Worthy of the Harmony (Mountains & Men Book 2) (29 page)

“Alex—Alex, look at me,” I insist. She does as I say, her brown eyes wide and filled with obvious worry. I shake my head and smirk as I take a couple steps toward her. “Mad Lips is right; you really are our church mouse—petrified until the beat drops, at which point you turn into a badass. It’s actually kind of cute—but we’re not cute, Zip.”

“That’s for damn sure,” Knox grunts.

“Mountains & Men, babe. Mountains &
Men
,” says Maddox.

“Their shit is sick, but I bet you could play circles around their bass player,” Derrick adds with a shrug.

“That’s the truth.” I point at Derrick but keep my eyes trained on Alex. Her cheeks turn rosy as a slight smile plays at her lips. “But that’s not even the point. You’re just as worthy of an introduction as they are. They’re people, we’re people—we
all
have one thing in common. Music. Just do your thing, Zip. And don’t puke. We’re about to go on a wild ride and it’s going to be one hell of a time.” She smiles at me, more confidently this time, and I arch my brow in question. “You good?”

“I will be. Let’s drop the beat.”

I chuckle and offer her a nod before taking the headphones from around my neck and putting them over my ears. Everyone else follows suit as I step in front of the mic.

“Go for it,” Tank says, his voice filling our ears.

That’s all Derrick needs to hear before he does exactly as Alex requests and drops the beat.

I CAN HEAR EVERY
word that passes between them as I watch Sage calm Alex down. He’s sweet to her. That, in and of itself, doesn’t particularly surprise me. I’ve seen it before. I’ve gotten jealous of it before. I’d like to think that everything that passes between them is about the music, just as he said. Just like he told me a couple weeks ago, on the night he owned my body in his laundry room. Twice.

But today—it’s different. Today, I’m not so much taken by his behavior as I am worried about
hers
. When he turns back to his mic, sliding his headphones over his ears, her eyes follow him. Furthermore, the smile on her lips has me questioning just how much his encouragement means to her.

Hope he keeps you around.

After six weeks away, every day and night spent with that doe-eyed look trained on him, will he? She’s a part of his world in a way that I never will be. He thinks that I
see
him, but every single person in this studio understands his passion in a way that I do not. Of course I know how much it means to him; I’m aware that
my dreamer
is so much more than the arrogant little shit I was sure I was meeting that first night at The Brew; I’m positive that the blood that runs through his veins is fueled with his drive to share his music—to
sing with the world
. But it’s not something we share. It’ll never be something we share. Will our separation open his eyes to that fact? And with his eyes open, will he see the look on Alex’s face that I just saw?

“Hey,” Violet catches my attention, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “What are you thinking so hard about, missy?” She narrows her eyes at me, as if she already knows the answer.

“Nothing. It’s nothing,” I mutter, leaning back against the couch.

“Come on,” she insists, shifting her body sideways so that she’s facing me. “We’re friends, right?” She lowers her voice so that only I can hear her over the boys and Alex’s playing. “You can tell me.”

For a moment, I’m speechless. The number of people I’ve had in my life who I could confide in are so few, I could count them on one hand. These days, the amount of people who seem to boast of a friendship with me is actually quite appalling. I’m not sure how I got here, but Violet is right. I do consider her a friend. She’s made it kind of hard not to. However, I’m not sure if I’m ready to open up about my insecurities.

“I saw it too, you know,” she murmurs, looking through the glass partition before looking back at me. “He’s an easy guy to crush on. Believe me. I’ve seen many a girl fall victim to those blue eyes and that sexy smile. But I also know him. I know him well. He’d never do anything to betray you.”

I suck in a breath and let it out slowly. Violet smiles at me kindly, obviously taking that as the confirmation she was after.

“His ex…” She shakes her head and lifts a single shoulder in a shrug. “I just know he would never betray you. Not with anyone. Not ever.”

I study her for a moment, wondering if she’ll give me more. She doesn’t. Just like Derrick, she only makes it clear how much this other woman hurt him. Though, what that has to do with
me
, I’m not so sure.

Violet may be sure that Sage would never betray me, but leaving me and betraying me are not necessarily the same thing. I can’t deny that deep down in my soul, the truth is inescapable—no matter how hard I try. It’s just like my mother told me, what she’s
always
taught me—what
life
has taught me.

They always leave.

BY THE TIME
we’re headed out, Tank is pretty happy about the tracks we’ve laid down. He says it’ll take him a couple hours to get it just the way he wants it, but he gives us a little taste of what he’s got. We sound so fucking amazing that I can hardly believe it’s us. Stefany is beaming as we make our way out of the studio, and she all but demands we go grab a bite to eat to celebrate.

“Burgers. Burgers and milkshakes—that’s how it’s done. I know this place not too far from here. Just follow me!”

