More Than Comics (21 page)

“You know you love it.” He grinned at me before moving further inside the bus.

I lingered at the window, until Jared came up behind me and draped an arm across my shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just…weird. Tara is moving to LA. Our tour is starting. We have an album to record. Everything is changing.”

“No, everything is happening exactly the way it’s supposed to.”

“Damn, you’re even cheesier than Kyle. And when did you become the smart one in the band?”

“Please, I was always the brains of this operation. Maddie’s the heart, Kyle’s the soul, and you’re the body. Obviously.”

I laughed and he slapped me on the back with a grin. We joined Maddie and Kyle on the couch, who were trying to throw popcorn in each other’s mouths. We crashed beside them and started discussing songs for our upcoming album. I was surrounded by laughter and music, and even though I missed Tara, I knew I would see her again soon. Until then, I had my band.

A few months ago, the four of us had each been lost in our own way. Things had been tough at times, but we’d stuck together and found love, started down new paths, and fought our way through the darkness. Now we faced an uncertain future, but no matter what happened we would always have each other.

We were more than a band. We were a family.

THANK YOU!

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The Chasing The Dream series:

More Than Exes (#0.5)
 - Kyle and Alexis's story, set at the Battle of the Bands. FREE!

More Than Music (#1)
 - Jared and Maddie's story, set on 
The Sound
. 

More Than Comics (#2)
 - Hector and Tara's story, set at Comic-Con.

Behind The Seams (#3)
 - Julie's story. Coming in 2015!

Going The Distance (#4)
 - Carla's story. Coming in 2015!

Did you miss the previous book in the series, 
More Than Music
? If so, turn the page to read the first two chapters...

Music major Maddie Taylor just finished her junior year of college and has a summer internship lined up with the LA Philharmonic, yet every night she practices guitar and secretly dreams of a louder life. But geeky girls like her don't get to be rock stars. That is, until tattooed singer Jared Cross catches her playing guitar and invites her to join his band on The Sound, a reality TV show competition. 

Once on the show, Maddie discovers there’s more to Jared than his flirty smile and bad boy reputation – and that he’s just as big a geek as she is. With each performance their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, but when the show pressures them to stay single they’re forced to keep their relationship secret. 

As the competition heats up, Jared will do whatever it takes for his band to win, and Maddie must decide if following her dream is worth losing her heart.

CHAPTER ONE

T
onight was going to be epic, I could feel it. I edged closer to the stage, pushing past emo kids with sweeping black hair and girls in fishnets and combat boots. Julie and Carla followed, our hands linked so we wouldn’t lose each other while I searched for the perfect spot. Not right in front so we looked like obsessed groupies hanging all over the band, but close enough to get a good view of the stage and feel the music vibrating under our skin. After some maneuvering, the three of us wedged into a space in the crowd and clinked our beers together.

“Here’s to the end of finals,” Julie shouted, over the noise of a hundred conversations going on at once. “And the end of our junior year!”

“I still have a final tomorrow morning,” Carla shouted back. “What time are they going on again, Maddie?”

“Any minute now,” I said. “Don’t worry. Kyle’s band only has one album. We’ll be out of here in an hour.” I had a final early, too, and normally I’d be studying right now and then going to bed at a reasonable hour to make sure I got an optimal amount of sleep. But it wasn’t every day a friend’s band got a gig like this in a club on Hollywood Boulevard. Besides, I was a music major. This totally counted as research.

I rocked back and forth on my feet, full of that intoxicating mix of excitement, anticipation, and longing I always felt right before a concert started. The club was dark except for the spotlights highlighting the equipment on stage, poised and ready for the band to come out. People with dyed hair and tattoos and piercings pressed all around us, and I felt more out of place than ever with my black-rimmed glasses, red flannel shirt, and jeans.

Julie fit into the crowd better with her knit panda beanie, despite it being approximately the temperature of the sun in here. She’d made the hat herself and on anyone else it would look stupid, but with her long black hair and red lips, she somehow managed to pull it off. Combined with the skater dress with stars and planets that she’d also made, she was really rocking her sexy nerd look tonight. Sort of like an Asian version of Zooey Deschanel.

Carla looked gorgeous as usual, like she’d walked straight off the runway and into the club, which she probably had—she modeled on the side while pursuing her theatre major. She was half-Portuguese and half-African-American, and casting agencies went crazy for her smooth dark skin, head full of wild curls, and tall, thin frame. It was a shame Julie and I were the only ones who knew she’d rather fix old cars and play video games than do a photo shoot.

The glow of Carla’s phone lit up her face as she checked her texts yet again. Probably another string of annoying questions from her boyfriend.

“Is that Daryl?” I asked.

“He just wants to know where I am.”

“Don’t tell him,” Julie said, slapping the phone away. “He’ll show up uninvited.”

It wouldn’t be the first time he’d crashed our girls’ nights looking for Carla, convinced she was with some other guy. Probably because he knew she could do way better.

“He won’t. I told him we’re leaving right after the show.”

A cheer went through the crowd as the band walked onto the stage, and I stood on my toes to get a better look. Hector, a Latino guy with curly hair tucked under a baseball cap, sat in front of the drums. He was followed by Becca, a blue-haired pixie in a dress with safety pins all over it. She stumbled across the stage like she was drunk, but managed to pick up her bass and slip it over her neck. Next came Kyle, his black hair hanging in his eyes and the gauges in his ear flashing under the lights. He moved behind his keyboard, but my gaze left him as soon as his older brother Jared appeared.

The crowd’s cheering took on more of a screaming sound, and one girl even yelled, “Jared, I love you!” I rolled my eyes. Not that I blamed the girl. With dark hair that always stuck up like he’d just gotten out of bed, a perpetual five o’clock shadow, and blue eyes that could charm any girl into giving him his phone number, Jared was impossible to resist. I wanted to, believe me, but every time he opened his mouth and sang it was all over. 

