Melody of the Heart (11 page)

“Lily, this is my roommate, AJ,” Brayden introduced.

Throwing out his hand, AJ said, “That’s Alejandro Joaquin Resendiz actually. And I’m not just his roommate. I’m the drummer in his new band.”

With a resigned sigh, I stepped around Brayden to shake his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He winked. “Nice meeting you in the flesh. I feel like I already know you because Bray talks about you all the fucking time.” Smacking Brayden’s chest playfully, AJ said, “He’s such a sap.”

While Brayden’s cheeks reddened, I couldn’t help smiling. “I’m glad to hear that he talks about me and isn’t having wild and crazy orgies while I’m gone.”

AJ snorted. “This guy? Never. Jake and I have been calling him the Old Man.”

“Because he’s the oldest?”

“Because he acts like an old married man.”

“You’re full of shit, AJ,” Brayden muttered.

The thought of him talking about me to his bandmates and having eyes only for me made my heart swell. Overcome with emotion, I leapt at Brayden, smothering him with kisses.  “What dare you doing?” he asked, with a confused grin.

“Showing you how thankful I am that you’re such a good boyfriend.”

“I have some other ideas of how you could show me.”

I giggled. “Is that right?”

“Oh yeah.”

AJ groaned. “Would you please take it to the bedroom?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just I haven’t seen him in two weeks,” I replied.

“Yeah, yeah, go fuck each other’s brains out. I’ll make sure to turn the TV up,” AJ replied, before walking back over to the couch.

“There’s some earplugs in one of the kitchen drawers,” Brayden said.

“Tempting. Very tempting.”

Brayden swept me into his arms and started for the bedroom. “Goodnight, AJ.”

“Goodnight, Lovely Lily.”

I grinned as Brayden kicked the door shut behind us. “Aw, he called me Lovely Lily like Paul McCartney’s Lovely Linda.”

“Makes sense to me,” Brayden replied, with a smile.

    ***

The time apart made Brayden and me insatiable for each other. We kept at each other for most of the night until finally falling asleep just before dawn. With my naked body sprawled across Brayden’s, I wasn’t expecting the door to fly to open just a few hours after we had managed to go to sleep.

“Brayden!” AJ cried.

A scream erupted from my lips at the sight of AJ in the doorway. He quickly spun around to where he faced the door. My reaction freaked out a dead-to-the-world, Brayden. He shot straight up in bed, sending me tumbling to the floor.

“Ow!” I cried, as my butt slammed onto the hardwood.

“Oh fuck, I’m sorry, babe. Are you okay?” Brayden questioned, leaning over the side of the bed.

“I think I broke my butt,” I replied, with a smile.

“I’ll kiss it and make it better,” Brayden offered. He then got out of bed and helped me up.

As he rubbed my aching backside, Brayden demanded, “What the hell are you doing in here AJ?”

With his head down, AJ said, “I knocked a million times. I guess you guys didn’t hear me.”

“Barging in here at—” Brayden glanced over his shoulder to look at the clock, “at fucking eight am? You better have a damn good reason.”

“I do.” When he started to turn around, I dove under the covers. As soon as I was decent, he turned the rest of the way around. “Jake called me just a few minutes ago. Apparently this guy down at Eastman’s called him in a panic. The house band he had to perform on Friday and Saturday nights broke up, and he’s desperate for an act. He wants us to play tonight.”

Brayden’s mouth gaped open. “You’re serious?”

“I’m dead fucking serious.”

“A gig? A real, paying gig?”

AJ grinned. “Hell fucking yeah!”

Brayden frowned. “But we just started together a few months ago. Are we really ready?”

I smacked his bare ass to try to knock some sense into him. “You were born ready, babe.”

He glanced down at me and smiled. “You really think so?”

“Oh, I know so.”

He then threw his arms up in the air. “Holy shit, we have a gig!” AJ and I laughed at him. “Now what happens?”

