Strings of the Heart (23 page)

Gabe bobbed his head. “Even though she was totally of age, we all almost shit a brick when she ended up on a bus full of strange rockers.”

I laughed. “But that had a happy ending, didn’t it?”

“Yes, and that’s exactly the only reason why your brother is still breathing and not six feet under,” Eli replied, with a wink.

Once I finished with Gabe’s measurements, I gathered up my sketch pad. “Thanks again guys for helping me out with this internship.”

“We’re glad to do it,” Gabe replied.

As I started for the door, Eli stopped me. “Where are you going?”

“To my real summer job—watching your niece and nephew.”

“Want some help?”

I raised my brows in surprise. “Don’t you have better things to be doing before the show?”

He shrugged. “What could be better than spending time with a beautiful girl as well as my flesh and blood?”

My cheeks warmed at his compliment. With everything happening with Rhys, it felt good to have a desirable guy call me beautiful. “I guess not.”

Eli grinned as he followed me down the hall to where the kids were corralled. Thankfully, Mia and Lily were watching the twins for me while I was with the guys. But of course, Abby had come straight in from the rehearsal to be with her babies. She had Jules in her arms, rocking her back and forth to quiet her cries.

“Everything okay?” I asked, after I sat my notebook down on the table. I then eased Jax out of his saucer and took him into my arms.

“It’s fine. I think she’s just ready for a nap.” While the room had been booming with noise earlier with AJ playing DJ, it was quiet now. In the far corner at a table away from the others, Lily worked on school work with eight-year-old Jude and five-year-old Melody. Across the room, Mia sat on a pallet full of toys, playing with Bella, Gaby, and Lucy.

Eli swooped over to take Jules into his arms. “What’s wrong, baby girl?” he questioned. She immediately quieted and stared wide-eyed up at Eli. He made crazy faces at her until Jules was giggling and kicking her legs and feet. I couldn’t help smiling at him along with Jules. Eli certainly had a good heart, and when it came to him and Gabe, he was always much more interested in holding and spending time with the twins.

A roadie appeared in the doorway with a guitar in his hand. “There you are,” he said to Eli. He then crossed the room over to us.

“Did you get it fixed?” Eli asked, with an anxious expression.

The roadie nodded. “Try it out and see for yourself.”

Eli handed Jules back to Abby. Then he took the guitar in his hand. Easing down on the couch, he propped it on his knee and began strumming some chords. He glanced up and grinned. “Thanks, man. It sounds good as new.”

“No problem. Let me know if you have any other problems with it,” the roadie replied, before heading out the door.

“Did you break a string during rehearsals?”

“Yeah, the E-string, which totally fu—” Eli glanced around at all the kids within earshot. “Totally messed up the entire set of strings. I didn’t know what I was going to do at the show tonight.”

“Couldn’t you have just borrowed one?” I asked, bouncing Jax on my knee.

At my simple question, Eli sucked in a horrified breath while Abby rolled her eyes. “Did I say something wrong?”

Abby shook her head. “It’s just Eli gets a bit OCD about his guitars.”

“I’m an artist, and artists are always particular about the palette with which they use,” Eli countered.

“When Jacob’s Ladder was just starting out, his favored guitar got left behind on a tour stop. When Eli realized what happened, he freaked, and although he had an exact replica to play with, he still barely made it through the show without a ton of mistakes.”

“I had no idea you were so particular,” I replied.

Strumming the guitar, Eli seemed to tune us out for the moment. Almost instantly I recognized it as Kenny Chesney’s
You and Tequila
. For a moment, I was transported away from the dressing room and back to my time in Savannah. Any time the word “tequila” was mentioned, I always thought of Rhys and our night together. It was hard to believe out of all of the songs out there, Eli would choose this one to play.

As I started humming along, I bounced Jax in my arms. When Eli abruptly stopped and the guitar strings made a screeching noise, I jumped. “You,” he said, pointing a finger at me.

“Me what?”

“You could totally sing duet with me on this song.”

I widened my eyes in horror. “No, I couldn’t.”

“Oh come on, I’m dying to do this song live, but Abby refuses to sing it with me.”

Abby laughed. “Call me crazy, but for some reason, it seems a little odd to be singing a duet with your
brother
. I told you we could totally do it with you as a solo.”

