Page 62 of Hard Rock Temptation
“I thought you’d back me up.” I tried not to sound accusing, but instead it only came out sounding like despair. “None of this needed to happen. If everyone would just think about what’s best for the band and stop being so stubborn?—”
Kay glared at me through red eyes.
“You should know me better than that,” she said. “You should have known how I feel.”
“I did,” I said, torn between weariness and frustration. “I do. But you have to be realistic.”
“What you think is realistic is vastly different from what I think is realistic,” she snapped.
“You know as well as I do, the label?—”
“Stop,” Kaylee cut in, lifting a hand. “We already had this fight. We’re not going to do it again.”
“But—“
“Is anything I say right now going to change your mind?” she said, her voice shaky. There were droplets of tears along her bottom lashes. “I already know the answer is no.”
My breath hitched, knowing that I’d just been thinking that the same was true of her.
“We’ve all already said things we shouldn’t have,” she continued with a sniffle. “I don’t want to keep doing that. I don’t want us to keep hurting each other.”
“Neither do I.” The acid in my gut turned into a heavy lump, weighing me down.
We both went silent for long minutes.
“So.” Kay finally said, sighing heavily and rubbing at her eyes again. “The question is, what do we do?”
“We get the band together again,” I said, clinging to hope. “We talk it out again. We can’t just let everyone walk away.”
“No,” Kay shook her head. “I mean, what dowedo? The two of us? What does this mean for our relationship?”
I inhaled sharply. As horrible as it was, I hadn’t yet really given thought to what would happen between us. I was so focused on the band.
“We promised we wouldn’t let our relationship get in the way of our work,” she said. “But now our work is what’s in trouble. So,” she repeated. “What does that mean for us?”
“I love you,” I said automatically, my heart in my throat. “None of this changes that.”
“And I love you,” she replied, her lips twitching as if trying to smile and failing. “But if this debate breaks up the band, will you be able to forgive me? Will I be able to forgive you?”
I went still. It was as if those words pierced my heart through my chest and lodged in my spine, making me hunch over in anguish.
“So that’s it?” I asked, swallowing hard. “One disagreement and we’re over?”
“This isn’t just a disagreement,” Kaylee said, her tone almost resigned. “This is a fundamental difference in our philosophies. In our core values. Don’t they say that couples should share the same values?” she continued rhetorically, her voice distant as she looked toward the stairs.
She wasn’t wrong. If the two of us didn’t agree on something so important, something so fundamental to each of us, could we move past that?
Most couples fought over finances, or children, or religion. I supposed that was true of us, in a way. The music was our religion. Our songs were Kaylee’s babies. And the art vs. business debate was all about finances, when you got down to it. We were just the same as any other couple in those regards.
Unfortunately, many other couples couldn’t get past those issues.
Panic shot through my chest.
“We can’t let this ruin what we have together.” I stepped forward and took Kaylee into my arms. She was so small, so slight, it felt like she might turn to dust in my embrace if I held her too tightly.
Kay rested her cheek against my chest, but didn’t put her arms around me, keeping them at her side. The heat of her skin burned into me through my shirt as my heart clenched.
“If the band can’t come to an agreement and breaks up for good…” she began. “If my ‘stubbornness’ ruins everything we worked so hard for, for so long, will you still be able to look me in the eye every morning and tell me you love me?”
