Music of the Heart (18 page)

“Ah, there’s my feisty girl.”

Spinning around, Abby’s expression darkened. “Don’t you dare call me your girl after the things

you said and did to me earlier today!”

“You got a problem with me?”

“Wow, you must really be drunker than I thought if you have to ask that!” she snapped.

“Trust me, he’s totally hammered. The jackass chased two beers with a fifth of Jack,” Brayden

replied, shaking his head.

AJ appeared behind me. “Let’s not start anything, okay? We have a show to see. Let’s just get out

the door without any more trouble.”

Abby held up her hands. “I’m not the one starting anything. I certainly didn’t do anything wrong.”

A snort escaped my lips. “Don’t you get it, Angel?
You
’
re
what’s wrong.”

“Jake—” AJ warned.

Her eyes widened as she swept her hand over her heart. “Me?”

“Yeah, you.” I lunged forward causing her to take a tentative step back. “It’s you with those sexy

as hell cowboy boots that I want digging into my ass as I fuck you until you scream my name. And

those perfect tits…” I licked my lips at the mere thought of my mouth on them. But in that pause, my

cloudy thoughts veered in a different, less perverted direction. “It’s the way the dimple comes out on

your cheek when you smile really big and the way you blush when I tease you.”

I sucked in a breath as a fuzzy memory from the night before crashed over me. “It was the way your

sweet, soft hands wiped away my tears, and the way your body just curved into mine when you let me

hold you. It all made me feel, for just an instant, that everything really was going to be all right. No

one has ever comforted me like that…except my mom.” What the fuck? Did I just say all that out

loud? I shook my head furiously from side to side as the room started spinning me like a Tilt-a-Whirl

at the county fair back home.

Abby grabbed my shoulders to steady me. I blinked my eyes trying to focus on her blurry, but

beautiful image. “Most of all, it’s that I want someone like you to want me—just for me, not for Jake

Slater the singer of Runaway Train.” I smacked my hand hard against my chest. “For what’s really

inside me.”

Abby gasped. “Oh Jake, I—”

She never got the chance to say what I hoped to hear because my churning stomach chose that

precise moment to lurch, causing me to puke all over Abby’s pristine sundress.

***

Reeling from Jake’s drunken declaration of his feelings, I never anticipated being drenched in

puke. I stood there frozen in horror as Jake retched again. I snatched my hands from his shoulders and

fought my gag reflex.

Jake raised his glassy eyes to mine. Pain coupled with embarrassment swam in them before they

rolled back in his head, and he started to pass out.

“Motherfucker!” AJ groaned as he grabbed Jake’s sinking form.

“He’s out cold,” Rhys reported.

“Ugh, I vote we throw his smelly ass in the bedroom and let him sleep it off,” AJ suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Rhys helped AJ drag Jake back to the bedroom. When they finished, they

slammed the door.

“I’m so sorry, Abby,” Brayden apologized. He started to take a step towards me, but then crinkled

his nose and backed up.

“Yeah, I get it. I reek.” As I started for the shower, the guys swept past me towards the bus exit.

“Whoa, wait a minute.” They paused and turned around. I glanced back to the bedroom and then to

them. “You mean you’re going to leave me alone with Jake?”

“No, you can always come with us. We’ll have an extra place at our VIP table with Jake not

going,” AJ offered. He gave me a sly wink before adding, “And I’ll buy you all the Coke Zero you

can drink if you’ll promise to dance once or twice with me.”

I laughed. “That’s very tempting, but I think I better stay here. You know, get a little studying in or

clean up this pigsty.” I glanced down at my puke-stained clothes. “Besides, you guys need to get going

and don’t have time to wait on me to cleanup.”

Brayden smiled. “We’ll make time for you to change, Abby.”

“Aw, that’s so very sweet. Come here and give me a hug!” I offered with a teasing grin.

Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Brayden replied, “Lemme take a rain check on that one.”

“I figured as much. No, you guys need to get going to keep your reservation.”

“Are you sure?” Rhys asked before ducking into the bathroom to check his appearance one last

time.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I threw another uneasy glance back at the bedroom. “And you’re sure Jake will

be okay?”

“You mean are you sure
you’ll
be okay with Jake?” AJ questioned with a grin.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Rhys chuckled as he stepped out of the bathroom. “It’ll be fine, Abby. He’ll be out for hours. And I

wager when he wakes up, he’ll be too hung-over to try anything. Your virtue is safe.”

I huffed when he winked at me. “Fine. Go have fun. I’ll just be here baby-sitting the drunken, horny

douchebag!”

The guys roared with laughter as they clambered off the bus and headed into the waiting SUV.

