Melody of Truth (Love of a Rockstar Book 3) (22 page)

MILLIONAIRES ROW IN UPPER CAPITOL
Hill was a street lined with old maple’s that turned a fiery shade of orange and red in the autumn. It used to be my favorite past time to wander down to Volunteer Park with a hot beverage and Bruno trotting by my side.

I stared up at my old house – a grand tutor rehabbed to its former glory. Wisteria dripped over the second story balcony and a stone pathway flanked by rose bushes led to the front door. The roses were new; their perfume pungent and overwhelming. My ex-wife must have planted them when I moved out.

As I rang the doorbell, I heard Bruno’s thundering bark followed by the clip of his nails on the hardwood.

“Hush!” My ex-wife yelled.

Holding him by the collar, she opened the door and was too distracted with a wiggling Bruno to notice who stood on her front porch. “Yes?   

“Hey Bunny.”

Her eyes lifted with a scowl. “Sean. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to get my dog back.” Bruno barked as if knew we were talking about him. I smiled and patted him on the head. “I missed you too, buddy.”

“What makes you think I’ll give him to you?”

“I’ll pay the six grand in alimony every month.” 

“It was 8,000.”

“Which is an absurd sum and you know it.”

“I have expenses to pay, Sean,” my ex-wife bit out.

“I’m simply helping you stick to your minimalist lifestyle.” My gaze racked over her pearl necklace and diamond earrings, which I bought for her on our two-year anniversary. “I see that isn’t working out so well for you though.”

About to give me a piece of her mind, a melodic voice called out from down the hall and put a pause on her bickering. “Bunny, invite him in for a glass of Kombuchu.” 

“I don’t….”

Despite her protest, I brushed past her into the foray - three fucks past caring at this point. Bruno managed to break free and hurled his massive a hundred and twenty pound frame at my chest, knocking me on my ass. With a joyous bark, he licked my cheek. Laughing, I buried my face into his short caramel colored fur. A momentary sensation of joy captured my heart.

“Jesus, it’s like a love fest in here.” Bunny pulled the dog off of me and I got to my feet, brushing the hair off my dark colored jeans.

The tilt to her lips gave away her amusement; it was as if the old Bunny returned – the woman I used to think carried the sun in her pocket.

Don, her boyfriend strutted in from the kitchen, carrying an ice-cold pitcher of Kombucha. His long hair was tied at the nape of his neck with a piece of ribbon. White linen pants and a blouse that looked like it was made for a woman showed off a peek of chest hair.

While he resembled a world-class idiot, I didn’t have the urge to disfigure his nose. In fact, I didn’t have any ill feelings toward him at all – zilch.

Don draped his arm around Bunny’s shoulder as she looked up to him with adoration. What this past month had proved to me was that you couldn’t help who you fell for. Love was a selfish bitch.

“Let’s go sit on the patio,” Don said.

“Great idea, honey. We’ll be right there.”

My ex-wife put the Jekyll in Jekyll and Hyde. Her smile slipped off her face as soon Don retreated to the backyard. In a harsh whisper, she said, “Don’t you dare embarrass me, Sean.”

“Bunny, I think you’re under the impression I give a shit. I don’t.”

Her pencil shaped brows raised in doubt. “Say’s the guy who hurled a carton of eggs at the house.”

“Granted, that wasn’t my finest moment but I was hurt and extremely drunk. A lot has happened since then. I’ve learned to forgive.”

“Then why haven’t you signed the divorce papers?”

“I will if you give me Bruno and settle for the six grand, which is borderline robbery. You were the one who cheated.”

“As if you were totally innocent?” Off my blank stare, she huffed out a breath. “Unbelievable. Do you not realize how much I sacrificed for you? For us?”

When we met, Bunny worked at the local hospital as a nurse in the infant ward. She quit a week after we got married to follow me around on tour with Five Guys. “I never asked you to sacrifice anything. It was your choice to leave Harbor View.”

“Are you joking? My new husband was about to leave for six months, surrounded by booze, sex and alcohol.”

“So you went to keep an eye on me?”

“I went because I was afraid you wouldn’t come home.” Bunny’s confident demeanor cracked and her vulnerability shimmered under the surface. “That the allure of fame would be too strong to resist.”

“You should have trusted the love I had for you.”

“I should have, but trusting someone is the greatest gift you can give them and I think a part of me was expecting you to break my heart”

“It’s scary to love someone, isn’t it?”

She laughed. “It is.” Shooting a glance toward the patio where her boyfriend was waiting for us, her features softened. “And so worth it when you surrender.”

Her words struck me sideways. Had I surrendered with Melody? The answer struck me as clear as a lightning bolt streaking across a inky black sky.

