Don't Break My Heart (Straight from the Heart #3)

by Breigh Forstner

  “Me either. But hey, that’s her choice,” Alex replied. “I’m going to get the equipment downstairs ready. I’ve got a killer idea for a new song, and I’m itching to play.”

  “Alright bud. I’ll go change and meet you down there.” I said to Alex and Mike; Lucy purposely ignored me. What the hell was her problem?

  I ran back upstairs to grab a T-shirt and bumped into Lucy as she came out of the bathroom.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off hers. There was a hint of sadness in them and I knew I was the cause.

  “Are you done staring at me?” She cocked her head to the side, trying to move past me so she could walk downstairs. “And we have practicing to do.”

  She was cute when she got pissy with me.

  “What is wrong with you?” I blurted out. “Even after I thought we were cool, and at least civil, you turn stone cold against me again, Luce.” Her facial expression softened, and she stepped closer to me, almost causing me to hit my back against the wall.

  “I don’t even fucking know anymore, Pauly.” She groaned, her hands messing up her hair. “I told myself I had to get over what happened with us, how I was just a one night stand to you, and I think I might’ve met someone I’d like to get to know. You get rid of him while keeping some woman here but all I can think about is you. I hate this. I never used to be like this. What is wrong with me?”

  I immediately pulled Lucy into a hug. “Tommy girl, it’s okay.” I whispered, my hand running over her hair, smoothing it out. “You’re the most important girl in my life you know that right?” She nodded in between sniffles. “I never want to lose you. I don’t want to see your heart get broken again, like what happened with Pelton..”

  My shoulder was soaking wet from her tears, but I didn’t care. My best friend was crying because of me and I needed to fix this. Somehow.

  She lifted her head up and all I saw were her blue eyes, shining from the tears she’d just cried. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get so emotional. You bring out that in me, you know that, right?”

  “I just thought most of the time I pissed you off,” I replied, rubbing her back. “And I still think you’re hot when you yell at me and call me names; it’s a big turn on.” Just having Lucy this close to me again was making me horny. Fuck. This couldn’t be happening.

  I don’t know what the hell I’m doing or thinking anymore. I changing my mind like a girl changes clothes; yes, I just quoted Katy Perry.

  “You confuse the hell out of me, Pauly,” she sighed. “You say we need to be just friends, but then you say things like that to me. How am I supposed to act? How am I supposed to move on?”

  “It needs to be that way.” I said tight-lipped, making my painful decision again. “As much as it kills me to say that, Luce, and believe me, it does.”

  I tried to meet Lucy’s eyes, but she walked away. She grabbed a notebook from her bedroom and stopped in front of me again. “That’s fine; you made your choice, and now I’m going to try to make it work with Liam.” She seemed pretty calm for a woman who had been crying just a few minutes before that, and that made me feel like a dick. “We’ve got music to play.”

  The whole time we were in the basement playing out the group’s new ideas for songs, all I could think about was how I needed to get this Lucy shit out of my system. She said she was going to make it work with Liam, then fine, have at it. Guy seemed decent, even though I only met him for a split second anyway.

  “Donovan, I like that solo at the beginning, try it again.” Damon said to me as my fingers warmed up to play another solo. I let my fingers do the talking as they moved up and down the guitar as fast as slippery butter. “Yeah, that’s fucking killer.” We were working on another new song Lucy had written called Backstabber. When she showed us the lyrics, she explained exactly how she pictured the song going, and shit was it dark and heavy.

  But that was what we played, and the fans were going to eat it up.

  We played, wrote, and sang our asses off all day long, only stopping once when Emily brought us a couple of pizzas.

  I noticed Lucy was texting on her phone after she ate her pizza, and she was grinning like a little kid.

