Damaged But Not Broken (New Adult Rockers) (11 page)

“You’re trespassing,” I say
harshly, not worrying about niceties.

Savannah is wearing big black
sunglasses; though I doubt her expression behind them is contrite.

“I’ll just be a minute,” she says
sourly.

Oh boy. I feel my entire body
tense. I am not a confrontational person and this Savannah woman puts me on
edge. Besides the fact that she’s engaged to Blake, she's also a complete bitch.

“I’m not in the mood, Savannah.
What can I do for you?”

“Do you know who my parents are?”
She removes her sunglasses, and there's a hardness behind her pretty eyes.

The question catches me off guard.

“I have no idea.”

“Jeffrey and Scarlet Devlin.” She
looks at me as if I should instantly recognize the names.

I stare back, keeping my expression
blank and hoping she can tell that I really don’t care.

“They just about run Nashville,”
she explains, “So, Blake has aligned himself with one of the most powerful
families in the city.”

“Again, Savannah, I’m not in the
mood for this. Say what you’re going to say and then get the hell off my Daddy’s
property.”

Her nostrils flare, she clearly
doesn’t like being told what to do. I’m surprised by my own courage, but I can
feel myself near a breaking point.

“What I’m saying,” she says slowly,
as if she’s explaining things to a small child, “is to stay the hell away from
my fiancé.”

I ball my fists and take two deep
breaths. I figured as much when I saw Savannah get out of her car, but hearing
it directly from her mouth is another story.

“I don’t know what impression you
may have of me,” I say evenly, “but I’m not the kind of girl who goes after
another woman’s fiancé. I can’t do anything about the fact that Blake and I
have a past, but I would hope that you would trust your fiancé a little more
than this.”

Again, Savannah doesn’t like my
response.

Even though it’s the truth. As much
as I still care for Blake, I would never actively pursue him knowing that he
was engaged. I felt bad enough that I nearly kissed him the other night. Hell,
I felt guilty that I hugged him.

Savannah sneers and takes a step
closer. “You come across all sweet, with your little sundresses,” she waves at
my attire, “and you’re pretty blonde hair, but I see through you. You would
just love to get Blake back, and I’m warning you now to stay away.”

“And I’m warning you now to leave
me the hell alone. I moved back to Nashville to pursue music and make amends
with my Daddy. I don’t care who your parents are. The last thing I want is to
deal with bullshit like this!” My face flushes, and my hands start to shake, but
I’m on a roll. “I had no idea that Blake was still living here or even making
music himself. Now if I were you, I’d get the hell home to your man and worry
about your own business.”

Adrenalin is gushing through my
veins at this point, I haven't felt this jacked up in forever, and I'm ready to
go at this chick if that's how she wants to play it.

Savannah stares at me, and for a
moment I think she might slap me. But instead she turns on her heel and stalks
away. I don’t believe that she can let me have the last word. Sure enough, she
turns around just as she is getting into her car.

“I don’t trust you for a minute,”
she hisses, and then slams her door shut and squeals down the driveway.

My whole body is shaking now, and
once her car disappears from sight, and I stumble into the house, nearly
blinded with rage. What a stupid fucking bitch, what gives her the right to
threaten people and just expect them to back down because she said so?

I almost call Blake just to tell
him what a crazy bitch he has for a fiancé, but I stop myself. That won’t do
any good, and the last thing I need is for Blake to confront Savannah about
that. I don’t want to give her that satisfaction either – that will just add
fuel to her fire.

Instead, I pour myself a glass of
Chardonnay and carry it back to my bedroom. I kick my clothes off, throw on a
swimsuit, and down my wine before diving into the pool.

I lose count of how many laps I do,
but when I finally stop, my body is numb and feels rubbery but my head feels
surprisingly clear. Even when I vow to stay away from Blake, I still can’t stay
completely away from him.

I float in the pool for a few
minutes, and then make my way out, wringing out my wet hair. I promise myself
that I’m not going to dwell on Savannah anymore and I head back inside to work
on writing my new songs.

