Page 88 of Hard Rock Desires

“Me, too,” Zain said with a laugh. “Chris, your turn.”

“Never have I ever opened for Darkest Days,” he said, a pleased smile fixed on his lips.

“That’s ancient history,” Kaylee said.

“Still counts,” Micah noted as everyone took a shot. “Chris hadn’t joined our band yet when we got that chance,” he explained to me. “It was when we were still kids.”

“I thought I’d die of nerves,” Anya, who had been pretty quiet so far, confessed softly.

“You did great,” Kaylee beamed at her. “We all did.”

Anya flushed faintly.

“It’s your turn,” Kaylee told her.

Anya leaned forward and placed her elbows on her knees. The long dark hair that usually hung over her cheeks was tucked back behind her ears, and her dark eyes were steady. She took her time looking at each of her band members in turn.

“Never have I ever…” she said slowly.

They all sat up straight in anticipation.

“Acted like a raging narcissist,” she said.

They all began to protest loudly.

“Off-stage,” she continued.

The protests died. They all looked to one another and shrugged.

“She’s got us there,” Zain said with a brazen grin.

“Drink,” was her sole command.

I decided I liked Anya, even if I didn’t know much about her.

All of Zain’s friends were pretty good people, as far as I could tell. Well, I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure about Finn, but I couldn’t deny that he’d been right about taking a break. Everyone seemed much more at ease, less keyed up, and a lot more relaxed than they had been after band practice.

This was nothing like my sister’s situation, really. I supposed them having a drink or two wasn’t going to be the end of the world. After all, this was just a bunch of friends having a good time together.

And not just good friends. Family. If this was how Zain wanted to spend quality time with his family, I couldn’t possibly be upset with that.

Maybe it was time for me to let down my guard and ease up a bit, too.

Twenty-Eight

Zain

Things couldn’t have been going any better if I’d tried.

The girls had taken to Grace as if she were a long-lost friend. Micah and Chris had given me that slight nod of the chin, the one that saidgood job, letting me know they approved.

Finn was the wildcard. I knew he didn’t like how Grace had vanished on me twice, and there were definitely jealousy issues there. But he didn’t make any more snide comments, so I figured I would take what I could get. I knew he’d come around eventually. Grace was awesome, after all.

“I didn’t know they still made these types of arcade machines,” Grace said.

“They’re all replicas,” I explained as she fiddled with the buttons and joysticks on Pac-man. “The real things would have weighed a ton and we wouldn’t have been able to get them up three flights of stairs. These are all just plastic casings with screens and a tiny computer chip.”

“Do you really need this big machine?” she asked. “Can’t you play the same games on the TV using a normal video game console?”