  I threw one of my guitar picks at her face and said “That’s about the first time I’ve seen you smile all morning kid. Is it your boyfriend?” I teased. This time I was thankful she didn’t shoot me those daggers because that look killed me every time.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know, Pauly?” she winked, strapping her bass back on. She had the nicest instrument out of all of us. It was a Nikki Sixx custom bass signed by the man himself when we met the band backstage a few years ago. I had been lucky enough to have a six string signed the legendary Mick Mars, but Damon trashed it one night we were partying in my house. I never forgave him for that shit. “For your information, Mr. Nosy Ass, it was Liam. I’m going over to his restaurant later for some dinner and dessert.”

  “I bet he wants you for desert, not the pie…” Mike interjected, and we all started laughing at Lucy. Her face flushed deep red and she tried ignoring all of us heckling her. “What? That’s how guys think, Luce.”

  “I’ve been around you guys ever since we were little, I think I know pretty darn well how you guys think,” she grinned. “And that’s with your dicks not your brains. NOW can we get back to practicing?”

  That mouth would get her into trouble at some point.

  We finished practicing and wrapped up a few songs late in the evening when Lucy headed upstairs to change for her ‘date’. The rest of us voted on building a bonfire by the lake and Emily went with Alex to gather up the firewood. I’d told Alex it was a matter of time before he screwed her. They dated back in high school during freshman year, but he messed up big time by losing her. In addition, Emily was Damon’s cousin, so that made her cool in my book.

  “Damn girl, you’re dressed to impress.” I commented on Lucy’s zip up hoodie and T-shirt look she had going. She did a little spin for me and I saw the sparkly angel wings on the back, hugging her small frame.

  “It’s just a restaurant Pauly. There’s no fancy schmancy places up here unless we went to Mackinaw.” She replied, grabbing her purse, sifting around for her car keys. “You guys having anyone else over tonight?”

  “Don’t think so.” I shook my head. “The bonfire will probably still be going on by the time you get back so we’ll be down by the lake. Ya know, singing songs by the camp fire like we used to do at music camp.”

  Lucy giggled. “How could I forget that?” She ran up to me, leaning up onto her tiptoes to give me a one armed hug. “I’ll see you later.” Way too close. She smelled like a mix of fruit and flowers. It was intoxicating. I waved at her as she hurried out the door, immediately retreating to the fridge to grab a beer.

  The only thing that was going to be on my mind tonight was what the hell Lucy was doing with this Liam guy. Drowning my sorrows with beer and s’mores wasn’t going to cut it.

  “Awe, you’re watching her walk out the door like a poor little puppy watches his owner leave for the day.” Emily teased, walking up to me and nudging my side.

  “Shut up, I was not,” I defended myself.

  “You broke her heart after that night, Donovan. Lucy cares about you more than a friend and you shot her down,” Emily scolded me. “She hasn’t been with anyone since the love triangle debacle and I don’t blame her for going to see this guy.”

  I rolled my eyes at Emily’s response. “I said that to her for good reasons, Em”

  “Good reasons, my ass,” Emily retorted. “Sounds like someone is afraid to let go of their sleeping with a different girl every night ways, huh?”

  “It’s not like that at all,” I said through gritted teeth. Although, that had been my lifestyle choice for many years now, I made no commitment to any girls. They knew that whenever I approached them. One time, one fuck, that’s it, get out the door. Don’t let it kick you on the way out. Most of them accepted it, but some still left their numbers behind for me in c
ase I was ever back in town. Those pieces of paper were quickly thrown in the trash. Not by me, but by Lucy.

  She would never admit it, but from the fake smile she would put on, saying goodbye to a girl each time they left the bus, it was obvious.

  “Sure it is, Pauly. I know you pretty damn well and know you care about Lucy, but you’re too scared to commit to her so you hide behind all of these groupies that flock to you.” That sounded more accurate. I didn’t respond to her, taking another sip of my beer and kept my thoughts to myself as I headed back downstairs.

  I grabbed my acoustic guitar from studio and took it out to the edge of the lake, where the fire was getting started. It wasn’t too chilly out, but right on the lake, the water had cooling effect. I wore a band T-shirt and a pair of jeans, plopping down onto a log used for a seat.

  “So what are we going to play tonight?” I said to the group as everyone sat down in front of the fire. “I’ll be taking requests for a short while before I let someone else take a turn.”

