Текст книги "Unsung"

Автор книги: Shannon Richard

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

Well, two out of three accurate observations wasn’t too bad for Delilah. Her mother sure was in for a surprise.

Chapter Seven You’re Gone and I Can’t Move On

The sun was sitting low in the sky, a smear of bright yellow surrounded by a pinkish orange. The orange turned to a magenta, then transitioned into a purple and finally ended in a deep blue. There was an area where the purple met the blue that was the exact same shade of violet as Harper’s eyes.

Damn. Liam was so beyond screwed.

It had been almost six weeks since she’d walked out—since he’d woken up without her—and he still couldn’t stop thinking about her.

It was ridiculous.

There was no way for him to find her, either; she hadn’t given him anything in the way of that information.

Nothing personal.

Well, he’d thought that rule had been bullshit from the very start. Everything about the time they’d spent together had been personal, both in and out of bed. Every word spoken. Every time she’d laughed in his ear. Every single touch. Every single everything.

Yet, she’d left anyway.

She’d just used him to forget. Used being the key word. And part of him felt like the biggest hypocrite in the world for being so pissed about it, because he’d done it before. He’d spent the night with someone with no intention of it being anything more than sex. But that hadn’t been the case with Harper, and that’s why this whole situation just didn’t feel right.

Why he didn’t feel right.

He’d said it before, she’d been more than a one-night stand, or as it turned out a two-night stand. Because there’d definitely been more between them than the sex. He knew it. Knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. But there was absolutely nothing he could do about it now.

She was gone.

Maybe if he told himself that enough he’d start to believe it. Start to move on. Because he wasn’t any closer to moving on now than he was six weeks ago.

And there’d been plenty of opportunity. There was always plenty of opportunity. But he wasn’t interested in any of the women he’d been around. Wasn’t interested in going to bed with someone else to fill the void.

It wouldn’t be fair to the other person…because all he’d be thinking about was Harper. And in the end, he’d just make the void bigger. He couldn’t pretend. Couldn’t act like that weekend was just a passing thing. Couldn’t act like Harper was just another girl.

Because she wasn’t.

Which was probably why Liam was more than a little upset with his manager’s newest PR plan. Liam was pretty sure his frustration was permeating through his pores at this point. Gary Kirkland was a man all about opportunity, and obnoxiously persistent when he needed to be. He firmly believed that a “relationship”—real or not—with a very popular starlet was the best thing for Liam’s career at the moment.

Kiera “Kiki” Jean Carlow was one of the lead actresses on Mason-Dixon. The show was about two families from small towns on opposite sides of the line, one in West Virginia and the other in Pennsylvania. It had a Romeo/Juliet thing going on with a feud dating as far back as the Civil War.

Kiki played the villain, the girl trying to steal the hero away from the heroine, and everyone loved to hate her.

Even though the show was supposed to take place on the actual Mason-Dixon Line, they filmed in a city right outside of Nashville. So Kiki was never too far away. The girl was a good actress. He’d give her that without argument. But her sweet-as-pie persona when the cameras were off was the real act. She was much more like the villain she played on the show. Conniving and manipulative.

Everything was a game to her, and she liked to play as many people as she could.

He’d witnessed it in full force, too. He wouldn’t exactly call the time he’d spent with her dates so much as forced proximity. It hadn’t taken him very long to realize he didn’t want his name—or anything else for that matter—anywhere near hers. He’d known that months ago…and he most definitely knew it now after Harper.

Not that it mattered, because again, she was gone.

Liam stretched his legs out, his boots sliding across the wooden floorboards of his brother’s back porch as he slowly rocked in his chair. The humidity in the air was in that transitioning stage of unbearable to mostly tolerable, and the breeze coming off the Intracoastal Waterway that ran behind the house wasn’t too shabby, either.

Or maybe the supposed cooling in the air had more to do with the fact that he was on his third beer of the evening. The bottle was sweating in his hand, trying its damnedest to stay cold. But no matter, it would be finished in another couple of minutes.

Liam had been in Jacksonville, Florida, for the last two weeks, going to the final games of the Stanley Cup playoffs where he got to witness the Stampede’s—and his brother’s—victory firsthand. Now he was sticking around for the big celebration that was the following evening.

Might as well, it wasn’t like he had any place else to be before the next leg of the Isaac Hunter tour started the following week. So he was getting in some time with his siblings and parents who’d also come into town for the festivities.

