Free Playing Autumn (Breathe Rockstar Romance Book 1) by Mina V. Esguerra Page A

student, and Oliver managed to get his together in a small huddle.
    “You’re supposed to perform together, right?” he asked. “How exactly are you going to be comfortable doing either song?”
    “I’m not comfortable doing his Bon Jovi,” Kari protested.
    “She wants that other song because I play guitar and do nothing else on it,” John whined.
    Trey cleared his throat and stepped in. “The first informal performances will be at the café over lunch. Maybe nothing too… eighties. Here, any of these cool with you?” Before Oliver could react, the kid had whipped out his phone and was sharing playlists with Oliver’s students.
    “There wasn’t anything wrong with what they wanted,” Oliver said over Trey’s shoulder. “We need some time to figure out how to perform either one properly.”
    “Ash, I’ll get to you in a sec,” Trey said to his own student. To the rest of them, he went, “Look, Oliver, I’ve done this before. This is what’ll work. You two are fine with doing what works, right? There are other mentors who are record execs and music industry media that are going to be watching. You shouldn’t use this time to experiment and screw up.”
    “That’s funny,” Oliver said petulantly, even as he backed up from the huddle. “They’re kids. It’s the perfect time to experiment and screw up.”
    Oliver felt more than a little pride in how he chose the music he performed at Tomorrow’s Talent , the entire fifteen-week run of it. Except for one song in the finals, chosen for him by the producers. He was personally responsible not just for his slips on that show, but also his accomplishments, especially the handful of performances that took him to the top and helped him stay there.
    “I don’t know, Oliver,” Trey said, barely looking at him. “Not everyone’s got the balls to do what you’re doing.”
    “And that would be what, Lewis?”
    He shrugged. “Striking out on your own, you know. With your chin up even if the record company’s tough on you. Not everyone’s built for that kind of…independence.”
    Son of a bitch. The kid had a mean streak in him. But Oliver should have expected it. It was his fault that he let his guard down.
    The voice was still cloyingly sweet, despite being old enough to grow facial hair, and that made Oliver uncomfortable about his reflex to hit the guy who said it.
    “Fine,” Oliver said, mocking a tip of a hat to Trey. “Kari, John, let me know which song you pick and I’ll work with you on it. Five minutes?”
    That was enough time to step out and get some air—and maybe let out his aggression on something else. Despite the drama and the tabloid coverage, the three altercations he had been involved in that made the news were the only times he had actually been violent to other people.
    He couldn’t afford to even hint at being violent right now. He wasn’t going to be nailing his own coffin shut.
    He had to knock on four wrong doors before he ended up in the right one—the hotel’s own guest library. He apologized to the people inside and was glad that it was a relatively private space.
    “Did you need something?” Haley asked.
    The only other person inside was a teenage girl. Oliver hesitated, then figured that she’d be fine with whatever she saw. So he took Haley’s hand, pulled her up so she was standing, and laid a full, hard kiss on her mouth. Surprised, she gasped a bit and then relaxed into it but pulled back as soon as she lost her breath.
    “Um, yes?” She struggled to regain her composure, but she was smiling. “Rough morning so far?”
    “I don’t work well with other people,” he admitted.
    “Well, that’s too bad. You’re going to have to work with at least two.”
    “I know. I needed an energy boost.”
    “Tell me about it later,” Haley said.

Chapter 13

    Haley discovered Breathe Music by accident.
    She was a freshman in high school, and on her first day, she had been waiting for her mom to pick her up.