“We have rehearsals at noon, and then our set starts at seven. Jake and Teague are on their way home from the mountains right now.”

My ears perked up at the mention of his other two bandmates. Originally, I wasn’t going to get to meet them since they had gone home for the weekend, but apparently now, I would get to see all of the Runaway Train guys.

“Shit, we need to decide what we’re going to play,” Brayden murmured, running his hands through his hair.

“Well, first, you need to put on some fucking clothes. I’m tired of staring at your junk,” AJ mused with a smile.

Brayden threw a pillow at him. “Fine, I’ll get dressed.”

“Then we’ll start putting together a song set. Jake and Teague can agree or veto when they get here.”

“Sounds good.”

Shifting in the bed, I said, “While you guys are doing that, I’ll get us something to eat.”

“There’s stuff in the kitchen to cook,” AJ said.

My brows shot up in surprise. “Really? It’s not growing fur on it in the back of the refrigerator, is it?”

He laughed. “No, mi amor, my mom takes good care of her boy. She brings groceries by once a week.”

Brayden nodded. “She really does.”

“So I could make pancakes, eggs, and bacon—Brayden’s favorite breakfast?”

“Hell yeah, you could,” AJ replied, with a grin.

“Then it’s a deal. You guys work on the song set, and I’ll cook.”

AJ brought his hand to his heart and gave me a revered look. “She wants to cook for us, and she makes the most amazing sex noises I’ve ever heard. You really have to marry this girl, Brayden.”

Now it was my turn to throw a pillow at AJ. “You said you would turn the TV up!” I shrieked at him.

“It was too hot not to listen to,” he argued, with a chuckle and waggle of his eyebrows.

“If you don’t get out of here right now, I won’t give you any pancakes,” I challenged.

Without another word to me, AJ hustled out of the door. “Oh my God,” I moaned, as I collapsed back in the bed.

“He just being his big goof self, Lils,” Brayden said.

“I’ve known him less than twenty-four hours, and he’s heard me having sex and seen me naked.”

“He only saw your ass.”

Cocking my brows, I countered, “
Just
my ass?”

Brayden grinned at me. “It could’ve been worse. He could’ve seen your fabulous tits or your—”

I held up my hand to stop him. “I get it.”

“Come on. Let’s get dressed before he has the nerve to come back in here.”

“Um, that’s a great idea, but I seem to remember in our excitement to get in here last night that we didn’t bring in my suitcase.”

Running his hands over his stubbly face, Brayden snorted with laughter. “Fuck, I forgot about that.” He went over to his dresser and took out a T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. “Think these will work until I can grab a quick shower and go downstairs?”

“I think so.” Climbing out of bed, I went in search of my panties and bra in the collection of clothes we had strewn across the floor last night. After putting them on, I slipped into Brayden clothes and then went out of the bedroom.

AJ wasn’t in sight at the moment, so I went to the kitchen to get started on breakfast. AJ hadn’t been lying about his mom keeping the kitchen stocked. I’m sure the other guys contributed some as well, but I was able to put on quite a feast by the time Brayden emerged from the shower.

He sat down at the table at the same time as AJ came out of his bedroom, freshly showered and dressed. “Damn, that smells good,” he remarked, as he slid into a chair across from Brayden. After I’d given them their plates, I brought mine over to sit beside Brayden.

When he bit into my pancakes, he rolled his eyes in exaggerated bliss. “Man, you sure can cook.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “It’s just pancake mix, AJ. Not brain surgery.”

Brayden shook his head. “She’s just being modest. Lily really can cook.”

“Then we need to bring her along when we go out on the road.”

My brows shot up in surprise. “You’re going out on the road?”

Holding up a hand, Brayden replied, “AJ is getting ahead of himself as usual. We want to be able to go out on the road to try to hit some music festivals. But it probably won’t be until next summer anyway.”

“If it’s the summer, then I really could come with you.”

