His Melody (17 page)

“It’s a demo C.D. my agent had me make. She wanted to branch out into music in addition to modeling. She found out I was into music and…” he trailed off and gestured toward the karaoke stage which one of Nina’s friends had just taken.

“The notebook really is yours,” she said. “The one I’ve been asking you about.”

He scratched his jaw, still looking straight ahead. “It’s mine.”

“You’re good.”

He shrugged and moved his head, but not to look at her. He looked down at his hands. “I’m done with all that. My music is just for me these days.”

“That’s selfish of you.” She tapped the C.D. “This needs to be shared with the world.”

“What? You heard me do a karaoke cover of ‘Rapper’s Delight.’ You saw a few of my stupid rhymes in a notebook. What does that mean?”

“From one musician to another? Everything.” She touched the back of his hand and used her other hand to turn his head toward her. “Doesn’t it?”

He took her hands in his, pressed hers between his and gave her a look that was sex and sadness all at once. “Whatever else it could have been? Is over. This is
me
now, Austin the mechanic. I have everything I want.” He pressed her hands to his cheeks. “Almost everything.”

She had a very difficult time swallowing since her mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

“Melody, I’m not Grayson anymore for a reason.” His voice was soft, and she barely caught his words in the noisy, crowded bar.

“But it doesn’t have to be that way this time, Austin. I work for a small label.” At least she would be working there again if she could convince Austin to come back with her. She was almost sure of that. “You’d have a lot of creative control and—”

“I know you mean well, but once you put yourself out there in the public eye? You never have control. Besides, I couldn’t do it to—I owe…a lot of people,” he said.

“What about what you owe yourself? What about your own happiness?”

“Some day, I’m gonna get the nerve up to tell you everything.” He kissed the backs of her hands before putting them on her lap. “And you’ll understand.”

She wanted so badly to reach for him, to kiss him right there in that crowded bar, which was sure to cause a scene.
Austin the notorious town celebrity and the out-of-towner getting promiscuous at karaoke.
But she wouldn’t. What was she doing anyway? And she always accused Jen of getting carried away when it came to guys and falling too hard too quickly.

“I’ll be right back.” He stood.

“Where you going?”

He ran a hand over his head and the bristles of blond hair on top of it. “Outside. I need some air.” And he was gone.

Jen dropped into his chair and handed her smart phone to Melody. “Look what I found. Googled him.”

Jen had pulled up a website that hadn’t been updated in ages that had photos of dark-haired Grayson, all danger and sex appeal. She clicked on a tab at the top of the page and saw a tall man in a hooded sweatshirt. “Rhyme Doctor” was scrawled across the top of the page in a graffiti-type font.

“So you two were steaming over here,” Jen said. “What were you talking about?”

“This.” Melody handed the phone back to her. “He has to listen to me.” She truly did want to help him pursue his dreams. She could tell music was important to him, no matter what he said. She’d heard it—seen it—when he’d been on-stage earlier. But she also couldn’t help but thinking that if she brought him back to Atlanta with her, Saeed would let her back in the door of New Face Records.

“About?”

“Didn’t you hear him up there? New Face Records needs him, and he needs New Face. You know we’ve been looking for a new artist who can take us places. Austin could save New Face.” The company had been on the verge of going under for the past few years. That was one of the reasons they were being so militant about expenses.

“‘We’?” Jen frowned. “Weren’t you fired?”

“Maybe not anymore.”

Jen pushed her dark hair away from her face. “Don’t push him, Mel. I don’t know what all happened, but it has to take something big to make a person leave New York for a place like Sweet Neck, Georgia. And whatever he has going on with his brother… I mean
,
going back to the spotlight might be the last thing he wants or needs.”

They looked across the table to where Donnie, Nina, and the others sat. Donnie wore the smug smile of someone who’d won a battle. There was a glint of hurt in his eyes, though, that made her think being estranged from his brother bothered him more than he cared to admit.

