Page 42 of Hard Rock Temptation
“Hey, I’ve been well behaved recently, haven’t I?” he protested. “The label hasn’t had a single complaint about me in months.”
“That means we’re about due for one, aren’t we?” Kay taunted the way she always did when Finn talked about his reformed ways.
“Don’t challenge me,” Finn said with a laugh.
“So, this is the band.” The podcast producer approached us, beaming. “It’s great to finally meet Until We Break.”
“Some of us.” I nodded to the guy and held out my hand. “We couldn’t all make it, but we gathered a few of us. Hope that’s okay.”
“Of course, of course.” He shook my hand with an effusive grin. “Thanks for agreeing to come. I know you’re all busy, what with getting ready for the next album, right?” The guy had a probing look to him and I knew he was digging for insider info.
I gave him an elusive smile, giving nothing away. Questions about our sophomore album were on the list they’d given me, and I was dreading having to answer. At least I could always blame the label for being closed lipped about it.
Sorry, we’re not supposed to give away any details. Let’s keep it a surprise.That was always my go-to response.
The real surprise was that we had barely gotten started and deadlines had long been blown past.
My chest began to seize up with a painful, anxious clenching. I hated having to answer those questions.
Kay’s arm wrapped around mine as she hugged me to her side. I looked down to find her giving me a soft, encouraging smile. The clenching eased. I leaned into her touch, my tense shoulders and stiff expression relaxing.
I noticed the producer staring at us speculatively and I immediately tensed again. Kay and I weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing unusual about having her arm in mine. Everyone knew we were close. She’d always hung onto me in one way or another. This was nothing.
The producer’s eyes began to gleam and the anxiety over our album was replaced with a different sort of anxiety.
I pulled away from Kay’s embrace and put my hands back in my pockets, purposefully avoiding her gaze. Maybe if I didn’t look at her, I wouldn’t give anything away.
“Do you mind if I go over some of the topics we’ll be covering?” the producer asked.
“Fire away,” Finn replied. “I love talking about myself.”
“We know,” Kay said.
Finn’s smug grin didn’t falter.
“We’ll want to discuss the next album,” the guy started.
“We can’t say much,” Kay jumped in before I had to, then lowered her voice. “The label wants us to keep it hush-hush, you know?” She gave the producer a conspiratorial wink, as if he was in on the secret with us.
“But surely you must have something to share by now?” he pressed. “Can you give us any hints about your first single? What’s it about? Are you keeping to your original sound or are you trying something new?”
“Something new is always great—” Kay started.
“Our original sound has always been—” I said at the same time.
We turned to look at each other. That was a question the band hadn’t discussed yet. We still hadn’t chosen the songs for our album, so who could say what sound we would end up with?
I was planning on keeping to our indie sound. That was what made us popular, after all. That was what our fans expected. But could Kay be feeling differently? She was always more likely to follow the whims of her heart and write what she felt, regardless of sound, mood, tone or even genre.
The song we were working on was one example. She was trying something new while my influence kept it familiar.
“Like Kaylee said,” I turned to the producer with what I hoped was an enigmatic smile, “we can’t really tell you much yet.”
“Yes, yes, fine,” he replied, not put off. “For our next topic, we’ll want to talk about some of your own favorite bands, of course.”
We each answered immediately.
“Darkest Days,” I said.