Brayden winked at me. “Of course, you’ll be coming with us. You and me are a package deal.”

My heart did its usual tap dance whenever Brayden made me feel so loved, especially in front of his friends. “How would you guys get around?”

AJ took a swig of his orange juice before replying. “My uncle owns an RV dealership in Guadalajara.” At what must have been my blank look, AJ said, “In Mexico.”

“Oh. I see.”

“He can get us a killer deal on an older model.”

Brayden snorted. “Older model as in a hunk of junk.”

AJ tossed his napkin at him. “Hey asshole, we can’t afford much better than a hunk of junk.”

“True,” Brayden replied.

When his cellphone started ringing in the bedroom, AJ ran to grab it. He came back out a few minutes later. “That was Jake. He said they would just meet us at Eastman’s at noon, rather than coming by here.”

Brayden nodded. “Guess we better get busy working on that set list.” When he started to rise out of his chair, he winced. “I’m sorry, babe.”

“What are you apologizing for?”

“It’s your birthday weekend. I know we had planned on spending today with just each other and doing all your favorite things in the city.”

I smiled. “It’s okay, Brayden. You just got a once in a lifetime opportunity. I think I can entertain myself the rest of the day.”

AJ sighed. “Once again, you gotta marry her. Like if you don’t, I think I will.”

As I laughed at AJ’s comment, Brayden merely grunted. While the boys started working on their set list, I cleaned the kitchen up. Then I decided to do laundry. Thankfully, the boys had a washer and dryer in with one of the bathrooms. So, I did my clothes and then Brayden’s. In between bouts of folding clothes, I got dressed in jeans and T-shirt and did my hair and makeup.

I had had just about enough domestic bliss when Brayden came looking for me. “Hey, we’re about to head down to Eastman’s for rehearsals. Want to come with us?”

“Are you sure I wouldn’t be in the way?”

Brayden shook his head. “I want you with me, baby.”

My heart did a little skip at his words. “Okay then, I’ll come.”

                                                        ***

Eastman’s was a small bar close to the Georgia Tech and Georgia State campuses. Apparently, it catered to a younger, college age crowd, especially on the weekends. One wall was made up of Georgia Tech black and gold paraphernalia while the other was blue and grey for Georgia State.

The inside was empty accept for two waitresses refilling salt and pepper shakers. “We don’t open until three,” one of them said.

Brayden cleared his throat. “We’re here to rehearse.”

The waitresses glanced between each other. “You’re the new house band?” the other waitress asked.

“Yeah, we’re Runaway Train. Well, we’re waiting on our other two guys to get here.”

As their gazes devoured Brayden and AJ, I moved a little closer to Brayden. At that moment, a middle-aged man came out of the side door. His face lit up at the sight of us. “So fucking glad you guys could help me out.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Brayden replied, with a smile. Turning to me, he said, “Sean, this is my girlfriend, Lily.”

He gave me a warm smile. “Hey, I’m Sean Underwood, owner of Eastman’s.” He shook my hand. “Nice to see you guys again.”

“Again?” I questioned before I could stop myself.

Sean smiled. “These guys auditioned to be my house band probably about two or three weeks ago. But I was really stupid and went with another band.”

“Yeah, but we were meant to be the one and only in the end, right?” AJ said, with a smile.

“Exactly,” Sean replied. He then motioned for us to follow him to the stage. I noticed the waitresses continued to undress Brayden and AJ with their eyes. Brayden must have noticed my discomfort because he wrapped his arm around my waist and drew me to him.

“So everything is here that you need. Take your time setting up. I’ll need you back here by six, even though the set doesn’t start until seven.”

Brayden and AJ nodded in agreement. “Sounds good. We’ll just start setting up while we wait for the others.”

At the sight of all the chairs on the tables and nowhere to sit, I started to feel out of place. Sean motioned for me to follow him. I shrugged at Brayden and then started behind Sean down the hall next to the stage.