The hem of my short, chiffon white dress swirled around my calves as I struggled to keep up with Lily. The roar of the crowd for Vindicated stung my ears as we weaved in and out of the crowded back stage of Phillips Arena. From time to time, she would glance over her shoulder at me and grin. I couldn’t help but smile back at her. After all, I owed everything to her for finally getting me to see the light.
Although I’d turned a hardened heart to Jake when he’d begged and pleaded for me to forgive him, it really only took a few words from Lily to convince me to give him another chance. She’d knocked on the door to my suite shortly after Jake had left, so naturally I’d screamed to leave me the hell alone. Instead, I heard her persistent voice outside. When I threw open the door, she gave me a hesitant smile. “You know I’m on your side in this entire situation. But I just have to say this, and when I’m done, it’s totally up to you on how to proceed.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“I’ve known Jake for eight years, and I’ve never, ever seen him act this way or feel this much about a girl before. Ever. He’s a brilliant musician, but he’s an absolute screw-up when it comes to matters of the heart. But if he was able to convince me how sorry he was and how much he deeply feels for you, you can bet it’s the real deal.” At my unresponsiveness, she sighed. “Look, Abby, I was at the same crossroads you are five years ago. I was hurt and angry about some of the really shitty things Brayden had done. He’d screwed up so many times that I didn’t think I had it in me to give him yet another chance when he begged and pleaded with me, just like Jake is doing with you. If I kept a hardened heart, I would’ve missed out on the most amazing man I could ever hope for, not to mention I wouldn’t have my two beautiful children.”
I closed my eyes for a moment before reopening them. “I’m just scared,” I admitted.
She nodded. “I know. I was too, and when it comes down to it so is Jake. But he really has a good heart Abby—one that for the first time in his life he wants to give to only one girl. And that girl is you.”
Unblinking and unmoving, I stared at Lily for a moment as I let the depth of her words wash over me. Glancing over my shoulder, I eyed all the beautiful red, pink, yellow, and purple roses overtaking my room. I thought of Jake’s countless texts along with his actions at the elevator.
Nibbling my bottom lip, I finally questioned, “So what do I do to make it right with us?”
A beaming smile filled her cheeks before she leaned over to hug me. “Well, first of all, you need a white dress!”
And that’s how I came to be trailing behind her as we searched for Runaway Train, or most importantly Jake. At the sight of Frank talking to some other roadies, I rushed past Lily.
“Where’s Jake?” I demanded breathlessly.
His gaze roamed over my attire, and then he smiled. “Want me to take you to him?”
“Please.”
“Sure thing, Angel.”
He led me through a series of rooms. Rhys, Brayden, and AJ were in the second one, decked out and waiting for their call to go to the stage. When they saw me, they whistled and cat-called. I guess I must’ve looked like I was on a mission because they didn’t try stopping me. “Go on and get your man, Angel!” AJ called.
We’d left the room with the guys when Frank stopped. He motioned to a shut door. “He’s in there. Of course, he’s left strict orders not to be disturbed.” With a wink, Frank then added, “But I’m pretty sure he’ll want to see you.”
I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Frank turned and left me alone in the hallway. My nerves caused me to wobble as I pushed myself forward. My hand trembled as I knocked on the dressing room door. “Are you all fucking deaf? I told you I wanted to be left the hell alone, so go away!” he growled.
Testing the doorknob, I found it unlocked. I had to draw in a few calming breaths before opening it. Jake sat hunched down in one of the chairs with a scowl etched across his face. At the sound of the door closing behind me, he jerked his head up. “I said—” The rest of his words died on his lips at the sight of me. His eyes bulged as he shot out of his chair. He just stood there, staring at me with an expression of absolute disbelief.
The corners of my lips twitched in a smile. “Don’t tell me that I’ve rendered you speechless?”
“Angel, you actually came.” He then motioned at my dress. “And you’re wearing white.”
I nodded. “For you.”
He closed the gap between us in two long strides. “Does this mean you accept my apology, and you’re willing to give a major fuck-up like me another chance?”
I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped my lips at Jake’s summation of himself. “Yes, it does.”
Jerking me to him, he planted a long, lingering kiss on my mouth. “Oh God, you make me so, so happy,” he murmured against my lips.
“You make me happy too.”
After he pulled away, Jake’s brows furrowed. “But what finally changed your mind? I mean, I was about ready to have my mama call you and plead my case.”
I laughed. “That might’ve helped, but it was Lily who helped me see the bigger picture.”
