Rewind: Rock Hard Book 3, page 23
Noah rolled his eyes. “Christ. Well, don’t worry about him. If it’s what you want, I’d be honored to give you away.”
Brother and sister smiled at each other with a look that showed a lifetime of love and respect. She’d never given up on him, no matter how bad things got, and he knew it. I hoped he’d include me as one of the people who never gave up on him too. Because I wouldn’t.
“Have you set a date?” Noah finally asked.
Bri glanced at me and I shrugged. “Up to you, baby. You want to do it now, we can run down to the nearest courthouse. You want to do it when we’re on tour, we can do that too. If you want the big wedding, we have to figure out when we’ll be home for a long enough time.”
“Do we know when you’re going back on the road?” Noah asked.
“Doc just cleared Tyler to go,” Stu said, “so we leave in three days. That’s why we came here now. We wanted to see you before we meet up with Onyx Knight in Atlanta.”
“They saved your place on the tour?” Noah asked in surprise.
I nodded. “Kingston said they’d use local bands at every show until Ty was better. They’ve been amazing about it. They kept our stuff with them so we didn’t have to ship it home, and Kingston checks in with Tyler every few days. It’s been good.”
“I’m glad.” Noah glanced at Kiki. “So they’re saying I should be good to go around December first. But I’m supposed to have a plan. I, uh, well, we need to talk about all that.”
“Let’s give them some privacy,” Bri said, starting to stand up, but Noah shook his head.
“No, wait. I mean, I’d like to have some time alone with Kiki, but this first part includes the band.” He looked at Stu. “If you want me back, I have to start getting paid.”
“But—” Kiki began.
“I know.” He turned to her. “I promise, we’ll talk about everything you’re thinking when it’s just us, but I have to make money and have health insurance and be a contributing member of society. I can’t just pocket thirty bucks a night as a busboy. You know that.”
“We’ve already talked about it,” I said. “We’re going to add you to the payroll, even if Tyler and I pay for it out of our pockets personally. We want and need you on tour with us, as long as it’s okay with you and Kiki.”
“Baby’s due at the end of March,” Noah said, looking from me to Stu. “I have to be able to get home for that. I know that’s not how it usually works, but if I can’t take a couple of weeks off to be with her, then this might not work out.”
“It’s all good,” I said. “Tyler’s old roadie, Rico Samson, is coming out with us when we get started back up, and he was the only roadie we had last year, so he and Lance can handle it while you take some leave.”
“On that note, you guys mind if Kiki and I have a little time?” Noah asked. “We haven’t seen each other since before my overdose…”
“Of course.”
Stu, Bri, and I stood up. “We’ll take a walk,” she told him.
“I’ve got a call to make,” Stu said. “You two go on.”
I put my arm around Bri’s shoulders as we strolled across the picturesque grounds. “So, how do you feel now, venti mocha macchiato?”
She smiled up at me. “Like the happiest woman in the world.”
“I was thinking about culinary school the other day,” I told her.
She arched her brows. “You were thinking about culinary school? Gonna take some classes with me?”
I tweaked her nose. “You know what I mean, smartass. Anyway, I know you’ve been on the fence about going now that we’re engaged, but I want you to. It’ll be hard to be apart, but if Noah and Kiki can do it, so can we. I don’t want you to give up anything for me, just like you haven’t asked me to give up rock and roll for you.”
“It’s four years,” she whispered. “That’s a long time to live apart.”
“It won’t be the whole time. You’ll still fly out for long weekends, I’ll come to wherever you are when we’re not on tour, and didn’t you say you already had almost one full year done before Noah OD’d the first time?”
She nodded. “Yes, but I’m not sure I’ll get accepted again.”
“You will. So that’s only three years. And maybe, with the right motivation, they’ll let you start in January.”
“The right motivation?” Her eyes widened. “Declan, what oudid you do?”
I laughed. “I gave them an incentive.”
