Page 2 of Wild Stars

How the hell she ended up with a job managing Heart Killer is beyond me, but I’ll take her over pink-faced Lou any day.

At least she has good tits.

Richie puts out his joint in the nearest potted plant as Ines and Spike come to line up next to me.Penny gets us lined up and ready while we watch the press settle.

My nerves are frayed, and knowing I have to talk to people only makes me more anxious, but I don’t have time to focus on my flipping stomach, or my dry throat, not when the host announces my name.

Fuck me.

* * *

The room is spinning,but that is the way I like it.

At least when the world is moving, I feel still.

Though I keep running over my dumb fucking speech, or lack thereof.

It was like the tiny creatures who run my brain left my body completely.Thank God Richie stepped in and smoothed everything over, but the damage was already done.

I’d made a damn ass of myself, and I made my band look like a bunch of fucking idiots.

But if there’s one thing Idoknow about bad press, it only lasts so long until the next awful water cooler event comes along.

Which is probably why I thought getting wasted and dancing on the kitchen table in the Sylvestro mansion was a good idea ten minutes ago, but now, as my stomach throws a party of its own, I’m wondering if it really was.

I jump down from the table, nearly taking out Jinger, who has the audacity to complain.I can hear Spike, but I can’t discern what he’s saying, and instead, I wave him off, grumbling to him as I go in search of a bathroom to puke my guts out.

I really shouldn’t have had that last drink, or whatever it was that Jinger gave me after my disaster interview.

Or the spoonful of caviar Ines dared me to eat.It tasted gross as fuck.

I cling to the banister, the bright lights of the chandelier making my vision blur.I blindly walk along the hall, shielding my eyes from the overhead light, feeling for a door.

When I arrived earlier, I scoped out the place first, so I know I have to be close to a bathroom.

My hand settles on a knob, and I all but fall into the space, onto plush carpet.

Not a bathroom, but this carpet is soft...

“What the actual fuck?”a steely, gravelly voice cuts through my brain fog as I curl into the carpet, stroking the fibers between my fingers.

I look up to see none other than Mateo Starr, one half of my favorite band,Mage Of Mercy.

Like Felix, Mateo is one of the top artists on the label, despite having been on a musical hiatus for the last five years.

But he’swayhotter than Felix...

Dark gray-blue eyes stare at me as some strands of dark brown hair fall in his eyes haphazardly.Combined with his perfectly shaped lips, impeccable jawline, and his damn near perfect muscles with those badass star tattoos, he’s a fucking twenty on a scale of one to ten.

A halo of light erupts around his head, and I swear, I can see cartoon angels and demons jumping around on his shoulders.

“Heyyy Matty...”I slur.

He frowns at me as he nudges me in the side.“What the fuck did you take?”he asks, his voice a deep growl.“And don’t call me Matty.”

I pet the carpet, stroking its soft, plush fibers as I try to bury myself in it.It doesn’t smell as pretty as it looks and I wrinkle my nose.

“I...don’t...uh...I had some dr...drinks, and then J...Jinger...”