Chapter 1

He was pushing his car to its limits. His hands gripped the steering wheel so hard, his knuckles glowed white in the dim light cast by the dash. He could barely concentrate on his driving as he swerved recklessly around car after car, focused only on one thing, one person. He had to get to her, he just had to.

His passenger whimpered and cried out as he barely missed a Mercedes as he swept through a tight space in the thickening traffic. The driver barely had a thought for his friend holding tightly to the seat belt and breathing heavily. He was keeping all of his attention on the road in front of him, the one that would get him where he needed to go. The road that led to her.

…

They were playing separate gigs tonight, Austin in one club and Ally in another, but it had become their habit to get together beforehand and warm up their voices in the practice room. They would talk about their set lists for the night, and what they would do after the gigs were over.

They had been dancing around each other for a couple of years now, neither one of them willing to destroy the friendship they cherished to even try for something more. But they were beginning to wonder if this was the right thing to do, both of them trying to test the waters and find out what the other would do if their actual feelings were admitted.

Trish was completely frustrated with Ally and would hardly ever discuss the matter any longer, she was so over the subject. She thought Austin and Ally were both being stupid and selfish and many other things, but she didn't want to offend Ally any more than she already had about it. So she tried to ignore it, something big was going to have to occur to get those two idiots together.

Dez also refused to discuss it with Austin anymore. The Love Whisperer had dispensed advice and suggestions until he had no more to give. Each piece of advice and every suggestion had been brushed off by his stubborn friend and Dez was at a loss. He could hardly believe that the two of them were being this ridiculous.

Dez and Trish rarely agreed about anything, but on this they were of one mind: There was nothing to be done until one of their friends grew up enough or grew big enough guts to actually admit what they were feeling. "Idiots," Trish would say. "Exactly," Dez would agree.

But today, today might be the day.

…

Ally reached the practice room first. She tossed her purse onto the couch and hung the bag containing a couple of outfits for tonight on the door of the closet. She almost always tried to get Austin and Trish's opinions of what she was planning to wear for her gigs. She strode over to sit on the piano bench and, waiting for Austin, she began to play one of her favorite songs.

Austin checked his watch as he ran through the mall toward Sonic Boom. Yep, he was running late. He had been doing well lately, on time for everything, but today his mom had expected his room to be spotless and it had taken him longer than expected to get that done.

He swung into the music store Ally's dad owned and nearly knocked the man over. "Sorry, Mr. Dawson," he said as he grasped the older man's shoulders and pulled him upright before dashing around him toward the stairs.

"No problem, Austin," he said to Austin's back as he watched the young man rush up the stairs toward his daughter. Lester's heart contracted a little as he watched Austin stop and catch his breath before opening the door to the practice room and striding in. He wondered if today was the day he would have to let his little girl go.

"Hey, Ally," Austin said as he slid into his customary place beside her on the bench raising his hands to join hers on the key, sinking into the melody quickly as this was a familiar song.

Ally fought hard to keep from blushing in response to Austin's hard body pressed next to hers, his thigh against hers, his arm brushing hers as he joined her. "Hey, Austin," she replied grinning as his fingers departed from the melody into harmony.

They continued to play for a few moments until the door to the practice room burst open and Trish and Dez walked in arguing. Austin stopped playing and turned toward the door, letting his hand drop onto Ally's thigh. Ally closed her eyes briefly and just enjoyed the weight, the heat, of his hand on her leg before turning herself and rising to cross to her other friends.

"Let's call this meeting to order before the two of you kill each other," Ally smiled stepping in between Dez and Trish.

Trish rolled her eyes and spoke, "That boy is crazy... But let's see what you got."

Ally laughed as she pulled the outfits she had brought with her out of the bag. "Well, I could go casual with the denim shorts and tank top or slightly nicer with the dress and jean jacket. What do you think?"

Dez sat in a chair, crossed his legs and steepled his fingers together. "Both of them will make you look adorable, but would it hurt to add a little plaid or pattern or color or something?"

Trish shook her dark curls back from her face and laughed as she looked over Dez crazy outfit. Today he was wearing bright green pants with and orange and yellow shirt under purple suspenders. "Yes, Dez, it would hurt. No one has quite got your talent for throwing an outfit together."

Dez nodded sagely as he gestured for Ally to spin around so he could see the back of the outfits. "Where's your gig tonight, South Beach? Neither of those outfits is right, but you came to the right place. That plain white dress just needs a little livening up." He snapped his fingers and turned to Trish. "Your turn."

Trish gaped at him, her mouth hanging open for a minute as she collected her thoughts, but she decided to shrug off his comments. "Yeah, okay," she rolled her eyes at Dez, before turning her attention to Ally's bland outfits.

"South Beach is a little fun and upscale so we do need to liven things up a little but I don't think the dress is the way to go," Trish said as she pulled her bag toward herself. She dug around in her cheetah print bag for a moment before pulling out shiny, silver tank with a low draping neckline and tossed it at Ally. "Go in the closet and put that on with the denim shorts and the black, strappy sandals."

The silver tank landed on Ally and she held the slinky garment up and shook her head slowly at her best friend. "No, Trish this neckline is far too low, I can't wear this."

"Ally," Trish growled at her, glowering. "Go try it on."

She reluctantly rose and took her new outfit into the closet to change. What am I doing wearing this, she thought to herself. I can't even wear anything under this shirt. What is Austin going to think? He's definitely going to notice when I come out.

