Read Music of the Heart Online
Authors: Katie Ashley
Tags: #opposites attract, #New Adult, #rockband romances, #rockers
When I saw Frank heading back to me, I finally exhaled the breath I’d been holding. The last time
we’d been mobbed like this I’d lost my shirt, a shoe, and my junk had been grabbed multiple times. I
don’t know where the fuck the rest of the security team was, but their asses were going to get jacked
up for leaving us with barely enough coverage, not to mention having to be saved by a roadie.
“Can you sign these?” a busty blonde asked as she jerked the collar of her shirt down and thrust
her boobs up at me.
“Yeah, sure.”
She grinned. “You sign one and AJ signs the other.”
AJ chuckled. “I think this may be the last pair of tits our ol’ boy Jake signs, ladies. He’s officially
been taken off the market.”
With my Sharpie, I scribbled my name across her skin. “I think I have to agree, man.”
The blonde pouted as AJ leaned in to sign. “His loss. This is an extra nice pair.” AJ winked as his
pen lingered a little longer than it had to, which caused the girl to giggle. Leaning over, he whispered
something in her ear. Her eyes widened and then she bobbed her head furiously.
I opened my mouth to argue that if he thought he was getting the bedroom tonight to bang this
random chick, he could think again. I planned on some heavy third-base action with my girl but
nothing more since I wouldn't dream of degrading her by taking her virginity on the bus. No, she
deserved rose petals and thousand count sheets and nice shit. “AJ—” I began but the sound of a
scream cut me off.
“What was that?” Rhys asked, craning his neck around the throng of fans.
Then another bloodcurdling scream came—this time calling for me. It cut me right through to my
soul because I knew that voice. “Abby!” I cried, dropping whatever the last fan had shoved at me to
sign. I started pushing and shoving people out of the way.
“Move dammit!” I didn’t give a shit that I was manhandling fans. Abby needed me.
Once I was out of the crowd, I started sprinting through the parking lot. Frank and AJ were close
on my heels. When I rounded the side of the bus, I saw Abby crumpled on the ground, her once
pristine, white dress stained with mud and grease, but worst of all blood. Bree stood over her,
kicking her repeatedly.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I shouted running over to them. “Get your damn hands off of her,
Bree!”
When she didn’t even falter at the sound of my voice, a growl erupted from deep within me as my
fingers molded into Bree’s shoulders. With everything I had, I jerked her off of Abby. I slung her
against the side of the bus so hard that I heard the unmistakable crack of bones breaking. Although
Bree screamed in pain, I ignored her. My only focus was on Abby.
Crouching down, I nestled next to her and could see the extent of her injuries. Blood flowed like a
crimson river from the large gash on the back of her head. Angry red welts were forming on her face,
and her lip was busted and bleeding. Her hand clutched her abdomen while her head turned from side
to side as she moaned.
My chest twisted so tight in agony that I found it hard to breathe. “Oh Jesus, Angel!”
Her eyelids fluttered open. “Jake?” she questioned hoarsely.
“I’m here now. You’re safe. No one is going to hurt you ever again.”
When Abby’s eyes closed, I glanced up at Frank. “Get the car!”
Without even answering me, he sprinted away. As gently as I could, I gathered Abby into my arms.
When I pulled up to a standing position, it jostled us, and she cried out. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so, so
sorry.”
Her eyes widened as her brow furrowed in pain. “Jake…hurts…so bad.”
I grimaced. “I know, Angel, and I’m sorry. But we’re going to get you to the hospital just as quick
as we can.”
Cradling her to my chest, I hustled to the curb just as Frank came screeching up. AJ opened the
door for me, and I eased Abby onto the seat. She shrieked and clawed at my chest from the pain.
Tears stung my eyes as I murmured “I’m so, so sorry,” over and over again. Once I was seated and
had pulled her back onto my lap, she just whimpered, rather than cried hard.
LL hopped up front with Frank while AJ slid in beside me. As I held Abby to my chest, I watched
her eyes close. “Try to stay awake. Don’t go to sleep.” I didn’t have any medical training, but I knew
from how damaged her head was that she probably had a concussion.
But no matter how hard I tried to keep her awake, the pain must’ve been too intense, and she
passed out. We screeched up to the ER at Piedmont Hospital on two wheels. How Frank got out so
fast I don’t know, but he was there to open the door for me. When we busted through the ER doors,
every person in the waiting room turned to stare at us.
It took all of five seconds before someone shrieked, “Oh my God! That’s Jake Slater!”
“And AJ Resendiz too!”
Ignoring them I hustled up to the front desk where an ER clerk stared wide-eyed at me. “My
girlfriend has been beaten pretty badly, and she needs medical attention.” When she momentarily
hesitated, I shouted, “Right now, did you hear me?”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
The automatic “Authorized Personnel Only” doors buzzed open, and I rushed through them. Two
nurses came forward to usher me into a room. Once I deposited Abby onto the gurney, they pushed me
to the door. “No wait, I want to stay with her!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but—”
I jerked my hand through my hair as tears of frustration scorched my eyes. “You don’t understand. I
love
Abby, dammit! There are only two women in the entire world I love, and one is already dying. I
can’t lose Abby too!” I cried.
“I’m so very sorry, but it’s against hospital policy to have friends or family members back here
while we assess a patient’s condition.”
My fists clenched at my side as I shouted, “Yeah, well, fuck your precious policy!”
While one nurse began cutting away Abby’s dress, the other put a hand on my shoulder. “Please do
as we ask. You’ll be no good to her if you’re in lock-up from security being called.”
“You promise you’ll take care of her and won’t let her die?”
Her expression softened. “We’ll give her the best possible care, but I can’t promise you any more
than that.”
