Setting off down my street, I pedaled fast, hoping no one would question seeing me out. It was a lot less weird to see someone out on a bike at nine pm as opposed to one am, though. It wasn’t like anyone saw me anyway.

I arrived at the studio and Freddy took my bike, stashing it on the bike rack. “You singing today or working?”

“Didn’t you call me here to work?” Not to sing. Never to sing. I watched musician after musician waltz in like it was no big deal to sing their heart out week after week, but never me.

“Yeah, but it can’t hurt to ask.” His shoulders jumped. “We’re in here. There’s three different acoustics you can choose from. They only need some backing track accompaniment. Can you handle this?”

I nodded. My heart beat rabbit-punch fast and I wiped my hands on my jeans. Unbuttoning my coat, I followed Freddy down the narrow hallways.

“Don’t be nervous. You’ll kill them, kid.” He pushed open the second set of twin doors, the ones that led into the booth side of the studio.

“Here she is.”

I froze inside the doorway, my jaw slack. The unmistakable beanie of Logan, worn denim jacket of Vale, Elias’s leather pants, and Camden’s clear blue eyes that almost made him other worldly. “Holy fuck!”

They all cheered. Big smiles and laughs. Money exchanged hands. Being slapped into the hands of a woman with cascading black hair. “You guys just don’t know women.” The woman who didn’t look much older than me chuckled and pocketed the cash. “I’m Maddy. I’m guessing from the expletive hello, you know who these guys are.” She held out her arm in their direction.

“W-without Grey.”

She tipped her chin toward me. “Exactly. We need to lay down a track tonight. We could use a little rhythm guitar help.”

“Me?” I pointed at my chest and glanced around the room. Lockwood’s shredded t-shirt style was missing.

“Only for the test track.”

“Where’s Lockwood?”

I’d never understood the phrase ‘sucked the air out of the room’ like I did the second I mentioned his name.

“He couldn’t make it today. Freddy said you had history here. Your dad did some great work and you could too. Are you up for it, and can you do us the favor of keeping everything quiet?” Maddy stared at me with a hard edge to drive home the seriousness of the chance I was being given. Not only were they trusting me with this, but so was Freddy.

“I—” It came out like a squeak. I cleared my throat and thumped my chest. “I can do that. Thank you for trusting me.”

“Shit, I almost forgot.” She shuffled through a stack of papers in a tattered black backpack before pulling out a stack of papers. Flipping through them she mumbled under her breath. “I do, but that doesn’t mean I won’t still need you to sign this.” She slipped a few sheets of paper onto the mixing console with the big bold words ‘Non-Disclosure Agreement’ at the top. She uncapped a pen with her teeth and held it out. “Being a dick on behalf of these guys comes with the territory.”