Broken In Pieces: Billionaire Stepbrother Romance (Wounded Hearts Book 1) (7 page)

Her giggle goes to a chuckle, “Not quite. Mr. Hawthorne doesn’t have girlfriends, just different flavors of the week. Bridgette is just one of the flavors of the week from time to time.”
Bridgette
. Hmm, I feel a sudden pang of jealousy.
Why? I really don’t understand this
. “I don’t think Mr. Hawthorne will ever be tamed by one woman,” she adds before heading back to her office.

I muddle through the week, trying to keep the weekend and my strange feelings toward Blade and Bridgette off my mind. On Friday, Caroline says everyone is going out again and invites me along. I’m thrilled. I could really use a night out. Having this to look forward to makes my day more bearable. But it does leave my mind reeling with thoughts of the last time we went out. I decide tonight there will be no dance or intimate little exchanges with him. He’ll be just another guy in the bar. I can’t handle anything more.

That night, I arrive at the Sip & Fly and most of the gang is already there. Blade’s not, but that’s probably for the best. I can enjoy my night without all the tension. I join the others and Caroline orders me a Long Island ice tea. We’re all submerged in conversation when he sits down at the table.
Shit, he showed after all
. He immediately starts trying to lock eyes with mine but I don’t allow it. No more games. I’m not playing.

I wait a few minutes so that it’s not so obvious then excuse myself from the table and head for the bar. I order another drink and prop myself on a stool. The guy on the stool beside me strikes up a polite conversation. “Your new around here,” he says.

“How’d you know?”

“Well, I’m here a lot and I’ve never seen you. But mostly it because of that accent. Not many New Yorkers have a southern drawl,” he laughs and it makes me laugh too. “I’m Styx,” he says as he reaches out to shake my hand.

“I’m Sheridan. I’ve only been here a few months. Are you from here?”

“Yep, been here all my life. I have a band and we’ve played this club more times than I can count,” he explains.

I catch Blade staring at us with fire in his eyes but I just ignore him. All of the sudden, Styx is bombarded by two men and a woman telling him something about being screwed. I listen to the rest of the conversation and realize why. From time to time the Sip & Fly have a local band come in and play for an hour set. They’re supposed to play tonight but the keyboard player had an accident and broke some fingers.

“I can help you out,” the alcohol in me speaks up.

He looks at me totally confused, “How’s that?”

“I play the keyboard. If you have the music with you, I can play and get you through your set,” I explain.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Styx says and the other two guys start smiling ear to ear. But the girl looks a little put off. “Hell yes! Come on!” he says as he leads me on stage and the rest of the band follows.

Styx introduces me to the lead singer named Jade, the guitarist named Aces and Shaft, the bass player. They all give me a warm, friendly welcome except Jade. “Keep it simple. We don’t need anybody show boating.”
Look bitch, we’re helping you out here! Shove your attitude up your ass until you choke on it,
my inner witch barks. I just give her a nod and take my place behind the keyboard for our sound check. Then, over the loud speaker comes the introduction for the band ‘Shattered’ and the crowd goes wild with applause. I can’t help but think how the name of the band fits my life.

I look back
at my table. Everyone is shocked and several are pointing, but Blade has a huge smile on his face. We play cover songs, no originals. I’m okay with that because I know most of them so it makes it easier. We’re rocking the place and the crowd loves it. Styx looks my way and gives me a wink as if to say good job. I feel an instant sense of pride. When Jade announces that the next song is our last, I see Blade start making his way to the stage. I don’t acknowledge him and when the set is over, I head back stage with the band.

“That was awesome,” Styx almost shouts. The guys chime in with more of the same but Jade just stands there giving me shitty looks. Styx gives me his number and I give him mine. He wants me to play if they have more shows before Jax, the keyboardist, recovers. I’m more than willing. I didn’t realize how much I had missed playing music with other people. I agree to meet them for practice next week. Jade’s not amused but she doesn’t say a word.

I wander back out front and most of the club goers have cleared out. The members from my table seem to be gone as well. Then I feel a warm hand on my shoulder, “That was awesome, baby girl. You’re full of surprises.” I turn to see Blade standing behind me with a proud look beaming from his face. He had waited for me. This man is crazy and he’s beginning to make me crazy.