She let herself out of the closet and both Trish and Dez stood to give her a standing ovation, clapping and shouting like a couple of loons, but her eyes were on Austin alone.

Austin eyes grazed over her legs, which looked a mile long, over her denim clad hips, up to the shiny top clinging to her breasts and revealing her cleavage. He swallowed hard as he met her eyes and spoke, "You look great, Als. Really great."

"Now we just need to decide where we're going to meet after your gigs," Dez said as he turned away to check his camera for filming tonight. He was going to go with Austin to his gig tonight and Trish was going with Ally, but she wouldn't be filming anything.

"Yeah," Austin said,standing and stretching his arms over his head, making his shirt rise, revealing his tight abs and Ally found herself staring. Trish nudged her arm with her shoulder, knocking Ally back and causing her to blink rapidly.

"Hey, Austin," Dez said. "Aren't your parents are out of town tonight? We can all just meet there. Give Ally a key in case they get there first."

Austin and Ally exchanged looks. His house. Empty. That could be very bad for their friendship. She shrugged at him, knowing that their friends wouldn't understand that they were afraid to be there alone, with no parents to walk in at any moment. Who knew what would happen?

Austin pulled his wallet out and found his spare key. He stepped closer to Ally and breathed in her scent, was that lavender today, and handed her the key. She also took a deep breath, what was that spicy Austin smell, before walking away and placing it on her key chain.

"Yeah, that's fine. We can meet at my place after," Austin sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He stepped closer to Ally and reached out to skim his fingertips up her arm, from her elbow to her shoulder, lightly brushing the lock of dark hair sitting there back. "You do look really good, Ally."

Ally shivered under his touch and took a deep breath, dragging in more of his spicy scent to cloud her brain, rendering her light-headed. She almost tripped as she tried to take a step back, but Austin tightened his fingers on her shoulder holding her in place.

"You look really good, too, Austin," Ally smiled as she let her eyes roam over her familiar body. He was wearing jeans tonight, actual jeans, which was not a normal outfit for Austin but Ally wasn't complaining as those jeans were hugging him in all the right places. He also had on a white t-shirt under his black leather jacket. He looked delicious. She could eat him right up.

"I can't wait to see you later," Austin breathed, letting his hand skim her arm again as he let it drop. Wishing he could sink that hand in her hair and pull her closer. Wishing he could touch her with more than just his hand.

"Me either," she breathed. "Have a great show."

"You, too." Austin answered. "Be safe."

She nodded at him as she stepped away to join Trish, who was standing patiently next to Dez waiting for the two of them to finish having their little moment or whatever it was because they wished they would just do something about it already.

…

Austin's show went great and he and Dez took a moment after it was over to sink down on the couch in the little room the club was calling a green room, but was really a glorified closet with cleaning supplies littering the shelves above the dirty green couch.

"Man," Austin sighed letting his eyes drift close for a moment. "Great show. Good crowd."

"Cute girls everywhere," Dez responded as he turned to face Austin. "We should pick a couple of them up."

Austin rolled his eyes at his friend and grinned wolfishly. "I don't think that would be a good idea, we are meeting Ally and Trish in a little bit and, if I'm not mistaken, Carrie is here waiting for you. She'd kill you for picking another girl up. Besides, who knows what Ally would do if I showed up with a another girl?"

Dez nodded sagely and closed his eyes, thinking. His eyes snapped back open. "Wait a minute. That is on the list of things not to be discussed."

Austin smirked over at his friend as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to see if Ally had called yet, she always did after her shows. "What is?" he queried.

Dez narrowed his eyes at his friend and glowered. "Ally," he stated flatly. "Ally is on that list. How Ally feels about things that you do is on that list. You know exactly what is on that list. And, until you're willing to do something about how you feel about her, I'm not willing to discuss anything about it."

Austin sighed as he realized that Ally hadn't called yet and that Dez was right. They had talked and argued and discussed until they were both blue in the face and, still, he had nothing to show for it. Talking to his best friend had not helped him get the girl.

"Okay, okay, we won't talk about it," Austin said as he stood up to pace the small room, checking his phone again. "Do you think it's weird that neither Ally or Trish has called to say they were finished yet?"

Dez frowned as he pulled his phone out to check it as well, coming up empty. "You're right. That is weird. Usually, Trish will call with an order to pick up food or something by now, but she hasn't."

The door of the 'green room' burst open and Dez's girlfriend Carrie hurried inside. "Sorry to interrupt," she said dreamily. "What club did you say Ally and Trish were at? Was it 'Twisted'? That's in South Beach, right? You said she and Trish were in South Beach at a club?"

Dez and Austin turned to Carrie who just kept talking. "Because there was a shooting at a club in South Beach. It was called 'Twisted,' I think, everyone is talking about how a girl got shot because she was standing where she shouldn't have been. I hope it wasn't where Ally and Trish were. Oh, I hope it wasn't Ally or Trish."

She finally stopped talking and tilted her head to one shoulder. "Austin, are you alright? You look like you're gonna puke or something. Dez, what's wrong with him? Is he going to pass out?"

Shooting. Club. Ally. Shooting! Club! Ally! No. No. NO. NO. NO! NO! This couldn't be happening. It wasn't possible. Oh. My. God! Ally. He had to get there. He had to get there, right now! Right fucking now!