Love Struck (Miss Match #2) (15 page)

“I got her. Obviously. Miss Thang seems to have ‘lost track of the hour.’” Sammy turned back to her victim. “Don’t let it happen again.”

Lacy couldn’t stop herself from spitting out a “Yes, ma’am.” Which earned her a scowl. It was undeserved, in Lacy’s opinion. Her ma’am-ing was only fifty percent sarcastic.

“Next time, the bus leaves you.”

This time, Lacy bit back any response fighting for release. It seemed best to let Sammy have the last word.

Sammy headed back toward her usual seat, and Lacy finally braved a glance up at the others. Immediately her eyes found Eli’s. Her body thrummed like a tuning fork to his perfect note, her skin beading in goose bumps, her nipples pebbling under her tank. His expression was serious, so he was difficult to read. At least he wasn’t avoiding her. She was instantly more confident in the likelihood of their repeat sexing. Excited about it even, the nervousness and anxiety ebbing.

She smiled at him and went on to take the empty seat in the next aisle. Before she sat, though, she shot a smile to the rest of the bus, an apology for her tardiness. It was then she noticed that Jax, sitting in his typical backseat location, wasn’t in his typical prone posture. And he wasn’t—as he typically was—alone. There was a girl next to him. Not just any girl—Kat.

Kat? Really?

Lacy huffed to herself as she slunk into her spot. One of the plusses about taking the tour had been the prospect of not seeing the endlessly optimistic, always-got-it-together Kat. And yet, she kept seeing Kat. And wasn’t she supposed to be covering Lacy’s shifts at the studio? She must have hopped a train that morning. It was sure convenient how she’d somehow managed now to weasel her way onto three stops of the circuit under the auspices of “gaining roadie experience,” as if Kat was about to embark on a tour. She didn’t even have a band. But banging the drummer did seem to give her a few perks.

Did one of those perks have to be infringing on Lacy’s personal space?

Whatever. It was fine. Kat
got
her this tour, she had no room to exclude her.

The bus lurched into motion and Lacy centered herself, practicing meditation from her yoga days.
This is a beautiful day. I’m in a beautiful space. I’m on tour making beautiful music. I had xxx’s from Folx. Eli’s still making eye contact.

And I wrote a song! An actual song. Not a jingle. A song.

Part
of a song, but still, a major thing to be happy about.

Also on her list,
I got laid
. But she felt a little weird about celebrating that when she and Eli hadn’t made it through the awkward stage yet, which was a very real part of the getting laid. So it counted, but she pretended it didn’t. Fortunately she was well practiced at self-delusion.

After coming to terms with her just-got-laid status, Lacy found she couldn’t think of a good reason to let anything bring her down today. She concentrated on letting potential negative energy go, and by the time they pulled into the venue parking lot, her chakras were charged and her atman was at peace.

She felt so good as she stepped off the bus that she couldn’t keep from giggling out loud. The tang of the Baltimore harbor wafted over her with all the promise it held of adventure and good food. The sun poured down like glory. And she’d written (part of) a song for the first time in a year.

She threw her arms out and spun in place like she was in her own personal
Sound of Music
. It was going to be A Best Day Ever; she could just feel it.

Oh, no. That was Wes’s nose that she felt. With her elbow.

“Calm down, there, Lacypants. The hills may be alive, but Wes won’t be if you keep that up,” Jax muttered as he shoved past her fumbling apologies, followed by James and Eli and the other band member whose name Lacy couldn’t seem to remember. And Kat.

Sammy, obviously over her earlier irritation, smiled. “I’ll get your shit, kid. If we get right in there, we should be able to knock out your sound check before the boys are even loaded in.”

Getting her sound check done early? Definitely the beginnings of A Best Day Ever.

*   *   *

Thirty minutes later, Lacy’s sound check was in the bag, and the boys were onstage for theirs. Her afternoon was free and clear, and since the only thing she had on her agenda was jumping Eli, she decided to stick around and listen to the band.

