching the kid’s shoulder with his meaty fist.

“Nicely done.” Ali stalks across the stage and gives Kit a high five. He pulls her in for an affectionate squeeze, and she squeals, pinned between his arm and his bass. Ryan and I both glare.

“Wait,” Cooper says with a bemused expression. “You two know each other?”

Ali’s face is smug. “Kit’s my client.”

“What?” I say.

Cooper looks just as confused as I am. “What are you talking about?”

Ali fishes a card from her purse and hands it to him. “Like I said, I represent him, so if you want to tell Vanessa to get in touch with me, then I can have our lawyer look over the paperwork.”

“I ...” Ryan glances down at the card in his hand, and back up at his wife. “What?”

“Come on,” she says to Kit. “I’ll walk you out.”

“Ali,” Coop says.

“Number’s on the card,” she calls over her shoulder.

He stares wide-eyed as she walks away with her client and the three of us watch her go. “Did I just get played by my wife?”

“Oh yeah.” I laugh so hard tears form in my eyes. “She’s got your balls all wrapped up there, buddy.”

“The feisty ranga strikes again.” Zed nudges Ryan’s shoulder. “I fuckin’ love that woman.”

“Deb, you know about this?” Cooper asks his sister—who’s still sitting in the front row, her head buried in her phone.

She glances up with a bored expression. “I know everything. Are we done here? I’m starved.”

“Aw, my baby’s hungry.”