Music of the Heart (21 page)

He grinned. “You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

“I’m not real big on surprises. The last one had me getting on the wrong bus and falling into the

bed of the notorious Jake Slater.”

With a smirk, he replied, “That sounds like more of a dream come true than a surprise gone

wrong.”

I laughed. “You would say that.”

“Come on. Trust me on this one.” His tone had become almost whiney.

Pursing my lips, I couldn’t help the tremor of excitement that went over me at his hopeful

expression. “Okay. Wow me then,” I replied, putting my book down.

“Ha! I knew you’d cave. No one can resist my charms.”

“Such an egomaniac,” I muttered under my breath as I put my hand in his.

As we started down the aisle of the bus, Brayden grabbed Jake’s arm. “Where are you going? We

got sound checks and rehearsal in an hour.”

“I need to do something for Abby.” He glanced over at me and smiled. “You know, make up for

being such an unimaginable bastard and asshole yesterday.”

Brayden’s brows lifted in surprise, but he didn’t argue. “Okay, man, whatever.”

After pounding down the bus steps, Frank was waiting for us along with a beefy African American

guy who looked like he could bench press me and Jake at the same time.

“Abby, this is Lloyd,” Jake introduced, motioning to the guy.

Lloyd glared at Jake. “That’s LL, thank you very much.”

Jake laughed. “I love to tease him about his real name.”

“Yeah and one day, I’m gonna make you pay for it, you little tool,” LL threatened menacingly.

I hesitated for a moment before I held out my hand. “Um, nice to meet you.”

His dark expression lightened, and he gave me a smile. “Likewise.”

With LL trailing behind us, Frank led us into the arena. Once we got inside, Jake held up his hand.

“We got it from here.”

“I’ll hang back, but I ain’t leavin’,” LL replied.

“No problem.”

As we wound around through the darkened back of the arena, I snickered. “Hello Cleveland,” I

murmured under my breath.

“What?” Jake asked.

“I was just thinking that we seem kinda lost, and I was totally having a
This Is Spinal Tap

moment.”

Whirling around, Jake’s mouth dropped open. “You actually know that movie.”

“Of course I do. I used to watch it with the boys all the time.”

He shook his head slowly back and forth. “How is it that you’re actually real?”

“Huh?”

Jake smiled. “You’re like a guy’s wet dream.”

Wrinkling my nose, I replied, “Ew, thanks for the compliment.”

“Okay, that didn’t exactly come out like I wanted it to.”

“I’d hope not.”

He winced as he ran his hands through his hair. “I just meant that you’re a musician’s dream girl—

a complete and total package. You understand what it’s like to deal with the industry and what a gift

and a curse the muse can be. Plus you know all about music and singing. To top it all off you’re

someone a guy could just hang out with and watch stupid comedies. Do you know what it’s like to

have a beautiful girl in front of me that totally gets you?”

“Thanks,” I murmured. My cheeks instantly flamed at his words. When he stood there just staring at

me, I finally admitted, “By the way, that was much better on the compliments.”

“You’re welcome.” He took my hand. “Now come on. I have a big surprise for you.”

“Once again, I really, really don’t like surprises,” I protested as he dragged me further back stage.

“You’ll like this one.”

Finally, we walked through the wings. Instead of stopping, Jake pulled me right on stage. I gazed

out at the empty, but huge arena. Tilting my head, I spun around and took it all in. “Wow, this place is

intense.”

“I love it when it’s like this,” Jake confided, motioning to the crew who were rushing around with

equipment. “It’s like the calm before the storm.” He bounced on the balls of his feet, and his whole

body hummed with excitement.

“The storm that is Hurricane Jake?” I teased.

He laughed. “That would maybe be Tropical Storm Jake and more like Hurricane Runaway

Train.”

I smiled. “I love the fact you never leave the guys out of the equation. No Adam Levine and those

other dudes in Maroon 5 kinda thing.”

Jake shook his head. “The label tried that bullshit for a while right after we hit. But it’s me and the

boys or it’s nothing.”

Reaching over, I tapped his chest. “Such a good heart in there.”

His hand closed over mine, and he pressed it flush against his shirt. “You don’t know what it

means to me that you’re able to see that through all the bullshit.”

“I see you a lot better than you’d ever imagine.”

“And?” he prompted.

I swallowed hard under the intensity of his stare. “I like what I see.
A lot
.”

He then brought my hand to his mouth and tenderly brushed his lips across my knuckle.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

My heartbeat thumped like a cannon blast in my ears, and I was sure Jake could hear it. Just when

he leaned closer to me, a voice boomed from below the stage, “We’re ready when you are.”

His eyes momentarily closed. “The worst fucking timing,” he grumbled before turning to the guy.

“Thanks Joe. We better get this show on the road.”

“Show?” I questioned in a squeak.

Jake turned back to me. “Yeah, last night after your phone conversation with that assmunch—”

“Garrett,” I corrected.

“Whatever. Anyway, I thought about how scared and nervous you were at the prospect of not

getting much rehearsal time to duet with the douchebag, so I thought I could help.”

Suddenly Joe was at my side thrusting a microphone into my hand. “Jake, what’s going on?” I

asked.

“You’re going to practice your duet to where you’ll be perfect for Sunday night.”

“But how—”

He waved his microphone at me. “We’re going to sing it together.”

“What?” I practically screeched.

Ignoring my shock, he said, “I know it won’t be the same since we’re going to have to use canned

music. I mean, the guys wouldn’t have had time to learn the song, but I know all the words.”

I thought back to this morning when he’d had his headphones in, and my heart shuddered to a stop.

“You memorized the song?”

