Gabe’s first meeting with his future in-laws could have gone better, but it also could have gone a lot worse. At least he hadn’t been chased off their property with a shotgun. Melanie was obviously upset, oscillating between hurt and rage over the argument she’d gotten into with her mother before she’d slammed out of the house with Gabe having no choice but to follow. Oddly, the argument had been over Nikki, not himself. Her parents were more on board with her marrying a tattooed, unemployed rock-star thug than living with the train wreck that was her best friend.

“So I take it they don’t know Nikki lives with you now,” Gabe said, instantly wishing he could keep his mouth shut as Melanie leaned so far against the passenger door he feared she might roll right out onto the side of the freeway.

“Of course they don’t know. You saw how they reacted.”

“Is there a reason why they don’t like her? Well, besides the fact that she’s unstable and uses you. Your parents don’t seem like the type to turn on someone in need.”

Melanie sighed. “You remember that story I told you about the tattooed bikers who harassed me as a girl?”

He nodded and took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at her. Her hands were shaking as she knotted her fingers in the hem of her sundress.

“Nikki was flirting with them and called me over.”

“Weren’t you like twelve?”

“Thirteen.”

“That’s no better. Was Nikki . . . ?” He couldn’t bring himself to ask if a little girl—and a thirteen-year-old was definitely a girl—had been promiscuous.

“Sexually active?”

Gabe winced and nodded. It would be bad enough to think of such a young girl fooling around with boys her age, but those bikers Melanie had described to him had sounded like grown men.

“Her father’s abuse started in elementary school.”

Gabe swallowed the nausea rising up his throat. “And your parents hold that against her?”

“What?” Melanie blurted. “Of course they don’t. She put me in what could have been a very dangerous situation, and they never forgave her for that.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t intentional. She probably thought you’d like the attention, because she likes it.” He could understand wanting to protect a daughter at the expense of someone else, but the more he learned about Nikki, the more he wanted to protect her—not only from those who might hurt her, but from herself. Someone needed to. He realized that Melanie had been doing that long before he’d come along.

“I know it wasn’t intentional. I don’t think most of the things she does that hurt me are.”

“What kinds of things?” He took her hand, smiling as the diamond he’d bought only hours ago dug into his palm.

Melanie shrugged. “Things.”

“I thought we were going to be honest with each other. Trust each other.”

“She sleeps with my boyfriends. Not all of them.” There had been that one who’d turned her down.

“You don’t have to worry about that with me,” he said, lifting her hand and kissing the inside of her wrist. “I’m a one-woman man and you’re my one.”

She smiled, her eyes misty. “Am I stupid because I keep taking her back? She always worms her way back into my life no matter how hard I push her away.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid at all,” he said, pulling into the parking lot behind her apartment building and putting the car into park. He was glad he was finished driving so he could brush her hair out of her lovely face and kiss the worry out of her expression. “You have a generous heart, Mel. Enough for Nikki and for me, for your parents and for all our future children.”

She lowered her eyes, which surprised him. He figured she’d take that as a compliment.

“Gabe?” she said after a moment. “If that groupie’s baby turns out to be yours, I . . . I don’t think I can love it.” She grimaced as if she’d said she wanted to harm the child.

Gabe hadn’t given Lindsey or her unborn baby a single thought for days. “Will you be jealous if I love it?”

She looked up, and the turmoil in her hazel eyes cut him so deep, he felt it through his entire chest. She nodded and closed her eyes, sending a single tear coursing down her cheek. She dashed it away.

“I don’t know why I feel this way. It’s not the baby’s fault. And if it’s part of you . . .” She reached for the door handle and tried to escape the very uncomfortable conversation she’d initiated. Gabe grabbed her hand to make her stay put.

“Finish what you were going to say.”

“If it’s part of you, I should love it. I know I should. I just . . . can’t.”

Gabe wasn’t sure what to say to that. He felt no connection to Lindsey’s unborn baby, but he would be a good father to the child if it was his. He’d already told Melanie as much. He wasn’t going to take back that vow just to make her feel better, because he’d meant it. He had no doubt that she’d come around if his newborn baby was staring up at her. She wouldn’t be able to hold a grudge anything so innocent and pure. He knew she wouldn’t. But they’d cross that bridge if—and in his mind that was a big fucking if—they came to it.

“If that’s the way you feel . . .”

“But I hate feeling this way. I’m a terrible person for wishing a baby didn’t exist.”

“You’re not a terrible person,” he said. “You just have a terrible wish.”