We all oblige, with no reason to argue, and our amped up, rowdy bunch fills the joint with conversation and laughter for the next hour. The more time we spend with Stefany, the more obvious it becomes that fate brought us together. She’s the shit—totally down to earth, but also completely professional and determined to see us succeed.

We win—she wins.

It isn’t until the bill comes that I realize Millie’s been really quiet. I also notice that she didn’t eat all of her French fries. I know how much my girl loves her French fries, so I know something is up. On our way out, I take her hand in mine and give her fingers a squeeze. I ask her what’s wrong and she tells me that she’s just tired.

Bullshit.

When we’re alone in my car, on the way back up to Fort Collins, she speaks to me for the first ten minutes. We discuss the recording session and the next time we’ll be down to work on a couple more songs. She’ll be teaching, mostly, so she won’t be able to come, but she doesn’t seem too bothered or disappointed by that. I wonder if she got bored today, listening to us play the same thing over and over again.

I turn on a little music, wondering if maybe she’ll crash on the drive back, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t sleep, she doesn’t talk, and I don’t like it one fucking bit. Given that she blew me off the last time I asked her what was wrong, I don’t ask again. Instead, I let the silence rule as an idea comes to mind.

I hop off the interstate three exits early, taking the back roads to Derrick’s plot of land. When I pull off the main street and park in the middle of the field, she finally speaks.

“What are we doing here?”

I press a button, looking over at her as the convertible top retracts. “You got some bullshit to let go of, baby doll. Not takin’ it home with me.”

I climb out of the car, push my seat up, and crawl into the back. For a minute, she doesn’t move; then I watch as she follows suit. When she sits as far away from me as possible, I wonder what the hell I’ve done wrong.

“Millicent?”

She grips her fingers and squares her shoulders before she looks me dead in the eye. “I’d like you to tell me about your ex-girlfriend. I suppose, to be more specific, the one before you started seeing me.”

I narrow my eyes at her, even more confused than I was a second ago. “The fuck? Where did that come from?”

“She’s been mentioned to me, more than once. Apparently, whatever happened between you two is supposed to be some sort of proof that I can trust you—trust
us.
”

I blow out a breath, reaching up to run my fingers through my hair. “Millie—I don’t know who has mentioned that bitch to you, or
why
for that matter, but she’s got nothing to do with
us
. You should trust me because I care about you. You should trust me because you know I’d never want to see you hurt. You should trust
us
because we’re fucking amazing, baby doll.
Nora
should have no bearing on any of that.”

She stares at me for a moment, nodding her head slightly. Then, just when I think we’re on the same page, she asks, “So—her name was Nora?”

“
Christ
,” I mutter, scraping my hand over my mouth and along my chin. “I don’t talk about this shit, Millie. Not anymore. You want answers, you get your pretty, little ass over here—this is a conversation that requires fucking cuddles.”

A hint of a smile dances across her lips, but I’m one-hundred-percent serious, a fact she picks up on when I open my arms. Her amusement wanes as she crawls into my lap and wraps her arms around my shoulders. I take a deep breath, knowing if it were anyone else asking me to come clean about this, I would refuse them. But Millicent isn’t anyone else. Not even close.

“When I was in high school, I had a little side paying gig. I’d play piano for this dance company. Wasn’t really a big deal, mostly recitals and stuff. Anyway, that’s how I met Nora. She was a ballerina in one of the advanced classes. She was really good. Really passionate. Dance was her life like music is mine.

“Anyway, we hit it off. The summer after I turned seventeen, we started dating. We were together for all of senior year. I fell in love with her. Thought she loved me, too. She said as much. We were together all the time. I mean, we didn’t go to the same school, but that just fed our desire to see each other everywhere else.

“At the time, the band was just starting to be something. At least, we thought so. We hadn’t met JJ yet, but we had found Derrick and Wren. We were playing at parties and shit, which was getting us out of the Bradley’s garage. Nora led me to believe she was supportive of everything I did; though, like my parents, she was partial to my more classical training.

“She wanted to go to school in New York—some fancy dance academy. When I got into Juilliard, she practically had our whole future sorted out. She knew from the start that I wasn’t planning on leaving town, but she thought she could change my mind. When I finally got her to understand no one was changing my mind, she got it into her head that my decision had something to do with her. It didn’t. It had absolutely
nothing
to do with her. I loved her. I wanted her to go and do her thing, but I wasn’t going to sacrifice my dream for hers.

“I was willing to give long distance a try, but she was so pissed at me. When she left, I wasn’t really sure what we were. I called her every day for a month before I just decided to get on a damn plane and go out there to fix us. The guys helped me scrounge up the money to go fight for her.”

For the first time since I started talking, I look at Millie. She’s staring at me, her curiosity on full display in her gorgeous green eyes. She’s so different than Nora. She’s so different than any woman I’ve ever met. I don’t know why she’s so hell bent on hearing these details, but I know I’ll give them to her without regret. I’ll give her whatever she wants if it means I get to keep her.