From the beginning, I figured Melody and I weren’t meant to be together, but our connection proved too powerful to resist. We dove into the deep end together, except we hadn’t. I stood on the edge, terrified history would repeat itself, unwilling to have faith that our relationship was different.

I should have fought for her, instead of waving a white flag. 

“Are you okay?” Bunny asked.

Instead of answering, I directed the subject back to the present issue. “Will you give me Bruno?”

She glanced at the slobbering Great Dane who looked up at her with those big brown puppy dog eyes. “Fine. If you give me sixty five hundred a month. Don and I have plans to open a yoga studio in Bali.”

Antsy to put the past in the past, I agreed. “Deal.”

“I’ll gather up his stuff.”

An hour later, and after a few favors were called in, I sat in a private plane bound for South Carolina with my best friend at my feet. As the wheels lifted, I wished Melody were waiting for me on the other side to complete our family.

AS SOON AS BRUNO WAS
out of the cab his nose twitched like crazy as he smelled his new surroundings. My eyes blurry with exhaustion wandered to the bus with trepidation.

The band had every right to be royally ticked off at me for bailing, but unlike Matthew, I hadn’t dropped off the face of the earth for three months, like when him and Camilla broke up. I hoped my return within a twenty-four-time frame would lessen whatever retribution they had up their sleeves.

Bruno barked, piercing the hushed quiet of the early morning. He yanked on his leash, and I pulled him back. “Hush. You’re going to wake everyone.”

Stubborn to a fault, he bounded in the direction of the motel. I was strong, but Bruno was stronger. My legs tripped behind him at an alarmingly fast rate. Without warning, he plopped down on his hind legs and I caught myself before my face ate the cement. He looked at me, innocently.

“Crazy mutt,” I muttered.

An indescribable pull tugged my gaze upwards and met a pair of opal colored eyes that belonged to a woman I thought was gone forever. I blinked rapidly, convinced she was a vision manifested by pure desire.

A white gauzy nightgown swirled around her legs. The streetlight shone through the delicate fabric, outlining the curves of her figure.

“Hi,” she said.

Her voice sent a shock wave straight to my chest. “You’re real.”

“As far as I know.”

"And you're here in the flesh."

“I’m not married.”

“I saw a man with you in New York, I thought ….”

“Stephan – my ex-wedding planner needed me to sign a few things that morning.” In a bitter tone, she added. “You should have come in and introduced yourself. You’re exactly his type.”

My head dropped into my hands as the taste of regret coated my tongue. “I’m sorry. I thought he was Marco.”

“Based off what? They look nothing alike. You saw what you wanted to see – an out.”

“No! God no, all I want is to be with you.”

Closing the gap, the smell of her shampoo wafted under my nose. I ached to hold her in my arms and drown in her sweet kisess, but first I had to prove I was a fucking idiot who deserved a second chance. Bruno, unable to be ignored for long, asserted himself and licked Melody’s hand.

She smiled at him. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Bruno.”

Realization flashed across her features and she gasped. “You got him back?”

“I did and my divorce papers are finally signed, sealed and delivered.”

“Congrats.” She looked behind her and I could tell she was about to make her exit. Over my dead body.

Melody shivered from the chill of early dawn. I draped my jacket over her shoulders and finally leaped over the cliff, eye’s open, heart exposed. “From the moment we met, my draw to you was instantaneous and after almost eight months of living in a shadow of misery, the rain clouds parted. Your passion for adventure reinvigorated my need to create – to hold a pen and bleed words onto paper. To beat on the drums as if they were on fire. You are my muse, Melody Carmichael, and my world without you is a sad hopeless place.” My hands cupped her rosy pink cheeks, which felt like velvet under my fingertips. “Please forgive me.”

“How can we be together when you don’t trust me?”

“I do trust you with every last fiber of my being. It was fear that drove me away.”

“Of what?”

“Of a million tiny things that added up to nothing because in the end, my heart, mind, body and soul belong to you. Nothing could keep me away from you.”

Tilting her chin upward, our breaths mingled. Mirth shined in her eyes as she said, “Does this mean we are boyfriend and girlfriend?”

She squealed as I hauled her against my chest. “Hell yea it does.”

With a fiery kiss, the sun rose and ushered in a new chapter I couldn’t wait to begin.

First and foremost, I want to thank my readers. You guys are the bread to my butter and I sincerely thank you for your patience. I promise I won’t make you wait another year for the next Love of a Rockstar novel.

To everyone who has taken the time to read and review Melody of Truth. Your support is everything to me.

And lastly, my family who understands my crazy like no one else.