She found a seat in the middle of the venue and, because of her earlier banishment of bad energy, wasn’t even irritated when Kat took a seat next to her. Even though there was a whole auditorium of other places where she could have sat.

“They’re so good,” Kat said while the band was still tuning. “This has to be the greatest gig in the world. Listening to them every night. Hanging out with those beautiful men every day.” She sighed.

“I actually haven’t really listened to them until today,” Lacy admitted, glowing because
she
was the one with the greatest gig in the world and not Kat. “And usually we don’t do much hanging during the day.” That was about to change, if Lacy had anything to do with it. Though it wouldn’t be
those beautiful men
she’d be hanging with, but
that beautiful Eli
. And “hanging” wasn’t exactly what she had planned, though it did rhyme with it.

“You haven’t? Some of us were planning to see some of the town after this. Join us!”

“Uh.” It depended on whether “some of us” included Eli. Lacy really was dying to see Baltimore. It was high on her to-do list, right under “write beautiful lyrics” and “get it on with beautiful guy.” She said, “That might be something I could do.” She was proud of that answer. Not a yes, not a no. She could decide for sure when she found out what Eli’s plans were.

After a few minutes of individual mike and instrument testing, the band launched into a song. Just like it had been at the show she’d seen previously, their synchronicity was amazing. Lacy decided they must have worked together for a long time now. How else were they reading each other’s minds like that? A look between Jax and Eli somehow translated to the drummer, Wes, and they extended a jam before returning to the main riff. Jax swayed like a hypnotized snake, and she could imagine how it would draw all eyes to him when the place was filled. How he’d woo the women before he even opened his mouth.

“He’s like sex on legs,” Kat purred. “I want to lick him from head to toe.”

Lacy made an “mm” in agreement, though she didn’t mean it about Jax. Kat could have the lead singer, for all she cared. Or the drummer if that was still going on. Both of them, even.

Because it was Eli who was the cause of Lacy’s hum.

He fascinated her with his subtle, perfect artistry. With the easiness with which he played. With the way his hands moved up and down his instrument, his long fingers spreading nimbly across the strings. God, those hands … those fingers …

She crossed her legs as a warm flush of memories from the night before poured through her like a shot of whiskey. Warm and sweet and delicious.

And he played good music to boot.

Yes, this was the greatest gig in the world.

The instrumental prelude gave way to another song and, though her eyes never left Eli, she was aware of Jax belting out a verse in that gorgeously raspy voice. He was like a scoop of cream on top of her Eli sundae. She was so lost in the heaven of the moment, it took her several lines before she really heard the words of the lyric.

With a sweep of your hand and a curse

You’ve ravaged my world.

Destroyed all I cared for and then

You leave me to live

She uncrossed her legs and sat up straighter in her seat. They weren’t just good lyrics. They were exquisite lyrics. But that wasn’t what had the hair standing up on the back of her neck and goose bumps racing down her arms.

“What is it?”

Ignoring Kat’s question, Lacy’s asked one of her own. “They didn’t do this song the night we saw them, did they?”

“At Tigerstripes? I don’t think so. Wes said they saved all their new material for the actual tour. Why?”

Lacy’s heart was pounding and her hands were sweaty as she turned her attention back to Jax.
Because I know this one.

Out loud she said, “It’s good. I was sure I’d remember it if I’d heard it before.” She hadn’t actually
heard
it before. She’d only seen the words. She’d workshopped those words. “Godric’s Hollow.” It was a genius of a song, comparing the pain of a destructive relationship to the worst night in Harry Potter’s life. Before she ever even heard the music that accompanied it, she’d already loved this song.

But of course she’d love it. Because this was Folx’s song.

And that meant …

No way.

It couldn’t be possible. It was too much of a coincidence. Wasn’t it? Could Folx really be a member of the Blue Hills? And if so, which one?

She meant to scan her eyes over all of the boys, but she didn’t get past Jax. He was front and center, singing in a grit-filled voice, delivering the lyric with such conviction. Watching him perform this song was like looking into something personal, something private. He sang it like he owned it. It was
his
song.

And if Jax was singing it, then it had to mean that Jax … was Folx.

