"So, Killing Time is out, right?" Jc sighs as he looks up from the sheet of paper in front of him.    

"Yeah, but All I Wanted is in." Lucas nods slowly.    

I swear, we've been locked in this studio for ten years.     

Ok fine, it's only been three hours, but it feels like a hell of a lot longer.    

Between the four of us, we have six notebooks full of lyrics and sheet music. I thought going through them and picking out the right songs to record would be a fairly quick and painless process, but apparently I was wrong.    

We can't agree on anything and this is taking ten times longer than it should. In three hours, we've selected two songs, which is pretty damn pathetic. God only knows what kind of hell will break loose when we decide on the songs that'll actually go on the album.    

The door to the studio opens and shuts quietly, but I don't look up until I feel Stella grab my wrist and inhale sharply.    

"Fucking hell... would you look at that?" She mumbles and I can't help but giggle. "That is one pretty, pretty boy." She sighs, never taking her eyes off the figure leaning against the door.    

I nod in agreement, doing my best to discreetly look him over. Heavy black boots, ripped jeans, form fitting gray T-shirt, perfectly shaped lips and insanely blue eyes. And if I'm not mistaken, a slight resemblance to Lucas, only younger and an inch or two taller.    

Definitely not bad to look at.    

But, I have no idea who he is, or why he's in our studio for that matter, and causing a massive distraction.    

Lucas is going to flip when he finally notices the fact that Stella's tongue is damn near on the floor, or that I can't seem to look away either.     

Suddenly, the room goes dead silent and all eyes are on our visitor. He shoves his hands into his pockets and shifts his weight awkwardly, a nervous smile in place.   

"Liam? What the hell are you doing here man?" Lucas laughs and hops out of his chair, crossing the room in a few quick strides to hug the younger man.     

"Heard you were in town... figured I'd drop by." He shrugs.    

Well that was... unexpected.     

Stella clears her throat loudly and I have to cough to hide my giggle. Subtlety definitely isn't one of her finer traits, to say the least.     

"Guys..." Lucas turns to face us, slinging an arm around Liam's neck. "This is my little brother Liam. Liam... this is... everybody."    

"Wouldn't exactly call him little." Stella mutters as she rises from the floor to introduce herself.     

"Mother of god... what kind of fucking genes are running in that family?" Benny mumbles to no one in particular.    

"Yeah... dude's aren't supposed to be that pretty. Compared to those two, the rest of us look like fucking gorillas." Trace shakes his head sadly.     

"Back off shitheads. The young one's mine and dear ol' Maddie has already laid her claim to the older, moody one." Stella grins as she plops back down on the floor.    

"Least we got each other." Benny shrugs.    

"Hear, hear." Trace nods as the two of them clink their beer bottles together before they each take a long swig.     

As stupid as it sounds, the only thing Liam's appearance has done is remind me that I don't know very much about Lucas.     

We spend our time writing, talking and music and pawing all over each other. Not exactly healthy, but it seems to be working for us. I like him, probably way more than I should, but I don't want to turn this into some serious, dramatic thing. I actually kind of like the simplicity of it.    

But, I feel like I should have known that he has a brother, or what his family's like, why he's so desperate to get into the music industry. Hell... I don't even know where the ego or the bitterness comes from.     

But, maybe that's why this is working. Because, if I'm being honest, he doesn't know a whole hell of a lot about me either.

******************    

I enter the house quietly and toss my bag onto the floor before taking a quick look around. The place is a fucking disaster, to put it mildly. It's taken us two weeks in a rented house to completely destroy it.    

Empty beer bottles and cans are littered across every surface. Sheets of paper are crumpled up and strewn about the floor, most likely from Lucas getting frustrated and trashing whatever he was working on. The half empty pizza box laying on the couch however, is the one thing that finally causes me to cringe.    

I shouldn't be too surprised to find the house in this shape. After all, the only time anyone's here is to sleep. Other than that, we're at the studio or the label, working out the details for the album. It's only been a week and a half, but thanks to the non-stop obsession we all seem to have, I think we're finally making some headway. Especially since Benny and Lucas have taken to sleeping at the studio several nights a week.    

