“Well, if all goes well in the studio, hopefully we can all quit our day jobs after the tour.” Ty locked the apartment. “Thanks to Jace, our social numbers are close to a hundred thousand now. Zane fought us, but I’m all for a little nepotism from Carter. It’s helping us launch nationally without signing our lives away to a record label.”
“I’ll miss you while you’re so busy, but I’m so excited for you, Ty.” I had made a vow to myself to be the most supportive studio girlfriend in history.
“I want you to be there as much as possible. I’m not going to be needed all the time, we are laying down tracks old-school style. The summer is slipping by, I’m not giving up any time with you, butterfly.” Ty smooched my forehead before we got into my RAV.
After the jam session at Carter’s house, Alex felt a lot more comfortable hanging out with me and the band during their recording sessions. She and I could get lost in our own private world of giggles and gossip, so we were lucky the guys seemed to genuinely enjoy both of us. We were both in heaven, feeling grateful to witness LTZ create such great upbeat, hard-rocking anthems that I was sure would become part of Seattle rock history. Bringing them Alex’s mom’s pies, Dick’s burgers, and Slurpees didn’t hurt.
“He’s so fucking sexy, look at his arms.” Alex ogled Jace, who kept his eyes decidedly averted from my BFF.
We were sitting in the overstuffed couch in the lounge off the control room, which gave us a bird’s eye view of the Viking drummer laying down tracks for Rise. The other guys were off in another studio making changes to the chorus of another song.
“Have you at least got him to kiss you yet?”
“He isn’t interested. He treats me like I’m a child. Did you hear him calling me ‘Beanie’ because apparently, I’m skinny like a string bean?” Alex slumped. “Have you made it past second yet?”
“I wish. Ty’s taken on so many shifts at the bistro to save up money, when I actually see him, we’re lucky to even sneak a kiss in without my parents hovering.” I pouted. “I think they have spidey sense that things are moving in that direction and they are trying to thwart us.”
“Well, duh.” Alex rolled her eyes. “You guys are so completely whacked over each other, I’m sure they think you’ve already gone there.”
“How’s the Instagram coming along, Beanie?” Jace tromped toward the door to the alley. Apparently, he had finished playing and we hadn’t even noticed.
“Good,” she called out after him.
“Sweet.” He held a hand up but kept walking.
“See? I hate it.” Alex wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure why I keep crushing on him, he so clearly has put me in the ‘little sister’ category.”
“At least he’s helping you build up your social,” I encouraged. “Plus, he’s easy on the eyes.”
“And he’s super witty,” Alex continued the list of Jace’s attributes. “His commentary on the studio time is so funny, he could have been a professional comedian.”
“I’m not a fan of his annoying ‘spycam’ posts of me and Ty making out,” I grumbled. “The girl fans are going to hate me so much.”
I’d grown very fond of all of the LTZ guys. Although Connor and Jace’s sister had been dating for years, Ty and I were teased relentlessly by all the guys whether it was kissy faces or sex jokes. As the social media guru, Jace recorded every moment. I hadn’t realized how seriously he took the stuff and how instrumental his work had been to propel the band forward. Religious about his algorithms, tracking post engagement and views, Jace was the wizard behind LTZ’s PR and social strategy.
I especially adored Zane, the process he and Ty had developed to write songs was fascinating. They fought like cats and dogs over lyrics and guitar lines, but the result was magic. He was super affectionate and was always hugging me. Not in a sexual way, in a brotherly way that made me feel accepted into the LTZ family.
Connor was quiet and introspective and harder to get to know, especially because I was extremely bashful around him after he walked in on us. He was devoted to his girlfriend and seemed to have an endless number of brothers and sisters who were always getting themselves into situations that required Connor to come to the rescue. The big, gruff ginger was a bad boy with a marshmallow heart when it came to his family.
Ty was hyper-focused on making sure his vocals came out perfect and not wasting the expensive studio time. He had a serious pre-recording routine, drinking hot tea with lemon and doing all his vocal warm-up exercises he learned in school. He nailed every take on both lead and backing vocals.
My heart swooned when I listened to the playbacks of Ty’s raw vocal tracks. Now that I knew him so well, I could hear every nuance in his voice. His burly yet soulful yowls were a combination of rough sensuality tinged with sorrow. His lyrics, while sometimes playful, were poignant and exposed the raw vulnerability he tried to keep hidden. Like one of his Seattle idols, Chris Cornell, Ty’s natural voice was deep, almost baritone, but he also had no problem reaching higher pitches with his incredible, multi-octave range.
In other words, he was exceptional.
In the middle of their recording session, we finally had a break to spend time alone. A tech company paid big dollars to book out the studio for a day, so we found ourselves with a full day to ourselves. It was our chance. Ty came over early after my parents went to work, and we raced up to my room and shut and locked my door. Stripping his worn jeans and black T-shirt down to his sexy, black boxer briefs in two seconds flat, Ty reached for me and I slipped into his tight