NINE

Blake

A Familiar Fuck

Savannah is home earlier than
normal, and telling from the clip of her heels, it hasn’t been a good day.
Normally, I would ask how her day has been, but I’ve been on her shit list
since Friday night, so instead, I quietly shut the door to my office and keep
working on my song.

A few minutes later, the door
swings open, and Savannah is standing there in short shorts and a low-cut top.

“What are we doing for dinner?” she
demands.

“Hello to you, too,” I can’t help
saying.

She rolls her eyes, places her
hands on her hips and waits for my response.

I shrug. “I can grill. I think we
have some shrimp and chicken in the fridge.”

“I don’t want chicken.”

“Fine. I can grill shrimp.”

“Fine.”

She flounces off again and I shake
my head. I always knew Savannah had an attitude, and until recently I found it
almost endearing. To be honest, until Paige came back into my life, Savannah’s
attitude never really bothered me, but now I can’t help constantly thinking
Would
Paige act like this?

And I know the answer  - Paige
never
would.

I sigh. I need to get Paige off my
brain. It haunts me that even after her trauma, she still has feelings for me,
and only me. It’s sweet and sad at the same time.

Savannah and I eat dinner in near
silence. I’m not sure how long this can go on, but once I’ve cleaned up from
dinner, I come into the bedroom to find Savannah stark naked and spread eagle
on the bed.

“What the hell?”

“Sugar,” she pleads, her eyes dark
and pouty. “I need you.”

I want to turn around and walk out
of the room, but I can’t. It’s too enticing to have Savannah naked and ready
for me. So, like any man would do, I yank my clothes off and hurry to the bed.

