He smiled when he saw me, looking over my shoulder. “Where’s Dylan?”
Lexi snorted. “The coast is clear, you horny bastard. Dylan is teaching Landry how to play chess.”
He sat down on the leather couch and pulled me down onto his lap. When I stiffened at his touch he whispered in my ear, “It’s okay, B. They know.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really? I thought we were just keeping things between us for a few days.”
Sheepish. I finally understood that facial description, but he wore it well. “They knew how I felt about you, baby doll.”
I couldn’t help but giggle. “And how do you feel about me? Come on, let me hear some poetry.”
He tugged on my hair, pulling my mouth to his for a brief kiss. “Oh, I’ll give you poetry, doll.”
“Oh yeah?”
He smirked. “How do I want to nail thee, let me count the ways.”
Smith shook his head. “Actually, while you guys are down here do you want to hear what we’ve been working on? I let Dylan hear it last night.”
Lexi clapped her hands together and attempted to jump up and down. She made it halfway up and then frowned at her belly and sat in a chair. “Yeah! Let us hear it.”
Smith picked up his bass, Luke twirled the sticks in his fingers and sat at his drums, Dash palmed a mic, and Jacks grabbed his guitar. All of them with instruments in hand looked so at ease, so natural. It was obvious that they were all born to do this. I’d heard all of The Devil’s Share songs…I liked them before I met them, but after Jacks and I became friends I went back and listened to everything they ever put out. They were the bad boys of rock and roll. But this, the sound coming from them now, was all things good. It was slow and sweet and tantalizing. The words were full of heart and emotion. The lyrics talked about how love changes you, changes everything. Lexi had tears in her eyes and I was finding it hard to breathe. When the final note came out of Jacks’s guitar and the song was over, no one said a word. We all just stood there in silence, not wanting to break the spell the song had put us under.
Luke scratched his head with a drumstick. “Uh…so, what did y’all think?”
Lexi shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. “That was the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. Who wrote that?”
“All of us, we all kind of had a hand in it.” Smith sat down his bass.
I could feel Jacks’s eyes on me; I turned and met his stare. “It was perfect.”
He smiled. “Glad you liked it, because we sent that demo to the label yesterday.”
Lexi’s eyes cut to Dash. “What did they say? It’s not at all what you guys have done in the past.”
Dash let out a quick sigh. “We haven’t heard back yet. They may end up loving it, or they may end up getting completely pissed, throwing a fit, and dropping us.”
That didn’t sound good. What happened to a band when their label dropped them? Luke threw a stick in the air and then caught it and gave it a practiced twirl. “And if they drop us? We’ll be just fine.”
Jacks nodded. “Yes we will.”
“Us against the world.” Smith winked at Dash.
The bond between these guys was so strong. They were a family, they had been for a long time now. And with every girl, every new kid, their family would grow. The question is, would I end up a part of it?
The door at the top of the stairs opened, and Landry and Dylan came down into the studio. Landry walked right up to me and leaned against my hip. I loved when she did that, it warmed my soul. “Hey, sweet girl, what’s up?”
“Can I go with Dylan and Smith to eat lunch?” She looked at the ground when she asked, still not completely confident in herself or us.
Was I allowed to tell her yes or no? Was that my place? “It’s okay with me, but maybe ask your dad?”
Jacks kneeled down in front of her, dipping to meet her eyes, not making her have to gather courage to look at him. He smiled. “Fine by me, Buttercup. Where are y’all going?”
Dylan crossed her arms over her chest. “That new vegan place down the street.”
Smith wrinkled his nose. “Kids don’t like vegan food.”
Dylan smiled with an eyebrow raised. “Landry wants to try it.”
“I saw a special about it on TV.” Her voice was soft, but at least she’d spoken up.
Smith shot forward and started tickling her as he picked her up over his head. “All right, you little adventurer, let’s go eat some healthy food.” Landry giggled the whole way up the stairs.
Chapter Seventeen
Jacks