Page 57 of Hard Rock Muse

“We’re good,” Julian said simply, and that was the end of it.

“I’m glad,” Cerise said, not seeming perturbed by his short answer.

Liam put an arm around Cerise’s waist and tugged her close.

“You two certainly seemed to have gotten your shit together a lot faster than we did,” he said with a chuckle.

“I did take a lot of convincing, didn’t I?” Cerise gave Liam a soft smile and rested her head on his shoulder.

I tried not to do a double-take. Cerise Moreau always had this bad-ass, larger-than-life thing going on. It was odd watching her act almost sappy.

Julian had averted his eyes, looking out at the bar, avoiding their display of affection. I wondered if he found it as disconcerting as I did.

People really did act differently around their loved ones compared to their public personas.

It shouldn’t have surprised me. When Julian opened up to me, he was like a completely different person compared to how he acted around others.

Even with Cerise and Liam, his friends and bandmates, he was quieter, almost subdued.

“Aw, fuck yeah!” I heard Gael yell from across the room. “I’m gonna kick your ass to the moon!”

Everyone in the bar hooted and hollered.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“It’s Jessie’s present to Gael,” Cerise said.

Before she could explain further, Gael and another man got up on the small raised platform at the far end of the room. It wasn’t quite large enough to be a full stage, but there were two bass guitars set up with some amps, along with a table of what looked like shots.

The other man had bright, fire-engine red hair and a manic grin on his face. I instantly recognized him as the bassist for the rock band Darkest Days. He said something to Gael that I couldn’t hear. Gael gave him the middle finger in response, shooting him an equally demented grin.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Gael has this not-so-friendly rivalry with Cameron Thorne,” Liam explained. “Jessie set up some kind of face-off to determine once and for all who’s the better musician.”

“What if he loses?” I asked worriedly.

“That’s the fun part,” Cerise said. “Each of them needs to take one of Seth’s shots every five minutes.”

“And of course,” Liam added, “Seth did his best to make these shots as disgusting as possible.”

“Gael’s built up a tolerance after so many years of choking down those abominations of Seth’s,” Cerise continued. “So Cameron’s going to lose.”

A man with sandy blond hair wandered over to our table, his arm around a pretty brunette.

“They’re also both going to be on the floor and throwing up by the end of the night,” the guy said.

“That, too,” Cerise agreed. She turned to make introductions. “Everly, this is Nathan, my other guitarist, and his girlfriend Becca. Guys, this is Everly Davis, Julian’s girlfriend. She’s the one we hired to work with us.”

Nathan shook my hand firmly, followed by Becca’s softer squeeze.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Everly,” she said politely. She had a heart-shaped face and a sweet smile. “I haven’t heard a thing about you.” Her eyes twinkled with playfulness as she shot a teasing look at Julian.

I laughed and poked him in the chest.

“Why am I not surprised?” I said.

“You and Julian used to be in that band together, right?” Nathan said. “I remember from way back. You opened for one of my friend’s bands. You guys were awesome.”