Beat of the Heart

by Katie Ashley

  “You personally? Yes. You being a dick by screwing around with my doorbell? No.”

  He laughed as he leaned in to kiss me. It was only three hours ago that I was finally able to extricate myself from him and his bed to go home and pack. After our backroom tryst, we’d left Eastman’s together, and I’d spent the night at AJ’s penthouse. It was long after three am before we were finally spent of each other and could sleep.

  AJ’s gaze roamed appreciatively over my ensemble of strappy sandals, khaki shorts, and a red tank top. “You look sexy as hell.”

  I snorted. “At ease, big boy. You just had me four hours ago—twice if I remember correctly.”

  “But it seems I can never get enough of you,” he said in a low, throaty voice.

  His words, along with the tone he used, sent warmth crisscrossing over my body. “You’re such a flatterer,” I teased, before smacking his arm playfully.

  “It’s the truth.”

  Although I didn’t want to take his comments too literally, I couldn’t help wondering if a good fuck was all I was to him. Sure, he said I was more and the mere fact I was going to Jake’s farm meant something pretty big, but everything seemed to lead back to sex with AJ. Trying to lighten the seriousness of my thoughts, I added, “Well, if you play nice, I’ll let you have me as much as you want tonight. How’s that?”

  He nodded his head. “Okay then.” He peered over my shoulder. “Where’s your suitcase?”

  “In the bedroom.”

  “I’ll get it for you.”

  “Okay. I’ll feed Jack Sparrow while you get it.”

  AJ gave me a funny look. “Who?”

  “My cat.”

  “You gotta be shitting me that you named your cat after a character in Pirates of the Caribbean.”

  I grinned. “I have a major crush on Johnny Depp.”

  AJ’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “I sure as hell didn’t need to know that.”

  Sweeping my hand to my hip, I countered, “Does that mean you won’t indulge a deep seeded fantasy I have of having sex with a dude in a Jack Sparrow costume with some fierce black eyeliner?”

  “Seriously?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “I’m teasing you.”

  “Thank God. For a minute there, I was actually considering it!”

  Knocking my hip playfully into his, I then motioned down the hallway. “Hurry up or we’re going to be late. I don’t want to make a bad impression on Jake.”

  “Whatever,” AJ mumbled as he headed out of the living room. When he disappeared into the bedroom, I went to the kitchen and took out a bag of Whiskas. At the sound of the package crackling, Jack Sparrow came bounding into the room and hopped onto the counter.

  He peered at me with his one good eye before rubbing his head up against me. “You gonna be a good boy while I’m gone?”

  Flicking his tail, he gave me his usual apathetic response, but the moment I scratched behind his ears, the classic Siamese meow came from deep in his throat. All was good until AJ came around the corner, causing Jack to snap his head up and one-eye AJ suspiciously before hissing.

  AJ sat my suitcase down and crossed his arms over his chest. “Hmm, looks like I’m not making nice with your pussy, huh?”

  I snickered. “Testa di cazzo.”

  “En Ingles, por favor,” he replied.

  “Dickhead.”

  He laughed as he closed the gap between us. Jack Sparrow growled before hightailing it off the counter and skidding out of the kitchen. “What’s up with his—” AJ motioned to one of his eyes.

  “Oh that. He’d already lost it when I rescued him off the streets. He was living off dumpster food at St. Joe’s.”

  “Ah, I see. Does he always act like that with strangers?”

  “Just strange me. He and Dee have made friends over the year. I think he was treated badly by some men in the past.” A sad smile crept on my lips. “I think that’s why we get along so well.”

  AJ took in my words before leaning over to bestow a sweet and tender kiss on my lips. When he pulled away, he smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to win him over and prove to him and his owner that not all men are douchebags.”

  “I think that would be great,” I murmured. Deep down, I couldn’t help but doubt AJ’s sincerity or if he would really take the time and effort to prove to me he was different. I desperately wanted him to—more than anything I needed him to.

  He nodded before grabbing my suitcase. “Come on, sexy. Your chariot awaits to take you to the great and wonderful Sticks of Bumblefuck.”

