Mayfly Melodies

Prologue

Kyra

As good as I am, I am nothing without my band—Steven Tyler

The room was a mess. Clothes were strewn about the floor, disregarded and uncared for. They'd been dropped hastily, shed in a bout of passion, and then forgotten. They created a path, a yellow brick road of sorts, leading towards the bedroom and stopping at the edge of the wide king-sized bed.

Kyra laid in the middle of the bed, draped across Cole. She was breathing heavily but smiled up at him languidly. Her long dark hair, ebony black, was tousled, a wild halo about her head. Her skin was shades darker than his was, though that was more on account of the fact that she'd spent the entire day at the salon, getting her tan sprayed on and changing her hair and having her nails redone.

From the salon, she'd gone shopping. She really should have been at rehearsal, she knew that Mae was probably pissed and that Bailey was annoyed. Most likely, Kyra and Mae would have a screaming match the next day, one that would inevitably end with one of them storming out. She knew that Bailey wouldn't say or do anything. She was much too laid-back to really care about Kyra missing a rehearsal. It wasn't like she contributed much anyways. Mae and Bailey did all the writing—well, Bailey did all the writing. Mae just pretended that she helped when they all knew that she didn't. All Kyra was responsible for was showing up, singing, and looking pretty.

Just as she wanted it.

Kyra was surprised that she was even thinking of her bandmates as she lied across Cole's chest. His fingers traced idle patterns on her arms and she sighed, leaning into him until there was no space between them. She looked up at him, her bright brown eyes meeting his pale green ones.

He really was handsome. Tall and broad with hard muscles and dishevelled dirty blond hair that fell into his eyes so appealingly. He was the type of guy that the tabloids loved. If he were famous, he'd probably have a cult following. But, he wasn't. The most notable thing he'd ever done was date a country music superstar.

A country music superstar that wasn't Kyra Ward.

Cole leaned down and traced his lips across her forehead. Then, he pulled back slightly and sighed and Kyra knew exactly what was going to come next. "Mae will probably be back soon."

Kyra pouted, her lips jutting outwards, as she looked up at him. "I don't want to leave."

"I know," Cole said. "And I don't want you to go. But, Mae..." He trailed off.

They'd had this conversation before and Kyra felt something like anger blossom in her chest. Except, it wasn't anger. It was jealousy. A green-eyed monster that liked to claw its way out of her chest whenever she saw one of her two bandmates. Mae, who was perfect and shiny and innocent. Mae, who was the golden girl of the country world. Mae, who didn't know how to appreciate a guy like Cole.

Not like Kyra did anyways.

"I thought you said that you were going to break up with her," Kyra muttered. She sat up, pulling the blanket with her. She turned, keeping her back to Cole. She felt, rather than saw, him move so that he was right behind her. His breath fanned across the bare skin on her back. She shivered as gooseflesh rose across her skin. Her reaction had nothing to do with the rather sudden chill of the air.

"And I thought we talked about this. I will break up with her. I promise. But, the three of you are just about to go on tour. I don't want you to have to deal with the fallout alone. You know that she's going to be pissed and that Bailey will probably take Mae's side—"

"Bailey won't take a side," Kyra said firmly. She tossed a look at Cole over her shoulder. "She really couldn't care less about what Mae and I do in our personal lives so long as we don't crap out onstage."

"Yes," Cole agreed, "you're probably right. But, if I break up with Mae now, before you leave on tour for three months, you know that you probably will crap out onstage. Mae would throw a fit right before a concert and then Bailey would hate you, too."

Kyra grimaced, recognizing that Cole was most likely right. She just didn't want him to be right. "Fine," she said eventually, her voice resigned. "But when we get back..."

"I know. I'll do it then."

"You'd better." She smiled at him and leaned in to press her lips against his.

Cole groaned, a sound low in the back of his throat, and reached around Kyra to pull her back against him. She fell onto the bed, giggling, as he moved to hover over her. He leaned so close that his hair tickled her cheek and she could feel the roughness of the stubble on his chin against her jaw as he kissed her neck. His hands travelled up and over her body, tracing every curve and bend of her skin.

Engrossed as they were with each other, neither heard the subtle creak of the front door opening. Kyra gasped into Cole's mouth as soft footsteps padded against the hardwood floor of the apartment leading into the bedroom. The tread grew softer, more apprehensive and confused, before the door to the bedroom slid open. For a moment, the pair on the bed didn't even notice that anything was amiss. And then, loud and harsh, a scream.

"Oh, my god! What the hell?"

Kyra felt Cole jump apart from her and she tried not to feel the sting of heartbreak at the so blatant sign of rejection. Then, she sat up and her eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth to speak—what she was going to say, she had no idea—but Cole had beaten her to the punch.

"Mae—"

But tears had already begun to spark in the corner of the woman's doe blue eyes. She shook her head at Cole, biting her lip, and then turned to leave the room. Her light brown hair shimmered as she broke into a fast-paced walk. She paused for a second, a few steps past the door to the bedroom, and turned back to glare at Kyra—a glare that was so fierce that even Kyra shrank back a little into the pillows.

"You bitch," Mae said and then she was gone, disappearing out into living room of the apartment. The front door opened with such ferocity that Kyra heard the loud bang as it slammed against the wall, before it fell shut with an equally loud bam.

Cole took one long stunned look at Kyra and then threw himself out of the bed. He paused long enough to pull on a pair of jeans and kiss her tenderly on the forehead. Then, he said, "I'll make this right. I promise. I'm sorry." And then, tugging  a t-shirt over his head, he was following Mae out the door.

Kyra groaned. This wasn't how she'd wanted things to go down. While there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she wanted Cole to break up with Mae, she hadn't really wanted it to happen in such a blunt manner. But, there was a small part of her, that was happy. That same part of her told her that, if she'd really wanted to keep the affair a secret, then she would have had Cole come to her place across town instead of insisting on visiting him here, in the apartment that he shared with her bandmate.

She climbed out of the bed and slid on her clothes and then wandered out into the apartment. She'd only taken a few steps when she stopped dead, eyes wide and expression unsure.

Bailey was standing in the middle of the kitchen, beside the open refrigerator. Her hand was half-thrust into the coolness of the icebox but frozen there as she watched Kyra approached timidly. Kyra noted anger in Bailey's eyes, but what was more humiliating was the disappointment that she saw.

Bailey stared at Kyra long and hard. And then, with a sigh, she reached into the fridge and came up with two bottles of Bud Light. She walked over to Kyra, placed one into her hands, and then proceeded to stride over to the couch. She flopped down and turned the television on as she opened the bottle and took a sip.

"Well," she said to Kyra without turning. The news was playing in the background. Bailey's eyes were trained on it, though Kyra knew that the other girl wasn't really watching. "That was eventful. I hope you realize what you've done. Nothing is going to be the same now and it's all your fault. Mae's going to kill you once she stops crying. The label is going to have your ass if she refuses to go on tour. So, what are you going to do about it?"

And standing there, in the middle of Mae's apartment, drinking her beer after just sleeping with her boyfriend, Kyra finally knew what she wanted to do.
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Music suggestion: Lipstick by Runaway June