Just One Spark (The Kingston Family 4)

Dash felt the itch in his throat and couldn’t decide if he was coming down with something. Something besides a stupid case of self-pity.

He checked his phone. Still no word from Cassidy.

“Let’s go again,” Jagger said, pacing the studio.

Easier said than done when all you had to do was strum a couple of strings.

“Fine.” Dash chugged warm honey and water to ease his scorched vocal cords after a full day of recording.

Of course this had to be the song with the crazy-ass fast lyrics. As he sang them, he mentally patted himself on the back, right before his voice cracked in the middle of a long note.

“That’s enough.” Mac said, laying down his bass. “We aren’t going to get this today.”

Dash heard the judgment in his tone and knew he deserved it. “My throat’s raw, man. I’ll record the track separately. It’ll be EQ’d that way anyway,” he said, thinking about how their producer liked to work.

“I agree. Let’s end this for today.” Axel shoved his sticks in his back pocket and strode over to Dash. “You. Outside. We need to talk.”

Dash frowned and followed his bandmate into the fresh air. He was still working on his friendship with the man because things were so new, but he had no complaints with how he fit in with the band.

They ended up outside by the now covered pool, breathing in the cooler fall air. “What the fuck?” Axel asked. “Yesterday you were on fire. Today you can’t crap a lyric.”

Dash ran a hand through his hair. “I’m preoccupied,” he muttered.

“No shit.”

He kicked a stone and it bounced across the patio.

“I don’t like sticking my nose in anyone else’s business, but I have to ask. How do you feel about my sister?” Axel asked.

Dash jerked his head up and he met the man’s gaze. No point in denying the truth. “I love her.”

Axel blinked and it wasn’t from the glare of the sun. “So why the hell did you let her go?”

Dash had no answer that would satisfy either of them emotionally, but he did have the truth. “I didn’t want her to give up such a big opportunity without seeing what it entailed. I didn’t want to hold her back, and I sure as hell didn’t want her to have any regrets if she stayed because I told her how I feel.”

Axel shook his head and groaned. “Seriously? I didn’t like this relationship in the beginning, but even I can see you two are good for each other.”

Dash considered that the ultimate compliment.

He glanced up at the clouds dotting the blue sky. “Like I told you the night after the VMAs. Cassidy isn’t the type to deal with her pain. She shuts down instead. Case in point, our parents died when we were young, but when our grandma who raised us passed, Cassidy was sixteen. She didn’t fall apart. Instead she fortified her walls, continued to go to school, maintained her grades, but kept her friends at a distance. Second time? Her ex broke up with her over text, it was barely a blip on her radar. I told you all this.”

Axel studied him before continuing. “You don’t get it, do you?” He shook his head, clearly as frustrated as Dash himself.

“Just explain it to me, okay?”

“Fine. She came to you, told you about the job offer, and gave you every opportunity to ask her to stay. To tell her how you felt about her. And what did you do? You told her to go clear across the country and hear out the offer. To go chase her dreams. Good fucking going, man.”

“Of course I did! She deserves everything!”

“But she wants you – not that I have a fucking clue why at this point—and you didn’t tell her you felt the same way. Jesus. She’d just found out on Instagram that her ex got engaged, and she assumed he’d been with the woman prior to breaking up with her. You letting her go was the last straw.” Axel had begun a steady pacing, his hands curled into fists.

“Whoa. What?”

Axel spun around to face him. “Pretty sure you heard me.”

Yeah, Dash had. “She didn’t tell me.” He paused, then asked, “When did she find out?”

Axel clenched his jaw before speaking. “Earlier in the day. While you were on live television.”

And that explained why she’d pulled back after his interview. Fuck. Dash pulled at his hair in frustration. “I didn’t know.”

“Well, now you do,” Axel muttered.

“Did she leave today?”

The other man shrugged. “No idea. I spoke to her yesterday. She was going to be checking into flights. She said they needed to see her out there soon.” He eyed Dash warily. “I have one more thing to say.”

“Might as well go for it.” He’d been beaten over the head so hard he couldn’t feel it anymore.