Free How to Catch a (Rock) Star (The Dead Hour #1) by Gabrielle Aquilina

barely be heard over her own.
    There was silence as Eddie’s last chord faded away and then Kate started clapping and ran over to hug Lillie.
    ‘I love it when you sing!’ she exclaimed, still hugging her. ‘Isn’t she amazing?’
    ‘She’s got a great voice,’ Johnny said, ‘she’s way better than you, Jed. You should totally learn some of our stuff, it could be really cool to have a girl guest starring on some of the tracks, like Alison Mosshart for The Raconteurs that time. Remember?’
    Jed was nodding his head and grinning. Lillie had to stop this nonsense right now.
    ‘Oh God, no, don’t be silly. I’m not a singer and certainly not a performer,’ Lillie protested. ‘And I’m definitely not Alison Mosshart.’
    ‘I think it’s an awesome idea. Some of the slower songs would really work with a female vocalist, especially one that sings as well as you do!’ Jed said as if Lillie hadn’t uttered a word. ‘I’ll need to talk to Steve and see what he thinks, but I really think it could work.’ Jed turned to her, his eyes bright with excitement. ‘You could come on tour with us! How great would that be?’ he paused, finally noticing the look on her face. ‘Wouldn’t it?’ he said. ‘Be great?’
    ‘It would be great if I didn’t have – ,‘ she trailed off. She didn’t want him to know that the thought of standing on a stage in front of a huge crowd of people made her feel physically sick.
    ‘You’ve already quit your job, Lil. It’s perfect timing. You could tour Europe and the States with us. It would be amazing.’ He said excitedly. He pulled her away from the others and in a lower voice, continued trying to persuade her.
    ‘Think about it, it would be an awesome experience and you just can’t waste that voice,’ he said. ‘You’d get to see loads of Europe and America and, you know,’ he hesitated. ‘We could give this,’ he gestured towards himself and then to her, ‘a go. See what happens.’
    ‘You and Johnny are both crazy,’ Lillie said. ‘It would be amazing but I can’t see it happening – things like that only happen in the movies. Anyway, your manager would have to ok it and your record label. They might not want a girl ruining your image and sound.’
    Jed opened his mouth but Lillie kept going.
    ‘Plus, what about Eddie and Chris? They might not be so keen.’
    Jed looked at her, disappointment all over his beautiful face.
    ‘I just thought it would be a fantastic opportunity for you. You have such a unique, beautiful voice. I know it wouldn’t be dancing but it would still be performing,’ he stopped and shook his head. ‘I really like you, Lillie, and I would love to spend more time with you. Really get to know you. I thought you wanted that too.’
    Lillie felt her eyes sting with tears. How could he think she didn’t want to be with him? After all those texts and calls?
    ‘It’s got nothing to do with you, I just don’t think I can get up and sing in front of a whole load of people. It was hard enough in front of you guys, and I feel sort of comfortable with you,’ Lillie explained, relieved that Jed’s face had smoothed out into sympathy. ‘Of course I want to spend more time with you, I just don’t want to choke onstage in front of all your fans. And I don’t want to get all excited over something that, in reality, just won’t happen.’
    ‘Lil, you’ll be perfect.’ He put his hands to her face and kissed her. ‘Anyway, you can’t really see the crowd, only the first few rows. You shouldn’t hide away because of nerves.’ He smiled at her.
    ‘Everyone gets nerves. Our first few gigs, we all got wasted ‘cos we were shitting bricks at the thought of being onstage and people hating us. You’d have the advantage of being in front of people who already like us.’ He put his hands on her shoulders and lowered his head to look her in the eyes, ‘Let me speak to Steve, maybe you could give it a go tonight? We can do “Fell In Love