Worthy of the Harmony (Mountains & Men Book 2) (14 page)

“You can rock my world any time you want, little mama.”

“Um, thank you?” she says warily, reaching out to accept his gesture.

“Someone’s got the shakes,” he says, pulling her closer. “Do I make you nervous?”

She laughs again, pulling her hand out of his grasp. “You in all of your giant glory?” she asks, motioning to their height difference. “
No.
You and all of your
talent?
Yes. You
all
make me nervous.”

“Better get used to us, Alex,” says Derrick, pointing at her with a drumstick.

“Wait just one fucking minute,” calls out Maddox. “That’s it? She’s in without any discussion whatsoever?”

“Maddy—she just played circles around all the losers we’ve heard so far! What more do you want?” asks Knox.

“Cut the
Maddy
shit, I’m serious. It’s about more than just playing. We’re not so desperate that we’ll take any hot little number off the street without doing our due diligence.”

“Mad Lips is right,” I admit.

The five of us guys have been through a lot together. We’ve been Mountains & Men for years, pouring our sweat, tears, and blood into our name. We can’t adopt someone who won’t be willing to go through the ups
and
the downs with us. It’s obvious that Alex knows her shit backwards, but can she be family?

“Take the floor, man,” I tell him, folding my arms across my chest. “Ask what you want.”

“First of all, we’re a fucking rock band. We play, we drink, we swear, we party, then repeat. We don’t need a little church mouse coming in here trying to
clean us up
or some shit.”

“Is that what you’re worried about?” Alex murmurs. “Look, I’m a Christian, yeah. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to come in here and hit you over the head with my bible. It’s like I said before, this is about the music. I won’t judge you if you won’t judge me. Even if you
do
judge me. I play, I drink, I swear, and I party, too. Maybe not as much as you, but to each his own.”

“Yeah. To each his own,
douche
. Damn. Show some respect,” mutters Derrick, throwing his stick. It hits Maddox square in the chest. He scowls back at the drummer, but one look is all it takes for Maddox to fold. We all know Derrick believes in the Big Man Upstairs, too
.

“Is there anything else you want to know about me?”

“Look,” I begin. “Here’s the thing. We can’t afford to lose another bass player again. Not now. We’re trying to get some things moving and we need someone who is going to be in this—rehearsals, gigs, all of it. Can you commit? Like,
really
commit?”

“I’m a full-time student. I have worship band practice on Wednesdays and church on Sundays. Outside of that, I’m in.”

“And if we start expanding our reach? Hitting the road and all that shit—you’ll be missing school. What then?” asks Maddox.

“Taking a semester or two off never hurt anyone. You only live once, right?”

“With the way you play, why aren’t you in a band now? Why us?” JJ asks.

“Honestly?” She looks down at her feet and then up at all of us. “I get a little stage fright. It’s something I’ve been working on, though. I just—I’m getting too old to hide and I don’t want to anymore. I want to play as much as I can and as often as I can—I just want to play.”

We all fall silent, and for a moment, I give everyone a chance to process everything that’s happened in the last few minutes. I wait, leaving the floor open for anyone else to say what they need to before we put this discussion to bed.

“Alright. Let’s take a vote, yeah?” I say, ready and willing to give this girl a shot. “All in favor of giving the broad a chance, say aye.”

All at once, we each agree.

“Aye.”

I WORK INTO
the evening, in need of a little catch up time after last night with Sage—and I won’t even mention the level of distracted he’s had my thoughts all day. Regardless of the reason why, I don’t leave campus until six-thirty before I head to the gym. I’ll admit, every time I walk into the building, I wonder if I’ll see Keith. This is where I met him, after all. I’m not sure what I’d do, given the chance to confront the bastard who tried to date rape me. As my eyes scan the floor on my way to the locker rooms, I’m not sure I’ll be finding out tonight, either.

I change into my snug, black sports bra and matching yoga running shorts, throwing on a pale blue, loose fitting, racer-back tank top. I lace up my tennis shoes and stow away my bag before I start heading back out to the floor. Slipping my phone into my bra, I reach up to pull my hair into a ponytail. Just as I’m finished, my phone starts to ring. I pull it out and my stomach tingles when I see his name light up the screen.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Come over, doll face.” I hear laughter in the background and I wonder what he’s up to.

“Come over where?”

“The house. We’re celebrating! Mountains & Men has a bass player, baby.”

“Oh, wow. Congratulations,” I reply.

“Yeah. You’ve got to meet Alex. You comin’?”

I look around me, remembering where I am and why I’m here. “I’m at the gym. I just got here.”

“Fuck the gym. I’ll give you a workout later. Violet just got off work and she’s bringing us pizza. We sent Mad Lips and Knox on a beer run—
I told them to pick up a bottle of wine…
” He sings the last part in a coaxing manner that causes an ache between my legs. For a moment, my rational thought decides it’s on hiatus. “Millicent, come over. I want to see you. Want to
taste
you.” He whispers the last sentence and I about face, heading straight for the locker room.

“Okay. I’m coming. I just need to change and—”

“Don’t bother. Get that sexy, little ass over here. See you soon.”