She jerked free of his grasp and opened the door. She climbed out and slammed the door behind her, clutching her stomach and breathing hard, as if she’d just played Sole Regret’s set list with one drumstick. This was really tearing her up inside. He climbed out of the car and moved to stand beside her, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket and dialing Owen. The continually silent bassist didn’t answer Gabe’s call, so he left a message.

“Hey, Owen. I hate to ask anything of you at a time like this. I know you must be having a hard time with your brother’s situation.” God, Gabe felt like an ass for even bothering him. “I know it’s probably not something on your mind right now, but I was wondering when Lindsey is going to have that paternity test. I’d like to know if her baby is mine as soon as possible. I’m getting married, you see, and it’s something I need to know before I make this wonderful woman pledge her forever to me. So if you have any details on that test, please call or text. And if you need anything—absolutely anything—don’t hesitate to ask. I’m here for you. Take care, bro. I’ll stop in to see you when I get back to Austin in a couple days. And if you haven’t made up with Kellen yet—I still don’t know what he did—but for fuck’s sake, dude, give the guy a break. You know he’s your anchor. Always has been.”

Feeling stupid for leaving such a long and sappy message for a guy while Melanie listened in, Gabe disconnected the call and tucked his phone back into his pocket.

“I’m not sure if I should be glad or afraid that you did that,” Melanie said.

“I thought you wanted to know if the baby’s mine.”

“I do,” she said. “But what if I’m not ready?”

“Will you be ready in three months when the baby is born?”

She sucked in a laugh. “Probably not.”

“I don’t want this hanging over us. We need a plan of action.”

“I thought rock stars always went with the flow,” she said, linking her arm through his and tugging him toward the apartment.

He cocked his head to one side. “Have you met me?”

She laughed. “Fortunately, I have, and I never once took you for a rock star.”

For some reason her jest wiped the smile from his face.

*****

The next morning, Gabe filled the trunks and back seats of two cars with a bunch of what he considered useless girl stuff that would soon be cluttering up his house. He was a little cranky because his mattress-time with Melanie had been interrupted by Nikki forcefully inserting herself between them so she could sleep. This entailed her cuddling with Melanie, or rather, wrapping herself around Melanie like a starving python. There was no way in hell Gabe would put up with that bullshit when they reached Austin. If Nikki got scared in the night, she would just have to sleep with a pair of hot, smelly, slobbery, oft-times gassy Labradors.

“Are we stopping for breakfast?” Nikki asked, sweeping her hair back with the pair of white-rimmed sunglasses on top of her head.

“Not if we’re going to make it to Dallas by three,” Gabe said. That was when he’d told Adam to expect them, and Gabe wasn’t typically late for the appointments he made.

“But I’m hungry, and Melanie drank the last of the milk.”

“I asked you if you wanted some,” Melanie said, but she opened the trunk and rummaged around in bags until she came up with a box of granola bars. “Enjoy,” she said, handing a bar to Nikki.

Nikki immediately opened the wrapper and took a bite. “You’re riding with me, aren’t you?” she asked with her mouth full.

Gabe hid a self-satisfied grin. He’d deliberately crammed several heavy boxes, a thick comforter, and several extra pillows in the front seat of the Bug so Melanie would ride with him in her Toyota.

Melanie lifted a brow at her friend. “Would you ride with you if you had the chance to ride with him?” She jabbed a thumb in Gabe’s direction.

“Good point,” Nikki said. “I’ll ride with Gabe. You drive my car.”

For a second, Gabe thought Melanie was going to agree to that arrangement. He opened his mouth to protest, but Melanie said, “If this is going to work, you have to recognize that Gabe is my top priority. If you want to come, you will drive your car and I will ride with Gabe in mine, got it?”

Nikki crinkled her nose at Gabe, but took another bite of her granola bar and swung open the door of the Bug. “I’m stopping with you in Dallas,” she said as she climbed into her frivolous melon-orange car. Unlike Gabe, she actually looked good behind the wheel. “I want to say hey to Adam.”

She closed her door and started the car’s engine. Melanie knocked on the glass, and Nikki rolled down her window. “I’ll be careful.”

“Good, but I wanted to tell you that we’ll stop for a quick lunch, so don’t get too far ahead of us. I’ll call you when it’s time.”

Nikki polished off the last bite of her granola bar, crinkled up the wrapper, and stuck it in Melanie’s hand. “See you at Waffle House.”

They always stopped at Waffle House on their way south. The restaurant didn’t have any locations in Topeka or even Wichita, so eating there was a rare treat for them.

“I’m not sure if Gabe likes Waffle House,” Melanie said, but Nikki was already backing out of her parking spot and waving out the window.

“Waffle House is fine,” Gabe said.

