Just Sing: An Enemies-to-Lovers Rock Star Romance (Just 5 Guys Book 1)

by Selena

  “I don’t think cooking for you is on my list of neighborly duties,” I said, trying to keep the mood light.

  “Really? I think it’s customary, when someone has a baby, to bring them a dish.”

  “What are you doing, Brody Villines?” I asked, echoing his question from earlier. I could not seem to make my mouth stop smiling, and butterflies were swarming in my belly. This had been a huge mistake. Why did it have to feel so damn good to be near him?

  “I’m trying to get you to stay,” he said. “If you won’t cook, then I will.”

  “You can’t cook.”

  “Exactly my point. You don’t want to eat what I can make.”

  “And I won’t have to,” I said, straightening the straps on my dress. “My neighborly visit is over.”

  “Fine, then maybe I won’t let you leave,” he said with a mischievous grin. “I’ll hold you hostage until you say yes.”

  “Then maybe I’ll just wait until you’re sleeping and sneak out in the middle of the night.” No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I wanted to smack myself in the forehead. I could tell by the look on Brody’s face, all joking and arrogance gone, that I’d hit him where it hurt the most, unintentional as it was.

  “I—I’m sorry,” I said quickly.

  “Don’t be.” He went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle, then turned and lit the gas range under a pan already sitting on the burner, half full of water.

  I knew I should leave, but I didn’t want to leave like this. “Brody…”

  “I guess you heard,” he said, his back to me. “So, that’s why you came by? So you wouldn’t have to feel bad, since I’m not tied down to her anymore? And hey, I did promise that would always be right between us. Guess I didn’t break that promise today.”

  “It’s not like that,” I protested. I hadn’t come for a booty call. I hadn’t meant anything to happen.

  Had I? I mean, I had worn a short dress and gotten myself all dolled up...

  “It’s okay,” he said. “Happy to be of service. But I’m still tied down. I’m tied down to this little gal, and I always will be.” He smiled down at Osceola with so much love in his eyes it could have drowned her.

  “I know that. I think it’s really cool, what you’re doing.”

  He turned to face me, his eyes so intense I had to reach for the remaining glass, just to have something to do with my hands. “My feelings for you haven’t changed, Laney,” he said. “They never will. I’m going to carry that ring around in my pocket until the day you say yes.”

  “Brody…”

  He stepped around the island and took the glass from my hand, setting it on the counter before turning those intense blue eyes on me. When I started to look away, his fingers closed gently around my chin. “Stop avoiding this, Laney,” he said. “It’s not going to go away. I’m ready to slide this ring on your finger tomorrow. All you have to do is say the word.”

  I couldn’t bring my voice above a whisper. “Okay.”

  His fingers moved away from my chin, brushing along my jaw and the side of my neck, sending heat rushing across my chest in anticipation. But the baby wiggled in his arm, and he dropped his hand from my skin and stepped back.

  “I’m also never going to change my mind about her,” he said, turning off the gas and setting the bottle in the pan of water. “I’m her father. I’m always going to be. She’s my responsibility now, and I’m going to give her the best life I can.”

  “You’re really not going back to music?”

  “Music is right here with us all the time.” He dribbled milk from the bottle onto his wrist before wiping it on the wet towel and inserting the nipple into Osceola’s mouth. “Music’s always been part of my life, and it always will be. I’m writing some songs, going to do that little EP like I wanted. I’m going to do more than just sing this time. But the band, all that shit? I’m not going back to that.”

  “What are you going to do, though?” I asked, watching in fascination as Osceola began to suck in earnest, her eyes fixed on Brody.

  “This is my job now. And if someday…when someday, I’m your husband, that will be my job, too, and I’ll love it just as much. But this one isn’t going away. Nothing could make me want to quit this.”

  “I—I have to go,” I said, backing away. It was all so much, so intense. The way he talked about Osceola, the way he talked about me… It was what I’d always wanted. Brody, a family, Kentucky bluegrass and horses all around. So why was I still running away?

  forty-five

  Brody

  The funeral was held on one of those warm days at the end of April that felt more like summer than mid-spring. Though it had been a long time coming, and in a way, I had been expecting it, Othal’s death had hit me like a gut-punch. The evening Gramps passed, I had almost broken my vow to stay hidden from the outside world, the cameras and eager fangirls. I needed a night out of that house of death and sickness, someone to make me forget who I was. But I couldn’t forget because the world hadn’t forgotten. They’d started wondering where I was, why I’d disappeared.

