Page 53 of Hard Rock Tease

"Are you kidding? With all those long hours you pulled practicing before and after class, and on weekends in between your part time jobs? You made the rest of us look like slackers."

There was a reason for that. I had to work ten times as hard to be even half as good as anyone else. As much as I loved music, it didn't come easy to me. Sometimes it felt like I had to struggle to be even one tenth as good as anyone else.

"Ivy, what's wrong?" Nat asked. "You looked like you're ready to explode."

I looked to Ivy. Her eyes were shining. She was practically vibrating in her seat. "I know a secret."

Both Nat and I crowded in to get close.

"Ren let out something he shouldn't have."

"Tell me," Natalie insisted. With her hair pinned in a chic bun and her subtle make up expertly applied, Nat might have been the picture of elegance, if it weren't for her wide-eyes and almost manic expression. "Tell me, tell me!"

Ivy looked to me. "You're not allowed to tell anyone where you're working, right?"

"Right."

She paused for a moment, looking hesitant. "What if someone else found out and told?"

"Ivy." Nat pressed her hands onto the table. "Spill."

Ivy dropped her voice into a whisper and leaned over, her long blonde hair falling over both shoulders. "Jen's working with Noah Hart."

"No. Freaking. Way." Nat slapped her hand down on the table to emphasis each word. "Are you serious?" she turned to me. "Is she serious? Are you really working with—"

"Shh!" I looked around to make sure we weren't being overheard. "I can neither confirm nor deny that statement."

"Oh my god!" Nat squealed and hugged me so hard she almost broke my ribs. "That's an amazing opportunity."

"Yeah. It is." Of course, I might have completely blown that opportunity.

"I know you didn't want to use our connections in the music industry to help you, which I still don't understand by the way," she said, making a face at me, "but I'm so proud you."

"I get it," Ivy said. "You wanted to do it on your own."

Ivy's independent streak was even more stubborn than mine. She got why I didn't want to use my friends to get ahead in my career. I needed to prove I could score a job on my own merits.

As it turned out, the only merit that mattered was my fuckability.

"I can't believe you get to work with Noah Hart," Natalie sighed blissfully. Even dating a rock star herself hadn't cured Nat of her fangirl ways. "He's so passionate on stage."

Ivy looked thoughtful. "From what I've seen, he seems kind of closed-off in person."

"What's he really like?" Natalie asked.

"An emotionally stunted jerk," I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I'm still getting to know him."

I remembered the various and myriad ways in which I'd gotten to know Noah Hart and flushed.

He said he was done with me, but I wasn't done with him. No matter what our personal feelings were — and god, were there a lot of feelings tangled up in my chest right now — we still had a song to work on. We still had professional business to take care of.

I had to convince him we still needed to work together. That I was the only person who knew him well enough to work on this with him. He said all the others were hacks. I wasn't near as good as the rest of the members of Darkest Days, but I wasn't a hack. No matter what else he'd thrown in my face, Noah had said I was talented. He took my opinions and suggestions into consideration.

When he wasn't getting pissy and throwing me out of his apartment, that is.