“Really? Wow, I’m impressed with her mad skills of persuasion.” He grinned. “Damn, I’m glad she came through for me. I guess I owe her big time, huh?”
“No, I don’t think you owe her anything. She was just being honest about the person you really are.”
“Thank you, Angel,” Jake replied with a smile. “Now let me get a good look at you.”
With a little twirl, I spun around to give him a view of the dress. Although the bottom was made of chiffon, the bodice had intricate white beading and sequins. With its spaghetti straps, it did an amazing job showing off my cleavage. It was tasteful, but sexy all in the same token.
Jake licked his lips. “Oh Angel…you look absolutely breathtaking.”
I grinned. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“Jake, it’s time,” Rhys called from the doorway.
“One sec,” he replied.
With a nudge, I pushed him to the door. “You need to go. After all, you can’t keep your adoring fans waiting.”
Jake’s expression grew serious. “There’s something I have to say to you before I go out there.”
My heartbeat accelerated so fast I felt lightheaded. “Okay,” I murmured.
Cupping my cheeks in his hands, Jake stared intently into my eyes. “I love you, Angel.”
I jerked back at his declaration. “You do?”
He smiled as he ran his thumb along my cheekbone. “Yeah, I do.”
Blinking in disbelief, I continued to stare at him. Finally, I whispered, “Oh Jake,” before I threw myself at him. “Say it again,” I commanded, my voice muffled against his chest.
“I love you, Abby,” he whispered into my ear.
“I love you, too. So very, very much,” I replied, squeezing him tight.
“I never thought I’d ever hear you say it.”
After he wrapped his arms around my waist, he pressed his forehead against mine. “I could say the same about you.”
“Jake!” Rhys called again.
“Fuck, I don’t want to go out there. I just want to stay right here with you.”
“We’ll have time together after the show.”
Jake’s expression darkened. “It’s never enough time, especially since you have to fly back tomorrow.”
“We’ll figure something out. We always do.”
“Maybe next time instead of those douchebags from Vindicated we can have Jacob’s Ladder open for us.”
I laughed. “That would be awesome.”
“I’m totally serious, Abby.”
When he used my real name, rather than Angel, I knew he really was. “But—”
He pressed a finger against my lips to silence me. “All I have to do is bring it before the suits, and usually when I go after something, I get what I want.”
I shook my head and couldn’t keep the smile from forming on my lips. “There you go with that ego again.”
“Come on.” He then took me by the hand. He led me along the darkened corridors. We reached the stage just as AJ was making his usual grand entrance. Jake pulled me almost to the edge of the wings. “Stay here for the show, okay?”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Right here? I’m practically on the stage,” I protested.
He laughed. “I’m serious, Angel.” He leaned over and kissed me. Just as his tongue brushed against mine, we were interrupted by the announcer saying, “And lead singer and guitarist, Jake Slater!”
Jerking away from me, he regretfully said, “Gotta go.” He then proceeded to smack my ass playfully before strutting out on the stage with more swagger than I’d seen him use before.
Lily wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “So I take it all is well with you guys, huh?”
I couldn’t keep the goofy grin off my lips. “Yes, it is. Thank you so much for coming to talk to me.”
“You’re welcome.” She gave me a knowing smile. “I’m pretty good about spotting true love when I see it, and you and Jake are the real deal.”
My heart fluttered at her assessment. We then fell silent to watch our men perform. When a technician brought Jake a headset and took his microphone, my brows furrowed in confusion. I didn’t know that they had added a different part to the show.
After he adjusted the headset, he turned to me and winked. “So as some of you may know, this is usually the part of the show where I have a fan brought up on stage to sing to. But tonight I want to change things up a bit.” Jake paused for a moment like he was trying to find the right words. “Three weeks ago a girl fell into my life. Well, actually she accidentally fell into my bed, but that’s another story.”
I gasped as the audience whistled and catcalled. “Before her, I may have sung about love, relationships, and being with that special someone, but I really didn’t believe in it. But through her physical and inner beauty, she taught me about the gift of giving your heart to someone.” Jake drew in a ragged breath, and my chest clenched as I could tell he was fighting his emotions. “In so many ways, she saved me from the hell surrounding me. She is truly an angel—she’s my angel.” Turning to the wings, he met my gaze and smiled. “So come out here, Angel.”
