Heartbreaker (Unbreakable #1)(35)

“Right.” I didn’t know what else to say. I’d be shredded inside too if someone I loved hurt that much.

“She’s on her fourth drug. Two mellowed her out too much. Third turned her into a rage machine. This one seems to be doing okay, so far. It’s only been a week. But at least no windows are broken.”

Ahhh…the cardboard and duct tape.

“And you don’t feel like sleeping in your own bed?”

“Nah.” He tipped up his beer, finishing the last of it, then shot the empty bottle sliding across the counter until it clinked into mine. “Even if I wanted to, who could sleep through that? Besides, she started to leave in the middle of the night to go to that damned roof. I need to make sure she doesn’t sneak out.”

“But don’t you work at night?”

“Yeah. Have to. But we made a deal. She promised me she would be home, that I would know where she was at all times. For the two of us to make it a go on our own, it has to be that way. She understands.” He sighed heavily. “Even though she sometimes breaks that promise.”

“Good that she texted you. At least she’s trying.”

They had it rough. That they were on the same page, even with their problems, helped.

“Oh…my…” Something I hadn’t noticed earlier grabbed my attention. I crossed the room, then lifted a small black T-shirt from where it had been carefully laid out on a far table in the corner. “This is...”

“Animal.”

“I was going to say adorable.” The shaggy Muppet character beamed his toothy grin at us, drumsticks raised high.

Darren smiled and took the tiny shirt from me, spreading his open palm under it. “Animal is the reason I became a drummer. I loved watching him, and Mom encouraged me. She bought me this T-shirt for Christmas when I was four. She bought me my first snare drum the following year.”

“That’s awesome.” My heart warmed at the story. I gently plucked the shirt from his hand by its shoulder seams, then arranged it on the table exactly as it had been.

The song above changed again. This time into a thumping pulse that stirred my soul. “What is that song?”

He cocked his head, angling an ear upward. “That’s ‘Jungle’ by X Ambassadors with Jamie N Commons. Another drag rhythm.”

Like he’d been playing at the garage. And I now realized, Logan.

“C’mere.” He tore the sheet off the couch and whipped it up in the air, letting it settle flat onto the floor. “Lay on your stomach. I’ll show you.”

I hesitated, narrowing my eyes.

He arched his brows, then grabbed my hand and tugged downward.

“Okay.” I turned my head, watching him as I narrowed my eyes again. “But no funny business.” The entire night had unsettled me.

“Trust me.”

Unsure about whether it was him or me I worried about trusting, I stuffed down my apprehension and stretched onto the floor.

The moment I relaxed, firm hands pressed onto the center of my back. They spread apart, one toward my butt, the other, my shoulders. Then he began drumming with the rhythm of the song. At first, a light patter. Then a heavier beat.

“There’s the drag.” He thumped down harder at the end of a set of four. “That last downstroke—it’s as far as you can drag out the beat before you lose the rhythm.”

The contact was intimate. Drumming was his passion. With those muscular forearms, he gently pounded the rhythm that flowed from his head onto my body. Warmth traveled from his touch. The thumping grew heavier, harder.

When he spread his hands wide during a pause, then brought them back in again, his hand slipped under my shirt. The calluses on his fingertips tickled as he traced lightly up my skin, dragging the material upward. Then he began drumming with greater intensity on my flesh. My shirt kept working up, exposing more and more of me.

His fingers slipped under my bra strap. Then he pulled against the stretchy fabric, pausing. “Skin-only okay?”

Unable to think straight or form a reply, I gave a quick nod.

Then with a flick, the tension slacked. I sucked in a ragged breath, mind blown that he’d taken the liberty—and I was letting him.

He smoothed his hands over my bare skin, then resumed drumming. As if he hadn’t just partially undressed me.

The intimacy of the moment grew.

My breaths shortened with every thump of his hands.

The freshly bared territory that he used expanded, first venturing up toward my shoulders, then down, all the way to the top line of my hips, lower over my ass cheeks. Heat flooded everywhere, arousal ratcheting up with every heavy beat of my heart.

The song ended. His hands stilled in the growing silence, resting on me.

And I felt exposed. Not just from the pulled-up T-shirt and unfastened bra.

From everything: the sister I hadn’t known about; the story of their mom and his childhood; learning of his struggle, how difficult he’d had it, why he’d never let a woman get close.

I sucked in a hard breath, then shot backward onto my bent legs. I clutched my shirt and bra to my chest. “I…I need to go.”

With big gulps of air, I tried to calm myself.

“Now?” Surprise tightened his features.

I nodded wildly, reaching back to refasten my bra. “Yeah. It’s been a long day.”