Page 40 of Bulletproof Weeks

“Yeah, so I saw.”

“Testy, testy. You could have come in and joined the fun.”

“Someone has to be the grown-up and not draw boobs on a perfectly good sugar cookie.”

“They got all stuck together. Dude, the cookies looked like boobs. Nice ones.”

Logan tried not to smile, but it was like trying to stay mad at a puppy. Simply couldn’t be done. “Good thing Izzy can handle you animals.”

Zeke kicked out his feet and laced his fingers over his belly. “Izzy even likes us animals. It’s you that has gotten all grouchy. What’s the problem, son? The music is flowing, you’ve got a serious babe warming your bed, and we’re only two weeks behind on production. There’s nothing but net here, buddy. Lighten up.”

“When we get this to the label, then I’ll lighten up.”

“Then let me see what you got, maestro.”

Logan bumped the volume for the speakers of the main studio. “This is the version of ‘Refuse’ we did yesterday.”

Zeke shut his eyes and swayed in the metronome way he always did while soaking in a song. When the guitar clashed with the piano, the corner of his lips lifted. “How Slash is that shit right there?”

“You wish you were Slash, fuckhead.”

He opened one eye. “Yeah, I do. But hell, man your piano is making babies with my guitar riff. Fucking sweet. Feels like it needs a little something though. Maybe strings? When Morgan comes back we should have him whip out Sheila. It’s been a while.”

“You might be right about that.” Their percussionist also played every damn instrument he could get his hands on. One of the reasons he was the best studio musician on both sides of the continent. And the most in demand.

Logan skipped the next two songs and played, “Beginning and End”. He flipped the surround sound to the entire studio. Featherlight piano notes slowly built with his voice crooning out a story about the ending of a love and the wild road to the beginning. About trying to figure out where and when he went wrong.

“The piano is the key to this album. I’ve missed you on the keys. It’s good, Lo. Better than I’ve heard in a whole lotta years.”

He gripped the arms of his chair. Voicing agreement made it real, but Z was right. For too many years he’d allowed the label to dictate what direction their albums went. They had enough experience to know when a song was phoned in and when it came from the gut and the heart.

The last one he played for Zeke was the wild piano song he’d written the night Isabella had crashed into his life again. It had taken on a different lyric after she’d taken him back. It had become her song, infused with the heart and the heartache he associated with Izzy.

“Caged Soul” was the title track and definitely fit him right now. Thanks to her, the bars were weakening. He had further to go, but he was getting there.

The album seemed to be mirroring that in a lot of ways. In the end, the underlying story of the album was a fight for freedom. It was enough of a wide scope to bring in mass appeal, and personal enough to quiet the demons that had been riding him for the last year.

“We need that ballad track.”

“I know.” Logan cracked his knuckles. He and Z had been hacking away at a song for weeks, but it just wasn’t there yet.

“I was thinking we should change up the pronouns. It needs to be more personal.”

If it was any more personal, Logan was going to have to change out ink for blood on the page.

Zeke stood and grabbed his acoustic off the wall mount. He dropped onto the couch and tuned the guitar. “Go on. Get Lucy.”

Logan laughed. “So we’re really serious about this if I have to get Lucy.” It was his guitar from the very first All the King’s Men album. The guitar he’d written Izzy’s favorite song on.

He snapped open the stickered and scarred case and pulled out the Taylor. Nicks from his bracelet scraped over the lower portion of the body and the polished mahogany had dulled where his hand always rested.

He didn’t rely on Lucy like he once had and maybe that was the problem. He knew the guitar in a way he couldn’t explain. Tuning her was a bitch but worth it, even if she went out of tune easier than any other guitar in his collection.

The scars and calluses on his fingertips were grooves from her. As the strings teased to wakefulness, he didn’t even realize he’d sat next to Zeke. They played the opening of “The Light” and Logan whispered the words.

When madness meets life

Who will survive

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