Melody shrugged. “Might be.” But she was already thinking of how to bring her idea up to Austin.

Chapter Twenty

That night, Melody dreamed of Austin, which wasn’t new.
Bare-chested and doing some raunchy things to her with chocolate sauce.
But then, to her disappointment, the image of Austin faded away and to her shock, it was replaced with Blanche Leroux.

Suddenly, she was in a darkened room that reminded her of a cave, and Cajun music blared from a phonograph. Psychedelic colors splashed on the walls in patterns that indicated they were coming from a strobe light.

“You can fix the Holt brothers. You know what you need to do. Austin is your destiny, and he is yours,
chère
.”

“What’s going on?” Melody looked all around, but she couldn’t find the source of the voice.

“Up here.”

Melody looked up and saw Blanche suspended from the ceiling of the cave like a bat.

Blanche broke out into a maniacal cackle and Melody gasped. Her eyes flew open, and she sat up ramrod straight in the bed.

“But Mom, I want to feed the ponies,” Jen murmured, stirring next to her. Melody dropped her feet to the side of the bed and hugged herself. “Wait, whoa, what’s happening? What are you doing up? It’s…” she heard Jen picking up her phone from the night stand. A moment later, a soft electronic glow partially lit the room. “Four in the morning? Ugh, Mel, no good.”

“Just a dream,” Melody said. “Go back to sleep.”

She heard Jen sit up, and a moment later, she felt a hand on her back. “Must have been a bad one.”

She shrugged. “Not the most pleasant one I’ve had.”

“Mean to tell me you’re not dreaming about Mister Sex on a Stick? What’s wrong with you?”

Melody laughed. “Must have been that glass of wine I had at karaoke.” She didn’t want to say anything at all about the dream. Jen already thought the Blanche thing was crazy. She’d told
her
as much when Melody told her about it while they were getting ready for bed. “Let’s get some sleep,” Melody said. She lay down and patted the bed next to her. “You have a long drive back soon.”

“We have a long drive back.” Jen lay next to her.

“We’ll see,” Melody said. She pretended to fall back asleep, but she was
wide awake
. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore and she’d just
lay
there until it was time for breakfast since she and Austin didn’t run on Sundays. She kept thinking about the dream and Austin’s performance at karaoke. Which led to more thinking about Blanche and what she’d said in the dream.

Later that morning, when she told Jen she was staying, Jen pouted. Melody laughed. They stood next to Jen’s car. Jen had on her favorite get-comfy-for-the-long-drive traveling outfit—Juicy Couture sweats—and she’d pulled her dark brown hair back into a ponytail.

“You knew there was a possibility I’d stay,” Melody said.

“Yeah, I guess I can’t blame you considering you haven’t gotten your, uh, tune up from your sexy mechanic yet.” Jen cast a knowing glance in the direction of the house.

“Hey. He’s not the reason I’m staying. Or at least
that’s
not the reason I’m staying.” Melody felt her cheeks burning. “I mean, I want him to come back to Atlanta with me, but for business reasons only. Until I can convince him to do that, I’m staying.”

Jen narrowed her eyes. “You haven’t even mentioned it to him yet, have you?”

“I have to find the right way to bring it up.”

“See? That means you know it’s a bad idea.”

“No, I don’t because it’s not. You know how much that job means to me, and once Saeed hears Austin, he’ll be glad to take me back. Plus, Austin deserves this chance even if he doesn’t know it yet. You heard him last night. Tell me with a straight face that you don’t think he’s good, and I’ll get in that car and go back to Atlanta with you.” Melody just knew that if she could get everything and everyone in the right place at the right time, it’d all work out.

“I can tell you I don’t think he wants this, and it’s a bad idea. But you tend to be stubborn, so…” Jen said as Melody slid her bag into the back seat of her car for her.

“Would you love me if I was any way but how I am?” She shut the car door and leaned on it.

Jen leaned her head to the side and tapped a finger against her cheek. “Hm…let me think about it…”

“Hey!”