“I don’t think we should let her get her way. She’s testing her boundaries to see what she can get away with.”

“She’s a grown woman, not a new puppy.”

Melanie stuck the empty wrapper into his hand. “Are you sure about that?”

He grinned and kissed her. “The only thing I’m absolutely sure of is you.”

When he started to move away, she wrapped both arms around his neck and drew him down for a lengthier kiss. The wrapper crinkled as he moved his hands to her hips to draw her closer.

“Love you,” she murmured against his lips.

He’d never tire of that sentiment and was glad they said it freely to each other now. “Love you.”

She pulled away slowly, lips lingering on his, and opened her eyes. “Maybe we can fix up a pile of hay in the barn for her.”

Gabe chuckled. “Now there’s an idea.”

To pass the time they played a game of Google Feud on Melanie’s phone while they traveled south. Nikki was a few miles ahead of them, so they didn’t see her. She did call several times to complain that she was bored. Gabe could hear Sole Regret’s last release blaring in the background as she asked questions about his house and her would-be room and the nearest night club and his boat. It made Gabe sad that the album she was listening to might be Sole Regret’s last. Surely he could convince Adam to make amends with Jacob. They were giving up more than a career. Music was their life. He knew he wasn’t the only member of the band who felt that way.

“What’s bothering you?” Melanie asked when he didn’t respond to her next Google Feud search prompt.

“Just hoping I can talk some sense into Adam so he can talk sense into Jacob.”

“You miss them, don’t you?”

Gabe couldn’t deny that reality, so he nodded. “I know it sounds odd, but I spend most of the time on the tour bus reading, not goofing off with the guys. But even though I’m off in my own world, they’re there, you know. If I do decide to bullshit with them, they’re there. And now . . .” He shook his head. “They’re not there.” He couldn’t explain the tightness in his chest. He rubbed at it impatiently.

“You can bullshit with me,” she offered, her smile hopeful.

“I plan to,” he said, not wanting to hurt her feelings by pointing out that it wasn’t the same. He didn’t want to bullshit with her. He wanted to love her.

At brunch, Gabe tried to find something worth eating on the Waffle House menu. Both of his companions ordered waffles, but he feared he’d go into a carb coma and drive off the road if he attempted that kind of breakfast, so he opted for eggs and sausage instead.

Nikki continued with her string of questions about their destination. She was definitely a talker, while Melanie was more of an answerer and Gabe definitely a listener. The three of them got along well until Nikki broached the subject of Sole Regret’s breakup.

“So how do we go about getting the band back together?” she asked, dipping her bacon in maple syrup and taking a bite.

Gabe lifted a brow at her. “We?”

Nikki caught his eye and nodded. “I know Shade pretty well. Maybe he’ll listen to me.”

Gabe snorted. “You had a one-night stand with him. You don’t know him at all.”

“More of a one-night, one-morning stand, but I do know him. He does talk to the women he sleeps with, you know. He was worried that he was going to miss his daughter’s birthday. Said his ex-wife told him not to show up at their house unless it was one of his visitation days.”

“He saw her on her birthday,” Gabe said. At least he was pretty sure he had. Gabe had been in such a rush to spend time with Melanie that he hadn’t paid much attention to what was going on with Jacob that weekend. He knew for a fact that it was a visitation weekend, though, because their entire tour had been scheduled around having every other weekend off for that very reason. When he brought that up to Melanie and Nikki, they both looked heartbroken.

“Poor guy,” Melanie said. “Is there any way that Julie can go on tour with the band? He obviously doesn’t get to see her often enough.”

“He does now that he’s back together with his praying mantis of an ex-wife.”

“If he stays with her, Sole Regret is finished,” Nikki said.

“I think you’re right about that,” Gabe said, taking a sip of coffee and staring down at his nearly empty plate. “I really thought he and Amanda had a shot.”

“Who’s Amanda?” Nikki asked.

“His ex-wife’s sister,” Melanie said.

Nikki let out a low whistle. “Well, that would never work out.”

“Why not?” Gabe happened to think Amanda was perfect for Jacob.

“Can you imagine how awkward the holidays would be?”

Melanie laughed. “That would be awkward.”

“But she already loves his daughter,” Gabe said, “so adjusting to being a nuclear family would be easier on the three of them. It would be everyone else that would have issues with it, not those three.”

“Well, his ex would definitely have an issue with it,” Melanie said. “Does she know that Jacob and Amanda were together?”