They’d all had dinner that night, a meal prepared by his mother Edie, sister Adele, and Logan’s new—and very serious—girlfriend Abby. The three women were now sitting at the dining room table chatting as Liam, Logan, and their father Dustin sat outside.

Logan and their father were carrying on a conversation while for the most part Liam sat there in silence. Brooding, as he was prone to do of late. But he supposed that was to be expected when he was comparing a woman’s eyes to the sunset.

Fucking sap.

He needed to shake this off. Needed to pull his head out of his ass and move on. Sure his time on this side of things was few and far between as he was normally the one doing the leaving. But he’d gotten over stuff like this before, and he’d damn well do it again.

Right?

It was a little before eleven when his parents headed upstairs to go to sleep, and it was just Logan and Liam sitting out on the porch, fresh bottles of beer in both of their hands.

Maybe more beer wasn’t the answer at the moment…he tended to do stupid things when he was drinking, like hit on gorgeous girls at bars. An image of Harper filled his brain and he was tipping his bottle back immediately. Maybe if he drank enough he could kill the memory cells of her.

Or probably not as she was permanently branded into his brain.

“So, you going to tell me what’s eating at you, or would you prefer to suffer in silence?” Logan asked after about five minutes of nothing but the cicadas talking to each other.

Liam stopped rocking and turned to look at his brother. Most of Logan’s face was in shadow as the only light was coming from the dining room behind them—where Adele and Abby were still talking as they finished a bottle of wine. But shadow or not, Liam had no doubt as to the expression of concern on his brother’s face.

Logan was three years older than Liam, and as they’d shared a bedroom for fifteen years growing up, it was safe to say that they knew each other pretty well. And distance or time apart hadn’t changed that.

Not only were they brothers, but they were best friends.

And if anyone looked at them side by side, there was no doubt that the men were related. They’d both inherited their father’s strong jaw, though Logan’s and Liam’s were just slightly dusted with scruff whereas their father sported a clean shave. Then there was their green-gold eyes that were the perfect mix of their mother’s golden brown and their father’s sage green. The really big difference was their hair, Logan’s shorter and the lighter brown of their father’s, while Liam’s was an inch-ish longer and the dark brown of their mother’s.

“It’s up to you and I’m not going to bust your balls either way. But if you think this,” Logan waved a hand in the air at Liam, “whatever it is that you’ve got going on has escaped anyone’s notice in our family…well, you my friend are pretty fucking delusional.” He finished before he brought his beer to his mouth and tipped back the bottle.

Liam took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh, turning back to the water as he took a drink of his own beer. He wasn’t sure how long they sat there in silence, probably long enough for Logan to give up on Liam answering.

The thing was, if there was anyone to talk to about this, it was Logan. He and Abby were a pretty recent thing, and it was nice to finally see Logan happy after all these years, because he’d been through some dark times. Eight years ago, Logan’s daughter Madison had died of leukemia. It had happened right after her fifth birthday.

That was the darkest moment of Liam’s life, too, and he missed his niece every day.

Madison’s mother hadn’t really been around before, during, or after. She’d walked out on her daughter, and Logan had been pretty careful with his relationships since. Well, that was the case until Abby.

Liam had never seen his brother in love before.

“I met someone,” Liam finally said into the darkness.

“No shit.”

“Did you know immediately when you met Abby?”

“Know what? That she was it for me?” Logan asked.

“Yeah.”

Logan was quiet for a second before he cleared his throat and spoke. “When I first met her I knew two things: that she was a pain in the ass, and that she was a hot pain in the ass.”

“Well, never let it be said that you aren’t romantic.”

Logan laughed. “But to be completely honest with you, it’s sometimes hard to see something you aren’t looking for.”

“So when did you see it?”

“That first night we spent together. But it still took me a while to figure it out after that. I’m guessing that wasn’t the case for you?”

“No.” Liam reached up and scratched his jaw, the sound of his nails on his beard rasping in his ears. “I figured it out immediately.”

“Damn, seriously? You fell in love? No wonder you’re a mess.”

A humorless laugh escaped Liam’s lips. “Understatement.”

“Who is she?”

“Someone who doesn’t feel the same way.” He took another mouthful of his beer before he started from the beginning of the story. About halfway through Logan went inside to grab more beer. He came back with a full six-pack of bottles that they started in on as Liam finished the whole long, sorted tale.

“So then I woke up the next morning and she was gone.” He was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he looked out into the dark backyard.

