The first concert after signing our contract had been wildly successful. Our fans were clamoring for more, so the label decided to push up the dates of our tour.

That meant Gael went back to bugging me about hiring a session guitarist to fill in for me.

"I don't know," Nathan said. "I like being the only male guitarist in our band. It scores me all the chicks."

Gael smacked him in the shoulder. "Hey, I used to score as many chicks as you."

"That was before you let some girl chain you down," Nathan said. "Now there's no more chicks allowed for you, isn't that right?"

Instead of getting mad, Gael puffed his chest out.

"There's only one chick I need in my life," he declared.

"Your girlfriend would have you by the balls if she knew you'd called her a chick," I said.

"At least I'm not calling her by a disgusting pet name," Gael said.

"Besides," Nathan drawled, "isn't that what our female fans are calling themselves? Cherry Chicks?"

"I don't know if that’s cute or gross," I muttered.

"You think that's bad, you should hear what fans of Benedict Cumberbatch call themselves." Nathan gave me a lazy-eyed smirk.

I couldn't understand why all the girls flocked to someone like Nate. Well, I supposed I could, if I squinted and tilted my head. With his sandy brown hair, dark blue eyes and laid-back attitude, he had that cute boy next door thing going on.

Of course, behind all that boyish charm was a shark lying in wait. No one who really knew Nate would mistake him for anything else but a predator licking his chops as he waited patiently for his prey to appear.

"We've got a handful of guys out there waiting for their turn to impress us," Gael said. "We put the word out everywhere and got a lot of interest from guitarists in the local scene."

"One or two even decided to fly in from out of town to audition for us," Nathan added. “It turns out we're a pretty big deal.”

"Where exactly did you put the word out?" I asked. "I haven't seen audition postings anywhere online."

"I didn't post the job description online," Gael said. "I spread the word among our musician friends."

"Keeping out the riffraff," Nathan said.

Gael shrugged. "If you want to put it that way. We still might end up with amateurs.”

“Is that why Seth and Julian aren’t here?” Nathan asked, referring to our drummer and keyboardist.

“No point wasting their time if these guys don’t have what it takes. We’ll weed out the ones who can’t keep up with us.”

Maybe that was a narcissistic way of putting it. Then again, no one had ever accused Gael of having too much humility.

Of course, I couldn't talk. I was just as bad sometimes.

I always said being an artist meant swinging between delusions of grandeur and crippling self-doubt.

"I'm surprised you're taking the lead on this," I told Gael. "You're not normally so responsible."

"My girl has turned me into a better man," he said with pride.

Nathan snorted.

Ever since he'd met Jessie, Gael had been much more reliable. It was odd to think of my older brother and the word reliable in the same sentence, but Jessie really had been a good influence on him.

"Are we ready?” Gael asked us. "Should we get started with the auditions?”

Nate and I nodded.

"Let's bring in the first one." Gael opened the door and waved a guy through.

The one who walked in first had a pale, washed-out look and wide eyes. He could have been a fan of ours, or maybe he always got nervous when auditioning. Gael asked the guy to introduce himself. He gave a long rambling speech about how he'd never been in a band before, but he'd been playing guitar forever and he was really grateful for the chance to audition for us and he hoped he impressed us. The guy didn't stop for air the entire time.

I didn't mind the rambling so much. It was the squirrelly way he darted his gaze between us that bugged me. If he looked this nervous performing in front of three people, how would he be able to play a live show?

He was a good guitarist but he didn't blow me away. Maybe that was the most I could ask for. I couldn't expect total genius from every session guitarist out there. Not everyone could be as talented as my own band members.

I wasn't being biased. I'd taken a while to gather the right group. Nathan, our guitarist, Seth, our drummer, and Julian, our keyboardist, were some of the best musicians to come onto the scene in a long time. I still sometimes wondered why they had chosen to join my band over all their other options.

Whenever we got together and talked about our future, about our ambitions, I was reminded. The fire in their eyes was the same as mine. We were all kindred spirits. World domination was in our blood.

The guy auditioning finished his song and lowered his guitar pick.

"Thanks," Gael said. "We'll let you know."

The guy bobbed his head and ducked out quickly, seeming relieved the ordeal was over.

Gael turned to face us. His expression was less than enthused. "Thoughts?"

"Not in a million years," Nathan said.

"I don't think he's the right guy," I said.

"That's it, then," Gael said. "One down, five to go."

"We don't really have to sit through five more of these, do we?" I asked.

"Only until we find one who fits," Gael said.

I was beginning to dread the process. I didn't want to have to sit here listening to mediocre musicians all day.

It turned out that that wasn't going to be a problem. Gael opened the door to usher in the second guitarist.

My heart stopped in my chest.

Liam Knight walked through the door.