I wander back out front and most of the club goers have cleared out. The members from my table seem to be gone as well. Then I feel a warm hand on my shoulder, “That was awesome, baby girl. You’re full of surprises.” I turn to see Blade standing behind me with a proud look beaming from his face. He has waited for me. This man is crazy and he’s beginning to make me crazy.

He insists on walking me to my car to make sure I’m safe. “Blade, I really don’t think that’s necessary,” I say.

“Listen, Sheridan. I’m not leaving you to walk to the parking lot, in the middle of the night, in New York City.”

I throw my hands up in exasperation, “Okay, okay. Let’s go.” The walk is quiet. We barely speak. I keep my arms crossed because I’m not going to let him hold my hand or touch me in any way. Blade opens my door and says good night.

I’m so pumped
the whole drive home. The set was awesome and I lost myself in the music. I like that kind of lost. The kind of lost where you become somebody else and step outside your life for a brief time. You forget your pain, your nightmares and you don’t feel as broken as you are. The music consumes you and courses through your veins as though it’s your life’s blood. You never want to come down off that high.

Once in the apartment, my adrenaline is still running high. I can’t sleep so I play and write. The music washes over my body and floods all my broken pieces out onto the keys of the piano. It’s the wee hours of the morning when I finally go to bed. This time, my nightmares are replaced by strange dreams of music and Blade.

The weekend passes way too quickly and I’m into the work week again. On Tuesday, as I am preparing to leave work, Blade comes to my desk. “Sheridan, I was hoping you could stay a little late and proof these contracts. Legal has to have them first thing in the morning.” I explain that I have practice in an hour but I would be more than glad to take them home to proof. “Practice? Sheridan, you don’t know these people. New York is a different world and you can’t just blindly trust people. I’ll take you to your practice,” he says with real concern in his voice.

“Look Blade, I’m a grown ass woman and I can take care of myself. I’m not your responsibility,” I retort.

He walks closer to my desk, staring at me intently. He places his hands on my desk and leans forward, “Either I fucking take you or I fucking follow you. Your choice but either way, I will be going with you.”

Shit, he’s dead serious
. “Whatever, I don’t have time to argue with you,” I grumble as I gather my things. He closes up his office with a smug look on his face.

The drive there is strange. He’s rather quiet and I’m lost in thought as to why he acts the way he does. We arrive in front of what looks like a small, abandoned warehouse. It’s really rundown but enough out of the way that the music won’t bother anyone. Blade opens my door and forcefully takes me by the hand. I think about jerking my hand back but I just want to get to practice and not have another go around.

Everyone’s already here and I get to meet Jax. “I hear you got some magical fingers there,” he says.

“Not as magical as yours I’m sure. I’m just a fill in until the real talent heals up,” I assure him. I introduce Blade to everyone as my friend. I don’t feel like explaining the boss thing or the step brother thing. They all seem to like him but Jade hasn’t spoken to either of us.

Styx hands me a small stack of music sheets, “Think you can handle these?”

I thumb through the pages. “I think I can manage,” I grin. We begin to practice and it’s going really well. After about an hour, we take a break. Jade disappears into another room for a while but the rest of the band just hangs out and talks with me and Blade. I get to know a little about each of them.

Jax is a thirty-one year old black man and he’s the joker of the crowd. He’s about six foot four, thin but muscular and he keeps his head shaved. He has a twinkle in his eye that reminds you of a child at play.

Styx is twenty-nine and he started the band. He’s a six foot white guy, extremely broad shouldered, with blond hair that he keeps in a ponytail at the back of his neck. He has a neatly kept beard and mustache and lots of body art.

Aces is a thirty-one year old, Hispanic music teacher but he doesn’t look like any music teacher I’ve ever seen. He’s a six foot three inch wall of muscle with an extremely pleasant demeanor.

Shaft is the quiet one, who just sits back and takes everything in. He’s taller than the rest at about six foot six and has to be from Indian decent, Cherokee maybe. Long black hair, tanned skin with very high cheek bones. There’s something about them all that makes me feel comfortable, like I fit in here.

