Page 59 of Hard Rock Muse

18

Julian and I left the party not long after Gael was declared the winner. Cameron moaned and bitched, but finally accepted his defeat with a hearty clap on Gael’s shoulder.

“After all those godawful drinks, you deserve to win,” he told Gael.

“Thanks, Seth,” Gael called out. “Couldn’t have won without you.”

Seth gave him two thumbs up and went back to talking to a pair of handsome men. They were identical, which meant they were the twin guitarists of Cameron’s band Darkest Days.

The crowd was getting rowdier every minute. From the twitch in Julian’s eye I could tell he’d had enough of people for the night.

“Want to head out?” I put a hand on his chest. “We don’t have to stay the whole night.”

“We can go back to my place?” he offered with an upward tilt of his lips.

That was all it took for my insides to flutter.

“It would be nice to see how world-famous rock stars live,” I said.

“Don’t start thinking I have golden toilets or anything,” he said.

“You’ve at least got a piano in your living room, right?”

“Come over and see for yourself.”

The whole way there I was imagining what Julian’s place might look like. He’d never been a flashy person. I could easily see him in a normal apartment with a few subtle touches here and there that might indicate his wealth.

Or, since I had an idea of how much money his band brought in, he might live in a gigantic mansion on acres of private property. Julian did like to be alone, after all.

It turned out neither of my guesses were correct. Julian lived in an apartment, but it was the entire top floor of a luxurious condo building in the richest part of town. The lobby floors were marble with fancy art hanging on the walls.

I let out a whistle the moment Julian opened the door to his apartment and I saw inside his living room.

“How in the world did you get a grand piano in here?” I asked.

“With great effort,” he said.

“Your neighbors must either love you or hate you.”

“The walls are soundproofed.” He gave me a wicked little smirk.

I returned his smirk with a sultry smile of my own, then kicked off my shoes to explore the rest of the place.

His kitchen had all the newest appliances, all chrome and shiny. They looked like they hadn’t been used once, aside from the toaster.

“You still live off toast and sliced cheese?” I asked him.

“I put tomato slices on it sometimes.”

I had no idea how Julian was still so lean when his diet consisted of bread and cheese.

“At least you’re getting your vegetables,” I said.

“Remember when you used to cook for me?” he asked.

“You mean, remember when I used totryto cook for you?” I replied.

“You weren’t that bad.”