Gabe shrugged. “I hope not. She’d probably beat the snot out of him.” Which might explain the bruise on Jacob’s forehead when he’d had returned to the tour after his weekend with Julie. Gabe wished he’d been paying better attention to what had been going on with Jacob that day, but then he’d had his own worries to deal with that weekend. And all of his problems had centered around Nikki. He scrutinized her closely as she waved the waitress over for a refill on her glass of milk. She looked so perfectly harmless.

“If my ex-husband was sniffing around my sister, I’d definitely bust his balls,” Nikki said. “Not that I have an ex-husband. Or a sister.”

“I might be okay with it,” Melanie said, “if they genuinely cared about each other and my ex and I had parted under friendly terms.”

“If you’re friendly, why would you part?” Nikki asked.

“People grow apart. Maybe they shouldn’t be married anymore, but it’s possible to still get along.”

Gabe snorted. “Tina and Jacob are anything but friendly. That’s why his getting back together with her makes absolutely no sense. None.”

“I’ll talk to him about what’s going on,” Nikki said. “Maybe he’ll open up to me. I’m a good listener.”

“When you’re asleep,” Melanie said with a laugh. “Maybe. Sometimes you even talk then.”

Nikki stuck her tongue out at her.

After paying for brunch and gassing up both cars, Gabe called Adam to make sure he remembered that they were stopping by the hospital in Dallas for a quick visit.

“I’ll be here,” Adam said. “I don’t have anywhere better to be.”

“Have you heard from the other guys?” Gabe asked.

“Just Owen. He said once his brother is stable, they’re shipping him to an army hospital at Fort Hood. He wanted me to ask the doctors here if that would be in Chad’s best interest.”

“Does Owen know more about Chad’s injuries now?”

“Not much more. But he did say they take those with the most severe injuries to San Antonio, so maybe them sending him to Fort Hood is actually a good sign.”

“I hope you’re right.” Gabe wished he knew more about such things. It was no wonder Owen had never returned his call about the stupid paternity test. The guy definitely had more important worries. Gabe wouldn’t bother him again. “I’ll see you in a few hours. Do you want to meet me down in the lob—”

“I’m not leaving Madison’s side,” Adam interrupted.

“Is she okay with company, then? We could come up to her room.”

Adam mumbled something, and then he laughed. “She says she’d like to see a new face about now. I guess she’s tired of looking at my ugly mug.”

Gabe could hear Madison’s protests in the background.

“I know you don’t think I’m ugly,” Adam said to her.

“I’ll see you in a few then,” Gabe said, wanting to get back on the road. Melanie was sending him questioning looks through the windshield as he stood in front of the car on his phone.

“See you.”

For the first time in his experience, the traffic around Dallas wasn’t bad, but finding parking at Baylor was a nightmare. Nikki had somehow snagged a prime spot near the entrance to the main hospital and waved at them as they drove past. By the time Gabe found a spot, she’d already found a new friend to talk to. Well, the guy was mostly talking at her boobs—which he was quite obviously ogling—but she didn’t seem to notice. Gabe moved to stand beside her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and kissed the side of her head. “Hey, sweetie, sorry to make you wait. Is this guy bothering you?”

“No,” she said. “He’s a med student.”

Gabe offered the young man an unrelenting stare. “A future gynecologist, I presume, since he’s doing such a thorough examination of your breasts.”

The guy had the decency to blush and back away. Nikki giggled in delight. Melanie rolled her eyes and shook her head at them both.

“We’re trying to find a patient,” Gabe said to the endearingly awkward guy. “Where would we go for information?”

After pointing them in a general direction, the med student adjusted his wire-framed glasses and turned to go, but then he stopped and faced Nikki again.

“It was nice talking to you, Wilma. I wish you had told me you had a boyfriend.” He released a full-body sigh, looking as if he’d just said goodbye to his soul mate, and then walked away.

“Wilma?” Gabe asked before releasing his proprietary hold on Nikki and taking Melanie’s hand.

“He said his name was Fred,” Nikki explained. “I told him we must have been fated to meet because I was Wilma.”

Melanie snorted.

Gabe shook his head at the two of them. “You shouldn’t get a guy’s hopes up like that. Do you know how to flat out reject a guy? That whole let-him-down-easy thing you women do just makes it harder on us in the long run because then we have hope.”

“Do I know how to reject a guy?” Nikki asked. “Sure. Do I know how to reject a sweet, cute future doctor named Fred? Not so much.”

“Since you’re not supposed to hook up with anyone this month, you’re bound to find the man of your dreams,” Melanie said. “It’s poetic justice. Karma. Whatever you want to call it.”

“If he’s the man of her dreams, he can wait,” Gabe declared. “In fact, any man worth your time and affection can wait until the time is right for you, no matter how hard he tries to convince you otherwise.”