  I laughed. “Okay, let’s go.” After I got my purse and keys and threw on my sunglasses, I followed him to the door. I locked up and then we headed down the porch steps. At the sight of the gleaming silver chrome vehicle in the driveway, I raised my sunglasses onto my forehead to eye his SUV. “Nice Hummer.”

  “Thanks. The ride is pretty cool, too.” When I glanced over at AJ, he waggled his eyebrows. “You walked right into that one.”

  I shoved my overnight bag at him, catching him in the gut. “Douchebag.”

  “Oomph,” he muttered before grinning. “I’m just glad to have this bad boy back. Seems like it’s been in the shop forever.” He opened the passenger side door for me.

  “Thank you,” I replied as I climbed inside. Just before I collapsed on the seat, AJ smacked my ass. When I turned back to glare at him, he licked his lips suggestively. My response was to maturely stick out my tongue at him. He chuckled as he closed the door and made his way around the side of the Hummer.

  When AJ cranked up, a Runaway Train song started playing. I cut my eyes over at him. “You were seriously listening to your own music?”

  “Nope. I had it on so you could listen to my music,” he replied, as he pulled out of my driveway.

  “I heard it last night. Wasn’t that enough?”

  “I’m not convinced you’re a diehard fan yet.”

  “I would think the fact that I’m a diehard fan of you and your amazing cock would cover me.”

  My words caused AJ to momentarily swerve on the road. When he had recovered, he glanced over at me. “I promise that I’ll turn on some country for you in a little while.”

  I couldn’t help grinning at both his reaction to my words and his compromise. “Okay, it’s a plan.”

  Since my house was further out of Atlanta in East Cobb, I was not as far away from Jake’s farm as AJ was. Even in his Hummer, his lead foot made good timing. As we got off the interstate and onto a two-lane road, our surroundings melted into an emerald blur of trees lining the road. “Wow, this really is out in the boonies.”

  “And we’re not there yet,” AJ replied with a grin.

  “So you come out here a lot?”

  AJ bobbed his head. “Yeah, Jake’s dad and stepmom moved in next door to us when we were twelve. At first, we just got to hang out together every other weekend, but we still got tight. Then Jake started having me come out here to visit. I’d spend weeks at a time here in the summers.” He turned to me with a smile. “I guess you could say our band was born up here in the boonies. We weren’t more than fourteen, but Jake would play guitar, one of his cousins, Teague, would join in on bass, and then I did the drums. We became Runaway Train.”

  In my mind, I tried to picture a teenaged AJ pounding out the rhythm, giving his heart and soul to his garage band, or barn, performance. “How you’d get the name?”

  “Jake and his emo-shit self.”

  “Seriously?”

  AJ chuckled. “Yeah, after his parents divorced, he got really obsessed with the song Runaway Train by Soul Asylum. Writing songs like he does, Jake’s really into deep symbolism shit. Me, I liked it because it made me think of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train, and that was the first song I learned to play besides all the Hispanic music of my uncle’s.”

  “When did the other guys come into the picture?”

  “We met up with Brayden when we were all freshman at Georgia Tech. Teague left us high and dry to beco
me some aeronautical engineer or some shit, so we recruited Rhys, who was doing his pre-law at Emory.”

  “He’s the baby of the group, right?”

  AJ snickered. “Yeah, he’s just twenty-three. He’s basically a genius—motherfucker graduated from high school at sixteen and started college right after. He comes from rich as hell, society assholes down in Savannah, so they weren’t thrilled when their golden child, and only son, left school to take up with us.”

  “That sucks.”

  “They suck, trust me.”

  I cocked my head. “What did your family think of you being a musician rather than a…”

  “Business Major.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  He shrugged. “They were worried about how I would make a living at first, but they didn’t disown me like Rhys’s parents did.”

  “Poor guy.”

  “Things are a little better between them now. My parents are pretty laid back. I mean, at the end of the day, they want my brother, sister and me to be happy. They didn’t go apeshit when Antonio came out when he was so young—they supported the fact he was gay.”

  “Good for them.”