When I giggled, Eli scowled at us. “I have one simple request, and I can’t make it happen.”

Taking pity on him, I eased down on the couch beside him. Once I adjusted Jax on my lap, I smiled at Eli. “I’ll sing it with you now, but only so you can practice it to do it alone. I’m not a professional singer, and I’m certainly not going in front of thousands and thousands of people to sing.”

“You really will?”

I nodded. “It doesn’t hurt that Jax and Jules love to be sung to, and it’s almost their nap time.”

Eli grinned at me. “I’ll take it any way you’ll give it to me.” Scooting closer to me on the couch, he adjusted the guitar on his knees. After he turned toward me, he then began strumming the opening chords to the song again. It was just pure dumb luck that I even knew the lyrics to the song. I hadn’t always been a huge country music fan. It had just grown on me after Jake and Abby got together. I’d tagged along with them to the CMAs, and after meeting Kenny Chesney in person, I started listening to his music.

When Eli started singing the first verse, Jax eased back to lie against my chest. Just like Abby, Eli had an amazing voice. It almost wasn’t fair that he was so good-looking and so talented. Not to mention he had such an endearing personality. He really was a triple threat who was going to make some woman very happy someday—I just hated that it most likely wasn’t going to be me.

As we got to the chorus, he winked at me. And then I chimed in with him. “You and tequila make me crazy—run like poison in my blood. One more night could kill me, baby…”

Pausing in his singing, Eli closed his eyes in mock ecstasy. “We sound amazing!” he cried, enthusiastically over the music.

Abby and I laughed at his over-the-top comment. In my arms, Jax craned his tiny neck up to watch me as I sang. I smiled down at him, and when I finished my part, I kissed the strands of his dark hair. When we started the second verse, I came in whenever the original singer, Grace Potter, usually sang.

Halfway through, I glanced up to see Rhys framed in the doorway. One hand was braced on the doorframe and his knee was bent as if he froze in mid-walk. His eyes bore into mine, and I felt a rush of warmth singe my cheeks at the intensity of his stare. For a moment, I didn’t bother tearing my eyes away from his. Instead, I was too interested in surveying the range of emotions playing out on his face. Curiosity at why I was singing with Eli was there along with actual interest and enjoyment in hearing me sing again. My heartbeat ratcheted up a few notches at what I hoped was the sight of jealousy seething below the surface as he watched Eli directing his singing to me. There was also acknowledgement of the importance of the subject matter of the song.

In his mind, tequila had been our undoing back in Savannah. While it had somewhat attributed to my uninhibited behavior with him, it certainly didn’t make me do anything I hadn’t dreamed of doing for many years. Regardless of what warped ideas he had in his mind about why we couldn’t be together, I knew what the truth was. He was just too damn scared to admit that he cared for me. He feared Jake, but more than anything else, he feared giving himself to someone else. He’d been burned by those who were supposed to love him, so he had no idea how to actually love someone else without getting hurt.

Rhys’s brows shot far into his hairline when Eli sang the line, “When it comes to you, oh the damage I could do. It’s always your favorite sins that do you in.” His free hand came up to rub along his jawline before moving back to grip the strands of his hair at the base of his neck.

I could only imagine why the line was bothering him so much. It was the epitome of the impasse we found ourselves at. And so far, he had managed to do a lot of damage to my heart and to the relationship we’d once had.

Part of me ached to go to Rhys. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and tell him that it could all be all right if he would just let go with his preconceived worries. But the other part of me ached to go over and throttle him for being such a stubborn bastard.

At the end of the song, I brought Jax’s hands together to clap. He giggled and bounced in my lap. “You liked that, huh?”

As Jax squealed his approval, Eli said, “I think he’s giving his seal of approval that a duet needs to happen between the two of us.”

“A duet?” Jake’s voice bellowed from the doorway. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Eli and I so close together on the couch. “What are you guys doing?”

“Just messing around,” I replied.

Knocking Rhys out of the way, Jake then crossed the room in two long strides to stand in front of Eli and me. At the sight of his dad, Jax went crazy lifting his arms and reaching for Jake, so Jake picked him up. He then appeared almost comical with a menacing look on his face directed at Eli as he bounced his baby boy in his arms.

“You’ve been holding out on us, Jake,” Eli said.