“A monetary incentive?”
“Duh. But listen, before you get all mad…you were already accepted in there the first time. You passed all your classes when you were there. You’re already a fantastic cook. Yeah, I intervened but so what? You earned your way into that school and then dropped out because of Noah. I’m merely giving them the incentive to give you another chance. Life is all about luck and being in the right place at the right time. If Casey freakin’ Hart hadn’t given a homeless drummer a chance thirteen years ago, we wouldn’t be here today.”
“God, I love you.”
And like she always did when she was excited, she planted one on me, tongue and everything.
I really fucking loved her too.
* * *
Thank you for reading Rewind! Please consider leaving a review at the retailer of your choice—it means a lot to me.
Also, flip the page for chapter one of the final book in this series—FAST FORWARD!
Excerpt from Fast Forward
Chapter One
Sydney
* * *
“Surprise!”
Voices rang out as I let myself into my house after a long afternoon at work and I jumped, my hand flying to my chest.
“Aw, you guys,” I muttered, staring into the sweet faces of my siblings and closest friends. My heart melted a little, even though I hated surprises, because they all looked so earnest. Fifteen-year-old Kirsten was holding a birthday cake with a lit candle in the middle, flanked by six-year-old Owen and my best friend Lila, who was holding eighteen-month-old Colby.
“Okay, everybody, time to sing!” My seventy-year-old neighbor, Tilly Perkins, started them off. “Happy birthday to you…”
“Happy birthday to you!” Owen sang loudly.
“Happy birthday, dear Sydney,” Lila was grinning at me.
“Happy birthday to you!”
“Make a wish!” Kirsten whispered, her eyes shining.
I squeezed my eyes shut and wished for the only thing I’d wanted in years. Then I blew out the candle.
Tilly started cutting pieces of cake for everyone, while Lila bounced Colby on her knee.
“We didn’t have money for a gift,” Kirsten said to me, linking her arm through mine. “But we made you a card.” She handed me a simple white envelope.
“Thank you. A card is all I need anyway.” I smiled at her, opening the card and reading the bright red writing to myself.
* * *
Sydney,
Thank you for being the best big sister ever!
We love you,
Kirsten, Owen & Colby
* * *
“We stole flowers from Ms. Perkins’ yard!” Owen announced triumphantly, holding out a bunch of white roses.
Tilly laughed, putting a piece of cake in front of him. “It’s not really stealing when you have permission.”
He grinned and dug into his cake. Much like me, Owen loved sweets.
“You guys shouldn’t have done all this,” I said to everyone.
Gino and Lonnie, two guys from the mail room at the law firm where I worked during the week, were here, along with a few more neighbors and my cousin Jed.
“This is from the gang at the office,” Gino said, handing me an envelope.
“Thank you,” I replied automatically.
“You’ll get my present later,” Lila said, winking at me.
We had cake and drank juice as I tried to mingle with everyone. I’d had a long couple of days, but it wouldn’t be polite for me to tell everyone I was tired and wanted them to go home. All I wanted was to soak in the tub with a book and maybe a glass of wine. Was that too much to ask on my birthday?
“So where are you guys going?” Kirsten asked as I sat down to open the card Gino had handed me.
I glanced up suspiciously. “Upstairs to take a bath?”
Lila laughed. “Well, you’re nothing if not consistent. But no, you are not going to go soak in the tub tonight. We’re going out.”
I shook my head. “No way. I’m exhausted.”
“Franklin is playing at Rutherford’s tonight, and I want to go.” Lila gave me a direct glare. “And I’m not going alone.”
“I’ll go if Ms. Stick-in-the-mud doesn’t want to,” Tilly called out, laughing.
“Guys, I worked from seven in the morning until three-thirty at the law firm yesterday, and then from five until one in the morning at the restaurant. Then I opened the restaurant this morning at ten and worked until four. I’m cooked.”