“Oh, Gabe,” Nikki said, poking him in the ribs. “You’re such a romantic.”

It took them a while to find their way to Madison’s room. They stopped and picked up some flowers at the gift shop, and Nikki insisted on a Get Well Soon balloon to go along with the bouquet of cheerfully bright daisies. As they walked down a long sterile hallway, Gabe noticed how Nikki began to cling to Melanie. He wondered if it would be better for Nikki to talk about her obvious fear, or if that would make her feel worse.

He opted for middle ground to give her the opportunity to speak freely if she felt like it. “You okay, Nik?”

She looked up at him and nodded with a slight smile on her lips. Melanie lifted Nikki’s hand and pressed it to her chest.

“Hospitals remind her of all the reasons she’s been in one,” Melanie said. “None of them good.”

“A few of them good,” Nikki corrected. “Like when my cousin’s baby was born.”

“I apologize. I shouldn’t have spoken for you,” Melanie said.

“That’s okay.”

“You just looked a little nervous,” Gabe said. “I was worried about you.”

At his declaration, Nikki beamed. “I am nervous. We’re going to see Adam Taylor. I wonder if he’ll even remember me. Did you see the sketch he drew of me? Pretty cool, huh?”

Gabe chuckled. “Very cool. And I’m sure he’ll remember you.”

He had seen the drawing Adam had done, and recalled that Jacob had been upset that half of Nikki’s beautiful face had been depicted as decayed to bone in Adam’s artwork. Jacob tended to take things a bit too literally, while Adam was pathologically artistic. They never saw eye to eye on anything, and that was exactly why Sole Regret needed them both. Having a band made up of like-minded individuals would have made for some uninspired, passionless music.

Which was why he was there. To remind Adam—and himself—that no matter what obstacles appeared in their path, their friendship, their band, their music was worth fighting for.

When they reached Madison’s room, Gabe knocked on the open door and called loudly, “Are you decent in there?”

“I wouldn’t call myself decent,” Adam replied, “but you can come in anyway.”

Gabe was surprised that while Madison had been the one injured and had recently undergone surgery, she looked a hell of a lot better than Adam did.

“When was the last time you slept?” Gabe asked him while the women crowded around Madison to give her flowers and to hear her story about a rattlesnake spooking her horse.

“Can’t remember,” Adam said, swaying slightly in Gabe’s direction.

Gabe caught him by both shoulders. “You won’t be able to help her if you collapse from exhaustion.”

“I keep telling him that,” Madison said. “That he should get some rest while I’m stuck in here, because when I get out and he goes back on tour, he’s going to be too tired to perform. If he thinks Jacob is mad at him now . . .”

Gabe winced, but before he could open his mouth to comment, Adam grabbed him by the arm and tugged him toward the hall.

“Be right back, babe,” Adam called to Madison. “You ladies take good care of her while I’m gone.”

Adam closed the door softly and turned to face Gabe. Adam couldn’t meet his gaze, however, standing there hands on hips, eyes focused downward.

“You haven’t told her?” Gabe asked. “About the band breaking up?”

Adam shook his head. “She’ll feel like it’s her fault. I don’t want her to feel that way. It’s my fault.”

Gabe licked his lips. He wasn’t going to give Adam an out. The band’s breakup was at least partially his fault, and Adam had never been the type to claim responsibility for anything. So to hear him say that he was taking the blame gave Gabe hope. Gabe knew that was what Jacob had always wanted out of Adam, for him to claim responsibility for something—for anything. This was a big step in the right direction. But would it be enough?

“So what are you going to do to fix it?” Gabe asked.

Adam finally met his eyes. He really did look like hell—wrinkled clothes, a scruffy growth of beard, dark circles under both eyes, and his messy-by-design hair was extra-disheveled. He was even missing a few of the chains he usually wore.

“There’s no fixing this. I fucked up too big this time.”

“You did fuck up big,” Gabe said.

“Sorry.”

God, Jacob should be here witnessing this change in Adam. Though it might not matter. Whenever the two of them were in a room together, their alpha supremacy bullshit began.

“But we can fix this,” Gabe said.

“How?”

“Oh my God!” Madison squealed inside the room.

Before Gabe could blink, Adam had bashed open the door and was at her bedside. “What is it? Where does it hurt?”

“I’m fine, sweetheart,” Madison said. “It’s just . . . Melanie and Gabe got engaged too!”, She held up her left hand next to Melanie’s to show they both had sparkly new engagement rings.

