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"Where’s his dad?" My stoht of his demonic father

"His dad works in New York City He commutes in his own private jet Crazy, huh? I don’t kno hard it’ll be to get into the band’s practice, but I can take you, just to see"

That sounded horribly aard, but it was all I had to ith

"Okay," I told hi out of the front doors Jay had gotten us through the Rowes’ private gate by telling theby the number of cars, a lot of people came to watch them practice It looked like they’d had a miniconcert or a party Jay stopped his car on the side of the circular driveway lined with vehicles There was a fountain in the middle of the circle, directly in front of an enorray stone, with hundreds of rose vines lining the giant arched doorway and s It was as close to a castle as I had ever seen, only there was no Prince Char inside

"Want ht be better if I talk to him alone"

"That’s cool There’s this instru to see anyway Just call me when you’re ready for ot out and walked up to the door, passing people ere leaving When I lifted er of Lascivious, Michael, stood there in tight black jeans with a swanky girl under his ar past ed, walking away

"Suit yourself," he said over his shoulder "He’s downstairs Probably busy by now"

I walked into the wide-open foyer filled with glearand staircase I felt like an intruder as I followed the sound of voices through a dining roos, to an open doorith carpeted stairs leading doo girls inher feet and cussing as she went Sounds of percussion began in the baseirls upward

"If you’re here to see Kaidan," the angry one said, "don’t bother" She pushed past ainst hiain"

"Whatever," her friend said "You’ll be calling hi around and running fro up fro thud of my heart in my ears I forced myself to move forward, and then down the steps one at a time I stopped at the bottoger than my whole apartment I stepped into the massive rooht looked like a miniature movie theater, coiant screen Right in front of me in the ht out of a Hawaiian scene To the far left were two long couches in front of a stage with speakers, microphones, and dru used And used very well, I ht lines of his face were stern with concentration as his ar crash of the drumsticks The beat he created was ih ahead of the sounds in order to place each stick at the exact right place at the right ti up and down on the pedal in synchronization It all happened too fast for my eyes to keep up I was overco I wanted to to envelop hihtful, sha of cymbals was the only sound He took the headphones off and dropped the at me

"Well, if it isn’t little orphan Annie"

He went behind the bar and took a bottle of water froulp, while I stood there un, then tossed the bottle onto the bar and pulled a silver item from the pocket of his jeans With a fast flick of his wrist, it opened into a blade My heart sta the open knife between his fingers Who played with knives?

In a few easy strides, he closed the distance between us and was in front of me, very close, with his head cocked to the side I seemed to amuse him, for some reason But then his face went cruel, and his eainst the wall above my shoulder Our faces were inches apart His eyes held me frozen in place I was very aware of the knife at his side, held in his other hand Co here had been a rowled

"I just want to talk" I tried to keep my voice steady "You don’t have to try to scare ht face, and his tone was seductively low "There’s hardly any room for fear when you’re so bloody turned-on"

A flash of shock hit me at his audacity His eyes lowered to er now," he said coolly, "and a bit of e my colors! And I couldn’t see his at all I felt stripped bare before hiin with