“But it’s your birthday and you only turn twenty-four once,” Lila said, nudging me with her hip. “Besides, you have to eat dinner. So we’ll go early, get something to eat and since we’ll already be there, we’ll get good seats for the show. Just one set, Syd. Pretty please?”
Lila had a huge crush on Franklin Coolidge, a guy we’d gone to high school with. His cover band was popular here in Texas so he was constantly on the road playing gigs. We didn’t get many opportunities to see him play, especially not at a club right here in the suburbs of San Antonio, so I had a feeling Lila wasn’t going to let me off the hook easily.
“You could stay home and watch a movie with me,” Owen said, standing beside me.
I reached over and ruffled his hair. “Tomorrow night, okay? Promise.”
“It’s Sydney’s birthday,” Tilly told him. “You let her go out and have some fun. I’m sleeping over, so I’ll watch whatever you want.”
“You should go,” Kirsten whispered to me. “You don’t have enough fun.”
That was true enough.
“We’re going too!” Gino called out. “It’ll be great.”
I sighed. I was going to lose this battle before it even began.
“Just for a little while,” I said finally. Mostly because I was starving and if we went out, I wouldn’t have to cook.
“Don’t worry about the kids,” Tilly told me. “I’m ordering pizza for us.”
“You’re the best, Tilly,” I told her and meant it.
“Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
***
An hour later, a waitress put a big-ass T-bone steak in front of me and my mouth watered. I didn’t eat out very often, and when I did it wasn’t expensive steak dinners, but it was my birthday. Last year, two weeks before my twenty-third birthday, my parents had disappeared in a boating accident and my life had been turned upside down. I’d become guardian to three children, a homeowner, and promptly gotten dumped by my boyfriend at the time. And life had been a cluster fuck of insanity ever since.
“You think Frank swings both ways?” Gino asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Lila laughed. “He better not—he’s all mine, dammit.”
Lonnie chuckled. “You can have him. He’s probably the same asshole he’s been since high school.”
“Bite your tongue!” Lila said. “Stop trying to dash my dreams.”
“You just need to get laid,” Gino said. “You don’t need a narcissistic prick like Franklin for that.”
“Would you guys leave me to my fantasies?” she demanded. “Geez.”
“Here’s everyone trying to get laid and I’m just really into this steak,” I said, putting a bite in my mouth and sighing happily. I had a side of baked macaroni and cheese with bacon, buttered collard greens, and a house salad drenched in blue cheese dressing. Not to mention fresh skillet cornbread, a Rutherford’s specialty, with honey butter. I already knew we’d get triple mocha lava cake when we were done with dinner, and though I would never normally have dessert twice in one day, I was treating myself.
“You need to get laid more than the rest of us put together,” Lila muttered, giving me side eye.
“Sex is the last thing I need,” I replied, putting a bite of mac and cheese in my mouth. “Between two jobs, three kids, and that house to take care of, I barely sleep, much less date or have sex.”
“You don’t have to date to have sex,” Lonnie pointed out.
“Yeah, that’s not my thing.” I focused on my food. I really didn’t want to talk about sex or dating since I hadn’t done either in a year.
“Bartender’s really cute,” Gino said.
“I’ve known Curtis since grade school,” I said, making a face. “He’s got a girlfriend.”
“What about that guy over there?” Lonnie nudged me and all but forced me to look at a guy in a cowboy hat who was checking me out from a few tables over.
“Not interested,” I said quietly. “Come on, guys, knock it off. You know I don’t have time for that kind of stuff.”
“Now that is one fine piece of Texas beef,” Gino murmured, his eyes following a guy in tight black jeans, a ripped up concert T-shirt, and black boots.
Lila followed his gaze and nodded. “Oh, he’s hot. Come on, Syd, at least rate him. Scale of one to ten.”
The guy turned and said something to his companion, causing me to frown. Why did he look familiar?
“Er, eight,” I said automatically, since I knew my well-meaning friends wouldn’t leave it alone until I rated him.
