Kiss the Stars (Falling Stars 1)

He raked his teeth over his bottom lip as he answered a text that was clearly from Tamar.

My eyes darted around to take in the three of them.

Just awesome.

I was surrounded by the love-fucked.

Was pretty sure they were split between the love of their music and the love of their wives. Loyalty pulling them in both directions, and they were balancing on a tightrope.

Understood it on a level that I wished I didn’t.

Loyalty.

Being tugged in opposite directions.

Fighting for both and knowing you were going to fail because you knew full well you were never destined for harmony.

Wanted to refuse the vision that clamored through my mind. Black hair and sable eyes. The taste of the girl lingering on my tongue. My fingers itching to get another feel of Mia West.

My guts were still twisted in knots of lust that I doubted could be undone any time soon.

The door jerked open and Baz strode in. He glanced around.“Everyone good? Need anything?”

Lyrik nodded. “Yup. All’s good. Want to run through a couple songs I’ve been working on getting down. Weave some shit in. Maybe we can test them out on a couple tracks in an hour or so?”

“Sounds good. Going to be upstairs on a call. Just holler when you’re ready for me or if you need anything.”

“We’ve got it,” Austin told him.

“Know you do,” Baz returned with a slight smile over his shoulder as he disappeared back out the door.

“Let’s do this. We might do things a little unorthodox, Leif, but I’m sure you can keep up.” Lyrik moved over to the sofa were Austin was sifting through the notebooks. He dug through, blindly pulling out one that was leather bound. “Been working on this one for a while. Like it . . . it’s got an edge that I’m going for. But there’s something missing. Something I can’t put my finger on.”

I glanced that way as he flipped it open to a page where a river of words had been scratched and slashed out and rewritten across the paper.

Incoherent.

A disjointed ramble that made no sense.

But I got that he knew. That he already recognized the words as his eyes dropped closed and he played a few chords.

The strains of a choppy melody filled the space.

Something seductive and dark.

Ash started to tap the toe of his Vans on the floor, head slowly bouncing in time before he started to pluck at the strings of his bass.

A new thread twined.

“You got a range on it, Austin?” Lyrik asked.

Austin began to hum, strumming quiet at the strings of his acoustic guitar. “Yeah. Think so.”

My attention darted between the three of them as I let their process seep in. Getting it.

Realizing this was the way their magic was made.

There was a reason Sunder was one of the biggest bands in the world.

Their style setting a trend that had begun years before and had never found its end.

Powerful and gritty and raw.

The melody curled around me.

A perfect storm.

A beautiful nightmare.

I didn’t know.

Only thing I knew was I felt it way down deep. Speaking directly to my spirit. I tapped my drumsticks against my thigh, letting the rhythm simmer and soak and become something fluid in my mind.

Couple of seconds later, Lyrik drove into a thrashing beat. Knocking us out of the quiet trance and catapulting us straight into the bedlam that was the music of Sunder.

Aggressive and hard and loud.

Austin climbed to his feet, his head thrashing as he found the rhythm. The lyrics choppy and sparse as he tried to make sense of them. As he tested the waters and brought them to life.

I caught onto it, let my sticks loose on the drums.

Got caught up in the raging beat.

Austin began to sing.

Are you lost?

How did we end up here?

I’ve been coming for a long time.

Gone in your eternity.

Now you’ve got me condemned in your sins.

Do you want me on my knees?

Now you’re up and gone.

Vanished without a trace,

And you’re still staring at my face.

Don’t know what to believe.

Questioning everything.

The song shifted from the screaming match that Austin was having with the mic, guy diving into the deep harmony, showing off the range of his voice.

Cause all you do is break me.

Fake me.

Bleed me.

And I don’t know what else I have to give.

Break me.

Fake me.

Lyrik stopped abruptly, his hand clanking down on the strings, feedback flooding the space while the fierceness continued to resonate against the walls.

Huffing, he raked a hand through his hair before he pointed at Austin. “That, right there. Chorus is off. Way fuckin’ off.”

He paced a couple steps, his head toward the ground, like he was gathering up the energy of an earthquake. Harnessing it.

“Lyrics or key?” Austin asked as he scratched something out on the page and scribbled something more.

There was no missing the connection that banged between the three of them.