Page 26 of To Bring You Back
He chuckled. “She wants to know if you’re always this uptight.”
Gannon focused on the blondes. “Where are you from?”
The one with longer hair twirled a lock around a finger. “Milwaukee.”
“Originally,” the other girl said. “We go to Lakeshore College.”
Local girls? Matt must’ve stopped at a bar once he’d arrived in town. At least they’d be easy to send home and, if they were college students, they probably weren’t minors.
Keys jangling, Tim approached, his hair sticking up as if he’d rolled out of bed and into a pair of jeans. “Someone needs a ride?”
John, who stood nearby with his phone, must’ve texted for help.
Matt dropped his arms from his guests and swiped the back of his hand under his nose. Always with the runny nose and bloodshot eyes. “You can’t be serious.”
“We’re minimizing distractions around here.” Tim’s gaze swept the women up and down. “And you two look like marvelous distractions.”
The women all but batted their eyelashes as they gravitated toward Awestruck’s manager. They probably thought he was in the band too.
Matt made a grab for Tim’s shoulder to stop him, but John and Gannon stepped between them. In moments, Tim had ushered the women out the door.
Matt hit his palms against Gannon’s shoulders, shoving him back. “You heard what I did to that guy last week.”
Gannon’s anger soared, but he had better recourse than returning the blow. “Try it. You’ll be gone, and not just from the cabin.”
Matt jerked back, stooped, and slung the duffle bag over his shoulder with a grunt. “This isn’t a convent, and I’m not a nun.”
Gannon let the ridiculous statement go unanswered as he shadowed the bassist into the great room and pointed to a door on the second floor. “That one’s yours.”
Matt climbed the stairs, trailing his hand along the railing until he reached the bedroom.
Once Matt shut the door, John dropped onto one of the couches. “Nice room assignment.”
The idea had been that Matt would be easier to supervise if he was near the common living areas, but with the door closed, he could do anything up there. What kind of war would Gannon start by checking on him?
“About what you said”—John brought his gaze down from Matt’s door and met Gannon’s eyes—“I agree. If he crosses the line, I’ll be on your side this time. We’ll fire him.”
This time.
Gannon and John had only discussed firing a band member once before, when the label told them to drop Fitz. Pain spread through Gannon’s chest. Behind that closed door, Matt wasn’t who he used to be, but he didn’t deserve an end like Fitz’s.
“It’d better not come to that.”
John nodded. “But we have to be prepared.”
Gannon retreated to his room, the reminder of Fitz squeezing his lungs. After everything, Gannon had no right to harbor feelings for Adeline. He sat on the bed and peered into the darkness that had settled on the lake. From the edge of the island blackened by night shone the beacon of the lighthouse.
He took the fresh notebook he’d started and worked for about an hour before turning in. But despite the distraction, despite knowing he had no right, as he tried to sleep, thoughts of Adeline plagued him. She was the only woman he knew who’d have his phone number and not use it.
8
When Gannon made his way to the kitchen in the morning, Tim sipped coffee at the island, a laptop open in front of him.
“Get the women home all right?” Gannon put a mug of water in the microwave.
“Yeah. They won’t be talking, but I can’t say the same for everyone else.”
“Everyone else?”