Adam covered his chest with one hand. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“I’m sorry.” She shifted forward as well as she could, given that the cast covered her entire right arm, shoulder and chest, and puckered her lips for a kiss, which Adam supplied without hesitation. The metal bar holding her unwieldy appendage out at a ninety degree angle bumped against the bed rail and made her wince.

“Stop moving around so much,” Adam said, kissing her again.

“I hate this freaking cast,” Madison said. “My elbow is itching like crazy.” She looked up at Melanie and beamed. “Hey, maybe we should have a double wedding.”

“Yes!” Nikki said, bouncing on her toes. “That would be so much fun! I get to help organize it all, right?”

“Hey, Nik,” Adam said with a tender smile. “How’ve you been?”

“Great,” she said. “Except all my favorite rock stars are getting hitched. First Jacob gets back with his ex-wife, and then Gabe and Adam get engaged. Who’s next to fall—the consummate playboy, Owen? So not fair.”

 “Did you say that Jacob was back with his ex?” Madison glared at Adam, who was toying with a strand of her hair and watching the action of his fingers. “Did you know about this?”

“I was hoping it wouldn’t last long,” Adam said.

“You and me both,” Gabe said.

“You aren’t hiding things from me again, are you?” Madison asked.

“Of course not,” Adam said.

Lies came so easy to him. Gabe wondered if Adam would be able to break that habit, even for someone he so obviously loved.

“I think you need to get some rest, babe,” Adam said, “and I’m getting hungry, so I’ll walk these guys out and pick up something from the cafeteria on my way back upstairs. Do you want me to bring you anything?”

His gaze lifted to meet hers, and Gabe watched her practically melt into her pillow.

“I don’t need anything, but I am a little tired. They have me on some very nice pain meds.”

Adam kissed her gently and jerked his head at Gabe to get him to follow.

“Hope that arm heals up fast,” Gabe said in parting, reaching over to give Madison’s good shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You’ll need it to keep this guy in line.”

“He’s not as tough as he looks,” Madison said with an admiring grin at her new fiancé.

Gabe followed Adam out into the hall again while Melanie and Nikki said goodbye to Madison. He was pretty sure they were all exchanging numbers so they could work on those plans for a double wedding, which sounded like a nightmare to him. But if it made Melanie happy, he’d put up with it.

“I hope they don’t have their hearts set on a double wedding,” Adam said. “Ain’t happening.”

Gabe chuckled. “It will if they want it to.”

“Your woman might boss you around, but mine—”

“Has a more subtle means of control.” Gabe smacked him in the center of his back, and Adam laughed, nodding slightly.

“When are you going to tell her about the band?” Gabe asked.

“After I talk to Jacob. If I can straighten this mess out, she never needs to be the wiser.”

“Do you really think that’s the best way to start a relationship with your partner for life, keeping her in the dark about everything that might upset her?”

“I don’t want her to be upset. Ever.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Guys, wait up,” Nikki called from behind them. A nurse shushed her, but that didn’t deter her from racing down the hall. Gabe stopped to allow Melanie, who was walking at a fast clip as quietly as possible, to catch up. Nikki zoomed right past him and careened into Adam, laughing when he caught her by both arms.

“Easy there,” Adam said. “I’m not exactly in top form at the moment.”

“You look great to me,” Nikki said, linking her arm through his and leaning into his side.

Gabe offered Melanie a smile and took her hand, falling in step behind the chatterbox that was her best friend and the broody musician that was one of his.

“So you’re going to fix Sole Regret, right?” Nikki asked. “Because I’ll be devastated if I have to start listening to Nickelback again.”

“I’ll do my best,” Adam said. “Once Madison is out of the hospital.”

“Are you taking her back to your place?” Nikki asked.

“That’s the plan.”

“So I’ll be in Austin for a while too. I can come help you out if you need me to.” She leaned close to his ear and whispered loud enough for Gabe to hear, “I’m sure the lovebirds will want some time alone, if you catch my drift.”

When they passed a waiting room near the elevators, Madison ran up to Adam and grabbed his sleeve.

Wait? How could Madison be there with a fully functional right arm when they’d just seen her in that hospital bed with a cast that went on for miles? Gabe exchanged a look with an equally baffled Melanie.

“Will she see me yet?” uninjured Madison asked Adam.

“You might as well go home, Kennedy. She’s not ready to forgive you yet.”

Kennedy? Gabe actually said oh aloud as he recalled Adam mentioning at one time or another that Madison had an identical twin.

Kennedy’s eyes brimmed with tears, and she pressed trembling lips together. “I’m not going home until she talks to me.”

“She’ll talk to you when she’s ready.”

“Are you leaving?” Kennedy glanced longingly down the hallway.