“Men,” I mumbled as I headed for my suitcase and a clean change of clothes. When I got into the

bathroom, I was quick to lock the door. I didn’t want to take any chances of Jake barreling in on me.

Under the scorching stream of water, my mind floated back to what Jake had said before he passed

out. I couldn’t help the embarrassing flush creeping over my body at what he’d mentioned about us

having sex. At the same time, an ache burned its way through me at the thought of what he had

suggested, and for the first time, I felt true desire and longing for a guy. It was like nothing I had

experienced with anyone else I had liked or dated. And even though I wasn’t in love with Jake, I

wanted
him. Bad.

“WHAT?! Have you lost your mind!” I shouted to the shower walls as I raked my fingernails

through my hair. I then wildly shook my head back and forth. What was happening to me? No, no, no. I

couldn’t think about Jake that way. He was a manwhore who only used women. He could never, ever

love me or give me what I wanted in life…could he?

But my mind then whirled to Frank’s earlier conversation as well as what Jake had admitted after

all the naughty stuff. He wanted a girl like me to really like him. It wasn’t the first time he had made

that statement. He’d made that claim to me after I’d comforted him. Deep down, could Jake want a

relationship and more with a girl…with me?

“Ugh!” I grunted as I finished rinsing my hair. I had claimed I wanted to gain some kind of

experience of the whole bet situation, and unfortunately, I was getting more than I had bargained for.

I’d been on the bus almost thirty-six hours, and my life had already been turned completely upside

down.

As I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, I shivered at the thought of what the rest of

the week might hold. Trying to tune out the wild and crazy thoughts flitting through my mind, I worked

on drying my hair. I doused myself in lotion to make sure there wasn’t the possibility of any remaining

puke smell.

Since I had yet to make it the store and my yoga pants and one t-shirt were puke stained, I slipped

on a cami and a pair of jersey shorts. After I unlocked the door, I pressed my ear to the frame,

listening for any sounds of Jake stirring. I rolled my eyes when I realized how stupid I probably

looked. I don’t know what I was so paranoid about. It wasn’t like Jake would ever try anything. I

guess I was more afraid of not wanting to stop him, rather than not being able to.

With a deep breath, I exited the bathroom. Jake was nowhere in sight, and I could only imagine he

was still dead to the world in the bedroom. Bringing my hands to my hips, I pondered what to do with

my evening. Studying and not getting behind while out on tour was high on my list of priorities, so I

dug my books out of my bag. But before I sat down, I surveyed the inside of the bus and wrinkled my

nose. These boys were just as bad as my brothers when it came to being slobs. Pulling my hair back

in a ponytail, I surmised that there was no way I could concentrate on studying surrounded by all the

filth.

Bending down, I grabbed a pair of rubber gloves, cleaner, and sponges out from under the sink. As

I started wiping down the counters, I realized it was entirely too quiet. I ambled over to the stereo

system and started going through AJ’s CD collection. When I got to Michael Jackson’s Greatest Hits,

I stopped. “Oh yeah, a little old school MJ will do just fine.”

The opening 80’s synthesized melody of
Beat It
blared out of the speakers. Nodding my head, I

started singing along, using my sponge as a make-shift microphone. As I cleaned up the table and

chairs, I started shimmying and shaking my ass around the bus. There was nothing like cleaning to

good music, and you could say I was a bit Michael Jackson obsessed.

I was halfway through playing air guitar on Eddie Van Halen’s solo when a hand on my shoulder

caused me to shriek. I spun around, dropping the sponge and cleaner. It clattered noisily onto the

floor.

Jake gave me an epic smirk. “Nice moves, Angel, but could you turn that down?”

My cheeks felt enflamed. “Oh, yeah, so sorry,” I muttered, hurrying over to flick off the stereo. As I

tried stilling my erratic breath, silence echoed through the bus as Jake and I stood staring at each

other. “Um, how are you feeling?”

He winced as he rubbed his head. “What do you think? I woke up in Hell with Michael Jackson

pounding in my ears.”

When I snickered, he added, “Not to mention, I staggered out here to scream at the guys only to see

you in that outfit,” he motioned to my cami and shorts, “shaking your ass.” He cocked his brows.

“Totally not within the parameters of our bet, Angel.”

Sweeping a hand to my hip, I spat, “Sorry, but I have to have music on while I’m cleaning, and as

for the clothes, well, you puked all over my least allegedly provocative outfit.”

“Oh Christ,” he muttered. It was like the memory of everything that had happened came crashing

down on Jake, and he shuddered, falling back against the counter. His weary eyes met mine. He ran