Full Circle (Rockin' Country #3) (4 page)

Jared risked another question. “How did she sound to you? When she talks to me, she acts like everything’s fucking hunky dory, and I know it’s not. She’s got to be lonely in Nashville by herself.”

“I can tell she misses us. Shell puts on a good front, she always has, but I can usually tell when she’s having a hard time, and she’s having one right now.”

Across the table from her, Jared grimaced. It was odd for her to look at him objectively, normally she was in tune with only one man’s moods and that was her husband’s. Here, in this situation, though, she had to be in tune with four men and their moods. Even though Jared looked dangerous, with his close cropped hair, neck tattoo, and a brand new lip ring, she knew that he wasn’t. She knew that he was a mixed up man who loved an equally mixed up woman, and neither of them knew what in the world to do about it for longer than the few hours it took them to physically express that love.

“She’s gonna do what she wants to do, though, right?” He shrugged, fighting the melancholy he was feeling.

“If you’ve learned nothing about my BFF, you at least know that.”

Jared nodded, taking a drink of the Coke that sat in front of him. He did indeed. He didn’t dare let Hannah know that he’d tried to convince Shell to come with them, that he’d done everything he knew to do, short of asking her to marry him to get her ass on the bus with them. His lady was having none of it, she wanted to give college a shot and while he was proud of her, fuck he missed her. Looking across the table at Hannah and Garrett, it hit him hard in the chest and he had to physically rub the ache away. He wanted that, the way the two of them stared at each other like they were the only ones in the room. Maybe it had been his fault for waiting so long to tell Shell what she meant to him and this was his punishment. He’d take it like a man, like he had his whole life.

*     *     *

“Do you think Jared’s okay?” Hannah changed from the clothes she’d put on to go downstairs and have dinner to her pajamas, putting socks on her cold feet.

“I don’t know why you’re bothering with those clothes.” Garrett cut his eyes over at her. “You’ll be out of them before the sun comes up.”

She knew that he was right, but she
was
cold, and until he made a move or she decided to, she wanted to be warm. “Shush, I asked you a question.”

“When is he really okay? I mean,
that’s
the question. He has issues, Han, and sometimes he’s not going to have an easy time of it.”

“He misses Shell.” she worried her lip between her teeth and twisted her hair into a braid.

“So do you,” he pointed out. “He’ll learn to deal with it. I told him it wasn’t easy.” He walked over to where she sat on the bed, still braiding her hair. “I told him it would feel like he was missing a piece of his soul and a part of his heart. I told him it would ache and it would feel like he couldn’t put it back together again. I was completely honest with him, but there’s nothing that can prepare you for it. Guys like us, we love hard, especially Jared. You know what it took for him to finally tell her.”

“He doesn’t see this as a slap in the face does he?”

“Nah.” Garrett shook his head. “He knows what she’s doing is important to her, and he would never keep her from doing something important to her. Just like I wouldn’t keep you from doing something important to you. Do we all wish that we lived different lives and didn’t have to be apart? Hell yeah, but we are who we are, babe.”

She knew he spoke the truth, but her heart still hurt whenever she looked at Jared and saw the lost look on his face. It reminded her of a child who was looking for his parents. She’d asked a few times about Jared’s childhood, but Garrett almost flat-out refused to talk about it. It made her curious, but she wanted to respect the privacy of everyone involved. “You’re right. I just want everyone to be as happy as we are.”

“I’m not sure anybody could be as happy as us.” He smiled down at her.

It was that smile, the one that caused butterflies in her stomach and her blood pressure to rise. “Why do you say that?”

“Because we’re damn lucky, and I think we both know it,” he told her as he reached down and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close to him.

“We are,” she agreed, licking her lips when she saw his eyes there.

“Teasing are we?” He cupped her jaw in his hand, pulling her so that they were a breath away.

“We do have an empty room, an empty bed, and a call time of ten a.m. I think that’s a good combination for one of those marathon TV sessions Brad and I like to have.” She laughed at the growl he unleashed on her.

“Oh baby, we’re marathoning, but it sure as hell isn’t gonna be Sons of Anarchy.”

She squealed loudly as he threw her on the bed and followed right behind.

*  *  *

“A
re you sure you don’t mind?”

Overnight, the snow and wind had stopped. Roads were still iffy, but it looked as if Black Friday would be able to do their concert. They had a few hours before they would have to get ready and Hannah desperately wanted that walk in the elements.

“If that’s what you want to do, we’ll do it. I have no problem with it,” Garrett told her as he grabbed a knit cap to place over his head. “It’s cold though, so no bitching.” He grinned.

She pursed her lips at him, sticking her hand on her hip. “I don’t do that.”

He threw his head back, laughing loudly. “You do, you’re just sneaky about it. It’s kinda like the bless-your-heart thing.”