And that's why I'm here at the crack of dawn. The boys spent the night in the studio working on sheet music, which left me in charge of picking up Stella and breakfast.    

Yeah, lucky me. Not.     

I take the stairs two at a time and knock loudly when I reach Stella's door. Nothing. I turn the doorknob and frown. Stella never locks her door. Even in Colorado, I could barge into her room whenever I damn well pleased. I knock again and finally hear footsteps. The door swings open and I inhale sharply before taking a step back.    

"Hey Madison." Liam smiles as he casually leans against the door frame, a towel wrapped around his waist.     

Well.... this is... different.    

"Umm... hi. Where's Stella?"    

"Shower."    

"O...ok... I'm...I'll just... I'm...gonna wait downstairs." I manage to sputter out before hauling ass back down the stairs.      

I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Has to be. I mean ok fine, yes... Stella was pretty much drooling over Liam yesterday, but she wouldn't.... no, she definitely wouldn't.     

She probably just offered him her room. Yeah... that's it. She slept on the couch and let Liam stay in her room because it's the cleanest in the house. The boys have a tendency to leave clothes and god only knows what else thrown all over the damn place in their own rooms.     

But, why is Liam staying here, when Lucas is at the studio?     

"Mornin' sunshine." Stella grins as she enters the living room. "We ready?"    

"What's he doing here?"    

"Caught that, eh?" She chuckles and shakes her head. "You're a smart girl Mads... do the math."    

"Christ Stella... he's Lucas's brother!"    

"I'm aware of that." She shrugs as we head out of the house. "Your point?"    

"He's going to shit. You have to know that."    

"And that is precisely why he won't find out." She sighs. "Look... it's nothing, alright? He's pretty... we had our fun. End of story, ok?"    

"It's bad band etiquette!"    

"Yeah well... so is sleeping with the lead guitarist, but nobody's jumping your shit, are they?"    

"That's... that's different." I mumble stupidly.    

She's got me there. But still... this is just... not right. I mean... if Lucas wasn't so... weird about certain things, it wouldn't be an issue. But, there's never any way to tell how he'll react to something. Unfortunately, I have a funny feeling he won't exactly be jumping for joy over this.    

"How so? Cause the way I see it... you two screwing around could very well mess up this good thing we seem to have landed ourselves in."

"Because.... because... Lucas isn't half my age!"     

"Shit Madison... I'm 33... not 46." She snorts.     

"He's 23?"    

"Yes ma'am." Stella grins. "I'd be more than happy to provide a full analysis of our evening if you'd like to hear it."    

"Spill." I giggle as she launches into the various dirty details.     

What Lucas doesn't know won't hurt him, right?    

**************** 

I make it to the studio in almost record time and quickly follow Stella inside.    

As we walk the hallways, I can't help thinking how new all of this feels to me. It's kind of strange, actually. Everything we're doing now, I've already done a hundred times over, but it's not repetitive or boring. It's like I'm experiencing it all for the first time and I'm definitely not complaining, I just can't figure it out.    

Maybe it's because I'm not on my own this time or maybe it's because I'm just in the right frame of mind. Either way, I'm glad it all seems to be working out.     

We finally reach our studio and as soon as Stella opens the door, we're met with the angry shouting of two familiar voices.    

"Look... it's my label asshole. If I want to get involved, I fucking will."    

"That wasn't part of the deal! We were promised that you'd stay out of this."

"Well... I guess that's just too damn bad, ain't it?" Justin smirks as Lucas finally shuts his mouth. "Now... you can either work with me, or find a new label. I don't care about any of your personal bullshit. We're here to record an album. Outside these walls, you can hate me and talk as much shit as you want, but in here... I expect some fucking respect and cooperation. We clear?"    

"Crystal." Lucas mutters and throws himself into a chair.    

Well... it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what's going on here. Justin's come to baby sit.     

Can't say I blame him, really. If it was my label and my first act tanked as badly as Keri did, I'd be ten times more involved with the second.    

But, part of me can't help wondering if he's doing this out of spite. It wasn't hard to see that he had no desire to sign us. Jc and Trace so obviously talked him into it. What if he's here to make everyone miserable as payback?    