Jared gave the audience a wicked grin while he grabbed his guitar, a black Fender Stratocaster almost identical to my own except for the color. Like Kyle, he had tattoos running up and down his toned arms, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they continued under his shirt.

The entire club buzzed with excitement, every one of us poised on the edge, holding our breaths and waiting for the plunge. In this moment, right before the music started, it felt like anything could happen—and I was ready.

Hector yelled out, “One, two, three, four,” and the band launched into their first song. Jared’s hard guitar riffs filled the small club, matched with the deep pulse of the bass, the fierce beat of the drums, and the eerie moan from Kyle’s keyboard. The music ripped through me, touching the wild, dark part of my soul I kept locked away. My fingers itched to form the chords myself and play along, but I kept my hands in fists at my sides. Instead I nodded my head to the music, picking out each note Jared played and feeling it in a way only another musician could.

When Jared leaned into the mic and sang, his smooth voice washed over me like a soft caress. It was like the last, decadent bite of a chocolate-covered strawberry. The smoky burn of whiskey as it slipped down your throat. The final night of passion before your lover left forever. I sang along to the words, feeling each line strike me deep inside. I understood exactly what he was saying, like he’d written every word just for me, like somehow he understood me in a way no one else did. Of course, every other girl in the club probably felt the same way I did. And a few guys, too.

I tore my gaze from Jared to watch the rest of the band. Hector was a blur as his muscular arms flew across the drums. Becca swayed while she played bass, her movements sluggish and her eyes half-closed like she could barely keep herself awake. Lately Kyle had been complaining about how she kept coming to rehearsals wasted, but I couldn’t believe she’d do that tonight, not for their biggest performance ever.

Kyle was bent over his keyboard, head bobbing along while he played, and I loved seeing him in his element. We’d met as freshmen, and since we were both music majors who played piano, we always ended up in a lot of the same classes. We didn’t hang out much outside of school or anything, but whenever we had a group project or a duet to perform we always paired up. Over the years, we’d bonded over a shared love of movie scores, superheroes, and other geeky stuff, even though he was covered in tattoos and never wore anything other than black and I thought staying up past eleven was living on the edge. Somehow we’d just clicked—but never in a romantic way.

The song ended, and the audience cheered. Jared flashed the crowd a smile full of dark promises. “Thank you,” he said. “We’re Villain Complex.”

Julie whistled loudly beside me, and Carla covered her ears from the piercing sound. I blinked at them, coming out of a fog. I’d been so lost in the music I’d completely forgotten my friends were with me.

“They’re so good!” Carla yelled.

“And the guys are so hot!” Julie added.

“I told you!” I shouted back at them. And then the next song started and I was swept away, falling under Jared’s spell again.

Villain Complex had won the UCLA vs USC Battle of the Bands a month ago, securing the win for UCLA and making Kyle an instant celebrity around campus. Before that they’d only done a handful of small gigs and parties, playing both covers and songs from their own self-produced album. They were so talented it was only a matter of time until they really took off, and I’d be able to say I knew them before they were famous.

When the show ended, most of the audience crushed toward the exit like a herd of sheep. I was one of the few people crazy enough to move against the crowd and head for the stage, losing Julie and Carla somewhere in the fray. I finally made it to the front, next to a bunch of groupies gazing at Jared while he bent over to unplug something. I struggled not to stare along with them, but was saved when Kyle spotted me.

“Maddie, you came!” He jumped off the stage and grabbed me in a hug.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything. You were amazing!”

“Yeah?” He brushed hair away from his face, the tattoos on his fingers spelling out LIVE LOUD. “I was so nervous. You have no idea.”

“It was a great show. Seriously. I was impressed.”

“Thanks. That means a lot, coming from you.” His face broke out into a grin. “Hey, I didn’t get a chance to tell you the news. We have a live audition for 
The Sound
 on Friday!”

“What? No freaking way!” 
The Sound
 was a reality TV show where different rock bands competed against each other while being mentored by a famous musician. The winning band got a recording contract with a major label, and the top four bands were sent on tour together across the country. Plus, the show had millions of viewers, so even the bands that didn’t win picked up a ton of new fans just from being on it.

“I know. Crazy, right?” He laughed like he couldn’t believe it himself. “Jared sent in a video of us performing, plus MP3s of all our songs and a bunch of other shit. I didn’t think anything would happen with it, but yesterday a producer called out of the blue and invited us to come on the show to audition.”

“Wow, this is huge! I’m so happy for you.” I gave him another hug and meant every word I said—but I was prickling with a touch of envy, too. I wanted Kyle and his band to win, of course. And it’s not like I wanted to go on 
The Sound
 or anything, hell no. It’s just that, for once in my life, I’d like to do something bold like that, too. No more standing in the crowd and cheering for others, no more hiding in an orchestra or behind a piano, but on stage, living the dream out loud and in front. But that wasn’t me.

A girl with hair the color of fruit punch slammed against Kyle, wrapping her inked arms around him. They kissed for the longest, most awkward moment ever while I stood next to them like a creepy voyeur. Finally they remembered I was there and broke away, grinning like two beautiful misfits in love.

“Hey, Maddie!” Alexis said with a big smile. “Wasn’t Kyle incredible up there?”

“He really was,” I agreed.

“I’m so proud of you, babe.” She kissed his cheek, and he smiled at her like he was the luckiest guy in the world. They’d been high school sweethearts but had broken up when she’d gone to Princeton. Now that she’d transferred to USC, they’d reconnected at the Battle of the Bands and had been inseparable ever since.