But why the hell did he look familiar?
Then I saw his friend and the pressure in my chest made it hard to breathe.
My vision blurred, my skin felt hot, and my stomach threatened to bring up my half-eaten dinner.
I slid down in my seat, lowering my chin so I was looking down, though I kept the guy in my peripheral vision.
What the fuck was he doing here?
It had been more than seven years since I’d seen him. Well, seven years, five months and a few days. Then he’d left town and never come back. Until tonight.
The guy I’d rated an eight laughed and then he and a man I’d never wanted to see again moved toward the back, where a waitress had just put several tables together. I couldn’t believe he was here, in our little hometown just outside of San Antonio, with his new band. He’d probably be mobbed as soon as anyone recognized him, and hopefully I’d be long gone by then.
I never wanted to see, hear, or talk to Ford Malone ever again.
“What’s wrong with you?” Lila asked, swiveling her head to look around.
“Ford,” I hissed under my breath.
She froze. Only a handful of people knew about me and Ford, and two of them—my parents—were now dead. Lila narrowed her eyes and followed my gaze.
“Holy fucking shit. He looks so different. He cut his hair?”
“Who cut his hair?” Gino demanded, looking around.
“Shhh!” Lila and I both practically growled at him, and he immediately shrunk down in his chair, eyes wide.
“Why are we whispering?” he whispered urgently. “And who don’t you want to hear me?”
“No one,” I said, scowling. “Just keep your voice down.”
“But no one shouldn’t be able to hear…”
“I swear to god, I will run you over with your mail cart on Monday if you don’t hush up!” I told him.
“Do we get to hear the story or are you just going to sit here and yell at us?” Lonnie asked, popping a toothpick in his mouth.
“No story, just don’t look, don’t engage, don’t anything.” I gave them all as serious a look as I could muster up since I was dying inside.
I’d truly never thought I’d see him again. And after what he’d done, how did he have the nerve to come to town like he hadn’t just walked away from the girl he’d sworn he loved? Sure, we were only sixteen and seventeen, but—I cut myself off abruptly. There was no reason to go down that road. It was over and done. I’d survived and put Ford out of my mind.
He was on tour with his new band so they’d be in and out in one day and by Monday, he’d be nothing to me again, just like he’d been for the last seven years and five months.
“I have to pee,” Lila whispered. “Come with me.”
“No. I’d have to walk near their table.”
“Dude, he’s dating that supermodel from England and sitting there with his band. He’s not even going to notice you.”
She had a point. God knows, he hadn’t given leaving me a second thought.
“All right.” I got up and kept my head down as I followed her into the ladies’ room. She did her business and I stood there, leaning against the wall.
“You okay?” she asked as she washed her hands. “You’re kinda pale.”
“I never thought he’d come here,” I admitted. “I thought…Oh hell, I don’t know what I thought.”
“Look, he showed what kind of man he was when he left. Obviously, a selfish one without a conscience. You are so much better off without him. I know that’s hard, because no one is ever as special as our first love, but you hold your head high, walk back out there and let’s celebrate, okay?”
“But what if—” I began.
She shook her head vehemently. “No. Fuck him. He walked away.” Her eyes met mine and I finally nodded.
“You’re right. Let’s go.”
We walked back out to the table and the guys had ordered dessert. If Ford did look over here, it would appear I was out on a double date. Gino was gay, but nothing about him would give that away until you caught him ogling guys. He was six foot five with wavy dark hair and muscles on his muscles. Lonnie, on the other hand, was straight, but currently celibate, so the four of us went out all the time. I figured Lonnie’s celibacy wouldn’t last much longer, but what did I know? I’d been celibate for over a year.
“Happy birthday to you,” Lila began singing.
I rolled my eyes. “Stop it,” I said. “Come on, we’ve already done this.”
“Happy birthday to you,” Gino and Lonnie chimed in.
