Page 49 of Ballad of Rioting Hearts

Micah really did a good job of making sure she could always be tracked. I owe him one. Now, if he could just come through with the evidence we need on Sonatina. But so far, the only thing he’s sure of is that she didn’t set up this scheme alone.

Behind her Jasper talks to Coffey while keeping a watchful eye over her. She has her head bowed and her eyes glued to her Kindle. The thick braids from her fauxhawk have fallen forward and partially hide her face.

I want to brush them away, so my view isn’t obscured.

But I can’t. I’m still in the doghouse. We all are. Bronx, Golden, and me. Not Kodiak, though. He’s the only one who can get a word out of her.

I fucking hate being iced out. I’d do anything to have her yell and scream at me.

“Riot.” Sonatina is tapping one foot, her arms crossed under her tits.

Her demands... her voice... it’s all grating on my nerves. Would she make a better sound if I wrapped one of these strings around her throat and wound it until it snapped? “What?”

“Are you listening to me?” She holds her stupid, pretentious gold microphone in one hand even though this isn’t a sound check. Just some bullshit she’s pulling to make herself the star of our fucking concert.

Not particularly. “Tell me again.”

“You’re there. I’m here. And you’re going to walk up to me after the first verse of ‘Chokehold’.”

Kelsey’s head lifts and her gaze snaps to mine. I was supposed to tell her... I was going to tell her that weekend in Kansas... but I never did. I wrote it for you, Kelsey. I wrote the changes for you too. This was your song. When we got back from the wedding it was meant to go into rotation at our gigs. It was never meant to be the duet Sonatina made it into.

Now this song sucks. I hate it. I almost wish I’d never written it at all. But right now, it’s still the best fucking thing I’ve ever written because Kelsey is staring at me like she hates me. Which is the closest she’s gotten to talking to me since the night she told me she wasn’t ready to talk to me.

She sticks her middle finger up at me.

It’s like she’s blowing me a kiss.

Then she kisses the palm of her hand and my mood lightens. Right up until she blows my damn kiss to Kodiak.

Wearing a big goofy smile, he makes a big show of putting it in his pocket. I hate that he has this relationship with her while I have none. But I don’t begrudge her that she needs him in her corner.

Still, I want to march over to her, tip her head up and take my damn kiss from her lips.

“Riot,” Sonatina whines.

I snap one of my guitar strings. Fuck. Putting my guitar down, I stand. “You’re there. I’m here. And you want me to join you on the first chorus. Once the song is done, I’m to put my arms around you and announce to the fans that I proposed, and you said yes because apparently plastering it all over social media isn’t enough.”

Her face lights up. “You were listening.”

Nope. But I’m not an idiot and Sonatina seems to have only two goals. Use L.A. Riot to increase her fanbase and make my personal life a living hell. “Whatever.”

“I expect you to be more professional. This is your career. It’s all your careers. If you want L.A. Riot to be the biggest it can be, you’re all going to have to put a lot more effort into it.”

“We’re traveling half of the world,” Bronx says. “We’ve sold out the tour.”

Her eyes flash. “Yes. But it can all be gone in a second. Do you understand what I’m telling you? Nothing lasts forever. You must do whatever it takes. If you can’t handle that, you should get out of the business now.”

Lennon has joined Kelsey. They’re sitting side by side, talking like they’re friends. At some point Kelsey managed to pry her out of her shell and befriend her. But she still spends most of her time hidden away.

“What are you looking at?” Sonatina marches across the stage in their direction. “What the hell are you doing, Lennon?”

Lennon staggers to her feet, her body curling in on itself.

Kelsey jumps up and gets between them. “Leave her alone.”

“Stay out of it, Slut. You’re not wanted here,” Sonatina shouts in Kelsey’s face.

Fuck. Not good.