Her breath caught at the full implications of her realization. So many warring thoughts ran through her head—excitement, nervousness. Stone cold fear. Jubilation. What were the odds? That they were both from Boston, that they were on tour together. How had she looked when he’d first met her? Not as good as she’d planned to look, that was for sure. At the wedding in her formal dress and makeup, she’d be looking, well, better than she had any day on the tour.

But enough about how she looked. On to how
he
looked. Because oh, my god, Jax was Folx, and Jax was hot, but wow. This was not what she was expecting. She’d imagined him plenty of times, of course. In her head he’d been darker, less pretty, more gruff. Attractive like … well, like Eli.

She swallowed back the strange taste of disappointment. This would take an adjustment, that’s all. But she could get used to it. She’d thought he was attractive from the first minute she’d met him. Though the zing he’d initially sent to her girl parts had dulled, it was still there. Probably. She eyed up and down his lean form in those tight jeans and plaid shirt. Oh yeah, he would work.

And ohmygod, he was Folx!

She knew him. He knew her. They were bonded. Joined at the soul. The song he was singing? It was, in a way, theirs.

“Unfuckingbelievable,” she said with a laugh.

Kat glanced at her, but seemed to think she was talking about how amazing the song was. And that just made Lacy laugh more. Then the band was at the chorus, which was another point of amusement. It was the part that Folx, uh, Jax had said the band cut. Sure enough, he was singing a line of “yeahs” then holding his mike out to the audience—which at the moment consisted of two. Good old Kat echoed him back in her screechy, though perfectly pitched, soprano.

Lacy refrained from joining in, too stunned. Too awestruck. Too devoted to the original architecture of the song. Though she’d never heard the melody of the chorus, she remembered the words and could feel how they would have fit in harmony with the mandolin line. She sang them in her head.

You break me, you make me

You take me, you wake me

You set me to fire and I burn

They would have been incredible. Much better than this commercial gimmick that Jax was leading. The audience probably loved it, but musically …

Well, it was a shameful loss. But who the hell cared—she was listening to Folx sing for the very first time!

For the very first time since she knew he was Folx, anyway. And like a true performer, Jax was making it work, despite the flawed arrangement, playing the part with enthusiasm and soul. It was impressive. And bewildering. She’d had no idea from his online conversations that he was so charismatic. So commanding of the stage.

It bothered her just a little. As if she’d somehow hoped his charm was meant only for her. The way that Eli’s charm always seemed meant for her.

Oh, shit.

Eli.

Sweet, incredible, the guy-she’d-banged-the-night-before Eli.

Well, this was awkward. And not in the way that she’d thought the day after was going to be. She turned her focus back to him and found he was watching her. As soon as their eyes met, he smiled, and the sincerity of it made her legs feel like jelly even though she was sitting down. Before she knew it, she was smiling back.

But, wait. Should she be smiling at him now? Now that Folx wasn’t just a person-she’d-meet-in-the-future person, but a real-life flesh-and-blood person she already knew.

She didn’t know. There wasn’t protocol for this. And she didn’t want to stop, uh,
smiling
at him. Because Eli did things to her … amazing things … wonderful things. And he’d inspired words.

But he wasn’t her soul mate. He wasn’t The One. He wasn’t Folx.

She looked back at Jax-who-
was
-Folx, and the minute she did, he threw his gaze directly at her—or, maybe at Kat—and winked.

Ah, Folx.

I mean, Jax.

It was a Plot Twist Moment. Something else Lance used to like to celebrate. Those moments that changed everything. Where nothing could be the same after.
This
was one of those moments.

Because this couldn’t just be a coincidence. Folx—the man she’d been dreaming about, the man who’d been with her through the worst of it, the man she’d been falling for little by little for the better part of a year—was on the very same tour she was on. That had to be kismet. That had to be A Sign.

Also, Plot Twist.

And one she never saw coming.

Now she just had to figure out what to do next. Should she tell Jax who she was or not? She should. Of course she should.

Just then, Jax growled into the microphone, as if concurring with her decision.