Adam sighed. “I guess not.” He turned to Gabe. “Thanks for stopping in.”

“I thought you were hungry,” Nikki said, squeezing Adam’s arm and gazing up at him adoringly. It wasn’t the same kind of look she gave Shade. This look was more of a hero-worship thing than a “whoops my pants fell off, what are you going to do about it” kind of look. Gabe didn’t even get bestowed with her hero-worship look. What was up with that?

“I’ll be fine,” Adam said. “I had some of Madison’s tomato soup earlier.”

“I’ll get you something,” Nikki said, and Gabe was at once reminded of the fangirls who jumped to do Adam’s bidding. And then it occurred to him that Nikki was a fangirl.

“How is she feeling?” Kennedy asked. “Is she getting enough rest? You aren’t eating all of her food, are you? She needs to keep her strength up.”

“As good as can be expected,” Adam reported. “She’s about to take a nap now. No, she’s eating plenty. She didn’t like the soup so she gave it to me.”

“You’re Madison’s sister, right?” Melanie asked.

Kennedy nodded.

“Why doesn’t she want to see you?”

Adam lifted his eyebrows at Melanie, and she lowered her gaze.

“None of my business,” she said under her breath.

“I . . . uh . . . sort of told her boss that she was dating a client,” Kennedy said, cringing.

“Hoping that Madison would dump me,” Adam said. “But it backfired, didn’t it, Kennedy?”

Kennedy scowled. “I’m sure I can help her get her job back.”

“She’ll find a new job,” Adam said. “In Austin.”

The elevator opened and several people emerged.

“Don’t bother her while I’m downstairs,” Adam said, “or I’ll call security to have you removed.”

“You wouldn’t!”

Adam’s jaw was set in a hard line and his gray eyes were as cold as arctic steel when he said, “Try me.”

He stepped onto the waiting elevator, and the rest of them scrambled in after him before the doors shut. Adam leaned against the interior wall of the elevator and rubbed both eyes with the heels of his hands.

“Madison has to forgive her eventually,” he muttered. “I don’t like having to play the bad guy and keep them apart.”

“So Kennedy got Madison fired because she dated you?” Gabe asked, having connected some dots.

“Yep,” Adam said. “I’m okay with it—one less string to tug her away from me—but it really did a number on her ego. She’s good at what she does and makes a huge difference in the lives of a lot of people who don’t know how to function without medicating. Just look what she did for me.”

Gabe had to admit that Adam was almost a fully functional human being these days.

Nikki fingered the sleeve of Adam’s leather jacket. “You know her sister is going to go check on her now that you’re going downstairs with us, don’t you?”

Adam smiled slyly and cupped the back of Nikki’s head, roughhousing with a little shake, as if she were his exasperating little sister. Nikki’s smile was breathtakingly joyful.

“Of course I know that, silly. I’ll just give Kennedy a few minutes to sneak a peek at her sister. She’ll be quiet. I know she doesn’t want Madison to get upset. She’s just worried about her.”

“So why did you bother to threaten her?” Gabe asked.

Adam pressed one hand to his chest. “Playing the bad guy, remember?”

“So that Madison doesn’t have to,” Melanie said, squeezing Gabe’s hand.

He supposed that Adam taking the brunt of the blame for the rift between the sisters was one way he showed he cared. Gabe assumed that Madison would prefer to be told the truth, but what did he know? Just because his relationship worked better based on mutual trust and honesty didn’t mean every relationship worked that way. Maybe Madison liked that Adam hid things from her. But Gabe doubted it.

When they exited the elevator, Adam said goodbye and turned toward the cafeteria.

“I’m hungry,” Nikki said to Melanie, her gaze following Adam’s retreating back. “Actually, I’m starved. Why don’t we join him? Then we won’t have to stop later.”

How could she be starved after eating her weight in waffles and syrup-covered bacon less than three hours before?

“He’s engaged, remember?” Melanie shook her head at Nikki.

“I don’t want him that way,” Nikki said. “I just like to be around him. He gets me without trying to.”

“I get you,” Melanie said.

Gabe snorted, but Nikki smiled. “Because you try so hard. That means the world to me, you know.” Nikki looped her arm through Melanie’s free one and leaned into her side, hugging her arm. “Please. I’m sure Gabe has more to say to him.”

Gabe had a shit ton of stuff to say to Adam. “I could eat,” he said.

“Outnumbered,” Melanie said with a resigned sigh. “I’m not hungry, but I could definitely go for a cup of coffee.”

Nikki squeezed her arm again and took off down the corridor after Adam. Gabe and Melanie followed at a much more sedate pace.

