Chapter 3 - Veronica
“I can’t believe you were able to get us all on the same team,” Lacie breathed, looking at Morgan with wide eyes.
Morgan grinned. “I’m not sure it’s a good thing. I’m pretty sure Marcus gave me this assignment to watch me fail, just so he could demote me or fire me.”
I laughed. “I’m not sure I really care. I’ll be able to put this on my resume for the rest of my life!”
“That makes one of us,” Morgan grinned. “I’ll wait to put this on my resume to see if they actually behave themselves. From what I’ve seen in their file, they’re not exactly PR-friendly.”
I’d seen the papers—we all had. The Mondays had been on a six-month bender of self-destruction. They’d gone from America’s dream band to tabloid fodder in a matter of weeks. It had been a perfect storm. One of them was getting a divorce, the other one had lost his parents, and the third one was going through a breakup. I couldn’t exactly remember which was which, but right now it didn’t really matter.
“You’ll be great,” I said, putting my arm around Morgan’s shoulder.
Lacie nodded, putting her arm around Morgan, too. “Plus, they’re all super hot.”
She was right. They were the hottest. All three of them just exuded this hyper-masculine aura that made you weak in the knees. It was hard to explain. It wasn’t just the rockstar vibe, or the tattoos, or the totally alpha way that they carried themselves. It was just… hot.
Morgan grinned, nodding to the abandoned-looking building in front of us. Various bands were rehearsing, giving the whole place an eery vibe. I still couldn’t believe that world-class musicians rehearsed there.
“Let’s go meet these guys,” I said as the excitement welled up inside me.
“Hold on to your panties, ladies,” Lacie joked. “I hear these guys are lethal.”
“Lethal or not, we have a job to do,” Morgan replied. Her face was drawn and she clenched her fists, glancing at the building. It hurt me to see my friend like that. I wanted to be there for her, and all I could do was be the best I possibly could. I’d take the best photos of my life and make sure their social media pages were on fire.
“Don’t worry, Morgan. You’ve got the dream team with you,” Lacie said.
I nodded. “They won’t stand a chance. They’ll clean up their act in no time and they’ll be back to being America’s sweethearts.”
“Can men be sweethearts?” Lacie asked, laughing.
I elbowed her in the ribs and glanced at her sideways. “You know what I mean.”
Pedantic weirdo, I mouthed at her, and she grinned.
“Alright,” Morgan announced with a deep breath. “Let’s go clean up these rock stars and get them ready for their album launch.”
We marched through the front doors just as the band’s manager, Tony, came down the hallway. He was a short man with a round potbelly. He looked like a failed mobster, or a used car salesman. I took a deep breath. Between their rehearsal space and their manager, they didn’t exactly scream ‘glamorous rock stars.’ He spread his arms out as if he was showing off his shirt that was a couple sizes too big. I could see the gold chain glinting against his hairy chest.
“Morgan! You look gorgeous as always. And this must be Lacie and Veronica!”
I barely even registered the introduction, because I was focused on the sounds coming from down the hallway. There were right there. Just a few steps away, I’d be meeting the biggest rock band I’d ever seen. Heck, I’d be meeting the biggest celebrities I’d ever seen.
And my conversation with Lacie played over and over in my head. I knew it was silly—they wouldn’t be our future husbands. But still, the thought of being so close to such attractive men was almost intoxicating, and I hadn’t even met them yet.
Lacie must have been feeling the same. She shook her head, blowing the air out of her nostrils and squaring her shoulders. Morgan was in front of us, and I squeezed Lacie’s arm. I gave her a wink and she nodded, giving me a weak smile.
The song ended and we entered the room. Morgan was Morgan, and she was all business. She went to shake the lead singer’s hand.
“Morgan Matthews.”
“Garrett–”
“Wood,” Morgan finished. “I’ve heard of you.”
I saw Garrett grin, and then my eyes swung to the drummer. He was shirtless and sweating, and definitely sexy. But then, I turned towards Carter, the bassist, and my world stopped.
He was a little bit slimmer than the other two, and he didn’t have that day-after-partying look that they had. His eyes were clear and bright, and a deep, dark brown. His eyelashes would have made any woman jealous, and the intensity with which he stared at me made me dizzy.
Lacie took my elbow and led me to the couch, and I fumbled with my camera. Carter’s eyes followed me the whole way, and suddenly I wished I’d put more effort into my appearance. I’d put makeup on, but nothing outrageous. I was wearing a little black dress with a leather jacket and my usual Converse sneakers. I’d gone for the ‘rocker chick chic’ look, but now I wish I’d gone for ‘effortless glam’ like the other two. They looked a lot more feminine and put together than I did.
Carter didn’t really seem to care. I watched as his eyes travelled down my body, drinking me in from head to toe. His tongue darted out to lick his lips and I practically came right then and there. My own lips parted and all I wanted to do was fall into his arms and crush my lips against his.
I finally tore my eyes away from him and glanced at Lacie and Morgan. They looked just as star-struck as me, each staring at the band with wide eyes.
Then, they started playing and my heart melted. Watching the band on TV was one thing—yeah, they were attractive. Seeing them in a room was another thing—they were out-of-this-world hot.
But watching them play for us? Hearing them create this music for an audience of just us?
Holy shit.
I could feel every note in my chest. Every time Carter looked at me, it felt like he was undressing me and I fucking loved every second of it.
I lifted my camera up and started shooting. It was a dream job for me. They were all good-looking and photogenic. They played their hearts out, and it came out on film. All I had to do was point and shoot.
“They’re good,” I said to Morgan in a breathy whisper. “This is going to be the easiest job of my life.”
I could see the album already, and it would be some of the best work of my life. Behind-the-scenes photos of the biggest band in the world. The Mondays: unedited.
A lot of my photos ended up being of Carter. I couldn’t help it. He might not have been making love to me, but he was making love to the camera and that was as close as I was going to get.
Well, I hoped I’d get closer, but I was here to do a job. We all were.
That job just seemed to get a whole lot more difficult, judging by the state of my underwear when the band finally stopped playing.