Page 55 of Feuds and Interludes
My eyebrows shot up. “Anything else bothering you?”
He licked his lips and looked me up and down before kicking his chin up. “No, actually. Someone took really good care of me, so besides being the slightest bit tender, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Good.” I stepped closer to him and ran a hand over his ass, cupping him gently. “That’s good to know. I take care of what’s mine.”
Boone looked up at me with those hypnotic ocean-blue eyes and his lids fluttered.“God, that’s hot,” he moaned. “But seriously. I feel mostly great. Just, ah,” he said, his gaze darting away. “I thought about you all day. I don’t want things to be weird or anything, but I wanted you to know.” He offered a nervous smile. Again with the skittishness.
“You’ve been on a constant loop in my head. Every call I made, every song I played, I wondered what would Boone think, or how would Boone sing this, play this… Is that weird?”
Boone beamed. “Not at all.” Then he shook himself. “We should probably get going. Did you need to?—”
“Yeah, let me run up and change real quick. Want to meet me in the bar? I’ll grab keys from Rose?—”
“Oh, I did already. Need help carrying anything?”
“Nope. Just going to lock up. Let’s go.”
He paused a second and put his hand on my chest. “You sure you’re okay?”
I put my hand over his and breathed easier than I had in a long time.
“I’m great, Boone. Really. Now let’s go be the grownups. I’ll tell you everything on the way.”
Twenty
Boone
I was ready to jump out of my skin at the prospect of having dinner with these two seventy-agers and the fact that Shane was being so calm, despite his professional life falling apart. I asked him to drive because I was liable to run us off the road in the studio’s van, as jittery as I was.
Shane was a surprisingly careful driver. He didn’t speed, he didn’t tailgate, but I was still waiting for him to go off the rails a bit. He looked damn good in the black slacks and black dress shirt he’d put on. I loved the leather, but I could barely keep from drooling at sharp-dressed Shane. I’d been paying more attention to his hands on the wheel and watching his lips move than I had what he was saying.
“Anyway, I’m looking at this time at Bolder Breed as an exploration, see what moves me, see what I feel like. I don’t know, you know? I don’t know if I want to hire a band before doing final recordings, or just Dave Grohl this shit and play it all myself and go from there. Lydia and I decided on three of the songs I’d brought in, and we’re re-working some of the riffs fromthe others. She’s brilliant, you know? Have you ever—hey, you all right over there, babe?”
“I’m fine! I’m just listening to you. I can hardly believe you’re talking to me about all this.”
Shane frowned and checked his mirrors before reaching for my hand. “Believe it. If you let me, I’ll talk your ear off.”
I smiled at him but it was strained. Thankfully, he wasn’t able to really pay attention. As he focused on the road, I tried to make my fake smile genuine.
“Talk away. I’m all ears. And I’m happy for you, I am. Did you get everything squared away with a new manager?”
“Yeah, actually. Her name is Audra. I love her already.”
“That’s great.”
He grinned at me as he made a right turn. “Enough about me. How did your day go? You know, I like this. It’s been a long time since I had someone to share the events of my day with, and none of them were musicians. Well, besides Pops. Sometimes it was tough to talk to him about music things when they were going good for me, because he wasn’t having the best luck in his career at the time. He’s always supported me, though. No matter what.”
“Of course he has. He’s so proud of you,” I said. “I get the sense he’s not too fond of me.” I immediately hated that I’d said that. God, I was so nervous.
“He likes you, Boone. He’s just…he’s old school. He’ll ride your ass before he’ll compliment you. He thinks you sing even better than John, and that’s a huge compliment. For him, the sun rises and sets with your grandfather.”
“And my grandmother.” Now I was flitting around the subject that really had me jumpy. Gran always texted me back right away, she was always there when I needed her, but these past couple of weeks since she and Bruce had been spending time together, it seemed as if her replies came later and later, ornot at all, like today. This whole canceling the flight I’d booked for her, changing plans at the last minute…that wasn’t like her. I had no idea what we were walking into and that had me jumpy.
I fully realized that I was a thirty-year-old man who shouldn’t need his grandmother at every turn, but ever since Papa died two years ago and I got sick, she’d been my rock. I wasn’t sure I was ready to share her with Bruce, but that wasn’t up to me.
“Right,” Shane said, and his brows drew together, a look I was quite familiar with. “Guess things are going to be different, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s hard to imagine.”
