Music of the Heart(5)

AJ brought Abby’s hand to his lips. “Just remember. Latin men are the best.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” she murmured. As she took her hand from AJ, she brought it to her head. “Ugh, why am I still so dizzy?”

AJ dove into the fridge for a bottle of water and gave it to Abby while Brayden knelt down beside her. “Maybe put your head between your knees?” he suggested, in a calm, soothing voice. At the same time, Rhys snatched up a paper towel and ran it under the tap before handing it to Abby. I glanced around at my bandmates with a mixture of disbelief. They were falling all over themselves to impress Abby with their thoughtfulness. That never, ever happened with a woman on the bus. The chicks were there to wow and impress us with their sexual talents. As soon as they were done, they were sent unceremoniously off the bus.

Well, I guess, Brayden’s motives were different. He was the father figure and caretaker of the band as well as being the father to four-year-old, Jude, and eight-month-old, Melody. And regardless of the tits and ass thrown in his face twenty-four seven, he remained true to his wife. Although I gave him shit about it, I really did admire him for being loyal.

Abby gave a ragged sigh. “I’m okay. Really, you don’t have to fuss over me.” She smoothed her hair back and wiped a few dust bunnies off her dress. “I’m hypoglycemic so sometimes I pass out when I don’t eat…that coupled with the adrenaline rush of being in a stranger’s bed and seeing you all instead of my brothers made me faint.”

After taking a hesitant sip of water, Abby patted her cheeks down with the paper towel. When she glanced up, she found all of us staring at her. “So, um, I guess you’re wondering how I ended up here, huh?”

Brayden motioned to the authorized pass nestled in her ample cleavage. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say you got on the wrong bus.”

Abby nodded. She then launched into a story about why she was even at Rock Nation. When she explained about the roadie and Jacob’s ladder, I sucked in a breath. “He thought you were looking for me.”

“Huh?” she asked.

“I’m Jake Slater. He probably wasn’t paying much attention, right?”

She nodded.

“I mean, Jake Slater and Jacob’s Ladder running together kinda sound similar—if the asshat even heard anything past J. He just assumed you were coming to see me.”

Abby’s eyebrows shot up. “And you often have random chicks coming to your bus with luggage and a guitar case?” she countered.

The grin I gave her caused pink splotches on Abby’s cheeks. “Never mind,” she muttered, looking away from me.

The sound of her phone vibrating on the table interrupted us. She grabbed it and frantically brought it to her ear. “Gabe, oh my God, it’s so good to hear from you!”

The voice on the other line spoke frantically. She shook her head. “No, no, I didn’t get cold feet about the tour. It’s just…I, um, I got on the wrong bus.”

At his response, her face clouded over with fury. “Oh really? Well, maybe one of you assholes should have come to meet me!” With his next words, she sputtered with indignation. “Don’t you chastise me about cussing! I’m a grown woman, and I’ll say whatever I want to! I can’t believe you have me on speakerphone. Eli, if you don’t stop laughing, I’m going to beat the shit out of you the moment I see you! And if you think I can’t, just remember Costa Rica!”

I couldn’t help laughing at her fiery personality. The other guys were equally amused at the spitfire in front of us.

“How did this happen? There were over a hundred buses out there, Gabe. When I asked about Jacob’s Ladder, they thought I meant Jake Slater.”

Gabe’s voiced screeched on the other end so loud we all could hear it. “You’re on Runaway Train’s bus?!!!”

“Yes,” she replied. At his next statement, she snorted. “Well, I’ve only managed to do the drummer and the bassist so far, but I’m thinking I could get a threesome going and knock out the others. Maybe I’ll gang-bang with the roadies when we stop for dinner!”

Rhys made a strangled noise in his throat while AJ muttered, “Fuck me,” under his breath. Even I couldn’t stop the below-the-belt stirring at her imaginative suggestion.

She rolled her eyes. “Gabe, would you give me a little credit? I’ve held on to my virginity this long. I think it’ll hold for a while.”

We all exchanged wild glances. Rhys tugged so hard on his stud it came out of his ear and fell to the ground. AJ fumbled for the beer next to him and drained it in a long guzzle—his chest heaving hard as he stared at Abby. Even Brayden appeared shell-shocked by her declaration. All of us had to be thinking the same thing. How was it possible for a smokin’ hot girl like the one before us to be a…virgin?