He ends the call without another word. I stare at the phone for a minute before I reach for my bag, securing the strap over my shoulder. On my way to my car, it occurs to me that all he had to do was call for me to come running. The truth has my stomach in knots, but my feet don’t stop my forward progression. I want to see him. Touch him.
Taste
him.

I will survive this fall
.
I will.

Or so I keep telling myself.

When I pull up to the house, parking in the street, I notice that everyone is in the garage. As I walk up the drive, I see Violet standing with her back to me, two pizza boxes poised against her hip as she listens to the band play. Sage’s voice makes my stomach flutter and my pussy pulse. When he sees me, he grins around his words, making my heart race.

Fuck.

Violet must have seen it too, because she turns to look over her shoulder at me as I approach. “Millie!” she calls out with a wide smile of her own.

“Hi, Violet.”

As soon as I’m in reaching distance, she loops her arm through mine and tugs me to her side. “I told them they had to play for their supper,” she tells me with a giggle. It’s then that I notice the
Jo-Jo’s
t-shirt she’s wearing, the logo matching the print on the boxes she’s brought. “Alex is the shit. She had my respect the instant JJ told me that they voted her in. I mean—to add a girl to their mix? That’s just downright impressive. Then I heard her play—oh, my gosh, Millie. She’s perfect!”

Violet’s words don’t fully register until I scan the room and find her.
Alex
. Standing with the five guys that I know to be the heart of Mountains & Men, she looks tiny. Nevertheless, as she plays, she exudes a confidence that all but demands my attention. It’s more than that, though. She’s beautiful, in that cute and innocent sort of way, but with a hint of a rebellious streak. Her hair is so dark it’s almost black; it fades into a deep purple at the ends, which, after a long day, appear to have lost her attempt at curling them. Her eyes are dark, too; but even from here, I can see that they are full of light—full of
life
and energy and passion. And when she smiles…

My eyes follow the direction of her gaze and my heart stings when I see Sage smile back at her. Violet was right. Alex is perfect. It’s as if she’s the element their concoction was missing. They’ve got chemistry. Suddenly, I’m all too aware that while I should be happy for them—while I
am
happy for them—I feel disappointed.

She’s been here for all of a day and she fits. I, on the other hand, don’t. I never have, which I understood. It was just Sage that I wanted. Yet, reality causes me to question how long that will matter—how long will that mean anything? Sage is going to go wherever his music takes him, as he should. But Alex is the last bit of proof I need that Sage—hell—
all
of them are constantly surrounded by pretty, young things that will fit into his world far better than I ever will.

I’m so lost in my thoughts, I don’t realize that the song is over, until Sage comes charging for me. Violet pulls away from me just as he bends, gripping the back of my thighs before hoisting me up off my feet. I squeal in surprise, wrapping my arms and legs around him. He grins at me, giving the bare skin of my thighs a squeeze.

“If I had known this is what you wear to the gym, I would have insisted you change,” he murmurs. “You know how I feel about the guys seeing these legs.”

“I—”

“Kiss me,” he demands, cutting off my rebuttal. “Need your lips, doll face.”

When I look into his eyes, his blue gaze echoing his words, I can’t refuse him. I brush my mouth against his and his grip around me tightens, making me want more. I kiss him assuredly and he responds in kind. He teases me, flicking just the tip of his tongue against mine, and in this moment—nothing else matters. Just this. Just him. Just Sage.

One of the guys plucks the opening chords to Marvin Gaye’s
Let’s Get It On
, and Derrick jumps in with the beat. Sage laughs before humming the words into my mouth. Then he smacks one more kiss against my lips before he sets me down. “Come on, baby doll. Got someone I want you to meet.” He takes my hand and, as he leads me into the heart of the garage, all the guys greet me with their version of
hello
.

“Millie,” Sage begins to say as we come to a stop in front of their newest member. “Alex. Alex, Millie.”

“Hi,” she says, offering her hand.

“Hello.” I have to let go of Sage in order to return the gesture; but immediately after, Sage has his fingers wrapped around mine.

“I think I’m going to call you Zip,” he tells her. She lifts an eyebrow at him in question. When he responds, he’s speaking to me. “She’s like a fucking zip-drive, I swear. We’ve been downloading shit into her for hours. She picks it up so quick. We’ve already planned our set for next weekend.”

“Wow. That’s great.”

Alex makes a small sound and I can tell she’s embarrassed by his praise. She catches my eye and shrugs. “I have perfect pitch. It helps. Anyway—” She looks around me at Violet. “Have we earned our pizza? I’m
starving
.”

“Fuck, yeah,” calls out Maddox. “Let’s eat.”

IT’S NOT LONG
before we’re all sitting around a couple empty boxes of pizza, drinking and shooting the shit after the intense hours of work that we put in today. We take the time to get to know Alex a little bit more. We learn that she’s the same age as Maddox and in her last year of college, as well. She’s studying psychology, simply because it interests her; she has no idea what she wants to do with her degree when she’s finished. She’s a Colorado native, like most of us, and her parents live in Longmont. She’s got an older brother who lives out in California, and they are three years apart.
Exactly
three years; they share the same birthday and everything.