Under the Lights (A Brothers of Rock - GONE BY AUTUMN - Novel) by Karolyn James Page A

Tanner definitely needed a shower right now. He wanted
to wash whatever they had done the night before off his body.
    He made it from the bedroom to the
bathroom without a problem. Once in the shower, he let the hot water beat
against his face. As he ran his hands through his hair, he wondered if he had
been thinking about someone else while fooling around with the woman in
his bed.
    “ Easy,
man, ” he whispered, the
water pelting off his lips.
    He had to work with Jules. Today,
in fact.
    “ Oh,
shit, ” he said.
    He grabbed a bar of soap and washed
up as fast as he could. That would explain why his phone was going off. It was
probably the guys calling to see when everyone would be at practice.
    Tanner killed the shower, grabbed a
towel, and scrambled to dry and get dressed. When he opened the bathroom door,
he looked left to right. Still alone. Well, not really alone, the woman was
still in the bed.
    Tanner ’ s phone had a handful of missed calls from Ryan and
Sam.
    He took his chances with Ryan.
    As the phone rang, he walked down
the hall to the bedroom. Now he had a reason to get the woman out of his
apartment.
    “ Where
are you? ” Ryan asked.
    “ Coming
soon, man. Sorry. Slept in. My phone was in the other room. Who ’ s there? ”
    “ Everyone
but you and Asher. The two damn guitarists. ”
    “ Jules
there? I mean, the singers. All three? ”
    “ Yeah, ” Ryan said. “ We ’ re
all ready to work. Waiting for the rest of the band to get here. ”
    “ Relax.
I ’ ll be there soon. Not
like we ’ re losing the day. ”
    “ Brother,
Tanner, it ’ s almost two in
the afternoon. ”
    “ Holy
hell, ” Tanner said. “ When did we leave The Jack? ”
    “ It
closed at two. We all split up around five. Sun was probably coming up by the
time you got home and settled. ”
    Tanner rubbed his forehead again.
    Home and settled? Yeah, right.
That ’ s when I
was just getting started with …
    “ Just
get here when you can, ” Ryan said.
    “ Just
jumped out of the shower. I ’ m
leaving in two minutes, man. ”
    “ Good.
I ’ ll try to track Asher down. ”
    “ Yeah,
good luck with that. ”
    Tanner ended the call and went into
his bedroom. He walked over to the bed and kicked it. The entire bed shook and
the woman moved the hair out of her face and slowly started to sit up. The
sheet fell from her body, exposing her breasts.
    “ Good
morning, ” she said.
    “ Good
morning to you, ” Tanner
said. “ Listen, I have to go
work. ”
    “ Work?
You ’ re a rockstar. ”
    “ I
have to go be a rockstar. ”
    “ Then
be a rockstar with me. In bed. That was fun last night … well, this morning. ”
    “ Yeah,
great time, ” Tanner said. “ I have to go though. I ’ m going to trust you, okay? Grab
a shower, grab a bite, and then head out. I don ’ t
know when I ’ ll be back. ”
    “ You ’ re throwing me out? ”
    “ If
you want me to throw you out, I will. I ’ m
late for practice. So, again, I ’ ll
make it clear. Take a shower. Get something to eat. Then leave. Please. ”
    “ Okay
then, ” the woman said. She
slowly pulled the sheet up over her chest. She looked disappointed that her
time with Tanner was over.
    “ You
know how it is, ” Tanner
said.
    It probably wasn ’ t the smartest move to leave a stranger
in his apartment alone, but Tanner wasn ’ t
in the mood to deal with it. Not with the band waiting. Not with Jules waiting.
    By the time Tanner arrived at the
practice loft, Asher had crawled out of whatever hole he ended up in and was
there. He looked like hell and was finishing off the largest cup of coffee
Tanner ever saw. Sometimes he didn ’ t
know how any of them did this all the time.
    But it was damn fun.
    Asher put his coffee cup on the
table and Tanner spotted Jules standing with Ryan, talking. The other two
singers were reading from pieces of paper, singing without the mics turned on.
    “ What
are we doing? ” Tanner
asked.
    “ Just
figuring out what parts work