Page 84 of Midnight Dissonance

“Me? I’m going to go find the love of my life and apologize for ever listening to your toxic nonsense.” And then he would move heaven and earth to make her his for all time.

24

Josh headed to her friend’s place. He’d called the Java Hut to find out when she was working again. And they told him she quit and no longer worked there.

He headed to the warehouse where her band practiced, but he couldn’t get in the building because he forgot what the access code was and couldn’t find it in any of his text messages with Lexi. He stood outside like an idiot, hoping he would be able to get inside if someone came. But after an hour, he figured he had creeped out the neighborhood enough by standing there.

And he even headed to the bar where the Celestials played. They weren’t on tonight, but he noticed on the schedule they were slated to play Friday night.

Gotcha!

He left and headed home. He didn’t want to wait until Friday night, but he had no other options. Not even Gabe would know, so there was no point in contacting his cousin.

But when he arrived home, he didn’t sit and mope with a beer. Instead, he sat with a beer and made a list of all the things he needed to do to make this place ready for Lexi to live here full time. And everything he needed to do to get ready to woo her back into his life and bed permanently.

Lexi sat on her friend Jan’s couch for the third day in a row. Her former roommate was beyond excited she was back. They’d been roommates their freshman year and had been friends ever since.

Jan was in class, leaving Lexi alone with her thoughts. And that wasn’t a good place to be right now. Her brain was a jumbled mess.

While her heart ached. She’d ventured into the depths of despair deeper than she had ever thought possible. She thought the heartbreak her family put her through had been the most awful thing that had ever happened to her. She’d been wrong. So damn wrong.

Because she hadn’t understood just how much a heart could break.

She’d lost everything she cared about. And now here she was, trying to get herself excited about going back to school when all she really wanted was to curl into a ball and weep.

But returning to school was simply a means to an end.

When she contacted her parents and told them she was going back to finish up her final year of school, they’d been overjoyed. She simply asked for access to her trust once she got her degree.

They had joyfully agreed, going on about how she’d make a wonderful doctor. And of course, once she graduated in the fall, it would be hers.

And she warned them that she had an attorney review the will and trust. And if they tried to pull an underhanded tactic when she got her bachelor's degree, she would see them in court. They thought she was being overly dramatic again, but agreed it would be hers. So here she was, miserable and alone in the last place she wanted to be. Because that money equaled her freedom from those people.

She didn’t really want to be here. She missed her guitar. She missed her band. But mostly, she missed Josh.

And she’d been delaying registering for summer classes. She wasn’t sure why. She hated the thought of going into more debt just to do something she didn’t want to do. Her mom had even offered to pay for it.

But their money came with strings attached. And they were strings she wanted nothing to do with.

So she spent the first week back in Chicago sulking on Jan’s couch. She loved hanging out with her friend. If only it didn’t feel as if her heart had withered and died.

On Saturday night, she and Jan sat on her couch, chowing on some pizza, when there was a knock at the door. Her on-campus apartment was a six hundred square foot one bedroom. It might be small, but she had spruced it up with touches of color everywhere.

“I wonder who that could be. You weren’t expecting anyone, were you?” Jan asked, her curly red hair bundled into a topknot. She rose and headed to the door.

“No. No one knows I’m here.” It’s not like she had told anyone where she was going except her bandmates.

Jan opened the door. And there was a direct line of sight from the couch to the front door. And she almost fell out of her seat as recognition settled over her—Josh.

He was here.

The week that followed his interaction with Lisa was the longest fecking week in the world. Friday night couldn’t arrive fast enough. When the night arrived, he headed to the Jukebox. If he had to corner her after their band played, he would. If he had to get down on his knees and beg her, he would. Josh would do whatever it took to get his Lexi back.

The club was the same rundown place. He didn’t spy her ex, Travis. He was in an enough of a mood that he’d likely get into a fight with him. But he sat at the bar expectantly, waiting for Lexi to take the stage. Only when the Celestials arrived on stage, some dude was standing there, singing and playing guitar.

Where was Lexi? Why wasn’t she here?

Deep in his gut, he knew something was wrong. This wasn’t right. Was she sick? Had she gotten hurt? What the feck happened to his Lexi?

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