Lazarus

Outside the small office, I pace back and forth as I wait on the girls to touch up their makeup. I don’t know who’s more fucking nervous—me or them.

“Jesus, dude, calm down. You’re a wreck. They’re going to kill it. Trust the talent we’ve found and cultivated,” Cam says as he does his best to get me to chill out. “I haven’t seen you like this since our first performance. Don’t you remember how great we did? All your worrying was for nothing.”

I raise my eyebrows. “I don’t think we recall that night the same. We totally screwed up the routine. Jimmy forgot the lyrics.”

Cam dismissively waves me off as he adjusts his baseball cap. “Semantics. The crowd went nuts for us. Don’t you remember that?”

“I do, but we were also six cute teenage boys, singing like grown men, and people ate that gimmick up. This is a whole different situation.”

He shrugs. “The four women behind that door are smoking hot. I’m pretty sure this place will go nuts even if they got up there and sang the alphabet. Trust me, Laz, the girls got this. It’s going to be rocky—all first performances are—but we’ll use this as a tool to work out the kinks.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I concede, knowing I do tend to overreact.

“Damn straight, I’m right. Now, relax and be confident that our women can handle this.”

I shake my head and chuckle. “Our women?”

“Yeah, Drea and Candace—our women.”

I defensively hold up my hands. “Whoa. I think you—”

“This is me you’re talking to here. And are you forgetting that I walked in on you giving Drea a little private dance lesson?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

“That was nothing,” I defend.

Cam smirks. “Sure, it was. It’s okay to admit that you want Drea. I don’t give a fuck about Peter’s stupid rule. God knows, if Candace gave me the green light, I’d be all over her, not giving two shits about what Peter would have to say about it.”

“Yeah, maybe, but you don’t have your royalty checks riding on the deal like I do. If I cross that line, everything I’ve worked to obtain on my own will be flushed down the damn toilet, and Peter will get what he’s always wanted—me completely out of the Rawlings Records picture.”

“Peter’s a douchebag,” he chimes in. “I really don’t see how the two of you were ever friends.”

I sigh. “Me either.”

The bar manager walks over to Cam and me, wearing his white dress shirt and black slacks and looking like he belongs more in a bank than at a nightclub. “Your girls ready?”

I nod and then pound on the door before I open it and poke my head inside. “Let’s go, ladies.”

Laycee and Annamea are the first to come out of the room, and the manager’s eyes move appreciatively over them. They both have on the agreed upon black spandex outfit for the group, each outfit varying a tad on length in style, but the overall concept the same—tight and revealing.

I stick my head back inside the door, looking for my two missing group members, and my eyes land on Candace. She is squatting down with her hands on Drea’s bare knees like she’s pleading with her.

Drea is incredibly shy and still doubts herself even though I’ve told her over and over how amazing she is. I wish there were some way I could make her see what I see when she sings.

I step inside the room and close the door behind me. Concern fills every inch of me. “Drea? You okay?”

She stares up at me wide-eyed, making her seem so innocent, which is a stark contract between the form-fitting outfit she’s wearing that shows off entirely too much cleavage for the crowd full of men to see. The idea of other guys looking at her, causes me to feel jealous as hell, but I know entertaining a crowd, and stage costumes are a part of the business.

A deep frown etches into Drea’s face. “I don’t know if I can do this. I’m not ready. I’m not … I can’t … I’m not good enough.”

“You are good enough,” I confirm, doing my best to give her confidence a last minute boost. “You wouldn’t have made the group otherwise.”

“I told you, Drea. Since the first time I heard you sing, I knew that you were born to do this. Your fear of messing up or not being liked is crippling you. You have to dig deep and overcome it,” Candace says, doing her best to instill faith in Drea.

“She’s right.” I stretch my hand out to her. “You’ve got this, Drea. The hard work you put into learning your craft will pay off. Trust in all the things you’ve learned, and believe in yourself the way I believe in you. You are a talented, beautiful woman.”

Her big brown eyes search my face, and I pray she sees the sincerity.

She slips her hand into mine. “I don’t want to let you down.” Her eyes flick between me and Candace. “Either of you.”

“You won’t,” I say as I help her to her feet. “Now, get out there and break some hearts.”

I hold her hand in mine, and she smiles. It takes all the restraint in me to hold myself back from kissing her. The need to comfort her is so damn strong, and I don’t know why. I shouldn’t want to be this close to Drea, yet I do, and it doesn’t seem to matter to my body that messing around with this girl could cost me everything.

Cam pokes his head into the room. “Candace, get your fine ass out here! I want to see how hot my future wife looks in those sexy catsuits you all are supposed to wear.”

Candace shakes her head as she mumbles, “This guy never stops.”

I laugh. “Haven’t you figured Cam out yet? The man’s relentless when he wants something, and lucky you, he’s got you in his sights.”

“You should just give in, Candace. He might lose interest if you just sleep with him,” Drea teases.

She rubs her forehead. “Would you two stop encouraging this? Cam and I aren’t going to happen.”

“Never say never,” Drea says in a sing-song voice.

“Ugh,” Candace growls before she stomps out of the room.

The minute Cam follows Candace out the door, Drea and I both burst out laughing.

“You ready?” I run my thumb over the smooth skin of her hand as our fingers remain intertwined. She gives my hand a little squeeze.

“My legs feel like Jell-O,” she admits.

“It’s the nerves. That will get easier with each performance. The very first time I faced a crowd, I was scared shitless,” I confess. “I convinced myself I would fall flat on my face and everyone would know how much I sucked. Things were rough that night, but we got through it, and soon, performing became as easy as talking to twenty thousand best friends at once. I became comfortable, and so will you one day.”

“That’s hard to imagine.”

“It’s because you don’t believe in yourself yet, but I know how great you can become. I have faith in you.”

“You do?”

“I do.” I stare into her big brown eyes, and I see how sweet she is. Most women I know in this industry are so full of themselves they have issues fitting their big ass heads through the door. Drea is different from the rest of them because she hasn’t been tainted. She’s not fake. She is who she is, and I admire that about her. Purity is what this business needs.

“You’ve got real talent. It’s time to show it off to the world.” I cup one side of her face with my hand and then lean in and kiss her forehead. “Get out there and knock them dead.”

“Thank you,” she whispers.

“Anytime,” I tell her as I gaze into her eyes.

She turns to head out with the rest of the girls, and when she gets to the door, she turns and gives me one final smile. My heart skips a fucking beat, and at that moment, I realize I’m fucking addicted to this woman.