Liam didn’t bother to knock when he got up to the apartment. Letting himself in, he instantly released Tawny’s hand the second his eyes fell on his sister. “Hey, Anna Banana.” Ugh, I hated it when he called me that. He seemed to have a thing about giving everyone a nickname and that was what I’d been stuck with from the first day we’d met.

“Rissa,” he greeted with a laugh and bent to lift the little girl into his arms. He dropped down on the couch beside his cousin and started asking questions about Marissa’s day.

Ignoring her brother’s girlfriend who parked herself on the edge of the couch beside of Liam, Marissa gave him a minute-by-minute account of her day. I had to admit that Liam had once been one of my favorite people in the world until he met Tawny. He’d been a great guy up until he’d gotten involved with Satan’s sister and fallen into the depths of hell with the first taste of drugs she’d offered him. But even now, when he wasn’t on my list of favorite people, I couldn’t help but miss my friend as he gave Marissa his full attention. Tawny or no Tawny, Marissa was and always would be Liam’s main priority.

And the bitch knew that and tried to keep him away from her as much as possible.

Rolling my eyes at the jealousy I saw shining in the devil’s sister’s eyes, I turned my full attention on the two men now walking through the apartment door. Devlin entered first with a bag of groceries under each arm. I took one from him and glanced inside, seeing the fixings for some killer sandwiches. Sighing, I gave him a mock glare.

“I guess I’ll be crafting these beasts, huh?”

Devlin’s eyes were full of amusement, but he pouted those lips of his at me. “Pwease, Annabelle. Pwetty pwease?”

“Funny.” I started to turn for the kitchen when Zander walked in holding two more bags. “Really? What else is in there?”

“Stuff for those barbeque sausage things you make in the crockpot. Some chips and dip, a few frozen pizzas.” Devlin shrugged. “We want to make a good impression on the dude that takes over for Noah.”

Another pain clenched at my heart and I stumbled a moment before putting a smile on my face and dropping my grocery bag on the kitchen counter. Devlin disposed of his own and Zander placed his beside mine before wrapping his arms around my waist and brushing a kiss over my cheek from behind. “I’ll help,” he murmured against my ear.

I shook my head. “No. You’ve worked all day. Sit down and relax.” I turned in his arms and stood on tiptoe to brush a quick kiss over his lips. I heard several shocked grumbles coming from the living room but ignored them. Their opinion on what was going on between Z and me wasn’t important.

Zander’s hold on my waist tightened, pulling me closer for a deeper kiss that left me breathless before stepping back with a sexy smirk and going into the living room to sit beside Devlin. I just stood there, trying to recover from his amazing kiss. A silly grin spread across my face and I finally started on all the food that Devlin wanted to use to impress Noah’s replacement.

By eight thirty, Noah had come up from the garage and was showered. Chelsea had arrived and was helping me finish up the last of the sandwiches and the rest of the food Devlin had requested I fix—even though I kept having to fix extras when he and the other beastly men in the apartment kept stealing the food as I made it.

The guys wanted the atmosphere to be casual for these rehearsals. Except for Wroth, who had his acoustic guitar, and Zander, who had his bass, no one else was going to be playing. They wanted the guy who took over for Noah to be able to work with minimal music, needing to know the full range of his voice before they offered anyone the position.

Three guys showed up at just after eight thirty and the guys made small talk with each of them, offering them a seat on the couch and to make themselves at home with all the food I’d made. While they snacked on the sandwiches and barbeque sausages, I took my time inspecting each of them.

They were all young and seemed cocky enough to think they would be good for the open vocal position. Two of the three even seemed decent enough and might have even made the band a good fit just on their attitude alone. One definitely fit the part of rocker material, with his long dark hair and tattoos that seemed to take up the majority of the space on what skin I could see.

He wasn’t bad to look at, but something about him made me a little uneasy. Maybe it was the way his eyes kept going to Marissa who was sitting on the floor by Wroth coloring her little heart out. Every few minutes I would shoot a glance at the big beast and realized I wasn’t the only one who was aware of the attention the little girl kept getting. Even Liam was sober enough to realize the tension vibrating off his cousin and wasn’t blind to the reason.

After a few more minutes of Wroth sitting there with murder in his eyes, I took Marissa into the bedroom and turned on the smaller TV set and let her get comfortable with a G-rated movie before returning to the others. As I entered the room, I realized a fourth guy had arrived to audition and I stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted him.

His hair was just slightly on the long side and looked recently dyed, but the jet-black color suited him. I also noticed fresh ink on his arm, still glossy from the ointment that needed to be constantly applied to a new tattoo. Even with the new hairstyle and fresh ink, I recognized the guy. It would have taken a blind person not to realize that this guy was Anthony Huntington. He lived on the uppity side of West Bridge with his snotty-as-hell mother.

He hadn’t gone to school with us because his mother had sent him to some big-bucks, high-class private academy well over an hour away. Still, the few times I’d seen him in town, I hadn’t gotten the ‘I’m better than you’ vibe from him. Unlike his mother who looked down her nose at everyone she saw.

This new version of Anthony shocked me speechless, however. He’d been a very handsome boy with his slightly shaggy, sandy-blond hair and hazel eyes. Now, with that jet-black hair and that badass ink on his arm, I had to admit that the guy was seriously sexy.

I greeted him with a shy wave as I took the spot on the floor between Zander’s feet and everyone else in the room got comfortable. Noah was going over the requirements of the audition. Telling them to relax and sing whatever cover song they were most comfortable with, but one that would show off their vocal ranges best.

They went in order of who had arrived first and I leaned my head against Zander’s knee as I watched intently as they each took their turns. The first two didn’t have the voice that OtherWorld was looking for, and some of the tension in my stomach actually started to ease. Of course my instant guilt over being glad that those two guys had basically bombed filled me with self-hate.

The third guy, the one who had set most of us on edge because of his bizarre attention to Marissa, actually had a decent voice. I might have hid an evil smile, because I knew that there was no way in hell Wroth would let that prick become a part of OtherWorld. No one said anything, though, just letting him sing the cover of a Skynyrd song.

By the end of the song Noah was nodding his head, but when his eyes landed on me, asking my opinion, I shook my head. He stood and offered his hand to the three other men. “Thanks, guys. I appreciate you all coming by tonight. Give us a couple of days and we’ll let you know. We’re going to let this guy get something to eat before we let him sing for us.”

They all shook Noah’s hand and filed out of the apartment. While they did that, I offered to make Anthony a plate. The new version of the guy I’d always known to be so preppy smiled up at me. “You don’t have to do that, Annabelle. And the name isn’t Anthony any longer. I changed it two days ago. I’m Axton Cage now.”