Music of the Heart (24 page)

physical too fast.”

Abby pursed her lips at me. “And what if I want some parts of a physical relationship with you?

I’m not talking the full deal…well, not yet anyway.”

I threw my head back and groaned. “Thanks for trying to kill me, Angel. You’ve known me a week,

and your rules are to be in love with the person, remember?”

She nibbled my bottom lip. “Yeah, well, maybe I’m on my way to falling in love with you.”

At the honk of the cab’s horn, I let out an exasperated breath. “We both have the worst fucking

timing.”

“But we’ll at least continue this conversation later, right?”

“Yes, we will.” I grabbed up her suitcase and guitar case.

“Wait, you don’t—”

“Yes, I do. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

She shook her head and then fell in step behind me. I eased her stuff into the trunk and then closed

the lid. “Be careful.”

“Thanks. You too.”

“And knock em’ dead tonight.”

“I’ll try.”

I grinned as I opened the backseat door for her. “You will, and you know I’m always right.”

She rolled her eyes but then smiled. “Bye, Jake.”

“Bye, Angel.”

As she started past me to get into the cab, I stopped her. Sometimes there were just moments you

knew you would regret if you didn’t follow your heart. Grabbing the back of her neck, I tipped her

head up to mine. Then I brought my mouth to hers. This time I let the warmth of my tongue slide her

lips open. When she made a little moan in the back of her throat, I tightened my arms around her

waist. God, she tasted good. I could’ve kept on kissing her the whole afternoon, but a symphony of

whistles and catcalls interrupted my moment of pure bliss.

I jerked away to see AJ, Brayden, and Rhys standing beside the bus. Warmth flooded Abby’s face

as I growled, “Thanks a lot, guys.”

“¡Agarrale el culo, chica!".

Abby’s eyes narrowed before she shouted, “Callete, cabron!”

“What did he just say?” I questioned with a grin.

“Grab his ass, girl,” she replied.

“And what did you say to him?”

She grinned. “I told him to shut up and called him an asshole.”

I laughed. “I’ll make sure to knock the shit out of him for you.”

“Gracias,” she replied. Glancing at the guys, she shook her head. “I’m tempted to give you all the

finger, but I’ll just wave instead.”

“Bye, Abby,” they called in unison.

She turned back to me. “Talk to you later.”

“It’s a promise.”

Without another show of affection, she dropped down onto the seat. “The Hilton, please,”

Abby commanded politely.

“Fine, but just so you know, the meter’s been running, sweetie,” the cabbie replied.

“It’s okay.” She glanced up at me and smiled. “It was worth it.”

“Damn straight,” I replied before closing the door.

Like a love-sick teenage girl, I stood waving at her until the cab disappeared over the hill.

***

When I arrived at the hotel, all three of the boys were waiting on me in the lobby. I rolled my eyes

but grinned in spite of myself. “Don’t tell me you were afraid I might get lost and take up with another

group of unruly rockers?”

Gabe chuckled as he pulled me into a bear hug. “Nah, we just wanted to do right by you this time

and welcome you in person.”

“Aw, that’s sweet.”

Eli’s blue eyes twinkled. “There’s also the fact we have to be over to the arena in an hour for

sound checks and all.”

I shook my head. “Just when I thought you guys were playing overprotective big brothers, you

crush my dreams.”

Micah threw his arm around my shoulder. “I’ve missed you, Baby Girl.” He planted a kiss on my

cheek. “Are you excited about tonight?”

Just the mention of performing caused my stomach to lurch. “Yes and no.”

He nodded as we swept through the hotel’s revolving doors. “I remember the first time I played in

front of a packed crowd of tens of thousands of people.”

I elbowed him playfully in the ribs. “Not helping, brother dear.”

He grinned down at me. We were the matching bookends of the family with our blonde hair and

blue eyes. Gabe and Eli were true fraternal twins in the fact that Gabe had about three inches on Eli

while Eli was the more muscular of the two. The only matching trait was they had our father’s jet

black hair while we all shared the blue eyes of our mother. Even if they were my brothers, I had to

admit they were good-looking. Of course, Micah had been engaged for six months to a girl named

Valerie who worked at our dad’s church. Like Brayden, he never even looked at other girls. Now the

twins…that was another story.

“You’ll be fine, Abster. After all, you’re only singing one duet with Garrett and one song with us,”

Eli said as he held the limo door open for me.