Exhaling a defeated sigh, I stomped out of the door. I watched it close behind me while the nurses
worked on Abby. The sobs that had been building overtook me. Just as I was about to sink to my
knees, Frank’s strong arm came around my waist. “Come on, son.”
With my eyes blinded by tears, I let him lead me past the Authorized Personnel Only doors and
back into the waiting room. Collapsing down into a chair, I put my head in my hands as my body
shook with sobs.
“She’s going to be fine, Jake. She’s just banged up real bad,” AJ reassured.
“I can’t lose her,” I muttered.
He thumped my back. “You won’t, man.”
“Should we call her brothers or her parents?” Frank asked.
Digging my phone out of my pants, I thrust it at Frank. “Micah’s number is in there. They’re all
together tonight. They had a show in Tennessee or Kentucky.”
“Okay, I’ll go call.”
I shuddered at the thought of Abby’s parents and brothers finding out what happened. It was bad
enough I wasn’t high on their list of favorite people, so the very fact she lay battered and broken in the
emergency room because of me wasn’t going to cement our relationship.
Raising my head, I swiped away the tears. To my horror two people across the room started
snapping pictures. Unable to control my emotions, I whirled out of my seat. “Do you have absolutely
no fucking shame? My girlfriend was almost beaten to death not thirty minutes ago, not to mention my
mother’s dying of cancer! So you think you could give the fucking photos and gossip a rest for one
moment?”
Their eyes widened in shock while AJ grabbed me around the shoulders. “Let it go, man.”
Dragging me over to the registration desk, he asked, “Is there somewhere more private we could
wait?”
The lady nodded. “Sure, come right on through here.”
As the Authorized Personnel Only doors buzzed opened again, AJ, along with Rhys who had
appeared a few moments earlier, ushered me inside a small room that had a few plush chairs.
Chewing my ragged thumbnail, I refused to sit down. Instead, I paced around the room like a caged
animal. “Why don’t they come tell us something?”
“They have to check her out first, Jake,” AJ argued.
Standing in the doorway, I caught of glimpse of Bree limping past the door with her father, Lyle.
Rage burned within me, and I raced out into the hallway. Before I knew it, I’d grabbed her by the
shoulders and was shaking her so hard her teeth were clattering. “You conniving little bitch! How
could you do that Abby? She never did a damn thing to you!”
Rhys grabbed my waist and jerked me away. “Don’t touch her, man!”
“Touch her? I want to
kill
her!”
Rhys’s breath warmed my ear as he spoke in a low voice. “Look, I can understand that you want to
break her neck right now, but you have got to think clearly. You physically assaulted her tonight too,
and she and Lyle could sue the hell out of you. Give him one hell of a severance package and send
them on their way.”
“What about Bree attacking Abby? Is she just going to walk away from all of that?” I hissed.
“It’s the bigger picture, man. Trust me.”
I slung him off of me. “Fine.”
Tears streamed down Bree’s face. “I’m sorry, Jake. I really am.”
“Don’t give me your bull-shit apologies. It’s Abby you should be telling you’re sorry.”
Lyle wrapped his arm around Bree’s shoulder. “I hate that it had to end this way.”
“Just pack your things and go. I’ll have the lawyers get you a settlement.” My eyes burned into
Bree. “But I better never see her at any show of mine ever again, or I’ll press charges!”
Bree broke down in sobs as Lyle led her into one of the rooms where a nurse waited to asses her
sitation. Brayden and Lily appeared then. Their expressions were ashen and filled with worry.
“Heard anything yet?”
“No,” I muttered miserably.
It seemed like an eternity passed before a middle-aged doctor in a pristine white coat entered the
room. “Which one of you is Jake Slater?” she asked.
Swaying on my legs, I tried not to pass out. “I am,” I croaked.
She gave me a reassuring smile that sent relief ricocheting through me. “I’m Dr. Mitchell, and I’m
in charge of Ms. Renard’s case.”
“How is Abby?”
“I won’t lie when I say that she suffered some pretty extensive injuries. The CT scan along with
some X-Rays confirmed she has some bruised and fractured ribs, a fractured clavicle, and a
concussion, but fortunately, there’s no internal bleeding or hemorrhaging.”
In one long, exaggerated whoosh, I finally exhaled the breath I’d been holding. “So she’s going to
be all right?”
Dr. Mitchell nodded. “She’s going to need quite a while to recover though. Fractured ribs can take
up to eight weeks to heal, and they can be very painful. After stitching her up, we’ve sedated her and
are moving her to a room. We’ll keep her overnight and then probably release her in a day or two
depending on how she’s doing.”
“Can I see her?”
Dr. Mitchell hesitated. “Well, we currently have her heavily sedated for the pain, so she probably
won’t wake up.”
“I don’t care. I still want to be there for her. In fact, I don’t plan on leaving her alone one minute. I
want to be right there when she wakes up.”
With a smile, Dr. Mitchell patted my arm. “She’s very lucky to have such a caring and loving
boyfriend.”
I fought the urge to say,
Yeah, well, it’s all because of me thinking with my dick that Abby’s in the
broken and bruised condition she is.
“Give us about thirty minutes, and you can go up to see her. She’ll be on the fourth floor.”
Extending my hand, I shook Dr. Mitchell’s. “Thank you so much, and thank you most of all for
taking such good care of my Angel.”
“No problem,” she replied before she left the room.
“Need me to stay with you?” Brayden asked while Rhys and AJ nodded in agreement.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” AJ questioned.
“Yeah, you guys go on home.”
Brayden stepped forward to give me a hug. “Frank told us that Abby’s family should be here in the
morning. They were going to have to drive since they couldn’t get a flight out.”
Inwardly, I cringed at that statement. “Okay, thanks for letting me know.”