Page 53 of Love is a Drum Beat
Those words burned through Dax. He narrowed his eyes. “Does the pregnancy change who Jo is? Is she suddenly not worth falling for? Does the world value her less than before?” His chest heaved with anger so sudden it surprised even him.
Ben let him keep venting, one eyebrow raised, but Dax quieted and pushed his glasses up into his hair, making it stand on end.
“Want to talk about it?” Ben asked.
“Definitely not.”
“Fair enough.”
“She kissed me,” he blurted.
Ben’s eyes widened. “And…?”
“And nothing. She told me it was a hormone-driven mistake.”
Ben taped his fingers along the smooth curve of his guitar. “How long have you been in love with her?”
“What? I’m not…” He shook his head. He blew out a breath. “Since the first Rockstars Anonymous meeting where she showed up like a hurricane, claiming we’d never all become friends.”
“None of us would have guessed what the group would lead to, least of all Jo.”
Dax sighed. “You can’t tell Piper because she’ll tell Drew, and he’ll tell everyone.”
Ben mimed zipping his lips closed, then all joking subsided from his face. “There’s another reason you won’t tell her how you feel.”
There was. A reason Dax hated himself for. “If I’m seen with her, the paps will dig and dig until they find out who I am. It already happened once. I have spent my entire life trying to stay out of the spotlight. My music is famous, not me. And Jo… right now she’s an addiction for the drama-hungry press.”
“I get it.” Ben gave him a sad smile. “You have to weigh what’s worth it. If your life is going to change forever, it has to be for a good reason.”
Jo was every reason both good and bad.
But he wasn’t yet ready to be known, to have the entire world connect him to his music.
Ben stood and packed up his guitar. “I don’t have any advice for you. Not really. But I’ll get Conner working on that drum beat. You’ll have it by next week.”
Dax nodded. That would work. He’d never produced the final version of a song before, always relying on someone at the studio. But this… it felt good in a way so few things did right now.
He flipped off the lights in the booth before stepping from his sanctuary to find Ben talking to Jo.
“What are you doing out here?” He flinched at the harshness of his own tone.
Jo didn’t.
“Well, that’s my cue to leave.” Ben sent a wave over his shoulder and walked toward the front door.
As soon as he heard it shut, Dax looked down at Jo. “What are you doing?” She had a bed pillow behind her back and a fuzzy blanket wrapped around her like she was a burrito with her pink slippers peeking out. “Have you been out here the entire time?”
She wiped sleep from her eyes and peered up at him. “I like hearing you two play.”
Dax checked his watch. “Ben was here for four hours. Are you saying you’ve been listening the entire time?” Anxiety rose in him as he thought of the conversation he’d had with Ben about Jo.
“Well, for the first hour, you had the door shut. Then, Ben cracked it to get some air circulating. That’s when I decided to listen. It’s too bad you and Ben aren’t in a band together. You sounded awesome. Though, that violin at the end… cut that.”
“That’s what I said,” he muttered. “So, you’ve been listening to us for three hours?”
“No, only the first two. Then, I fell asleep. I woke up when Ben walked out. I didn’t mean to sit here this long, but once I was on the ground, I couldn’t get up. Miscalculation on my part.”
He looked toward the living room where there was a perfectly comfortable couch and then back to Jo. When Dax was alone, he behaved a certain way. As a creature of habit, he had routines he never broke. In the mornings, he had coffee on his deck. At night, it was scotch. He cooked healthy meals and never ever had ice cream in his freezer.