“And there’s no way for you to find her?”

“Nope, the only thing I know is that her name is Harper and she isn’t from Nashville…oh, and she has an aunt who works at a hospital there.”

“She made it pretty much impossible for you to find her. And she doesn’t know who you are?”

“No. She never said her last name, so I never told her mine.”

“So there’s no way for her to find you, either?”

“No, there is. She has my phone number. Knows the address to the cabin. She could find me if she wanted to. She just doesn’t want to. Which is why I should let this go but…” he dipped his head and stared down into the empty bottle in his hands.

“But you can’t.” Logan finished for him.

Liam lifted his head and looked over at his brother. “Which is something I can’t wrap my mind around because it’s been over a month. That’s always been plenty of time for me to bounce back…even with relationships that lasted years. Yet this woman, who I was around for thirty plus hours—some of that sleeping—I can’t bounce. So tell me what that’s about, because I’d really like to know,” he said, unable to keep his voice even.

“Shit, that makes two of us.”

“You want to hear the most pathetic part?” And this was where the anger he’d been feeling for the last six weeks started to boil over.

“Always.”

“Get me another beer and I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you what a complete and total jackass I’ve become.” What number beer was he on now? Nine or ten? He had no idea except for the fact that his buzz was making the transition to drunk.

Logan opened another bottle, passing it to Liam before he grabbed one for himself. “Okay, hit me with it.”

“I wrote a song about her for the new album.”

“Really?”

“Yup. The label wanted something more from me. Something that was different than anything I’d given them before. I showed them the song and they loved it. It’s the first one they want to release.”

“You’ve been playing it at shows?”

“Yup.”

“And how’s that going for you?”

“Reliving it over and over and over again? It’s fucking fantastic.” He took another mouthful of beer, trying to wash down the bitterness.

Didn’t help.

Singing that song made him feel like the world’s biggest schmuck. “Who knows? Maybe it will get to the point where it’s cathartic or something.”

“Or something,” Logan said with as little conviction as Liam felt. “You think she’ll know it’s about her when she hears it?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I think it’s blatantly obvious that it’s about her, but then again I thought it was blatantly obvious that there was something between the two of us. I was wrong on one account, wouldn’t be too shocking if I was on the other.”

“Okay, so let’s just say she hears it, and does figure it out, and for whatever reason finds you. What would you do if you saw her again?”

Liam had actually thought about this a lot. What would he do if he saw Harper again? What would he say?

“No idea.” He shook his head as he leaned back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling and the spinning fan above them. “Maybe walk away like she did.”

“You really think so?” Logan asked. “I mean you’re pissed, this is evident, but you’re also in love with her. Love makes a man do stupid things.”

“You talking from experience?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well, I think I’ve already proven the stupid part in regards to her.”

“Yeah, and maybe you aren’t the only one. Could it be possible she felt the same way and ran scared? You did say she’d just recently gotten out of a serious relationship.”

“Possibly.” Liam closed his eyes, the spinning of the fan not making his head feel any clearer. “Doesn’t matter now. The only thing to do is move on.” He waved his hand blindly in the air. But his words came out hollow, no conviction. Because at the end of the day—infuriated with her or not—it didn’t feel done. He wanted to tell himself that was the alcohol thinking for him.

It wasn’t.

“I don’t believe that.” And apparently neither did his brother. “If you really thought it was done, you wouldn’t be this angry about it.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Oh no, of this I know. There are few women in the world that can inspire that much passion in a man. And I’ve never seen you like this before.”

Liam pulled his head from the back of the chair and opened his eyes. “Because nothing like this has ever happened to me before.” And as he stared out into the darkness he had a pretty good idea it never would again.

So really, anyway he looked at it he was fucked.

Royally.

*  *  *

Liam adjusted his tie for about the fortieth time that night as he scanned the packed ballroom of the Brogan-Meyers Hotel. What he was looking for? He had no idea.

The hundred or so tables filling more than half the room were covered with black tablecloths and gray roses. Fitting as black and gray were the Stampede’s colors. A deep male voice crooned through the speakers that surrounded the space, giving the people on the dance floor an excuse to pull their partners close. Waiters with trays of alcohol and the tiniest food he’d ever seen circled around the room.

“Stop doing that.” Adele swatted at Liam’s hand. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man fidget as much as you.”

