THE BIGGEST STAGE (A Brothers of Rock - WILLOW SON - novel) by Karolyn James

started to open the door, and then I
heard the sound of a police car behind me. Got arrested for stealing a car. ”
    “ Holy
shit, ” Tessa said.
    “ Yeah, ” Christie said. “ The story online is way
different. I read something about a high speed chase. ”
    “ High
speed, ” Colby said. “ The car was idling. ” He laughed. “ We worked it out. ”
    “ How? ” Tessa asked.
    “ It
was the producer ’ s car, ” Colby said. “ So he stuck up for me. Nothing
happened. ”
    “ Wow, ” Tessa said. She sipped the
coffee. “ This is, uh, good
coffee. ”
    Colby laughed. “ You don ’ t have to be shy around me. You weren ’ t last night. ”
    Colby touched Tessa ’ s shoulder and she felt her face
and body burning. The color rushed to her cheeks at the look on Christie ’ s face.
    “ Wait, ” she whispered. “ I remember … the bathroom … I thought there was a guy …”
    “ Stop, ” Tessa said. “ Stop. ”
    Colby laughed.
    His cell went off.
    That was the cue that the night - now
morning - needed to end.
    “ They ’ re going to send a search team
soon, ” Colby said. “ I have to meet up with the band.
Write some songs, find a label. Just another day in our life. ”
    “ Sounds
much more exciting than ours, ” Christie said.
    “ Can
you check on the ocean for a second? ” Tessa asked.
    “ What …” Christie looked between Tessa
and Colby. “ Oh, yeah, sure.
You two need a quickie to finish up? ”
    Tessa groaned. “ Just …”
    “ Go, ” Christie said and stood.
    She went outside.
    “ So, ” Colby said. “ My car is waiting for me. Has
been for two hours. ”
    “ You
didn ’ t leave? ”
    “ Not
until I saw you. ”
    “ Why
didn ’ t you wake me up? ”
    “ You
were sleeping, ” Colby said. “ And I wanted to take a
shot at your friend. ”
    “ What?
Seriously? ”
    Colby winked.
    “ You ’ re an asshole. ”
    “ Yeah.
But she ’ s way too easy. ”
    “ Ugh,
right? ”
    Colby touched Tessa ’ s waist. “ I like you better. So much better, pretty eyes. ”
    “ I ’ m leaving this afternoon. Going
north. ”
    “ Safe
travels then, right? ” Colby
asked.
    “ Yeah, ” Tessa said. “ I, uh, we … uh …”
    Colby leaned in and kissed Tessa.
She feared her breath would be rancid or her mouth wouldn ’ t taste appealing, but Colby
didn ’ t seem to mind. The
simple lip lock quickly turned into more. Colby touched the back of Tessa ’ s head, commanding their mouths
to open.
    They kissed for a few seconds and
Colby pulled away. “ See you
around. ”
    “ Yeah? ”
    “ Fate,
right? ”
    “ Sure. ”
    Colby walked to the door and looked
back. “ Not that I want to
mess with fate here … but I
put my number into your cell. ”
    Tessa watched Colby leave and felt
her heart tug. She knew the morning would come. She knew they ’ d split up like this. But she
didn ’ t think it would
actually … hurt.
    Grabbing her mug, Tessa went
outside.
    The warm air smacked her in the
face.
    Christie looked at her. “ You slept with him. ”
    “ Yup. ”
    “ A
rockstar. The lead singer of Willow Son. ”
    “ Yup.
Yup. ”
    “ I … I ’ m
jealous. ”
    “ Yup, ” Tessa said and smiled.
    “ Just … it ’ s good he ’ s
gone, you know? ”
    “ Why? ”
    “ The
stories, ” Christie said. “ That band is all trouble. ”
    “ Why?
Because he stole a car once? ”
    Christie shook her head. “ No, Tessa. That ’ s the fun story … the truth? He paid his way out
of a pretty serious thing once. ”
    “ Oh
yeah? What ’ s that? ”
    Tessa felt her heart racing, like
she was ready to fight Christie. To defend Colby ’ s
honor. It was a strange feeling.
    “ Not
my business, ” Christie
said. “ You could look it
up. But he was charged with murder. ”

(12)
     
    “ Walk
of shame? ” Jett called out
as Colby climbed out of the car.
    “ More
like walk of fame , ” Colby said. “ How many of
you ended up with two women in a hotel room last night? ”
    “