  “How about Zeppelin!” Damon started chanting ‘Zeppelin, Zeppelin’ like the drunk ass he was, then singing the intro to Immigrant Song. I almost fell backward laughing at how ridiculous he looked, but then we all chimed in, and I began to play the chords. After that, I played close to all of my classic favorite songs, Hendrix, Clapton, Deep Purple. That was the kind of music I’d listened to growing up, thanks to my grandparents, secret hippies all about peace and love.

  We stopped playing and singing for a minute so we could make our s’mores, the crew sending me off to find sticks for everyone to use. By the time I retrieved them all, I heard a very faint sound of a car pulling back into the driveway. And considering how much property this cabin is on, I only knew it was a car because no one else lives around here for nearly a mile.

  I carried the sticks back and Alex started telling Emily crazy stories about our last tour, which was with Everlasting, all except their drummer, Tyler Donahue.

  “Yeah, you should have been there, Em. After Pauly started dancing with Lucy, another guy tried to weasel his way to her, and Pauly damn near punched this guy in the balls. This was after Charming snuck off with goody two shoes, Bryn.” Alex slapped his knee in amusement at the smug look on Damon’s face.

  “Do we have to bring Bryn up at this time?” Damon whined, the smug look no longer there. “I fucked up big time with her, and now she’s on the road to marriage with fucking Pelton. Lucky bastard.” I knew that after what Bryn had seen in our dressing room in California, she avoided Damon like the plague, and it had killed him.

  Deep down, we all knew that Damon wouldn’t change for a girl. It would take a miracle for him to stray away from his Damon ways. We were almost one and the same in that sense.

  “Oh, stop it, you pussy; you’ll find another girl someday.” Mike threw a burnt marshmallow at him. “Just go to the bar downtown!”

  “Hardy har har, very funny,” Damon replied.

  “What’s so funny?” Lucy asked with a grin on her face, plopping down beside me. She had changed out of the outfit she was wearing earlier and now she was wearing a Sons of Anarchy hoodie and a pair of tight yoga pants.

  “I didn’t expect you back so early Luce, what happened, did preppy boy burn your food?” I jokingly teased her, and she flipped me off.

  “No Pauly, sorry to disappoint; I did what I planned to do. I went to his restaurant, and we had desert. He makes his own family recipe cheesecake, and it’s the most amazing thing on the planet, seriously.” She started gushing, and I looked toward the guys and pretended to gag. I had a dirty vision of licking cheesecake and syrup off Lucy after she mentioned that, so I tried to think of the one thing that would keep me from coming in my pants right there. What that was, I wasn’t sure yet.

  “Well, tell Betty Crocker to come by and make us some food sometime, he’s more than welcome,” Damon said, and I could see Lucy holding back a laugh.

  “You guys won’t stop will you?” She looked directly at me, and I wrapped an arm around her. She made her s’mores and didn’t say another word about Liam as we sang more songs around the fire. Damon took the guitar from me, and I kept my arm tightly wound around Lucy and her small frame, squeezing her side from time to time just to let her know I was there.

  We finally put the fire out sometime after midnight, retreating to the house. I was dead tired. After working on music all day, I was ready for a restful sleep.

  I decided to take a quick shower before going to bed, so I grabbed a pair of boxers and opened the bathroom door by my bedroom.

  “Shit, Pauly, knock first!”

  Lucy was standing in front of me wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her. A towel that barely covered her, and if I stared any harder, I would see that wet pussy in between her legs. Her hair was still soaking wet as she reached for another towel to dry off her hair.

  Look away Paul; look away.

  “Stop staring at me like you want to fuck me, best friend, and shut the door on your way out.” Lucy stuck her tongue out and glared at me. I gave her a crooked smile. I wanted to do much, so much, more to her than that.