They laughed, and Melody pulled Jen in for a hug. “It was so good seeing you. I’m gonna miss you.”

“Not for long you won’t. Or else…you’ll make me come down here on another rescue mission. I plan to make the next one successful even if I have to drag you back kicking and screaming.”

Melody grinned. “Okay.”

Jen got into the car, and Melody waved to her until she was out of sight. She missed Jen already.

She jumped at the sound of Austin’s voice. “You staying then?” he asked.

She turned to look at him. “I didn’t hear you come out here. Yeah, until my car’s ready.”

He stared down the lane at Jen’s disappearing car. “Shouldn’t be too much longer. We can probably have you out of here by Wednesday.”

“Sounds like you’re in a hurry to get rid of me,” Melody said, half-joking, half testing the waters.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and still looking down the empty lane, which now contained only a cloud of dust, he said, “Gonna storm tonight. Might be bad enough to flood the creek. I’m
gonna
go see if Regan needs any help before it hits. So I won’t be here for dinner.”

“I could come with you,” Melody offered.

“No offense, Mel, but a city girl like you? Wouldn’t be much help,” he said with a forced smile. He then walked away without giving her a chance to respond. He was avoiding her, and she had a pretty good idea of why, but what he didn’t know was that she didn’t scare off easily. Especially when she knew she was right.

One day, he would thank her for what she was about to do. She walked back into the house and saw Donnie in the kitchen talking to Leigh Anne. She shook off an uneasy feeling as she recalled the dream she’d had as well as Blanche’s earlier words about the Holt brothers.

#

That night, after dinner, Melody called Saeed on his private number, knowing she was taking a big gamble by calling him on his personal cell on a Sunday night, but she had a trump card. And she let him know as much as soon as he started in on her.

He stopped mid-tirade and there was a pause after which he said, “What are you talking about, hip-hop artist?”

“It’s more of a jazz-hip-hop fusion, but he’s really good.” Melody repeated the story of going to the karaoke bar the night before. She then told him about the notebook she’d found and the demo CD. She’d listened to the demo the night before, and she told him how she’d never heard anything quite like it and how it was better than any of the demos she’d heard since they signed Aphrodisia, a German hip-hop artist they’d picked up a couple of years ago. Good thing they had because Aphrodisia was the only thing keeping the company afloat at the moment.

“Bring him to Atlanta then,” Saeed said as if this was the obvious next step.
Natural for him to assume so.

“Um…it’s not going to be that easy.” She shifted her phone to her other hand. “You see
,
he doesn’t know he wants this yet.” He would figure it out. He just needed some time to realize how incredible the opportunity she offered him was.

“What?” He scoffed. “You’re wasting my time with crazy talk again. This is another one of your half-baked schemes that has us halfway into bankruptcy court, isn’t it?”

Sure. Blame her for all of upper management’s mistakes that had led the company down that road. She had to keep her temper in check this time, though. She was already in enough trouble with Saeed. “It’s not like that,” she said. “Just listen—”

“There’s a showcase at The Spot, Saeed said. “Three weeks from now. That’s your last chance. You get him to show up there? You might save your job.”

“Okay.” Melody knew of the club. She would go to their website or call the club’s manager and get the details. Saeed wasn’t in the mood for details.

“And send me that demo you have.”

“But it’s—” she started and then realized she was talking to a dead line. “At least five years old,” she muttered to her phone after removing it from her ear. Ah well, at least she had a chance. She had one more shot at her dream, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

Music was in her veins. Ever since she was little, every good memory involved music. She remembered watching her father play saxophone with a local jazz band. He’d always let her sit in on the practices even though they usually ran way past her bedtime. In school, the easiest way for her to study for tests was to make songs out of the material. It worked for every subject, from English to history to physics. Her mother hadn’t wanted her to get too carried away. She was to be practical unlike her father who’d landed them in bankruptcy court twice before the divorce. Still, Melody had found a way to make a career out of music. She wasn’t about to let all that go now.