Twisted(80)

“Thank you.”

“Turn around. Let me put it on you. Hold up your hair.”

Pivoting, she did as he asked. He slipped it around her neck and she lifted her hair higher so he could fumble with the clasp. Then she turned back to him and gripped the tiny guitar pick between her fingers. “Thank you,” she said again, voice breaking.

His smile fell away. “Jazz? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She started to move away but he grabbed her arm and cupped her cheek in his other hand.

“Tell me.”

She shook her head but the momentum only made the words spill out faster. “I used to save my allowance for this stuff. I’d pile it up in my jewelry box because I didn’t have anything else and I wanted to be a princess.” She smiled. “Every little girl’s dream, right?”

“You are a princess.”

Her smile wavered. “It didn’t matter that I had holes in my shoes, because I had this fake bling.” She stared at the grimy floor to avoid meeting his gaze. “My mom found it one day and threw it all out. Called it trash. She said I was trash for wearing it.” She dug the other necklace out from under her shirt. “This is the only one I managed to save. The rest she covered in spaghetti sauce after she burned our dinner.”

He closed his fingers around hers. “It’s beautiful. J is the best letter.”

She turned her face away. “Thanks for not laughing at it.” Or me.

“Jazz.” He nudged her chin back with the tip of his finger and lowered his head to hers. “Someday I’m going to buy you that bling. I promise.”

A harsh laugh escaped her. She didn’t know where it came from and couldn’t figure out how to shove it back down. “Why would you do that?”

His Adam’s apple bobbled in his stubbled throat. “When I do it, you’ll know why.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Now



Being summoned to conference room A at Ripper Records three days later didn’t surprise Jazz in the slightest.

What did surprise her? That it had taken Lila that long to pounce.

When Lila hadn’t snagged them the morning after the Tribute show, Jazz had been relieved. Maybe she hadn’t been paying that much attention to her and Gray’s show antics. Though Lila attended every show she could as well as making sure there was ample footage for dissection later, it was dark behind the drum kit and she might not have been eagle-eyed enough to spot Gray kissing her.

Maybe and might weren’t offering her a whole lot of comfort at the moment.

Lila finally sailed in, a sunny smile on her face. “Morning, children.” She held up a silver decanter and set a couple of mugs on the table. “Coffee?”

“That shit is poison,” Nick muttered.

Simon kicked him under the table. “Since when? You drink it constantly. And I’m pretty sure it’s less poisonous than those cancer sticks of yours.”

“I meant this particular coffee is poison, and keep your damn feet to yourself, Kagan.”

Lila ignored them both and took her seat at the head of the table. She shrugged off her shoulder bag and withdrew her iPad, setting it before her. “So. What’s new?”

They all looked at each other, silently communicating about who would be the one to speak. Deak, as usual, stepped up.

He cleared his throat. “We’ve come up with a lot of good, usable material in our time away, both in our individual groups and collectively. I’m assuming you saw the footage of our show at Tribute. It went well.”

“Yes, of course, I saw it. That’s my job.” Lila scrolled her finger across the tablet’s screen and smiled. “Your job is a bit different. You were given certain tasks and offered certain admonitions yet with my little eye, I spy that these were not followed.”

Jazz shot a glance at Gray in the seat beside her, and he slid his hand under the arm of his chair to link his fingers with hers. Such a small thing, but so important.

“Lila, we—” Gray began.

“Don’t bother explaining. I can see.” She folded her hands on top of her tablet. “What I see is amazing chemistry that I want to exploit like a motherfucker.”

Jazz blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. And don’t pretend to be shocked. I’m hardly the first person to be blown away by what I saw on stage.” Lila lifted her iPad and started scrolling again. “Check out YoloFan’s YouTube clip, entitled ‘Motherfucking Oblivion Hotness,’ for example.”

“YoloFan? That sounds like a true genius.” If Nick had rolled his eyes any harder, he would’ve dislocated something.

“Regardless, Gray and Jazz’s chemistry is exactly what this band has been needing. The magic ingredient.”