Melody of the Heart (Runaway Train, #4)(47)

When AJ saw me, he motioned to my plate. “Get your grub, dude.”

I shook my head. “I need to call Gretchen and get a flight out of here tonight.”

Jake’s fork clattered onto his plate. “Where are you going?”

“Back home to Roswell.”

With his brows lined in worry, Jake asked, “Are your parents okay?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. It’s Lily actually. Her dad was murdered last night—well, he was shot while taking down a shooter at the courthouse.”

“Damn, that’s horrible,” Rhys remarked.

“Poor Lils. She and her dad were so close,” AJ said.

Pushing his plate aside, Jake asked, “You expect to leave during the middle of a major tour for some ex-piece of ass’s father?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Lily is more than just an ex-piece of ass, and you know that. Besides the fact she was once my fiancée, her dad was a helluva guy who meant a lot to me.”

He shrugged. “So send some flowers or a card. Or if you’re really feeling generous, give them a check.”

Closing the gap between us, I snarled, “You are one heartless motherf*cker, did you know that?”

“I’m just being honest. Do you think the label is actually going to allow you to leave for some ex-girlfriend’s father?”

“I frankly don’t give a f*ck what they think. There are more important things in life.”

With a snort, Jake said, “I can’t believe you’re going to jeopardize your career over that bitch. Hasn’t she caused you enough trouble already? She f*cked up your mojo to where you can’t write a song to save your life, not to mention trying to tie you down.”

I grabbed him by the shirt. “Don’t you say one more f*cking word about Lily!”

“Or what?”

AJ rose out of his chair and came over to us. “Okay, that’s enough.”

Jake sneered up at me. “Fine. Go home to your precious Lily. She must have one more gold-plated * if she can get you to throw your career away.”

As rage ricocheted through me, I didn’t take a second to think. I just reacted. My fist connected with Jake’s jaw hard enough to flip him over in his chair. I barreled over the chair and started pummeling his stomach. I got in three or four good punches when I was lifted up under my arms by Rhys and AJ. “Dude, knock it off!” AJ shouted.

With my chest rising and falling in harsh pants, I tried to catch my breath. “I’ll stop kicking his ass when he says he’s sorry. Lily’s never been anything but good and nice to him, and he’s a f*cking * for talking about her that way!” I shouted back.

Wiping the blood from his mouth, Jake glared up at me. “Just get out of here.”

I shook my head at him. “Why can’t you say you’re sorry? Is that too much to f*cking ask?”

“You don’t want to hear what I have to say,” he bellowed.

“Yeah, I do. Because if you don’t make things right between us, I’m not sure there’s a point for me coming back.”

Both AJ and Rhys inhaled sharply. “You can’t mean that, Bray,” AJ said.

“I sure as hell do. I can’t make music with someone who is as heartless and unfeeling as Jake.”

“Fine,” Jake growled, pulling himself to his feet. “You want the truth about why I can’t stand your precious Lily?”

His tone caused me to lunge forward, and if AJ and Rhys hadn’t been holding me back, I would’ve attacked him again.

“She chose you,” Jake said.

I could only stare at him as I tried processing his words. “What do you mean?”

“I’m only admitting this because I don’t want you to leave the band. We need you too much.”

“Get to the point,” I snapped.

“Somewhere along the way, I kinda started to like her.”

My mouth gaped open in both surprise and horror. “Like her? Like more than your friend’s fiancée?”

“At first, I thought it was because she reminded me so much of Stephanie, but then the more I got to know her, the more I started to like her. She was so good to us—cooking for us and caring about what was going on in our lives. After being surrounded by groupies, she was so f*cking real. I thought I could make her want me.”

“So you could f*ck her and dump her?” I snarled.

“No, so I could have what the two of you had. Something real.”

“And then when she didn’t show anything to you but friendly love, you sorta turned on her. Or at least used me to turn on her.”

Jake nodded. “You guys getting engaged was kinda what did it for me. I saw then she was never going to like anyone—love anyone else—but you. When you started to change, it was easy to manipulate you into treating her worse and worse.”

“But why would you do that?”

“So she would leave, and I wouldn’t have to see her anymore.”

“Jesus, Jake,” AJ muttered by my side.

Jake sighed. “I know you want it, but you f*cking deserve it too. I’m sorry, Brayden. I’m really f*cking sorry. I’m sorry for all the horrible shit I said about Lily. I’m sorry her dad got murdered. She’s too good to have something so horrible happen to her. But most of all, I’m sorry I treated her the way that I did there at the end.”