But I’m ashamed to admit that it’s
Paige who I think about the entire time.

~~~

After the marathon sex session with
Savannah, everything seems to return back to normal between us. Savannah seems
oddly triumphant the rest of the week, and I’m not really sure why.

Before I know it, Thursday is here
and I spend the day with Ryan and our other band mate Ben, getting things
together for our gig that night. Savannah only comes to occasional
performances, and tonight she’s informed me that she’s staying home and having
a
Real Housewives
marathon.

Ben, Ryan and I head out to the
club and I’m surprised to see Kenny there. We give him a quick wave and head
back to our small dressing room. We tune our guitars, and go over a few things,
and the sounds of the first act come drifting under the door.

“It can’t be,” I murmur, and I
excuse myself before slipping out of the room. I wind my way backstage and peek
out onto the small stage.

Sure enough, there is Paige, her
blonde hair in loose waves down her back, and dressed in a simple white dress
with boots. She’s playing the guitar, and singing her heart out about how she
wishes she could fix herself.

I’m broken beyond repair, and
it’s been this way for a while

Won’t ever be whole again, can’t
really find a way to smile

It tears me up just hearing those
lyrics because I know how real they are to Paige. Christ, I could have at least
had a head’s up from Paige or Kenny. Come to think of it, I’ll bet that Paige
doesn’t even know that Rust is following her tonight.

Shit. She’s gonna freak if she
doesn’t know we're scheduled to play next.

I listen to one more song and then
force myself to head back to the guys. I can’t help thinking about how damn
sexy she is, especially when she’s singing.

Twenty minutes later, Ben, Ryan and
I are heading through the halls to backstage. I can still hear clapping for
Paige, and then she appears like a vision, just before us.

I see the shock register across her
face.

“Blake!” she exclaims, her blue
eyes wide and confused. “What are you doing here?”

I give her an apologetic grin.
“We’re up next.”

She looks dumbfounded back and
forth between the guys and me. Ryan flashes her a smile, but she’s too stunned
to respond.

“I had no idea,” I add, “I just
realized you were playing a few minutes ago.”

“Blake, let’s go,” Ben says,
pushing me forward, looking between Paige and I.

She nods, her face still surprised.
“Right.”

The guys hurry ahead of me, and I
grab Paige’s wrist.

Her eyes flash and she looks at me
with hurt.

“What?” she demands.

I’m not sure what I’m doing. “I’m
sorry,” I murmur, releasing her. “I’ll see you around.” It sounds silly, but
it’s all I can manage.

“See you,” she says softly, and
then she disappears down the hallway.

We play our set, and the audience
seems more excited than normal. Maybe it’s because Paige has riled them up.
She’s nowhere to be seen when we finish, but Kenny grabs us as we come off
stage.

“Great news boys!” he booms,
pulling us towards the table. “The tour is official! Fifteen cities and you
leave in three weeks! You open in Memphis!”

“No shit!” Ben exclaims,
high-fiving Ryan.

I finally get a grip and I whoop
with excitement.

“That’s fantastic!” I yell.

Kenny motions to a waitress, who
brings us three beers. Kenny is nursing his tonic water, and the four of us
toast.

“Becky will have details at the
start of next week, but start preparing. The tour will last about a month.”

“Do we have an opening act yet?”
Ryan asks after nearly downing his beer.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it,”
Kenny says. “And afterwards, I really want to get you guys in the studio to
record an album.”

Ben whistles. “Holy shit.”

“I know,” Kenny grins, “Congrats!”
He looks up and I look too. Paige is making her way across the bar, looking
slightly uncomfortable and out of place.

“Excuse me,” Kenny says, getting up
and making his way towards Paige.

He puts his arm around her shoulder
and starts leading her towards our table. Once Paige sees us, she stops and
whispers something to her father. He shakes her head, and guides her along.

“Paige, I know you know Ryan and
Blake, but this is Ben, the other member of Rust.”

Paige smiles, but it doesn’t quite
reach her eyes and she keeps stealing glances at me. “Nice to meet you,” she
says kindly.

“Paige is my daughter,” Kenny
explains, and I see Ben make the connection. He gives me a quick look and then
smiles at Paige.

“Pleasure is all mine,” he says
smoothly, shaking Paige’s hand.

“I was just telling these guys that
I’ve booked them a tour,” Kenny tells Paige.

“Wow, a tour. Congratulations.
That’s really exciting.” She looks down before I can catch her eye.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m really
tired,” she says, and she hurries away.

Kenny, Ben, and Ryan stare after
Paige, and I hurry up from the table.

“Excuse me,” I say, rushing after
her.

I catch her just out of sight of
our table, and slightly hidden from view by the exit.

“Paige.”

She turns around, she seems relieved
at first and then instantly frustrated.

“What are we doing Blake?” she
demands, “Why are you following me?”

Why am I following her? Because I
can’t stand things like this.

“Because it can’t be this way,
Paige. We have to find a way to be friends somehow. This is too awkward. Too
weird.”

Paige’s face hardens. “That’s not
what your fiancé said,” she spits.

I’m confused because I know that
Savannah wants me to do have nothing to do with Paige, and honestly, I could
care less at this moment. But how the hell does Paige know any of this?

“What do you mean?” I ask slowly.

Paige shakes her head. “It’s not my
place to say anything.” She stops. “But you can tell her she better not set
foot on my dad’s property again,” she blurts out.

“Wait. What?”

Paige shakes her head. “I promised
myself that I wasn’t going to say anything to you.”

“Did Savannah come to your house?”

I can tell Paige is wrestling with
the answer and then she gives up.

“Yes. She was waiting for me when I
came home Monday afternoon. She basically told me to stay the hell away from
you and threatened me with her powerful family. I told her to get the hell off
my property.” Paige raises her chin with indignation.

“What the fuck!” I hiss, seeing
red. It was one thing for Savannah to give me a load of shit. It was an
entirely different thing to have her showing up at Paige’s house, telling her
to keep away and making threats.

I was sick.

“What else did she say?” I ask
through gritted teeth.

Paige shrugs. “That was pretty much
it. She said she saw through me and that she didn’t trust me.”

I pound my fist against the wall
and Paige jumps with fright.

“I told her that I am not the kind
of woman who goes around stealing other people’s fiancés.” She levels me with
her gaze. “And I’m not, Blake,” she says in a steely voice. “No matter what I
feel for you, I will not pursue you. I will not act on any of my feelings for
you. Do you understand?” She’s practically shaking at this point and it makes
me want to pull her into my arms.