After the break, things get a little strange. Jade keeps getting lost with the timing of the songs. About three songs in, her words begin to slur to the point we can barely understand her. I see the other band members shooting each other weird looks but I’m not sure what’s going on. Blade looks confused as well.

Finally, Jax steps up and I hear him ask Jade if she’s okay as he brushes her hair away from her face. There’s something in the way he speaks to her. I can tell instantly that he really cares for her. He looks at Styx, “That’s it for tonight, man. Jade’s not feeling well.” Styx gives him a disappointed nod and closes out practice telling us all that we’ll do it the same time on Thursday.

Once back in the car, I can’t help wondering what was going on with Jade. “I’ve seen that look before,” Blade says out of the blue.

“What look? I question.

“The look in Jade’s eyes. She wasn’t sick. She was high.”

“High?” I say in disbelief.

“Yes. I’ve seen it a lot. We don’t really know her but I would say her life is not a pretty picture right now. That shit will chew you up and spit you out before you know it,” he explains further. I stare out the window wondering what could be so bad that it takes somebody down that road. Blade reaches over and takes my hand, stroking it gently with his thumb. It’s like he knows what I am thinking and his touch is comforting.

I’m at work early the next day to get the contracts to legal. I still can’t help but wonder if Blade was right about Jade. I almost feel sorry for her.
Doesn’t she know what she’s doing to herself? Doesn’t she care?
I wonder if this is why the other band members accept her talking shit to them all the time. Maybe they feel sorry for her too. I also find myself wondering how Blade knows so much about all this. I’m glad when my work day picks up a bit and takes my mind off it.

On Thursday, Blade comes to my desk, “You almost ready to head to practice?”

I shoot him a frown, “This is ridiculous! It’s not your job to follow me around making sure I’m safe. I’ve taken care of myself for most of my life. I can damn sure take care of myself now.”

He smiles slightly, “I’m sure you can, baby girl. Now hurry up or we’ll be late.”

At this point, I’m pissed. I gather my things, ride the elevator down to the first floor and walk briskly to the front of the building. Blade is on my heels the whole way. Once in the parking lot, I get into my car and slam the door closed. Maybe he’ll get the idea. I pull out into the street and make it to the first red light before I see him. The son of bitch is following me.

I pull up outside of practice and hurry inside. He still doesn’t get the message because he follows me in. My eyes shoot daggers at him but he just smiles. We begin to play and Jade’s headed down hill early. Each song seems worse than the last. We take a break and I’m glad, playing isn’t fun tonight.

“We need to change things up a bit. Do something that will grab people’s attention,” Styx pipes up.

“You’re fucking crazy. Why the hell would we want to mess with things now,” Jade scolds him. Everyone just kind of ignores her and starts throwing around idea.

“Do any of you write songs,” I ask. Aces and Styx start talking about several they have written. “How about doing originals. The covers are great but you can really make a name for yourself with great originals. You guys should pick out a handful and get them copyrighted so no one can take them,” I suggest.

Jade walks over and gets right in my face and begins to shout, “Don’t be a stupid bitch. Who the hell do you think you are any way? You come in here with some damn savior complex and think you know exactly what we need. You’re nobody bitch and you need to remember that.”

Before I catch myself, I punch her in the mouth and knock her to the ground. “You’re the fucking bitch and don’t ever fucking talk to me like that again. I’ve done nothing but try to help and I’ll be damned if a cunt like you gets in my face. You do nothing but talk shit to everyone here. Well not me and if ya don’t like it, you can have more of what I just gave you,” I storm.

“You’re not worth it,” she says as she picks herself up and leaves the room with Jax close behind her.

I’m finally back to myself and look around to some very stunned faces, especially Blades. I feel my blood begin to heat again, “Don’t look at me that way. Y’all may accept her shit but I be damned if I’m going to.”

Styx walks over and asks, “Can I talk to you in the other room for a minute.” I agree because if he has a problem with what just happened, he needs to tell me now.

Blade follows us into the other room, of course. “Sheridan, calm down please. I don’t want this thing to go south. You’re really talented and I really appreciate all you’re doing for us,” Styx begins.