As I flopped inside, I huffed out a frustrated breath. “Oh sure, just two songs. That’s two prime

opportunities for me to sing off-key, fall off the stage, etc.”

Gabe sat next to me. “You worry too much. Just go out there and have fun. Pretend it’s like when

we were kids.”

“Or you could do the old adage and pretend everyone’s naked,” Eli suggested while waggling his

eyebrows.

I nudged his foot with mine. “You’re so disgusting!”

After we made the short drive to the arena, the limo pulled up to the back. The boys’ head of

security, Manny, opened our door and gave me a beaming smile. “Good to see you again, Abby.”

I gave him a hug—all 6’5”, three hundred pounds of him. “Good seeing you again too.” I motioned

back at the boys. “You keeping them in line?”

He grinned. “Trying to. It’s a hard job.”

Giggling, I replied, “I can only imagine.”

As Manny ushered us inside, someone outfitted in black with a headset came rushing up to me.

“You’re wanted on stage right now for your rehearsal with Garrett.”

“Oh, okay.” I turned back to the guys. “See you in a few.”

“Knock em’ dead, Baby Girl,” Gabe called.

When I got to the stage, Garrett sat perched on a stool with his guitar, doing a run through of his

other songs. After finishing the song, he glanced over and caught my eye. His face lit up. “Abby!” he

cried before hurrying over to pull me into his arms. We’d only met a couple of times before, but by

the way he was acting, you would have thought we were long lost best friends or former lovers. Jake

would have gone for the second scenario.

“I see you made it safe and sound.”

I laughed. “Yes, I did.”

“Great. I’m stoked as hell to be singing with you.” He waved at a technician who came to deliver

my microphone. “Ready?”

“Sure.”

After rehearsing with Garrett, I watched the boys go through their run-throughs before joining them

onstage. For the first few shows, I’d only be singing a cover of The Band Perry’s
If I Die Young.

Then the guys planned on me taking over some of the vocal leads Micah usually did. Once we went

through everything, we were ushered back to our dressing room. While the boys chowed down on the

catered food, I could barely down a slice of my mom’s homemade pound cake.

The closer it got to show time the more the small space filled up with people. It felt like an out-of-

control bee hive with all the conversions buzzing around me. Hair stylists, wardrobe people,

management, and roadies streamed in and out. There was no privacy or time to catch my breath with

all the madness.

When my mom and dad entered the room, they rushed over to me like I was a hostage who had

been released from captivity. It was incredibly ironic considering I had Face-timed, talked, or texted

with them every day that I was with Jake and the guys. “How are you sweetie?” Mom asked.

I laughed. “Just as good as I was earlier today when we talked.”

“You look fine,” Dad surmised.

“Jake and the guys took good care of me.”

Mom and Dad exchanged a glance at my mention of Jake. “What?” I asked.

Shoving his hands in his khaki pants pockets, Dad cleared his throat. “Well, your mother and I

were just talking about how you seemed to mention this Jake guy a lot when we talked.”

I knew what he wanted to say but couldn’t. “I like him.”

Mom inhaled a sharp breath. “Like a boyfriend?”

With a grin, I replied, “Maybe.” I took in the looks of horror that flashed on their faces. “Is there

something wrong with that?”

“Uh, no, Abigail, there’s not. It’s just…” Dad fumbled around.

Mom stepped in for him. “It’s just a relationship with a musician is hard. I mean, look at Micah

and Valerie.”

“Yes, I know. But sometimes you can’t help who you have feelings for.”

Dad’s eyebrows practically shot off his head. “So you might be really serious about this guy?”

“Yes, Daddy. I really like Jake Slater from Runaway Train. Yes, I’ve only known him a week.

Yes, he’s a bad boy with tattoos and piercings, and yes, he’s your worst nightmare when it comes to

the guy dating your little girl.” I leaned closer to him. “No, he’s not taken advantage of me, and no,

he’s not going to turn me into a pierced bad girl with tattoos.” With a tentative smile, I added, “We’re

both going to bring out the best of each other as we see where this takes us. Okay?”

Dad’s mouth gaped open for a few seconds before he quickly shut it. I think it was one of the first

times I’d ever seen him speechless. I turned to Mom who was equally as dumbfounded.

“Abby, we’re ready for you,” my hair stylist, Renee, said.

“I have to go.” I glanced between them. “So we’re okay—everything’s okay?”

“Sure honey,” Mom replied. She sounded a little more convinced than she looked. My dad, on the