  Now, three days later, people inside the house were probably wondering where I was as I sat on the wooden bench Othal had built around the trunk of the magnolia tree at the edge of the yard. The same tree where I had taken Othal and Osceola out to soak up sun every day for the past month. This time, instead of a quiet hour on the lush green of new grass, I was spending the afternoon consoling my inconsolable mother. Across the wide expanse of lawn, crowds of guests brought food, consumed food, consumed alcohol, and gave toasts memorializing his grandfather. That’s what Othal would have wanted—a big party for his send-off.

  Unfortunately, neither my mother nor I were in the party mood after the burial, so we’d escaped to the magnolia tree. Osceola was the only one who seemed unaffected by the tragedy, oblivious and content to sleep in her stroller as she did every day.

  “I just can’t believe he’s gone,” Virginia said, dabbing at her eyes with a shredding tissue. “How am I going to go in there and entertain all those people?” She said the word as if it were a scourge.

  “No one expects you to,” I said, putting an arm around my mother. I understood her distaste for people right then. Since leaving the tour, leaving the business, I’d found the outside world more and more unappealing. Othal, Osceola, and I had made a quiet little family. Most of the time, it was all I needed.

  As if to prove me wrong, at just that moment, Laney’s little white Camaro came zipping up the driveway.

  “Her again,” Virginia sniffed.

  “Mom, you know you love Laney,” I said.

  “Yes, well, that was before she ran off and left you.”

  “I’ve done worse to her.” I gave my mother a squeeze before standing. Somewhere deep in her shriveled heart, I knew that she still hoped for the same thing I did. But she wouldn’t forgive Laney until it suited her.

  “Look after the baby, would you?” I said after a quick check to see that my girl was still sleeping. Mom sniffed in response, but I knew she would. As soon as Uma had disappeared, Virginia had accepted Osceola into the Villines’ fold, for better or worse.

  I jogged over to the front of the house, where Laney was climbing out of her car.

  “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

  “Just stopping in,” she said, smoothing her skirt over her thighs and shaking her hair back. “I’m so sorry, Brody.”

  “It was time,” I said, because that’s what I was supposed to say.

  “I wanted to apologize for how crazy I was the last time...” She scuffed her flat white sandal against the gravel drive. “It was stupid of me to run away like that. I guess that’s sort of my thing. Running away.”

  “I’ve noticed,” I said, arching an eyebrow.

  “Right. Well, the thing is… I’m not mad at you about the baby. I mean, I’m hurt about what you did. And… God, this is going to sound even more crazy,” she muttered, breaking off and taking a deep breat
h. I waited, and she forged ahead after a pause. “I guess that it hurts to know you did all that stuff with all those girls because I still loved you. So even though we weren’t together, it still feels like a betrayal because, to my heart, it was.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ve apologized a thousand times. But I can’t fix that now, Laney. It’s done. I can’t change the past any more than you can.”

  “I know,” she said. “I just wanted to say that. And that… Well, I’m not mad that you have a baby, even though it’s not mine. I think it’s really awesome what you’re doing, actually.”

  “You’re pretty awesome yourself, Laney Tucker.”

  “I don’t know about that. I’ve made some pretty big mistakes, too,” she said. “And I think you’ve redeemed yourself. At least partially. Taking care of the baby after her mom ran off and all…”

  “It never had anything to do with Uma,” I said. “You know that. Oceola’s my daughter. That’s what it’s about.”

  “I know,” she said. “But not everyone would give up what you have for her.”

  “It’s not just for her,” I said. The words hung in the air between us. I swallowed, searching Laney’s eyes before adding, “This is the life I want.”

  “I want it, too.” Her lip trembled, but she met my gaze without flinching.

  Damn, I wanted to take that quivering lip between mine and bite it. I wanted to make her come how I had the last time she visited—every night. I wanted to make her breakfast in the morning until I could make one worthy of her. I wanted to be her guinea pig for all her dinners, even the fails. I wanted another stroller with our baby in it.

  I pushed the thoughts away. “I thought you were going to grad school in the fall.”

  “I am,” she said. “I am doing that. I’m not going to give that up.”

  The mood shifted, and I slid my hands into my pockets and squared my shoulders. That was that. “Well, I know Othal would have wanted you to be here. So thank you for coming.”

  Laney gave me a polite smile, the kind she gave the pastor at church. “It was really good of you to be here for him these last few months. I’m sure he appreciated that more than you know.”

  “Would you like to go inside and have a drink?” I asked. “Dad’s entertaining the masses. I’ll be over there with Virginia and Osceola. I’ve more than fulfilled my duty to the masses.”