  “Yeah, they kinda flipped their lid more when Cristina got knocked up at eighteen and then eloped.” He glanced over at grinned at me. “And before you ask, they were almost as pissed about her not marrying in the church as they were that she was pregnant. We’re hardcore Catholics.”

  “So are we.”

  My thoughts left my own family to focus on AJ’s. I couldn’t help wondering what they would think of me—if they would think I was good enough for their oldest son.

  “They’ll love you, Mia.”

  I jerked my head to gaze incredulously at him. “But I—”

  He smiled. “I could tell what you were thinking, and I know what the answer is. They’ll love you.”

  “Thanks,” I murmured, as I let my mind wander to whether he could love me.

  Taking a right turn, we started down a gravel road. A swirling cloud of dust was kicked up in the Hummer’s wake. We finally arrived at a sprawling, two-story farmhouse that looked like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The outside was white-frame with blue shutters, and it had an expansive front porch, with rocking chairs, that ran the length of the house. Flowers, of all colors and sizes, dotted the front walkway. “Oh wow…this is beautiful,” I said.

  “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” AJ peered through the windshield. “Sometimes after being on the road, I forget just how amazing it is—I mean, the house is over two hundred years old. When Susan, Jake’s mom, bought it, she did a little renovating.”

  Craning my neck, I spotted a barn and some stables down the hill. From behind the barn, I could see a cloud of smoke, and I knew that must be where the bonfire was that Jake had mentioned before. “Come on, let’s go meet up with the guys,” AJ urged.

  I’d barely gotten my door open when a giant Golden Retriever stuck its head in to lick my feet. “Well hello to you, too,” I said with a smile.

  AJ laughed as he turned off the car. “That would be Angel—Abby’s dog—and the worst excuse for an attack dog you’ll ever find.”

  After I hopped down, I scratched behind Angel’s furry ears. “Aw, she’s too sweet to be mean. Aren’t you, girl?”

  Angel yipped a response before running around the side of the Hummer to greet AJ. He bent down to kiss her forehead before giving her an epic rubdown. “Okay, girl. Take us down to the others.” Holding out his hand, I slipped mine into AJ’s.

  Rolling waves of green grass swayed in the breeze as we made our way down the hill. The air was crisper and cooler up here in the mountains. As our feet crunched along the gravel, I tried not to let my anxiety of hanging out with AJ’s band-mates overwhelm me. Last night when I was with Abby and Lily, I had felt so comfortable and included. It was like I fit in immediately. And as far as the guys of Runaway Train, I couldn’t have asked for a better welcome. So, even though I shouldn’t have felt so worried, I still felt apprehensive. When we turned the corner around the barn, Angel barked and then ran ahead of us to alert the others we were there.

  With his back to us, Jake stood at a massive stainless steel grill, which was emitting some delicious meaty aromas of steak and burgers. “Yo douchenozzle, we’re here,” AJ called.

  With a grunt, Jake laid his spatula down. “Nice to see you finally made it, twatcake.” When he turned around, I snorted at his attire. Over his shorts and faded T-shirt, Jake was outfitted in a bedazzled, black ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron with glittering silver lettering. He glanced down at it before meeting my amused gaze. “Abby got this for me.”

  “Very manly,” I replied.

  He grinned. “Hey, sporting this bad boy ensures I get ass.”

  “I heard that!” Abby shouted across the clearing.

  AJ and I chuckled as Jake grinned and blew her a kiss. He then leaned over and gave me a hug. “Glad to have you with us this weekend.” It was hard to believe that a guy like Jake, who appeared so cocky and full of himself most of the time, could be so sincere. He really made me feel welcome.

  “Me too. Can I do something to help?”

  He motioned to the picnic tables where Abby and Lily were setting up some food and drinks. “Check with the girls.”

  “Okay,” I replied. I gave AJ a peck on the cheek before heading across the clearing. “Hi guys,” I said.

  Abby dropped the pack of hamburger buns she was holding and hurried around the table to hug me. “I’m so glad you came.”

  As I squeezed her back, I replied, “Thanks. Me too.”

  “I don’t know if AJ told you or not, but we’re setting you two up in the barn.” With a wink, she added, “You know, so you can have more privacy.”

