Page 35 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

I turned back to the bag I was now clutching between my hands and dropped my forehead against it heavily. Now that I’d stopped, I was utterly fucking exhausted. My breath was still coming harshly and I was covered in sweat.

Releasing the bag, I walked over to one of the benches and slumped down, leaning forward and resting my forearms on my knees.

“Wanna talk about it man?” Aiden asked.

I almost laughed. Talk? Yeah, I was fucking your sister but then I lied to her about fucking other girls to save her from the shit my life is about to become and now I want to kill any guy who goes anywhere near her. “Nope.”

I didn’t need to look to know that hurt him. He’d offloaded on me only four days ago, and here I was, shutting him out.

“Pity you don’t have your axe here, man. That would be a way more constructive way to vent,” Matt said, a tinge of amusement in his voice.

Yeah, it fucking would’ve. Shit, I could’ve gone to the music room and done something smart, but then again, I probably would’ve ended up smashing up the school’s equipment or something.

The sound of the door opening had us all looking up. Miss Waters frowned when she saw us all sitting around like we were at a fucking scout camp or some shit.

“Do I need to remind you boys that this room is off limits at this time?”

Dean smiled. “No, ma’am.”

She sighed. “Are you already trying to escape your fans?”

“We just needed a break from it for a while Miss. Sorry, this is the first place we found,” Aiden said quietly.

She eyed him for a minute then nodded. “Well, I’d rather see you guys struggling and working out how to come to terms with these kinds of things than you all being cocky assholes who think it’s their dues. It shows character and maturity which you’re going to need if you want to stay sane and alive where you’re headed.”

We all blinked at her brashness, a little stunned she would be so forward.

“I’ll let it slide this time, but try to be a little more respectful of the rules next time boys.”

She gave us a harsh look before stepping back out the door and closing it behind her. We looked at each other for a minute after she left then burst out laughing.

“Did that just fucking happen?” Matt asked, wiping his eye.

I stood, grabbing my shirt and shucking it back on again. That was fucking gold. I’d never come across Miss Waters before, but I fucking loved her now. “How much time have we got?” I asked no one in particular.

“About half. Why?” Dean said.

“Let’s hit the stage.”

They grinned. “Fuck yeah!”

Chapter 19

Mia

I wasn’t sure what had happened back on the green. One minute I’d been laughing at Kaeli’s description of Aaron trying to dress for success, and the next, Jace had been striding away like a man possessed. I’d watched with alarm as Aiden, Matt, and Dean gave each other a knowing look and quickly got up to follow him.

Kaeli had given me a ‘what the hell’ look, and I’d just shrugged. It beat me. I had no idea what was going on.

It wasn’t long after that that we heard the music start up. Everyone did. It was like a mass exodus off the green and into the auditorium, people hollering and yahoo-ing the whole way. Of course, we followed.

Watching the guys on stage was a real eye opener for me. Even though I’d heard them while they’d rehearsed down in the dungeon, and had seen the YouTube clips they’d uploaded to the net, I’d never actually seen them perform before. Not that they were really performing like they would at a proper gig, but the way they played was just mind blowing.

I watched Jace mostly. There just seemed to be an intensity about him while he was up on that stage. One that I hadn’t seen before in any video clip. It was more like the Jace I knew in private. The one who let himself go and felt.

The thought of him like that stuck with me all the way through gym class, and again as I walked with Kaeli to Food Science. Kaeli was carefully keeping her thoughts to herself as we navigated the halls together, aware that this was only my second day of attempting the halls and not wanting to push me past my limits.

“Do you want to do something tonight?” she asked quietly when we reached the classroom.

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