“You’re not really hungry are you?” Melanie asked just as Nikki caught up to Adam and nearly knocked him over by jumping on his back. Rather than look pissed—which is what Gabe expected his reaction to be to such an assault—Adam laughed, looped his arms around her long legs at his waist, and gave her a piggyback ride toward the cafeteria.

“Stuffed,” he admitted. “But I like to see her happy, and for whatever reason, Adam does that for her.”

“Do you think I try too hard to understand her?”

“Nothing wrong with that,” he said. “You’re empathetic. It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

She leaned into his side and gazed up at him with a look of adoration that made his heart flutter stupidly.

“It’s a quality we share.”

Gabe wasn’t so sure about that, but he accepted her compliment and got in the cafeteria line behind Nikki and Adam. Nikki was asking Adam about his music-writing progress and if he’d drawn any more pictures of her. Gabe was surprised by how open Adam was about himself when he talked to her. Adam had always been secretive about his personal life, but with Nikki, he held nothing back. Perhaps she got him the same way he got her. Gabe didn’t get either of them, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying their company. Especially when they were together.

“So what you need to do,” Nikki was saying to Adam as she munched on the salad she’d selected from the cafeteria cooler, “is show Jacob all the work you’ve been doing. He’ll get all excited about it and want to get the band back together.”

“It’s not that good,” Adam said, dipping a fry in ketchup, his eyes trained on his task.

“Everything you write is good,” Nikki said. “And most of what you write is excellent.”

“That’s true,” Gabe said. He took a sip of his eyeball-peelingly strong cup of coffee and pulled a layer off the stale cinnamon roll that he and Melanie were sharing.

“You haven’t seen everything I write,” Adam said.

“I saw the lyrics you wrote about you and me,” Nikki said. “One wounded beast recognizes another…”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Those lyrics could be about anyone.” He stuffed several fries into his mouth. “Or no one,” he added around his mouthful of fries.

“But that song wasn’t about just anyone. You wrote it about me. I was right there when inspiration struck. I saw it awaken in you. It was so freaking cool!”

“I’m usually inspired by dark things,” Adam said, pointing at her with a French fry. “And you, darling Nikki, are dark.”

Gabe stared at her, trying to see in her what Adam saw, but to him, Nikki was a pretty girl with gorgeous eyes and an infectious smile who seemed to live without a care. He knew better, but yeah, he didn’t see her dark side at all. She was too good at hiding her true feelings and covering them with bubbly bullshit. Apparently Adam could easily see through all her false normality. He’d always been a deep and complicated sort of guy, and though he’d nearly driven them all mad with those complications, Gabe was glad he was a part of his life. Being around Adam today reminded Gabe how much he’d lost when Jacob had walked off their tour bus outside of New Orleans.

“When we get the band back together,” Gabe said, “you could bring Madison on tour with us while she recovers.”

Adam paused with his dry-looking poor excuse for a cheeseburger halfway to his mouth. “Do you honestly think this is going to work out?”

Gabe’s heart skipped a beat. He had not only thought it but believed it. But if Adam didn’t think it was possible, then how could the rest of the band rely on him to set things straight with Jacob? Hell, when had they ever been able to rely on Adam for anything?

“What are you going to do with the rest of your life, if it doesn’t?” Gabe asked, his pulse thrumming hard in his ears. He still didn’t have a plan B, which frankly freaked him the fuck out whenever that fact came to mind.

Adam shrugged. “Wing it.” He bit into his cheeseburger.

“It’s the only way to live as far as I’m concerned,” Nikki said, a bright smile on her face.

Melanie stiffened slightly and reached for Gabe’s hand. Well, at least one person at the table understood Gabe’s terror. Wing it? Was Adam fucking kidding him?

“You are going to try to talk to Jacob, aren’t you? Me, Owen, Kellen, we’re all counting on you.”

Now it was Adam’s turn to stiffen. He dropped his burger and pushed his tray away. “You should know better than to do that,” he said quietly. He stood. “I have to check on Madison.” And without so much as a goodbye, he stalked off.

“He’s not going to fix this,” Melanie said when Adam was out of earshot. “It’s as if he doesn’t give a shit about how this affects the rest of you.”

“He’s always like that,” Gabe said, tossing the remains of their demolished cinnamon roll onto Adam’s abandoned tray. “If responsibility so much glances in his direction, he takes off.”

Nikki rose from the table to discard their trash. Her face was flushed, but Gabe couldn’t read her. He didn’t get her, and he sure as fuck didn’t get Adam Taylor. Gabe might as well call Owen and Kellen and tell them both to find a new life, because the old one’s champion refused to even suit up for the battle.