  My brows rose in surprise as I thought of AJ and me snuggling on hay bales as a mattress. “Um, the barn?”

  Abby giggled. “I guess AJ forgot to tell you the barn is completely remodeled. It’s like an apartment.”

  “Oh,” I replied, my cheeks warming with embarrassment.

  “It’s really nice,” Lily replied.

  With a contented sigh, Abby nodded her head. “It has a lot of happy memories for me and Jake. That’s for sure.”

  “Then thank you for letting us have it.” I glanced over at Lily. “But what about you and Brayden?”

  “We usually stay in the basement.”

  A grin played on my lips. “Let me guess. It’s finished rather than being like a hole in the ground, right?”

  Lily nodded. “Yes, it is.”

  Abby nudged Lily playfully. “I’m trying to get her to let Jake and me take the kids tonight, so she and Bray can have some alone time.”

  Now it was Lily’s turn to blush. “Between you guys sharing your bus and then taking the kids tonight, Jake is going to start hating on me.”

  Abby snorted. “If he wants to stay in my good graces, he’ll let us help out our friends.” She waggled her blonde brows. “And that means in all ways possible.”

  At that moment, a tall, willowy teenage girl came striding up to the table with an apple pie in each hand. “They just finished baking,” she said, as she sat them down.

  “Thanks, Allison.”

  As I surmised the girl, I noticed she was so naturally beautiful. Her long dark hair was swept back in a ponytail, and she wore a short blue sundress. If she hadn’t been so young, the insecure side of me might have been intimidated. “Mia, this is Allison, Jake’s sister,” Abby introduced.

  “Well, half-sister in case you’re wondering why we look nothing alike,” Allison said with a smile. She held out her hand. “You must be AJ’s girl.”

  My eyes widened as I pumped her hand up and down. “Um, I guess so.”

  “He’s such a sweetheart…and a goofball.”

  I laughed. “Yes, he is.”

  “Shit, I forgot the crockpots with the baked beans,” Abby grumbled. Glancing up at Allison, she said, “Will you get one of the guys to go back to the house with
you to get them?”

  “Sure,” Allison replied. Without hesitation, she hurried across the clearing straight for Rhys, who was leaned against a tree trunk, drinking a beer. I watched as she tilted her head flirtingly while pointing to the house. He bobbed his head and sat his beer down on the grass.

  “Looks like someone has a crush,” I mused.

  Abby’s head snapped up from the table before her gaze honed in on Allison, who was walking as close as she could to Rhys up the hillside. “Maybe for her, but for him, she’s just Jake’s kid sister.”

  “Not to mention jailbait considering she’s almost seventeen,” Lily replied.

  Shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand, I watched as Allison gave Rhys a beaming smile. “Bless her heart. That has heartbreak written all over it.”

  “Even if she was older, that would have broken bones written all over it,” Abby remarked. She shook her head. “Jake would never, ever condone Rhys dating his baby sister.”

  My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when something brushed against my leg. Squealing, I jumped about a mile in the air. When I glanced down, I saw a dark-haired, dark-eyed toddler had wrapped herself around me. “Oh, um, hi,” I said, hoping I hadn’t just scared the shit out of her with my reaction.

  She lifted her arms. “Up!” she commanded.

  I stared wide-eyed over at Lily who only smiled. “Melody is so friendly. She never meets a stranger.”

  Stomping her tiny, pink converse covered foot, Melody repeated, “Up!”

  “Okay.” Anxiety rippled through me as I bent over to oblige her wishes. I had never been very maternal, and I usually was the last person on earth any of my cousins asked to babysit.

  Melody’s dark eyes locked on mine before she reached over to bestow a slobbery kiss on my cheek. “Thank you,” I replied, shifting her awkwardly on my hip.

  Her fingers came to wind through the strands of my hair. “Pwetty,” she said.

  “Thank you again. My Miss Melody, you sure are a talker.”

  Lily laughed. “We could barely get Jude talking, but we can’t shut her up.”

  A hand came to rest on the small of my back. When I glanced over my shoulder, AJ grinned at me. “I see you’re making new friends.”