“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.