Well what did she expect? He was not a suit kind of guy, and the long gray noose around his neck was beginning to get to him. But his sister had been insistent on the tie, saying he’d stick out like a sore thumb without one. His only consolation was that she’d let him wear his cowboy boots.

And yes, he did mean let him.

But really, arguing with her was pointless. One, she always won. And two, when it came to fashion, she was always right.

The girl had the unmistakable talent to capture any time period with a skilled perfection, and she tended to bounce around eras when it came to her own style as well. Tonight she had on a black and gold lace dress that he suspected was from somewhere around the fifties, though he wasn’t sure if she bought it or made it. Either was a possibility.

At the age of twenty-five, Adele was the head costume designer on one of the most popular shows on television. Ponce was the Florida version of Downton Abbey, taking place at the Ponce de Leon Hotel in St. Augustine during the early nineteen hundreds. It was full of more drama than anything he’d ever watched before, and yes, he did watch it.

What? It was his sister’s show. Plus, he wanted to know if Beauregard was going to end up with Abigail or Rosamund. His money was on Rosamund.

“Champagne?” A waitress stopped in front of them offering a tray of glasses.

“Please.” Adele smiled as she reached up to grab one. Liam’s eyes focused on the tattoo on her right wrist of a threaded needle and a stitched heart. Much to their mother’s dismay, he wasn’t the only James with an ink addiction.

“I’m good, but thank you.” Liam held up his glass of bourbon before he took a sip. The waitress moved on to the people next to them and he found himself scanning the room again.

“What are you looking for? An escape route?”

He turned back to his sister and shook his head. “No. Just looking around.”

“Mmm, hmm.” Her eyes narrowed and he suddenly found himself under the type of scrutiny that would make lesser men cower. Adele had taken more after their mother’s Spanish side of the family than their father’s Irish side. Her sharp golden brown eyes missed next to nothing, and baby of the family or not, she had the ability to make him squirm. “What’s going on with you anyway?”

“What makes you think something is going on with me?”

“Because I’m not stupid. And you and Logan sat out on the porch last night getting drunk.”

“We do that all the time. Besides you and Abby sat inside getting drunk. What’s going on with you?”

“Nice subject change.” She frowned at him before she reached up and pushed a dark brown curl behind her ear. Her hair was naturally straight, but she’d done something ridiculously complicated with it tonight. Some kind of fancy, curled and pinned just right, up-do thing that no doubt matched the era of her dress. And she pulled it off elegantly even with the tiny diamond sticking out of her nose and the streaks of bright red in her hair.

“I like to think so.”

“You’re a pain in the ass you know that?” Her frown deepened. “And I’m not going to be distracted, so what’s going on with you?”

“How do you know that it wasn’t Logan needing a drunken conversation? Something could be up with him.”

“How do I know nothing is up with our brother? Because he looks like that the majority of the time now,” she said as she pointed across the room, and Liam’s gaze followed automatically.

Logan was standing behind Abby, one of his hands on her hip as he bent his head low to whisper in her ear. He was about a foot taller than her, but she made a little bit of an effort to close the gap with her heels. She was stunning in her red dress, and there was no doubt she’d worn it in an effort to tempt Logan as he had a thing about seeing her in the color. He had nicknamed her Red after all, though that had more to do with her hair than anything else.

Abby turned to face Logan, both of his hands now gripping her waist as she ran her palms up the lapel of his tux. Whatever she said to him had him grinning down at her like a fool.

“Logan is so beyond happy that it’s ridiculous,” Adele continued, and Liam turned back to face her. “Not only because he’s in love, but because his team just won the Stanley Cup. Yet you,” she poked him in the shoulder, “spend a few hours outside on the porch with him getting drunk and he comes inside looking somber. So yes, I know it’s you. Who is she?”

“How the hell?” He looked at her, shaking his head.

“I really wish you and Logan would give me more credit and stop trying to hide things from me.”

Yeah, maybe that was his own fault. Underestimating Adele was never smart.

“Her name is Harper. I met her a few weeks ago in Nashville.”

“Groupie?” she asked, narrowing her eyes in that intimidation stare he was so used to.

Again, Adele might be the baby of the family but she was just as protective of Logan and Liam as they were of her. She in no way approved of the hangers on, using her brothers because they were somewhat famous. Though, Logan had a lot more stardom than Liam did, and the rink bunnies were more prolific than the music groupies.

“No, not a groupie.” Liam shook his head.

Adele opened her mouth to ask something else but was interrupted as they were joined by Logan, Abby, and two teenage boys.

