“She doesn’t always come first, Gabe. She’s going through a really rough time right now. What kind of friend would I be if I turned my back on her? I’m sorry, but I just can’t do it.”
“You should stay,” Nikki said as she ventured out of the bedroom wearing one of the band’s discarded T-shirts. Melanie’s face was streaked with tears, but Nikki’s was downright flooded. “I can go home by myself.”
Adam offered Nikki an encouraging smile, but she was too focused on Melanie to see it.
Gabe looked Nikki over from head to foot, his gaze pausing at her throat and cheek where colorful bruises marred her flesh. He sighed and turned his attention back to Melanie.
“When will I see you again?” Gabe asked her.
“Soon,” she said. “I promise.”
“If I wasn’t on tour, I’d follow you home and help you with this.”
“I know that,” she said, kissing his lips softly. “It’s one of the thousands of things about you that makes it so hard for me to leave.”
But she did leave. Packed up herself and her friend and headed back to Kansas.
Adam continued to toy with his new lyrics at the dining table until Gabe sank into the bench across from him after sending the two women off in a cab.
Gabe linked his hands on the table in front of him. “Why is it that we have willing women coming out of our ears, yet it’s so hard to convince the ones we actually want to stick around?”
Adam stiffened. Did he know that Madison had left him? Adam hadn’t mentioned it to anyone. It sure seemed as if Gabe were trying to commiserate, which meant he knew they had something to commiserate about. And maybe that was okay. Despite having people around him all day, he’d never felt more alone.
Adam shook his head. “No idea, but if you figure it out, be sure to let me know.”
Gabe’s eyes lifted and he met his gaze. “You too?”
Adam nodded curtly.
“What happened?”
He didn’t really want to talk about it, so he left out all the details. “She said she needs time to think things over. So she left.”
“Well, at least she doesn’t have a ball and chain for a best friend.”
“Don’t be too hard on Nikki,” Adam said. “She’s been through a lot. And not just this weekend. Her entire life.”
Gabe scrubbed his face with both hands and dropped forward to bang his forehead on the table. “I know. That’s why I feel like such an incredible ass for even thinking she should just. Go. Away.”
“She’s gone now,” Adam pointed out.
Gabe chuckled and lifted his head from the table. “That’s true, but unfortunately she took Mel with her.”
“She’ll be back,” Adam said, reaching across the table to slap Gabe in the upper arm. He wasn’t used to comforting people. It felt kind of weird, but he had to admit there was something appealing about it too. It made him feel good about himself, which was even weirder.
“I’m sure Madison will be back too,” Gabe said.
Adam wasn’t—wouldn’t she have at least texted him if she had any desire to ever see him again—but he nodded. “I hope you’re right.”
Adam went through the motions of preparing for the show, but his heart wasn’t in it. The stupid, aching organ was fixated on someone over 500 miles away in Dallas. His muse got off on his misery, however. He’d filled several more pages with lyrics between sound check and the call for places. And as soon as his guitar was in his hands backstage, he began fiddling with new riffs.
“Nice,” Owen said, mimicking Adam’s string of notes on his bass.
“Yeah, I like that,” Kellen said. He had completely missed sound check, but had arrived backstage moments ago.
“I assume your writer’s block is gone,” Kellen said with a bemused smile.
“Yep,” Adam said and left it at that. He wasn’t prepared to share the reasons why. He was trying very fucking hard to keep his mind off the cause of his sudden bout of inspiration. Or maybe it was his focused attempts to keep his thoughts from wandering that made him concentrate on writing lyrics and now, guitar riffs.
“Well, keep it up,” Kellen said, giving Adam’s back a hard smack. “Sounds great.”
The cellphone in Adam’s front pocket vibrated against his thigh. His heart skipped a beat. Please be Madison, he thought as he fished the phone from his jeans. His heart thudded faster as he recognized her name displayed across the screen. He accepted the call with a trembling finger and drew the phone to his ear.
“Madison?” he said breathlessly. “I’m so glad you called. I thought—”
“This isn’t Madison,” said someone who sounded a hell of a lot like Madison.
“What?”
“This is her sister, Kennedy. Look, Adam, I don’t like you. Well, I don’t really know you, but I don’t like who my sister has become since she started dating you. She’s changed and not for the better.”
“Why are you calling me?” He could only think that Madison had been too chicken to tear him to shreds and had asked her sister to do it. And could she have picked a worse time? He had to be on the stage in a few minutes. Madison knew that.
“There’s been an accident.”
Something kicked him in the gut and knocked the wind from him. “What?”
“Madison was thrown from her horse. She hit her head and is completely incoherent, except she keeps calling your name. I decided to leave my personal feelings concerning your unhealthy relationship aside and ask you to come to the hospital. Maybe you can reach her. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
A strange feeling of calm settled over him. He could be there for Madison. He would be there for her. As far as he was concerned, nothing could stop him. Not even her. He lifted his guitar strap over his head, set the instrument on a stand, and headed for the exit. “Where is she?” he asked her sister.
“Baylor Medical Center.”
“I’m on my way,” he said.
Chapter Seventeen
“Adam?” Madison whispered for the thousandth time that night, but this time he actually answered.
“I’m here.” A strong hand squeezed her fingers.
She pried her eyes open, her thoughts hazy from all the pain medication they were pumping into her vein through an IV. Or maybe it was the concussion. At least she knew what a concussion was now. She’d never been more terrified than when they’d been trying to explain her injuries to her and none of the words made any sense. Nothing had made any sense. Nothing except for Adam. Her feelings for him had been the only thing she’d been sure of since Ginger had tossed her. Maybe even before that rather painful moment.
“Is it really you?” she asked. Maybe she was hallucinating again. She was sure she’d seen her grandmother earlier, standing by her bed, but that was ridiculous. Nana had been dead for years.
“It’s me,” Adam said, leaning over her and stroking her hair from her face so he could drop a tender kiss on her forehead. “I got here as fast as I could.”
“What time is it?” Through the window, she could see it was dark outside, but she had no idea how many hours had passed since she’d been brought out of surgery. She tried to pull her body upright to search for a clock, but due to the weight of the huge cast on her arm and the traction device holding the pins in her shoulder in place, she couldn’t manage more than the tightening of her abs.
“Around five, I think,” he said.
“In the morning?” She searched his face, noting the lines of fatigue around his eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Did I lose an entire day?”
He shook his head. “No, I drove all night.” He glanced over his shoulder at the open door. “I’m not sure how long I can stay. They didn’t want me in here disturbing your rest, but after driving all night, I wasn’t about to listen.” He grinned crookedly and stroked her cheek. “I’m sure security is on the way to toss me out.”