“Sure did.” He winked at me. “Lucky for you, I’m a fast learner.”

“I can’t believe it,” I murmured.

Jake grinned as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “Are you ready to rock this arena?”

If I had any doubts before about the depth of my growing feelings for Jake, they evaporated in that

moment. I’d been with him for all of forty-eight measly hours, but somehow I had fallen for him. Wait,

how was that even possible? I’d always scoffed at the notion of love at first sight. Stuff like that

didn’t happen. Sure lust at first sight, but love?

Never.

But now as Jake stood before me, I wondered if it could be true. Well, it was partially true since

right after I laid eyes on him it wasn’t love, but anger that I felt, especially when I nailed him in the

balls.

“Angel, did you hear me?”

“Huh, what?”

“I asked if you were ready?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” I cleared my throat and tried to catch my breath. How the hell was I supposed to

sing when my breathing was so erratic?

Jake appraised me with a skeptical look. “Are you sure? Your face has turned green like you’re

about to puke.”

A giggle escaped my lips, and I covered my mouth. “I guess I’m just nervous.”

Jake’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Seriously? It’s only me here.”

You’re exactly what makes me incredibly nervous. “
I know, but I haven’t really done any warm-

ups or scales either. I might sound like a sick cow or something.”

He waved the microphone in his hand dismissively at me. “You don’t need to do any of that. I

mean, what are rehearsals for, right?”

“If you say so.” I then bobbed my head. “Let’s do it then before I lose my nerve.”

Jake winked at me before calling, “Okay, hit it, Joe.”

Within seconds, the music came blaring through the arena, causing me to jump. Jake brought the

microphone to his lips, “I really hate to let this moment go,” he began.

I couldn’t move—it was like I had been shot with a taser gun and was completely paralyzed. I

didn’t blink or even draw breath. I just stood staring at Jake as he sang his lyrics with passion and

feeling. It was only when he stopped singing that I came back to myself.

“Cut the music!” Jake shouted. Once the song came to a halt, Jake gave me a puzzled look. “What

happened?”

“Huh?”

“Um, you didn’t chime in with the chorus.”

Oh God. I had been so totally enthralled by Jake’s voice and performance that I had completely

forgotten to sing. “I—uh—I guess it was nerves that got to me, and I blanked,” I lied.

With a smile, he reached over and rubbed my arm. “Come on, you don’t need to be nervous. Just

tune out everything around us and focus on me and the music.”

Yeah, right, focusing on you was what got me in trouble to start with!
I decided it would be

better to focus on the music along with the lyrics I should be singing. “Okay. Let’s try it again.”

“Again Joe!” Jake called.

This time I was just as into Jake’s performance as I was before, but I managed to come in with my

part at the chorus. When my voice echoed through the auditorium, I jumped, which caused Jake to bust

out laughing. “Hey, you totally messed me up this time!”

He held up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. But if you could have seen the look on your face!”

“Jake,” I growled.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He turned to gaze off the stage. “Sorry Joe. Let’s take it from the top

again.”

This time we made it through without any problems. When it came time for me to sing alone, I kept

my gaze locked on Jake’s the entire time. The gleam that burned in his eyes made me shudder, but I

kept my focus and eventually became entirely lost in the music. The lyrics had so much meaning for

what I was experiencing with Jake. I wanted to stay right there in that moment with him for as long as

I possibly could.

When the music came to a close, Jake grinned. “You did it, Angel.”

“I did!” I squealed. I then proceeded to do a little happy dance on the stage, which caused Jake to

laugh.

“Is that your victory dance?” he asked, his voice vibrating with amusement.

As I continued shimmying my hips and high stepping on my feet, I nodded. “Yep, I think it is.”

He shook his head and then reached over to ruffle the top of my hair. “You’re such a goofball.”

“Hey, the very fact I just sang in a huge arena deserves something.”

“You wanna try it again?”

“Ooh can we?”

“Sure we can.” A wicked grin curved on his lips. “I’m Jake Fucking Slater, and I can do whatever

the hell I want.”

Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I huffed out a frustrated breath, which blew some of the stray

strands of my hair out of my face. “Just when I think your ego couldn’t get any bigger.”

“Leaving my ego out of it, this time you need to focus not just on your singing but the delivery as

well. Sure you hit all your notes last time, but you were a little stiff.”

“I was?”

Jake laughed at my mortification. “I wouldn’t say you were robotic, but you need to loosen up

quite a bit. Let your body feel the lyrics just as much as your mind does.”

“Okay,” I murmured.

This time when the music came on, Jake became completely different. It was like he tuned out

everything else. His singing was more heartfelt and filled with emotion. If I thought it was hard

focusing before, it was even harder this time because I was so mesmerized by him—both as a

performer and as my crush.

As I started my solo, Jake stepped closer to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. Since I thought

he might be trying to trip me up, I kept my intense focus, but at the same time, I let my body follow

with his. When it came time for the chorus again, his hand came to cup my cheek. Closing my eyes, I

kept singing as I leaned in to his touch.

When he stepped away from me, I followed him, taking his hand in mine and intertwining our

fingers. We finished the song hand in hand with our eyes locked on each other. As the music came to a

close, I felt at any minute Jake would be able to hear the thundering of my heart.

“That was amazing—
you
were amazing!” Jake exclaimed.

“So I did better at the performance part?”

He gave a quick nod. “But I would suggest you don’t get
that
into it when you’re singing with

Garrett.”

“Why?”

He grinned. “Because you’ll make me jealous if you look at him the same way you just looked at

me.”

I tried not melting into a puddle of emotion on the stage floor at his comment. “Okay then. That’s

only for you.”