Apparently the rest of this conversation was going to have to wait.

“I wanted to introduce you guys to Dale Rigels,” Logan said, patting the back of the shorter, and slightly thinner of the two. “And Hamilton O’Bryan.” He then patted the back of the taller boy with thick black-framed glasses and a goofy grin.

The names immediately registered in Liam’s brain, and he forced himself to switch gears from the conversation he’d just been having with his sister to focusing on the two boys.

Last February, Logan had gone to visit a kid in remission. It was something Abby had set up when she’d still worked for the Stampede PR department. Abby’s best friend lived in the same small Florida town as the two boys, and they were all family friends.

Logan was never one to jump in the spotlight. He liked his private life private and wasn’t about being exploited, or exploiting anyone else for that matter. He firmly believed that just because he was semi-famous didn’t give anyone the right to know about his personal business. It was one of the reasons he and Abby had butted heads so hard in the beginning. He’d been pretty unwilling to work with her.

But when she came to Logan and asked him to visit Dale, he’d said yes without hesitation. If there was one thing that he couldn’t say no to, it was a kid in need. And he hadn’t stopped with that one visit, either. He’d developed a relationship with Dale and Dale’s best friend Hamilton. Keeping up with Dale’s treatments, knowing that the kid was in remission, inviting him to Stampede events, and even paying for the kid’s medical bills.

That was just the type of guy Logan was, biggest heart on the planet.

“It’s great to finally meet you,” Liam said, shaking both boys’ hands in turn. Adele did the same, smiling warmly at both of them, clearly knowing exactly who they were as well.

“You know who we are?” Hamilton asked in awe.

“Yeah, Logan talks about you both all the time.”

“But you’re…you’re Liam James.”

“Hamilton here is a bit of a fan,” Logan explained.

“Are you kidding? What you can do with an electric guitar is ridiculous. That part in the chorus of ‘My Kinda Summer’ is genius.”

“Genius?” Adele raised her eyebrows. “I believe that’s a first.”

“Thanks.” Liam shook his head at his sister. “You play?” he asked, returning his focus to Hamilton.

“Guitar? A little. I’m not that great.”

“Don’t let him fool you,” Dale said. “He plays about ten different instruments.”

“Really? Which one is your strongest?”

“The piano.”

“Nice.” Liam nodded. “Well, next time we’re in the same area be sure to have your guitar. We can play together.”

“You’re serious?”

“Absolutely.”

At that moment another guy joined the group. He had about an inch in height on Liam, and his arms were massive and looked to be testing the jacket of his navy blue suit. The short dark blond hair on the top of his head matched the length of the beard on his face.

Abby stepped in, making quick introductions. “This is Bennett Hart, Hamilton’s brother-in-law. And, Bennett, these are Logan’s siblings, Adele and Liam James.”

“Nice to meet you.” Bennett shook Adele’s hand first before he turned to Liam. “Liam James, the singer? I didn’t realize the family connection.”

“That’s because I only claim him every once in a while,” Logan said before he took a sip of the same bourbon that Liam was drinking. They both were whiskey drinkers.

“You know I don’t know what I ever did to the two of you.” Liam shook his head.

“You want a list?” This coming from their mother, who was hand in hand with their father as they joined the group. “Because I can give you one in alphabetical order.”

“Oh great. This is going to be fun. I think I’m going to need another drink before the roast begins.”

“Hmmm.” Adele narrowed her eyes. “With the stuff we’ve got on you, you might need two.”

“Don’t worry.” Logan clapped Liam on the back. “We won’t embarrass you in front of everyone. By the way, Mom, Dad, let me introduce you to Dale, Hamilton, and Bennett.”

Dustin and Edie chatted with the three men, both of them knowing the story behind Dale just as much as Liam and Adele.

“So is it just the three of you that were able to make it to tonight’s event?”

“No,” Bennett answered. “My wife and our friend are here. But they seem to have disappeared.”

“We didn’t disappear,” a blond with curly hair bouncing around her shoulders said as she joined the group, leading a woman who followed behind her. “I was just getting a drink for Harper and me.”

He knew it was her before her name even hit his ears.

Harper’s gaze was caught by something on the other side of the room as she joined the group, her head turned away on that slender neck of hers. A neck that was exposed.

He spotted the cluster of freckles that were under her left ear. Freckles he’d kissed more than once. Freckles he’d know anywhere.

Harper was here.

He’d found her.