As much as I'm gonna hate doing it, I think Justin and I need to have a little chat.   

I cross the room to the sound board where he's standing with Jc and lightly tap him on the shoulder. He turns to face me and his smile immediately falls.    

"What?"        

"Can we talk?"    

"Honestly Madison... I'm really not interested in anything you have to say." He rolls his eyes and folds his arms over his chest. "Unless this is about the album... keep it to yourself."    

"All work related... scout's honor." I nod seriously and head for the door. It takes him a moment or two, but he follows reluctantly.     

"So... do we have a problem?" He asks quietly as he steps out into the hallway and shuts the door behind him.    

"Depends." I shrug. "Why are you suddenly so hell bent on working with us?"    

"As the owner of the label, I believe it's my right."    

Ok, he's got a point.    

But, I know him. Well, I used to... and the Justin I knew was far too self centered to be that logical.    

He constantly preached at me about keeping my personal shit separate from business, but obviously that line is a little blurry for him too. Or, he's just the world's biggest hypocrite.    

"Look... if you're trying to spite me or something... don't do it like this. They worked damn hard to get here and shouldn't have to pay for what I did."    

"Aw Madison..." He chuckles darkly and shakes his head. "Sweetheart, when are you going to learn that the whole fucking world doesn't revolve around you? If I was here to spite you, that would imply that I still give a shit, which I don't. I'm funding this album, and I want to make sure Jc and Trace don't fuck it up. You may still have delusions that there's something between us, but I don't. It's just business."    

"If it's just business, why'd you turn us down at first?"    

"I wasn't impressed with what I saw." He says simply and shrugs. "Your voice is rusty. Lucas's talent doesn't back up his arrogance. Benny spends too much time fucking around and trying to be funny. Stella loses the beat sometimes. You all need some work and I saw that."    

"Then why'd you change your mind?"     

"Because raw talent gives me something to work with. You all could be huge with some fine tuning. That's why I'm here. I can't afford another crash and burn."    

"So this isn't about me?"    

"Not at all." He shakes his head slowly. "If you feel too guilty to be around me or some shit... sorry, but you're gonna have to suck it up and deal with it. You were in the wrong Madison... not me. And I'm done putting my life on hold because of you." He shrugs again before turning and walking back into the studio.    

When the hell did he get so mean?    

And why do I find it slightly attractive?    

I shake my head quickly and head back inside. Me and Justin are done. Have been for quite some time. He's got Keri and I've... well, I guess I've got Lucas.    

But, I'd be a damn liar if I said I didn't get knots in my stomach whenever Justin's around. But... that has to just be guilt or something. I got over him a long time ago.    

But then again... nothing with Lucas makes me feel the way something as stupid as arguing with Justin feels.

***************    

I follow Lucas up the walkway and frown as he heads straight for the door. He hasn't said a single word about what happened at the studio and I'm beginning to wonder if he ever will.    

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I think he may have overreacted to Justin showing up, just a tad. I mean sure... we were promised that Justin wouldn't have anything to do with the recording of our album. But, if you look at it from a strictly business point of view... it does make sense to have him around.    

Even an idiot can admit that Justin's insanely talented, whether it be in the realm of producing, writing or performing. He knows his shit and I can almost guarantee his experience would come in handy.     

You'd think Lucas would be thrilled to have someone like that involved. He wants us to put out the best material we can, so it would only make sense to have someone like Justin helping us along the way.    

Instead, he completely freaked out and I think a lot of it's because of me. Lucas knows there's some major history with Justin. I'm not sure why, but it's almost like he's.... intimidated, I guess is the right word, by it.     

But really, what gives him the right? There's no label on whatever the hell it is we're doing. He doesn't have a claim over me, no right to be jealous or paranoid.    

Unfortunately, deep down, I know his paranoia, if that's even what it actually is, is completely warranted.     

I spent the entire day with my eyes damn near glued to Justin, or trying to find some way to get closer to him. If he moved to sit across the room, I followed. If he went to the board to replay something, I had to be right there observing. As stupid as it sounds, it was like he became a magnet or something.     

It became almost impossible for me to be more than a few feet away from him. And that's when it hit me.     

I miss him.     

I have all along.