  I smiled, trying to lighten the mood, but Laney just shook her head. “No, I came to see you,” she said. “And to tell you that… I think I kept running away, hoping you’d chase me. But you can’t anymore. You’ve grown roots. You can’t come to me anymore, so I have to come to you.”

  I didn’t dare let myself hope that statement meant more than its words.

  “For what?” I asked, cocking my head. “That last time was… Jesus. Fucking incredible, Laney. I’m not saying I’d take a second of it back, because I wouldn’t. And you know I’ll be here any time you want to come on over and let off steam.”

  “It wasn’t just that,” Laney said, her cheeks getting all pink and cute as hell.

  “Whatever it was, I’m down for seconds,” I said with a grin. “Any time you want, just holler at me. I won’t say no to that.”

  “You make it sound so tawdry,” she said. “It wasn’t a hookup, Brody. Not for me. I still… I’ll always love you, Brody. I was hoping, maybe, we could find a way…”

  “Laney,” I said, reaching for her hand. Her words had rammed an invisible knife right through my sternum. “In my heart, you’ll always be my girl. But I’m a dad. Osceola’s my girl now, too, in a different way. And you don’t want to be a mom.”

  “But I do,” she said. “I wasn’t exactly planning for it now, but… Neither were you.”

  “So… You’re saying, what, exactly? You want to live here with us? Move in here?”

  “No,” she said firmly, shaking her head. “I’m not saying that. I’m saying I’d give you another chance. I know if I don’t, I’ll end up doing what I did last time. I’ll marry someone I don’t love, and always wonder what would have happened if I’d tried again. But I’m not giving up my dreams for you, Brody Villines. I went on tour with you. I’ll come to you and ask, but if you want to be with me, this time, you have to come to where I am. And I’m going to be at University of Iowa.”

  I didn’t even have to consider her offer. I’d already started planning. I didn’t want to live in the house where Othal had died. I didn’t want to be on the celebrity scene in L.A. or raise my daughter with the snobs in the Hamptons. I wanted her to have a normal childhood, like I had.

  I wanted to disappear for a while. And the truth was, I didn’t have to think about it at all. I’d cross the universe to make Laney mine again.

  “Fair enough,” I said. “But you’re going to have to do something for me.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, her face suddenly wary.

  “You’re going to have to marry me.”

  “I do hope that will happen someday.”

  “No,” I said, wrapping my hand around the box in my pocket. “You’re going to have to let me put this ring on your finger and tell the world you’re mine.” I drew out the box I’d been carrying around since the last time I’d asked.

  “What are you doing?” Laney whispered, her eyes wide.

  “You can have your moment in the sun, Laney. I’m not going to stand in the way of your dreams or let this shitty celebrity stuff stop you from doing what you want to do. I’ll stay home and be a dad while you’re off at school every day. But I’m taking care of my family. And that means Osceola and you.”

  “Then you’re going to have to wait until I finish grad school,” she said, but she didn’t pull away when I took her hand.

  Slowly, I eased the box open and took out the ring, letting the box fall to the ground at our feet. My heart was pounding out a steady rhythm in my chest, but I managed a smile. “I told you I’d keep asking until you said yes.”

  “Did I say yes?”

  I stepped closer, angling my mouth towards hers as I held her hand gently, like the treasure it was. “Marry me, Laney Tucker.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, her breath sweet across my skin.

  My lips brushed over hers. “Say yes.”

  “Yes.”

  Her fingers trembled as I slid the ring into place, but mine were steady. I wasn’t going to fuck this up. She was mine, and I was never letting her go.

  The End.

  * * *

  Continue the Just 5 Guys series in book two, an enemies-to-lovers angsty rock star romance featuring Uma and her Kryptonite ??. If you’re a new-to-me reader, I set the release dates out a year and move them forward as time allows, so don’t panic about that tentative date. It will likely change (depending on demand). Click here to pre-order Just Rhythm.

  * * *

  Join my Romance Readers Club to receive a bonus epilogue featuring Brody and Laney five years later.

  Click here to join my FB group for more frequent updates, musings, book news, and random GIFs.

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to my beta readers, Emily, Leona, Kylie, Laurie, Elizabeth, and Sophie, for making this book shine.

  Thanks to my editors Kathy Bosman and Tristin M. for all your advice and hard work.

  Huge shout-out to my cover designer Ally Hastings for always encouraging me to publish my rock stars, dealing with my endless pickiness, and for the chats and friendship over the years.

  Lastly, a huge thank you (with guitar riffs and lickable abs on top) to all my amazing readers for taking a chance on this book. Y’all are all the real rock stars of this world!

 

 

 
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