Tease Me (One Night with Sole Regret 7)

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Adam said. But at what cost? Did an artist really have to suffer for his work? Or did Adam just have to suffer for his?

“Any guitar music yet? I’m ready to harmonize,” Jacob said, reaching for the sketch pad.

“And I’m ready to bang out a new tempo,” Gabe said.

“And I’m ready to bang,” Owen said with a wide grin. “Where’s Caitlyn when I

need her?”

Adam shook his head, but was grinning a mile wide on the inside at their enthusiasm. He’d forgotten how much fun it was to create. “No guitar pieces yet. I just started on lyrics.”

Jacob flipped the page to the previous verses and dropped the sketch pad. “What in the hell did you do to Nikki?”

“Isn’t that awesome?” Gabe said. “That’s the sketch I was talking about. It would make a fantastic album cover.”

“It’s sick,” Jacob said. “How could you draw a living person all torn apart like that?”

“She is all torn apart like that,” Adam said, pulling the sketch pad toward himself. “You’re just too blind to see it.”

Adam flipped to a new page and wrote Torn Apart

They don’t see what I see when I look at you

A perfect outer shell that hides so many secrets

Scars so deep and

“What do you mean she’s all torn apart like that?” Jacob yelled, startling Adam into looking up from his work.

Gabe rested a placating hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “He doesn’t mean literally. She’s fine. Well, not any worse than she was the last time you saw her.”

“Don’t freak me out like that,” Jacob said. “I don’t need the nightmares. My life is enough of one already.”

Adam flipped the page and wrote My Life, I don’t need the nightmares. My life is enough of one already.

“Are you turning my comments into lyrics?” Jacob asked.

“No one is safe,” Owen said and laughed.

Adam flipped the page and wrote No One Is Safe, dark things reside deep in my thoughts. My greatest concern is if I’ll get caught

Owen fisted a hand in Adam’s T-shirt.

“Hey, stop that,” Owen demanded.

Adam turned to another blank page.

Hey, stop that, he wrote, just to tease Owen.

Gabe chuckled. “I think we’ve created a monster.”

The monster I created ended up scrawled on the next page. That idea had a bit more merit.

“Pencil dick the love machine,” Owen said.

Adam glanced up at him, an eyebrow lifted in question.

Owen laughed and patted Adam’s shoulder a bit too forcefully. “Just seeing if you’re paying attention or just writing down everything we say.”

Pay Attention Adam wrote on another blank page.

I know a guy named Owen

A civilian who wears dog tags

And they call him pencil dick the love machine

“Pencil dick the loooove machine,” Jacob sang in his best impression of Barry White on a porn movie soundtrack. He even gyrated his hips for effect.

“That will be the first single off the new album for sure,” Gabe said.

Adam laughed when Owen launched himself on Gabe’s back and locked him in a choke hold.

“I wouldn’t mess with him,” Jacob said. “He’s used to getting his ass kicked by professional MMA fighters.”

“Semiprofessional . . . UFC . . . fighter,” Gabe said breathlessly, landing a fierce blow to Owen’s ribs with his elbow.

“Oh, my bad,” Owen said, wincing, but not releasing his hold. “I thought he got his ass kicked by the Pillsbury Doughboy.”

“You mean that was you?” Gabe taunted.

Owen squeezed harder. “Some of us have to work at perfection, chicken legs.”

Jacob laughed. “You two really need to work on your insults.”

“Gabe?” a soft voice said from the open bedroom door.

Adam’s smile faded when he saw the look on Melanie’s face. He knew that look. That was how he’d felt when Madison had closed the hotel door behind her as she’d left him.

Owen released his choke hold and slid down Gabe’s back.

“What’s wrong?” Gabe asked, moving to stand before her. He took her upper arms in his hands and stared down into her tear-streaked face.

“I have to leave,” she said.

“What? I thought you were going to go on the road with us.”

“She is?” Jacob said, but he was ignored.

“I want to, but Nikki, she . . .”

“Melanie, you can’t let her rule your life.”

“If I leave her alone, I’m afraid she’ll try to kill herself again.”

“Again?” Gabe questioned.

Nodding, Melanie tucked her hair behind her ears. Her hands were shaking so bad, Adam could see the movement from ten feet away.

“She’s in a fragile state right now.”

“Which is why she should be admitted,” Gabe said. “You aren’t a psychiatrist, Mel. She needs professional help.”

“Don’t you think I know that!” Melanie snapped.

Gabe jerked as if she’d slapped him.

“I’m sorry,” she said and caressed his cheek. “I didn’t mean to yell. And I’m not leaving forever, just until she’s stable. She needs me.”

“I need you too,” Gabe said.

Adam turned his attention to his sketch pad, drawing a lionfish on the corner of the page.

“So,” Owen said loudly, “how about them Cowboys? Think they have a shot at the Super Bowl this year?”

“How should I know?” Jacob said, apparently oblivious to the reason Owen was trying to change the subject. “The season hasn’t even started yet.”

“I’m not breaking up with you,” Melanie said clearly, as if she and Gabe did not have a small yet uncomfortable audience. “I just need to do this. Okay? Please don’t make it harder than it already is.”

“I feel like Nikki will always come first,” Gabe said.

“Lucky girl,” Owen chided.

“Shut. Up. Owen,” Gabe said, giving the quipster a glacial look over his shoulder.

Owen covered his lips with one finger and pressed them into his teeth.