Page 1 of Love is a Drum Beat
1
Jo
Noah Clarke had a death wish.
“What do you mean you’re not coming back right away?” Jo Jackson paced the length of the room in her one-bedroom apartment. Okay, it was more of a waddle with the seven-month-old bowling ball sitting on her bladder.
This couldn’t be happening.
“We need to figure all this family stuff out, Joey.” Noah at least had the decency to sound guilty about leaving his best friend, his drummer, in L.A.
Alone.
“Noah.” She tried to keep the bite out of her words. No matter how much of a bonehead he’d always been, he’d never deserved the scorn she reserved for the rest of the world. “I am going to have this little alien baby in two months. Why did you have to go fall in love with our publicist now? Couldn’t it have waited until this thing was out of me?” She was being petulant, she knew that. She was happy for Noah and Melanie, she really was.
But this was the third phone call today telling her the only support system she had wouldn’t be in town for a while. First, it was Ben. As the responsible member of their rockstar support group, Rockstars Anonymous, he’d been truly remorseful. But his baby brother was getting engaged after dating his boyfriend for only three months. Ben said he needed to be there, but he’d be back in a couple weeks.
Then came Drew’s call. Jo loved Drew like a brother, which was why she understood his need to return to his tour a couple days early. Because with his tour came the girl he was in love with. And Jo liked Lola.
Plus, when they’d called, she’d thought she’d have Noah and Melanie with her for the remainder of her nine-month sentence.
Noah sighed into the phone, but it was an indulgent sigh rather than an irritated one. They’d been partners since Jo was an eighteen-year-old kid running from her dad, and Noah was a twenty-year-old Englishman who’d been way out of his depth in New York City.
“Joey,” he said.
Jo flopped onto the couch as pain seared up toward her ribs. “Just ignore me, Noah. I’m in a mood. I know you, Mel, and Stella need this time.”
“I could never ignore you. I love you, Jo. I just…” He blew out a breath. “I want Stella to get to know my nan. Melanie and I aren’t staying at the estate, we’re renting a place in London. But I can’t leave yet.”
“I know.” Through all their years together, Noah never mentioned his family or the fact that they were exceedingly wealthy. And now, she knew why. From what Drew told her on his call, they were awful.
But his nan… Jo rubbed a hand over her stomach. She shouldn’t be mad at him for wanting to spend time with his family or for doing what’s best for the orphaned niece in his care.
Jo always dreamed of having a family she missed, people who’d welcome her and her baby home.
In a way, she sort of did. Rockstars Anonymous had become a family.
A family who abandoned her with two months left to go in her pregnancy.
“I promise we’ll be back in time for your little alien to make an appearance.”
She smiled at that, fully believing he’d try. When the world thought of Noah Clarke, they saw a bad boy, someone who didn’t care about much.
But Jo had always known different.
“What if something happens?” It was a ridiculous fear she’d had. Jo Jackson didn’t get scared or nervous. But the next two months… they terrified her. “Who will I call if I need someone?”
Noah was quiet for a long moment. “Dax is still in town, isn’t he?”
Dax Nelson, the mysterious recording artist who never let fans see his face. He was more famous than the rest of their group combined, yet he could walk through a grocery store without signing a single autograph.
A growl started in the back of her throat. “I am not calling Dax. The guy hates me.”
Noah laughed at that. “Not true. You know Dax… he’s just not good at the social stuff. He’s awkward.”
“Understatement.”
“But he does care. If you called him, he’d come. I know it.”