Frozen, I couldn’t blink, least of all move. Lily had to nudge me forward, or I would have remained rooted to my spot. On trembling legs, I strode across the stage to where Jake stood beckoning me. At my appearance, the crowd went wild, causing my ears to ring from the noise.
A wide grin curved on Jake’s lips as he took my hand in his. He brought it to his lips and gallantly kissed my fingers, which caused the audience screamed in approval. “Atlanta, this is Abby, but to me she’s Angel.”
In a weird, out-of-body experience, my gaze swiveled out to the crowd, and I gave a lame wave with my free hand. “And while I could’ve written a song that would have captured everything you are to me, I feel like this one pretty much says it all.” Glancing over his shoulder, Jake said, “All right boys, let’s hit it.”
AJ started in with a drum beat before Brayden began a melting guitar intro. Almost instantly I recognized the song and gasped. It was Aerosmith’s Angel, and it was all for me.
“I’m alone, and I don’t know if I can face the night…” Jake sang into the microphone on his headset. I gazed into his eyes and saw the emotion reflected in them. Without a guitar or microphone to hold, his hands were free to roam over me. As he sang, his eyes never left mine. Warmth spread over my cheeks and throughout my entire body at the devotion he used singing the lyrics. At the second verse, he spun me around and pulled my back against him, wrapping his arms around my waist. Closing my eyes, I swayed to the love song while he crooned into my ear. Well, even with the microphone, it felt like he was singing just to me when actually he held a crowd of fifty thousand in rapt attention. I barely realized when Brayden harmonized with him.
In that moment in time, there was nothing in the world but Jake performing those amazing lyrics just for me. When it got to the part where he repeated “Come and save me tonight”, he turned me around. Pulling me flush against him, Jake cupped my cheek before bringing his lips to mine. I could’ve cared less that we were in front of thousands and thousands of people. It felt like it was just the two of us, and I couldn’t get enough of him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pressed myself against him and deepened the kiss. My tongue danced tantalizing around his as AJ chimed in with Brayden to finish the lyrics for Jake. We didn’t break apart until the music ended, and the screams and whistles interrupted our moment.
I stumbled away from Jake before turning my wild gaze to the crowd. Jake chuckled into the microphone at my reaction. “So what do you think, Atlanta? Can you see now why this amazing girl has stolen my heart?”
Wincing, I waited for a round of boos and hisses to come at me for being the bitch who stole Jake from his adoring female harem. But surprisingly I heard nothing but cheers and more whistling. “And you know something else? She has a kickass voice, and not only did we just record our first duet, but we wrote the song together too. Would you like to hear it?”
Although the fans went wild, I couldn’t help grabbing his shirt and protesting, “No, Jake!”
He leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Don’t argue with me, Angel. Even though you don’t want to believe it, you’re ready for this moment. All you have to do is tune everyone else out and just look into my eyes. We’ll sing to each other just like always.”
A ripple of pleasure ran through me at his words. Pulling my shoulders back, I finally nodded in agreement. It was a good thing because a technician appeared out of nowhere with an exact replica of my guitar.
“But how—” I began as other technicians raced around placing stools on the stage and adjusting the microphones.
With a wicked grin, Jake’s only reply was a wink. He handed off his headset and then turned back to the crowd. We both eased down onto the stools and adjusted our guitars on our laps. I made sure to smooth out my dress to ensure I wasn’t flashing half of Atlanta.
“All right, this is a very special song, and it’s called I’ll Take You with Me.”
Jake began strumming the introduction, and then I joined in. Instead of singing to the audience, he swiveled on his stool to where he could look at me as he sang. Once again, his performance was so heartfelt and strained with emotion that I found tears stinging my eyes. We sang the chorus together, and then it was time for my solo. I didn’t take my eyes off of Jake the entire time. A shadow of a smile played on his lips as he strummed his guitar.
When we finished, I leaned over to kiss him. “I love you, Jake,” I murmured against his lips.
“I love you too, Angel.”
He rose off the stool before taking the microphone off the stand. “Thank you Atlanta! My hometown crowd, you’ve been amazing as always. See ya next year!” Taking my hand, he then led me off the stage. As soon as we were in the wings, he swept me into his arms. Sliding his hands under my butt, he hoisted me up, and I wrapped my legs around him.
Our lips raged against each other until Brayden cleared his throat behind us. After I reluctantly pulled away, I glanced over my shoulder at him. With a smile, he asked, “I guess this means you two are good now?”
Kneading my butt cheeks with his hands, Jake gave me a wicked grin. “I’d say we were more than great.”
