Beat of the Heart (22 page)

I was just throwing my makeup bag into my suitcase when the doorbell rang. Actually, it began a

full on assault of lightning fast rings. Rolling my eyes, I started down the hallway. When I flung open

the door, AJ stood braced against the frame grinning from ear to ear. “Miss me?”

“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 become 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