The Rocker That Needs Me(39)

He said it loud enough that her head snapped around. Whiskey colored eyes locked with mine, and I was defenseless to look away. After a long moment, her lips tilted ever so slightly and she gave me a small smile. Not one of my hard to perfect on paper Angel smiles, but I would take what I could get. She raised a hand, giving a tiny wave.

“If you two are done eye-fucking the ho-club,” Cole commented from the end of the table, “I think the next loser is about to come in.”



Lana

I must have had a moment of insanity.

When Shane had texted me that morning saying the studio was allowing fans to watch the auditions for the show, I should have just turned over and gone back to sleep. But what had I done? I had jumped into the shower and was ready in less than half an hour!

Somehow, I had conned Dallas into going with me. My first choice would have been Harper, but she had to work this morning. Freelance photographers never knew when they were going to get a call, and right now Harper was pretty popular with some of the more respectable magazines. Still, I was happy that Dallas had taken the time from pissing her mother off to come with me.

We waited in a long line with other fans to get in. They were taking everyone back in groups of twenty-five to thirty at a time for two hour time intervals. Dallas and I had been pretty far back in the line, but I had texted Shane and he had sent someone to take us with the next group.

I was nervous. My hands were sweaty and my heart was racing. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to see Drake again after so many months. Seeing a bathroom as we followed the others toward the auditioning room, I ducked inside. “Lana!” Dallas whined.

“You go on,” I told her. “I just…I need a minute.”

“Fine.” She sighed and kept on walking.

It took me a while to get my nerves under control. I stood in front of the sink, staring at myself in the mirror. Play it cool. Act as if you haven’t been dying inside without him. He’s still the same Drake. You can do this.

The mental pep talk I gave myself calmed me for the most part. When Dallas sent me an annoyed text, I knew I couldn’t hide any longer. I entered the audition room, keeping my eyes down so I didn’t look at Drake before I was ready. He had always had this way of making me lose my mind with just a look, and I needed some more prep time before that happened.

When I dropped down beside Dallas in the last row she was pissed. “Do all rock stars think that they can snap their fingers and anyone with a vagina will drop their panties for them?” she asked.

I blinked, surprised at her question and the fire in her blue eyes. “Um…Yeah. You’ve met Shane. That’s the way it works in their world.” I knew that better than most. Vegas still haunted me.

“Pricks,” she muttered.

“What did I miss?” I asked, half afraid of her answer.

If Drake had tried anything with Dallas I didn’t know if I could sit there without having an emotional meltdown. She was my friend, but I was sure I would end up doing some physical damage to her pretty face!

“Axton Cage is a douche bag,” she informed me, like I didn’t already know that.

I had hung out with the “rock god” more than once. He wasn’t the nicest guy, but he wasn’t the worst one I had ever meet either. He was cool as long as he wasn’t drinking or drooling over Gabriella Moreitti. But those two had broken up about six months ago, for good this time or so all the tabloids had reported. Gabriella wasn’t a topic that we happily talked about in my family. Emmie and Gabriella had a war going on between them, and that meant Layla was anti-Gabriella as well. Which in turn, because I was loyal to my sister, meant that I was definitely anti-Gabriella!

“Oh shit! That’s Lana!” Axton exclaimed. The sound of my name made my head snap around, and I was caught in the blue-gray gaze of Drake Stevenson.

My heart literally skipped a beat. He was my soul mate. I had always known that, and my soul had been without its mate for far too long. My skin felt as if it were going to split open from the emotions shooting through me. Drake looked good. Oh, fuck. He looked amazing. He had lost a little weight and there were a few new lines around his eyes and mouth. His hair was a few inches longer, and I thought I saw a little gray at the corners, but to me he had never looked better.

My stomach tightened and lower, liquid heat pooled. My nipples hardened and I mentally chastised myself for not being able to control my physical reaction to the sight of the sexy rocker. No one had ever affected me like this but Drake.

As I took all of him in, I realized that I wanted him back in my life. On what terms I wasn’t clear of yet. I didn’t know if I could be his friend without falling deeper for him, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted more from him. I just knew that I couldn’t keep going on without him in my life.