The room fell so quiet I wondered if they heard my nuts retracting back inside my body.
No.
Hell. No.
This could not be Braxton Fawn. To start, I assumed he’d be a dude. Even worse than Fawn being a woman was the fact that I wanted her.
As if only now remembering that she was responsible for this mess, Oni Sridhar shot to her feet. When the pain-in-the-ass A&R rep didn’t immediately dismiss the intruder, I stood up straight, catching the prairie girl’s reaction to my height.
Give me a break.
“Yes,” Oni confirmed as she strutted with too much confidence for my liking toward the door where her intern and the imposter stood. “This is the promising up-and-comer I was telling you about. I think Braxton is just what Bound needs to take it to the next level.”
“The next level?” Rich spat as he straightened from his position near the windows. It took a lot to anger him since he was supposed to be the nice one. Right now, he was pissed and rightly so. We’d given the world everything, and it still wasn’t enough. It never was. “Who’s your mom’s favorite band? Pink Floyd? I bet if Nick Mason gave her a million to suck his dick, she’d still suck mine for free.”
Oni whirled on her fuck-me pumps to face my drummer. Fucking her was what I should have done when I had half the chance. Now she couldn’t stand me, or any of us for that matter, and I hated whenever we breathed the same air. “Perhaps she would if my mom were still alive and Nick wasn’t over seventy years old. Are you done?”
I saw the regret in Rich’s eyes, but he didn’t offer an apology. Oni had already turned away. Before she could continue with her ludicrous pitch, Loren took his turn exploding.
“Please tell me you’re joking. This is Braxton? She’s our new guitarist?” My bassist didn’t move from his slouched position in the chair, but the vicious sneer he shot Braxton did the trick. “This chick looks like she just came from choir practice.”
Slowly, little Miss Fawn’s head turned. We weren’t prepared for the force of her full attention. The awe in her gaze when she’d stepped into the room was gone. Her doe eyes had sharpened and cut us down before she spoke.
“Actually, it was Bible study.”
Loren jerked as if someone had run an electric bolt through his heart before remembering he had the upper hand. “I don’t give a fuck if it was Bible camp. Get lost.”
Disappointment ripped through my chest when Oni cut in before Braxton could retort. I had no intention of letting some blushing virgin join Bound, so I was more than eager to have my fun with her while I could. Loren would eat her insolent ass alive, and I’d savor every second of it.
“You had your chance to find a replacement and knew what would happen if you didn’t. The tour starts in three months. You barely have any time left to rehearse.”
“We know the material,” Rich reminded her dryly. “We wrote it.”
“Braxton,” Oni said, emphasizing her name, “doesn’t.”
“Hello? Is anyone at home in there?” Lo inquired, tapping his own skull. “Or are you secretly blonde?”
“So, the pot calls the kettle.”
He ignored that. “If she doesn’t know our music, what makes you think she’s a good fit for our band?”
“You can teach her.”
Rich’s nostrils flared.
Loren rolled his eyes. “Not interested.”
“They don’t have to teach me,” Braxton announced. She’d found her damn tongue. A moment later, we all learned a valuable lesson.
It was sharper than razor blades.
“I know the material.” Her gaze found Loren’s, and I was sure he had stopped breathing. He sat so very still. “Probably better than you since I caught your last performance. You missed three notes and were behind your drummer half the show.” She tipped her head in Rich’s direction, her red mane shimmering under the natural light. The very sun seemed to serve as her personal spotlight.
For a moment, I allowed myself the vision of pulling on her hair while I punished her pussy from behind. From her looks, she had no idea what a dick looked like, much less how to handle one. I shoved the pointless fantasy away.
Loren, miraculously, had nothing to say. I’d already ripped into him for those very mistakes. I didn’t miss his surprise and fury at being called out by an amateur, but my focus was now on Carl, who was stroking his weak chin thoughtfully.
I took that as my cue to end this.
The label had every reason to ruin us, and Braxton Fawn would undoubtedly deliver.
Moving away from the table, I took slow steps toward Oni and her pet project. It wasn’t my intention to put them at ease—quite the opposite. I wanted to rattle the troublemakers, give them time to regret their mistake.