Hannah pretended not to hear him as she dug through her luggage, pulling out clothing that would keep her protected from the weather. She was lucky she’d gotten some rubber snow boots before they’d made this trip. Shell had made fun of her, saying she’d never have to use them, but Hannah had only shaken her head. It was better to be prepared than not prepared at all. After putting on her boots, her jacket, a knit cap, and wrapping a scarf around her face, she put gloves over her hands. Turning back to Garrett, she had to take in a deep breath. He looked hot.

“You okay?” he asked when he heard the sharp intake.

“Do you even know how hot you look?” The side of her mouth cocked up in a grin that matched his. Her eyes started at his feet and then slowly worked their way up. The black motorcycle boots blended into black pants that were tucked in so snow couldn’t get inside. She stopped at his waist, taking note that he wore the new belt she’d given him after their New Year’s Eve concert. A leather jacket encased his torso over a hoodie. He’d put the knit hat on, and pulled the hood of the sweatshirt over top of that, along with the hood of the jacket. Gloves covered his hands and a bandana that looked like a skull kept his chin and mouth protected.

He was dangerous with the dark stubble showing against his cheeks. He positively made her mouth water. There was an air of mystery surrounding him, and she had the thought that she wanted to run and hide and let him find her.

“Do you even know how cute you look?”

The blush that covered her cheeks was one she was growing accustomed to. There was something about him giving her compliments that made her feel like a teenage girl. Hopefully that would never change, because she couldn’t imagine her life if her heart didn’t skip a beat when he smiled at her.

“If I’m half as cute as you are hot, we’re in trouble,” she laughed.

Grabbing her phone, she focused it on him and quickly took a picture. This wasn’t one that she would post up for the world to see, this was for her alone. It was possibly her new favorite.

“I had no idea the robber look turned you on, babe.” He regarded her face closely as he walked slowly over to her, taking note of the way her eyes dilated.

It was new to her too. “Me neither.”

“Do you really wanna go for this walk?” he asked, his tone gruff.

It was odd because she could hear his voice, but not see his lips move. She had to shake her head to clear her mind and focus on what he was asking. “I do,” she confirmed, clearing her throat.

“Then let’s go.” He reached out a gloved hand, clasping hers in his. As they left the room, he leaned down and spoke softly against her ear. “Don’t you even for a second think I’m forgetting this interesting turn of events.”

*     *     *

“Damn good thing I normally wear sunglasses.” He fished those glasses out of his pocket and placed them over his eyes as she did the same with hers. “Fucking bright,” he complained as he turned to face her. “Where we walking to?”

There was a small trail over to the left that had a wooded area. She’d asked the concierge if it was possible for them to walk it, and he had confirmed it was. “Over there, it’s a small half-mile trail.”

“Alright, let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and helped her trudge the snow, making a place for her to step behind him. They made it first to the bus to grab Havock, Garrett putting his collar and leash on him. “Sorry you had to stay in the bus last night, buddy; they’re a little snooty here.”

She laughed as she bent down to pet the dog’s head and then grabbed hold of Garrett’s hand again. They walked a few minutes in silence, the only sound the crunch of their boots against the packed snow and their breathing as they made their way towards the woods.

“Thanks for taking this walk with me.” The trail was already hard packed and didn’t make it nearly as hard to walk. It was obvious that many people used this for exercise, even in freezing temps and snow.

“You don’t have to thank me.” He put his arm around her shoulders as best he could, pulling her into the heat of his body. “I love spending time with you and I was a little worried that it would be hard to do on the tour, but I’m glad we’re making it happen.”

That had been a concern of hers too, but she knew if they wanted their marriage to work, they would have to make compromises. “I have to admit, it’s gone easier than I thought it would. I thought there would be some friction from the guys, but they’ve been so nice to me.”

“They love you!”

“But you have to admit that having a woman and a dog on board is different for a bunch of men who’ve never really had one there before. They’ve been very nice, and I suspect that as we spend more time together and the tour goes on longer, we’ll all become more comfortable with each other, but I appreciate so much how nice they’ve been to me.” Suddenly a thought occurred to her. “You didn’t have anything to do with that, did you?”

“Not at all!” He stopped and forced her to look at him. “There’s one thing I’ve learned in this crazy life. People have to be real people. Just because I love you doesn’t mean they’re going to love you too. I hope so, and I want that to happen because you and the guys are the most important people in my life besides Mom, Dad, and Stacey, but that relationship has to be organic. If I force it, then who’s won? Nobody. They really love you.” He tucked a strand of hair back that had come loose from her knit cap before tugging his bandana down. Leaning down, he captured her lips with his. Aware of where they were and the fact that they could have company, he kept it short, but not without heat. There was always heat when he was around her.

“Thank you.” She nuzzled against the stubble on his chin and then pulled back, putting his bandana back where it had settled before.