Page 56 of Love is a Drum Beat
It wasn’t like any of his songs she’d heard. There was something uncut, something rough about him now. Her eyes trailed from his plaid pajama pants to the bare muscles of his chest.
He was a nerd, but she’d started to see that was the best thing about him. She stood in the doorway, letting his song calm her nerves. The moment he saw her, he’d tell her she shouldn’t be on her feet.
Her eyes drifted out to the dark sea crashing on the shore as the silver light of the moon danced over its surface.
But it wasn’t the most beautiful thing out here.
That title belonged to a man she didn’t know before. She wondered if anyone did. No one would claim the drummer with the pink hair had anything in common with the reserved, awkward Dax, but she saw herself in him.
Maybe that was why he’d offered to let her stay.
A deck board creaked as she stepped outside.
The music ceased instantly, and Dax jerked his head up.
“Don’t stop.” She stepped close. “Please.”
Dax set his guitar aside on the lounger. “I was just messing around.”
“Dax.” She raised one brow. “You don’t even have to try, do you?”
“I try.”
Jo lowered herself to a lounger beside him. “I didn’t mean that as a bad thing.”
He let his gaze turn to the sea beyond the deck. “You need to get some sleep.”
He was so predictable. “I…” She sighed. “I see him whenever I close my eyes.”
“Him?”
“Blake.”
“Oh. Do you… miss him?”
“Gosh no.” She shook her head. “To tell you the truth, I’d rather do this alone than with him.”
“You’re not alone.”
She bit back a smile at the words. “That night…”
“You don’t need to tell me about it, Jo.”
A sigh rattled through her chest. “I was supposed to see my mother that night.” She leaned back in the chair, lifting her gaze to the stars to avoid Dax’s stare that burned into her.
He didn’t ask her to keep talking. Instead, he stretched his hand out between the chairs.
It was what friends did, she told herself as she threaded her fingers with his. The heat of their connection rushed through her.
“My mom… Well, we can say I didn’t have the childhood you did. My mom left when I was really young. I can only remember bits and pieces of time with her, but it destroyed my dad, and he never really recovered. He spent every moment he wasn’t drunk searching for her, finding dead end after dead end. By the time I was thirteen, he’d leave me for weeks at a time. The bills went unpaid, so I got a job at a local grocery store. It wasn’t enough. I was seventeen the day my dad stole the money I’d saved for rent to follow his newest lead on my mother. When he returned, I was gone, moved out, and there was an eviction notice on the door.”
Dax squeezed her hand, and it served as a reminder that wasn’t her life anymore.
“If I hadn’t met Noah, I don’t know where I’d be. I’d taught myself the drums, and he was the first person who ever saw something valuable in me.”
“Sounds like Noah.” Dax sent her a sad smile.
Jo nodded and blinked away a tear. “Right now, you’re thinking this is sad but doesn’t relate to Blake, right?”