  “Well, I need to use the shower, Luce. Why don’t you just change in front of me? Remember I’ve seen you naked before.” My eyes lingered over her body once again. Why she was so insecure about how she looked was beyond me. I always thought she was prettier than the rest of the girls that we went to school with. Before she dyed her hair with the colored streaks. Before she lost as much weight as she has. And certainly before she started wearing those tight ass corsets and short skirts that barely covered her ass on stage.

  “Whatever Pauly. At least turnaround,” Lucy groaned, and I reluctantly agreed, turning around so I faced the open hallway. I heard Lucy move around behind me before she threw her towel at the back of my head, where it landed on top of my head.

  I spun around, and she had a wicked smile on her face. It was pure evil in the best way possible. She changed into a pair of short as hell pajama shorts and a skinny- strapped tank top. It was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra since I could see her nipples trying to poke through. They needed my undivided attention.

  “Gross, tommy girl, now I’m all wet,” I joked, tossing the towel to the side. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, leaning against the bathroom counter. “I should get you back for that.”

  “Have fun with that one,” she winked, patting my chest as she walked out. “Goodnight Pauly.”

  Chapter 6: New Guy

  Lucy

  Shit, could that man ever make up his mind?

  I try to tease around with Pauly like we used to, and he just eyes me up like he wants to eat me up… literally. I didn’t know what was going on inside of his mind, but based on how he was acting lately, he doesn’t even know what the hell he is doing.

  After our bathroom encounter, I retreated into my bedroom, where I had the idea for a song I wanted to show the guys when we went back to practicing in the morning.

  You eye me up and down like you want something

  Wel,l baby show me what you got

  Teasing doesn’t do it for me

  I want you, all of you

  Right here and right now

  Crap.

  I crinkled up the piece of paper immediately after reading over the lyrics. Why all of a sudden was I having writers block? Or a case of ‘I can’t write worth a shit and my lyrics are dog shit.’ The pressure to put out the next great album was always in the back of my mind. When you have managers that are up your ass every single day, plus the record company, telling us when and how we need to make our album, it is just too much sometimes. I just want to play my music. I don’t give a shit about those people who only care about the money we make for them.

  My phone chirped next to me, telling me I had a new text.

  Liam: Goodnight, Lucy. I’m glad I got to see you tonight.

  A smile formed on my lips. I almost forgot about how I saw him just a few hours earlier. I got to see him in his o
wn element doing what he loved. He was back in the kitchen when I got to the restaurant, and when the server told him someone was there to see him, Liam came straight out and gave me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek, which made everyone in the restaurant stop and stare at us.

  “Sorry,” he whispered to me, gesturing toward a corner booth. “People are not used to seeing me bringing girls around here.”

  I texted him back.

  Me: Me, too. I was bragging to everyone how I got to eat the best cheesecake in town.

  Liam: I’m flattered. Am I going to see you again?

  Me: I hope so! We’re having a big 4th of July bash coming up, you’ll have to be my date.

  Liam: I would love to. I really like you, Lucy.

  Me: Really?

  Liam: Yes. I’ll even send you a list of reasons why, but right now, I’m closing up shop.

  Me: Haha okay. Goodnight, Liam.

  In between practicing downstairs and in the pavilion, we were also planning our 4th of July party we held every year. We’d invite our families and friends to come out for a barbeque, then a huge bonfire by the lake, where the guys would light off a huge fireworks show. I was excited that my brother and sister were able to bring their kids and significant others this year, because in the past, something had always come up. My mom was working, but she said she’d make it up to me when we came home.

  “Hey, try that ‘I don’t want to feel this way’ line again,” I told Mike, who was our other guitarist. “Try it in drop D and see how that sounds.”

  Mike nodded, and we started the song we were working on again. I started out with a sick bass line, and he and Pauly followed in after me. Damon started screaming his vocal line, and we nailed our first run through perfectly… almost.

  “Alex you screwed up in the chorus and made us a couple beats behind.” Pauly scolded Alex, who sat shirtless and sweaty behind his mastermind of a drum kit.

  “It’s fucking practice, you dumbass,” Alex replied, throwing an empty water bottle at Pauly. “Plus it’s only our second run-through.”