Page 11 of Hollywood Undercover
Chapter 5
ALEXANDRA mulledover the idea for the next few days. She was in the studio working on her third take of a song. Shereallyneeded a break. The song was a softer ballad than she had been used to. During the recording session, the acoustic guitar whined beautifully beneath her fingertips. She deftly slid into a minor chord and let the notes hum plaintively. The whispering drumbeat ticked in half-time. It was a single stick tapping the snare to keep tempo with the subtle and emotive tune. It was perfect, and emphasized the haunting melody she wasstrumming.
She made it through the first verse with ease. For some reason, her mind wandered to the loneliness of her last birthday party. The place had been filled with hundreds of guests at her mansion. It was the party Wilkes couldn’t attend because he wassupposedto be recording. Evangeline was also away filming a movie out of town. Her father was in the middle of closing a merger deal. None of the people she cared for had been there. Come to think about it, even her manager Rick didn’t showup.
Her voice barely hitched on a broken note. In her current mood, she decided it fit, despite the error. As she sang, thoughts drifted to concerts with packed stadiums, and the millions of lovesick fans listening to her music online—fans who frequently took to social media to verbalize the strong connection they felt to Lexxi Rock, and the feelings her lyricsinspired.
Shestopped.
Overwhelmed by the thought she had spent the past four years of her life with more strangers than friends, she sighed and did her best to snap out of the melancholy. It was definitely time to take a trip. She washomesick.
“Play that one back again for me, Bryce,” Alexandra said into the mic. “I think I want a do-over.”
She adjusted her headphones and cleared her throat. She checked her watch, took a sip of water, and waited for the sound engineer to run the first verseagain.
“Not a chance. That shit was off the hook, Lex!” Bryce Wilcoxshouted.
Alexandra smiled at Bryce. He was the youthful music genius of a production lead, someone the label felt had a pulse on what songs had the potential to be top singles. She watched as he ran pudgy fingers through the thick black hair that swooped to the right above his twenty-something-year-old face. He looked over at his engineer. The man was vehemently shaking his head, clearly of the same mindset as Bryce—that they had a hit on theirhands.
“Listen, you’ve done a few takes, and all of them were great. I used to think there’s no such thing as perfect in the studio, Lex, but that shit wasperfect.”
“I think it was a little flat,” she said withuncertainty.
Bryce had the engineer play it back for her. She closed her eyes and listened, nodding her head to the beat of the song. It was strangely different from everything she had written before. Lexxi Rock was known for fast-paced, vibrant, thrilling rock anthems that played up teenage rebellion, matters of the heart, and frustration. This song was nothing like the others. It was a seductive ballad that felt…mature. She had written it for Wilkes, the undeserving bastard. Her eyebrows knitted together as she heard the ebb and flow of her voice through the headphones. She liked it. It could be a greatsong.
The lyricsreplayed.
We are stuck up in ourways
Self-assured and savingface
Without innocenceenough
To trust our hearts to fall inlove
But there itgoes
Withoutreason
We are falling tobelieving
It couldbe
It couldbe…
As she listened, she wished it could be true. She began to mouth the words of the next part, and the music transitioned faster. The drumbeat picked up, adding the characteristic rock layer of sound to build behind the guitar anddrum.
And, if anybody has ashot
It could beyou
But what do Iknow?
We are children makebelieving
It couldbe.
Well, at least it soundedgood.
