Page 51 of Drive

“It’s not true. You think if I sweep at your feet you’ll be single forever? Get real, Stella.”

“I don’t care if you don’t take it seriously, okay? Don’t,” I said as she playfully swung the broom in front of me, inches from the floor. I grabbed the broom that she set down and moved toward her. “What about you, sis?” I said, dangerously close to hitting her feet. She jumped back with a shriek as I closed in. “I thought so.”

“Fine, fine. I give!” She chuckled. “Momma called this morning. She said you haven’t called her back.”

“I’m busy.”

“But you called Dad,” she chided as she grabbed the cursed broom and set it next to the counter before she began counting her tips. We were dead at work, which was a good thing because Reid’s show was starting soon. I was dying to get there, but Paige was taking her sweet ass time doing her side work.

“Neil’s waiting in the car,” I reminded as she finally started to cash out.

“It’s good to make them wait,” she said playfully. I’d already changed into short black shorts, myTOOLT-shirt that I’d ripped at the collar, and applied some red lipstick. It was just enough for me to feel sexy but not so much that Paige would suspect anything. The whole day I’d spent dreaming of a repeat kiss at the very least. I had no idea what it meant. All I knew was that I wanted more, and my sister was once again in the way of it.

Paige was smiling to herself. I knew that smile. “You love Neil.”

“So much,” Paige said with soft eyes.

“I love him for you,” I said honestly.

“Yeah, we’re at the point where we’ll go somewhere or nowhere.”

I scoffed. “You’ll be married in a year.”

“I hope,” she said thoughtfully. “I think he’s waiting to finish school and get a good job, you know?”

“What does it matter?”

She looked at me pointedly. “It doesn’t, not at all.”

“Tell him that,” I said as she and I both walked over to the tiny cubicle Leslie called an office and handed her our cash out.

“I will.”

“I need you to take me around next week to look for a place, okay?”

Paige nudged me. “Finally.”

“Don’t give me that shit. You could eat off your toilet.” She threw her arm around my shoulders as we met Neil at the car. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll be in the same city, and I won’t miss your ass-eating couch.”

There’s something about music that brings people together. But it has to be therightmusic. When it came to the music that touched me, I was addicted to the drive of emotions it brought: anger, love, hate, greed, hunger, thirst, desperation, redemption, peace, and fantasy. Music was my touchstone, my place of worship. If I went without it too long, I felt an addict’s itch. I could live on it. I thrived on it. It was my second air.

But the night I saw Reid Crowne play, that balance shifted.

“Hurry up,” I squeaked as I showed the doorman myIDand pushed past the line to take one of the last tables on the side of the stage. Paige sat down next to me as Rye took the stage and began running through chords on the guitar. He looked our way and gave us a nod.

My heart galloped as the club went dark. Neil joined us at the table with fresh beers, obstructing my view. I grabbed the offered suds and damn near yelled at him to get the hell out the way. When he finally moved, I saw Reid was already sitting behind his battered set.

Inside, I was rattling as I took a sip of beer and sat back in my seat. I’d been to hundreds of shows and had never been nervous. And before I could catch my breath from the sight of him in his usual attire of steel-toed black boots, jeans, and a T-shirt—totally unoriginal, but like catnip for me—I heard the tick of his sticks. And then I was surrounded.

It took every bit of strength I had to keep my mouth closed. Everything about their dynamic changed when Reid was playing with them, at least it had for me. He sat behind his set, composed and totally relaxed, the stick an extension of his arms keeping perfect rhythm. Ben brought down the house, while Rye slayed it on guitar and Adam executed on bass.

“Stella!” Paige yelled in an attempt to get my attention. She nudged me with her shoulder and forced me to take my eyes away from Reid. “So, what do you think, Ms. FutureRolling Stone?”

I think I’m falling in love with the king of nothing.

But it wasn’t nothing. It was anything but. “They’ll be signed in less than a year,” I stated without hesitation.