I tugged the strands of hair at the nape of his neck hard. “Stop manhandling me in public, Mr. Slater.”
“Angel, you’re going about getting me to stop the wrong way. Pulling my hair is a hell of a turn-on for me,” he whispered in my ear. I shivered at both his words and the warmth of his breath.
“Hmm, so if I let you take me back to the bus and fool around a bit, will you bail on me again?”
A determined gleam burned in his eyes. “Never. You’re mine, and you’re not getting rid of me.”
I grinned. “Good, I’m glad to hear it.”
Frank, along with LL, came up to us. “We’ve got a pretty large crowd outside waiting for you guys. Lots of stuff with them to sign.”
“Okay,” Jake replied. Reluctantly, he eased me back down onto my feet. He still kept an arm around my waist as we started out the backdoor of the arena while the guys followed behind us. At the sight of Jake, a ripple of screams and shouts erupted in the throng of mainly girls and women.
As the fans swarmed at Jake and the guys, I grinned at him. “I’m going on to the bus.”
He smiled and then kissed the crown of my head. “Frank,” he called.
Frank nodded and put a protective arm around my shoulder. “Come on, Angel.”
The fans barely acknowledged us as we weaved past them. They only cared about seeing Runaway Train—but most importantly it’s lead singer.
Unable to keep the goofy expression off my face, I glanced up at Frank. “Did you see what Jake did?”
He chuckled. “Oh yes. I saw and heard.” He winked at me. “And I couldn’t be happier that he’s finally wised up and fallen in love with an amazing girl.”
I giggled deliriously like I could only imagine someone with a few shots of liquor in them would, except I was stone cold sober. Well, extremely high off life at the moment. Twirling out of Frank’s embrace, I walked backwards for a few moments to face him. “I cannot believe he took me out there and sang to me in front of all those people—that I’m really his angel.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “And that he loves me.”
“I gotta admit that even for a gruff old fart like me, it was downright touching and so damn romantic.”
The piercing squeals of girls screaming interrupted us, causing both of us to glance over Frank’s shoulder. The boys seemed cornered by all the fans, and Jake’s wide-eyes swept over to us. Frank pulled his phone out of his pocket and called for more of the security detail.
“I can make it from here. Go on and help Jake out.”
“Okay, Angel.”
I twirled the hem of my dress back and forth while I felt like I was walking on air. I’m sure if anyone saw me they would swear I was tripping on some elicit substance. I had to bite on my lip to keep from grinning. Jake really and truly loved me. It was an amazing feeling.
Just as I turned the corner to the bus, someone grabbed my hair, yanking me back. I cried out just before my head was smashed against the side of the bus so hard that I saw stars before my eyes. Considering some of the rough areas I’d lived in, my parents had made sure I was enrolled in every self-defense class imaginable from the time I could walk. Of course, nothing quite prepares you for being taken off guard and having your thoughts jumbled by the pain of your head cracking against steel.
Fingers twisted further into my hair while my head kept being smashed against the side of the bus. Regaining my footing, I whirled around to launch two harsh punches at my assailant’s face, causing them to stumble back momentarily. In the dimly lit parking lot, I squinted my eyes. “Bree?” I questioned dumbly.
Her harsh voice echoed through my disoriented state. “You fucking bitch! It wasn’t enough he called out your name when he was inside me, but no, he has to go and sing to you?” She shook her head wildly. “If you think I’m going to give up on Jake so easily, you’ve got another thing coming!!”
I tried blocking her next hit, but she grabbed both of my shoulders and then smacked my head again, causing me to cry out. “What have you done to him? Jake never, ever would have gone for a girl like you. Now you got him singing songs to you and professing his love. He’s supposed to love me!”
“Yeah well, I’m sorry, but he doesn’t. It’s me he loves,” I protested.
Bree released my hair, but before I could get my bearings, she punched me in the mouth, sending blood spattering across the both of us. When I deflected her next two hits, she then kicked me hard in the stomach. I doubled over in pain as she kicked my back. Collapsing to the ground, I tried to disable her next kick, but it just ended up nailing me in the ribs.
“JAKE!” I screamed with what strength I had left.
“Yeah, let’s see how much Jake wants you when I’m finished with you,” Bree taunted over me.
A metallic rush filled my mouth, and I sputtered out a stream of blood. “Jake!” I whimpered again.
Just as everything started to go dark around me, I heard Jake’s voice, “ANGEL!” And then pitch blackness enveloped me.
***