“What do you mean?” he asked, glancing between me and Eli.

“Allison can seriously sing.”

Jake glowered at him. “Yeah, she’s got a good voice. What about it?”

Eli rolled his eyes. “You should be maximizing her talent by putting her out on the stage.”

I opened my mouth to argue with him when Rhys piped up behind Jake. “Allison wouldn’t want that. While she might like to sing at low-key places, she would never, ever want to perform to thousands of people. Besides, her talents are far better served with fashion design.”

Even if I had been forced to, I couldn’t have taken my eyes off of Rhys in that moment for anything in the world. He was constantly throwing me emotional curve balls, and this was yet another one. With everyone peering at him in surprise, Rhys shrugged. “It’s the truth.”

Patting Eli on the leg, I said, “Rhys is right. I’m not a performer.”

“Except at Saffie’s,” Rhys replied, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

Jake’s dark brows furrowed. “What the hell is Saffie’s?”

Rhys’s wide-eyed, horrified look told me he hadn’t meant to out me. I’m sure after all these months, he figured I had told Jake. Exhaling a long breath, I said, “Just a lesbian night club I was singing at once a week back in Savannah.”

Shifting Jax to his other hip, Jake then appeared almost comical with a questioning expression on his face. “Allie-Bean, is there something you need to tell me?”

“Huh?”

Jake grimaced. “It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.” When I continued giving him a blank look, he said, “Do you need to tell me about you being…” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Gay,” he said, in a whisper.

I busted out laughing. Both Eli and Rhys started laughing along with me. “Jake, I’m not gay. I was just singing at a gay club.”

“Oh,” Jake replied. For a moment, he didn’t appear relieved. In a warped way, I guess it would have been easier for him for me to be gay when we were out on tour with a bunch of horny males. Then his expression changed over to one that was serious big brother protector. “You were underage and singing at a nightclub? I’m pretty sure that Dad and Nancy don’t know about this.”

“They do now. I didn’t tell them at first because I figured they would freak out just like you’re starting to do.”

“You should have seen her Jake. She was amazing,” Rhys said.

Jake’s gaze snapped from mine to Rhys’s. “What the hell, dude? You knew about this?”

Rhys nodded. “I went to one of her shows.”

“And you never thought that maybe I needed to know?”

With a shrug, Rhys replied, “It wasn’t for me to tell.” He glanced over at me. “She’s good. Really good.”

My heartbeat accelerated at his words. I was momentarily distracted by Abby’s hand on my shoulder. “Oh, Allison, I wish we could have seen you.”

“I have it on video,” Rhys said, digging his phone out of his pocket.

“You do?” I asked, my voice choking off with emotion.

“I thought Jake might want to see it one day,” Rhys replied.

“Oh,” I murmured.

Abby squealed with glee and slid in beside Eli on the couch. Jake reluctantly squeezed in beside her. Leaning over the back of the couch, Rhys started playing the video. It was hard processing him being so open about me and my singing. When it came down to it, I couldn’t believe he was sharing anything that connected us and our infamous time in Savannah.

“You sound amazing!” Abby exclaimed.

Warmth filled my cheeks at her compliments. “Thanks.”

Nudging Jake, Abby said, “Doesn’t she sound amazing, babe?”

Jake bobbed his head. “I can’t get over how grown up she looks and sounds.” He glanced over his shoulder at me. “You’re absolutely phenomenal, Allie-Bean.”

Tears stung my eyes at the sincerity of his words. “Thank you.”

“That’s one sexy dress you’re rockin’ there. You look beautiful in red. Love the boots, too,” Eli said, winking at me.

Jake smacked the back of his head. “Ow!” Eli cried.

“Watch what you say to my sister,” Jake muttered through gritted teeth.

“Honestly, Jake, I’m almost twenty-one, not twelve,” I countered.

“You’ll always be my baby sister, even when you’re eighty.”

“And you’re ninety and dead?” Eli questioned.

“Shut up,” Jake replied, which caused me to giggle. Jake then jerked his gaze over his shoulder to Rhys. “Anything else I need to know about that happened when you two were together in Savannah?”

His question caused a shudder to run through me. Rhys threw a quick glance at me before fixing his gaze on Jake. A nervous laugh escaped his lips. “Nothing else besides some touristy stuff I dragged Allison to.”