Blood and Guitars by Heather Jensen Page B

brought.
    “I’ve been around too many musicians to
believe that you guys all ate something substantial before you came
over this morning.” Serena grinned. “Joshua and I just had to bring
you something.”
    “You mean Poptarts and Starbucks doesn’t
count?” Chase grabbed a clump of purple grapes and popped one into
his mouth.
    Serena rolled her eyes but the smile never
left her face. “So, how’s it coming along? Do you have anything I
can listen to?”
    “Not yet,” I admitted. “We were just getting
ready to lay down some drums after the break.”
    “Click … click … click,” Chase said
hypnotically. I rolled my eyes at him. “What? I’m just preparing
myself for the hours of mind-numbing clicking I’m about to listen
to.” He forced a smile.
    I shook my head and shoved him on the
shoulder, knocking him back onto the sofa where he stayed, happily
munching on grapes.
    Karatz kissed his son on the forehead and
handed him back to Serena. “Thanks for breakfast, honey,” he
said.
    “No problem. I’ll be back with lunch,” she
said. “Good luck.”
    “Thanks,” I said between bites of an apple
pastry of some kind I’d found in the basket of goodies. We spent a
few more minutes munching on stuff and drinking more water before
it was time to get back to work.
    “Well Chase, you’re up.” Karatz gestured in
the direction of the drum booth and then turned to me and said,
“You know the drill.”
    And I did. While Karatz was working with any
of the other guys, I was to be playing my guitar and working on new
material. It was a good set up, actually, since I would be sitting
around a lot and doing nothing otherwise. I followed Chase back
into the live room and helped him start to take his kit down so he
could carry it to the booth.
    “So, who is she?” Chase asked as he pulled
the toms off of the bass drum one at a time and set them aside.
    “Huh?” was my brilliant reply.
    He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at me.
“You’re on cloud nine or something today,” he continued. “I just
figured you finally took my advice and met someone.”
    “Are you implying that I have to have a girl
to be happy?” I feigned insult.
    He chuckled and said, “Uh … yeah. Pretty
much.”
    I picked up one of his drumsticks that he’d
left dangerously close to me and tossed it at him. “Actually, I met
this amazing woman,” I admitted. “But I’m not sure if I’ll ever see
her again.”
    “Are you kidding me?” Chase said. “You can
have any girl you want and you still manage to find one who’s
unavailable?”
    “It’s not that.” I sighed. “I just couldn’t
tell if she was that into me. Plus, like an idiot I didn’t get her
number. I don’t want to pull a stalker move and just show up at her
place.”
    “I would.”
    “Exactly my point.” Chase smiled and shrugged
in defeat.
    “And the crazy thing is, I think she’s the
girl I’ve been dreaming of.”
    Chase narrowed his gaze at me. “Okay, that
does sound crazy.”
    “No, I mean that literally. I told you I’ve
been having these dreams,”
    “Wow, didn’t know I was missing out on a
therapy session,” O’Shea said as he walked in.
    “Forget it,” I said.
    “Don’t stop just because I’m here,” O’Shea
urged. “Do tell.”
    “Trey met a girl,” Chase said.
    I glared at him. “Thanks a lot.”
    “Who is she?” O’Shea asked.
    “Just a girl.” I didn’t want to go into too
much detail. Did I even have details about her to tell? Probably
not. “She’s an artist.” I hoped that would be enough to satiate
their curiosity.
    “Ooh. Sounds hot.” O’Shea rubbed the day old
stubble on his chin.
    “Well, I won’t say I told you so.” Chase
lifted up the bass drum and headed for the doorway.
    I shook my head, grinning, but Chase was
right. It was no coincidence that I’d started writing music again
now that the faceless woman in my dreams had taken on Aurora’s
countenance.
     
     

Chapter 11
     
     
    I sat on a