Page 95 of To Bring You Back
One of them hit where she’d meant it to. The others fumbled and fell.
Matt pushed away from the door, took a cable from somewhere in the maze of cords, and plugged it into her laptop. He leaned over the jumble of equipment that crowded the desk and pressed a few buttons.
“Try that.” When she didn’t, he came around behind her and tapped the touch pad to play the recording again. This time, Gannon’s voice and guitar sounded steady and clear through the speakers.
Her wrong notes grated against the melody.
“I can see why they left you behind.”
Gannon wouldn’t allow him to speak to her like that, but Gannon wasn’t here. No arguments about her former skill would help when none of it remained.
Matt extended his hand, demanding the bass.
She handed it over, praying he’d do even worse than she had.
He fit the strap over his head and shrugged, settling the instrument where he wanted it before he gave a nod to start the recording. What he played varied from what she’d envisioned—the notes were simple and repetitive, but they fit the music, grounding the song. And this was the first attempt of a drug addict. If she let him keep working, he could probably build from there, elaborating. Or maybe such a thing wasn’t necessary—bass lines didn’t have to be complicated.
That was her problem. She made everything complicated.
The song ended, and Matt set the bass in its stand. “You’ll never replace me.”
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“Great.” He smirked as he opened the door. “’Cause you couldn’t if you wanted to.”
Shortly after eleven,Gannon pulled through the gate at Havenridge. Halfway down the drive, he spotted headlights through the trees, moving fast. He swerved to the inside of the curve just as Matt’s car roared past, taking the turn wide. Gannon’s headlight flashed through the windshield, revealing Matt in the passenger seat. The driver seemed to have trouble straightening out after the curve, and then the lights disappeared down the road.
Gannon pulled to a full stop. John was an expert driver, and Tim a good one. Adeline and Tegan wouldn’t have experience handling a supercar, but they’d also never team up with Matt for a joyride.
That ruled out everyone but Harper, who wasn’t as good of a driver as she thought she was. If she was out with Matt, she probably planned to come back to the cabin afterward, but that wasn’t happening. He’d already told her to leave and had given her space to do so. She was out of chances.
He texted security and asked them to pack her bags and have those and her rental waiting for her at the gate when she returned. If she wasn’t in shape to drive herself, a team member could deliver her to a hotel, but he wouldn’t allow her to terrorize his relationship with Adeline a moment longer.
Harper English was not coming back on this property.
Gannon proceeded down the drive. The cabin’s exterior lights glowed, but the windows were dark and blank. He parked and pulled off the helmet and jacket as he let himself into the house. Moonlight fell through the windows into the great room. Along the balcony, Matt and Harper’s bedroom doors stood open, black rectangles.
He climbed to the third floor and resisted turning toward Adeline’s room to see if she was still awake and had anything to say about the songs. Instead, he made his way toward John’s. Before he got close enough to knock, one of the dogs sniffed loudly from the other side of the door. Must’ve sensed him coming. Shortly after, John opened the door, the light of a lamp and TV casting shadows around him.
John backed up and settled against the headboard, his arm behind his head, eyes focused on the television, where a documentary about migrating birds played. “Feel better?”
“Not really.” Gannon sat at the desk and scratched Trigger’s gray fur while the other dog jumped up next to his master.
John leaned out of the range of Camo’s tail as the dog circled twice before dropping into a curled-up ball. “Addie holed up in the studio most of the evening.”
“I gave her recordings of some of the songs to work with. I wasn’t sure she would.” But she had. Would she let him hear her, or was accepting his music separate from accepting him?
“Matt’s losing points fast. I went down to check on him about twenty minutes ago. He was already wasted. When I asked what happened to straightening out, he said, ‘False alarm.’ They got a good laugh out of that.”
“Was she drinking too?”
“Looked that way.”
“Now she’s driving. They were leaving when I pulled in. Maybe we should try to catch up with them before they do real damage. Or land in jail.” If security hadn’t packed Harper’s things already, Gannon could throw it all in her luggage, take it with, and deliver her to a hotel himself, then bring Matt home before he made more trouble for himself or Awestruck. He stood and moved to the door.
John scoffed and shook his head, eyes still on the TV screen. “You want to go there? Playing Harper’s hero last night meant not being Adeline’s.”
“Isn’t she sleeping?”
