He held her hard stare for a long while before finally looking away.
“I'll make up for it,” he said quietly.
“How?” she asked.
“I don't know yet. But I'll make sure I never do anything like that again.”
She supposed that would have to do.
***
Harrison picked up the water bottle and unscrewed the lid. Sound check was progressing nicely. The show that night should be pretty good. He took a long swallow, his eyes skating through his surroundings.
Everything looked good. In order. Working.
But he couldn't shake this feeling in his gut that something was... off.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out.
Kiley. Again.
She'd called him twice today. He let it go to voicemail. If it was important, she would leave a message. If she just wanted to hook up—which is what he suspected—then his not answering was his answer.
It was strange to think how much had changed so quickly. He'd been so stubborn about trying to make something work with Kiley. And now, for the life of him, he couldn't remember why. Now, she was just someone he kind of dated once.
He looked over at Zelda. She was on her knees at the edge of the stage, her large camera in front to her face as she focused on Mike laughing at something Blake was doing.
Everything had changed.
The urgency he had felt with Kiley was missing with Zelda. It's as if his soul had been absent in all of his dealings with Kiley. And then Zelda woke it up. The yearning was new. He'd never yearned before. His soul had found its compliment. And it had started to pull him towards her from their very first meeting.
All the kissing, whispering, and dancing had taken hold of his listing heart and drew it in like a tractor beam. Now he was docked and secure. Safe. Home. At peace.
Which meant he understood the weight of his decisions. Everything he did from here on out was going to have permanent lasting effects on his entire existence. Was he being a tad melodramatic? Possibly. But it was okay, because Zelda seemed to enjoy that side of him too.
“What's it feel like?” Sway asked at his shoulder.
Harrison turned to his friend, whose face seemed to be perpetually pensive these days.
“What's what feel like?” he repeated the question quietly, somehow recognizing that this was an important conversation.
Sway glanced to Zelda, his face a mixture of wonder and sadness. “What's it feel like to find love?”
Harrison took in a breath, his eyebrows tipping up.
“Don't look at me like that,” Sway chided with a soft chuckle.
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like you feel sorry for me.” Sway gave him a tight smile. “Just tell me what it feels like. Is it cool?”
Unexpectedly Harrison's eyes began to burn at the edges. He nodded. “It's different.”
“Different how?” Sway asked, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat to cover it.
Harrison's eyes went to Zelda and he felt that thing that had started to become commonplace, but he doubted he would ever get used to it.
“Like you've found something vital that you didn't even know you'd lost. I had thought...” Harrison smiled halfway at what he was about to admit. His voice dropped in cadence and tone. “I thought that love was just something we made up to scare away the dark.”
It was quiet between them for a minute as his words settled. It wasn't the most complete description for what he felt, but those were the only words he could come up with.
“The dark's gone now, isn't it,” Sway said rather than asked.
Harrison nodded.
“Scarier than ever?”
“Terrifying,” Harrison said honestly.
“Happy for you, brother.”
***
Whatever it was that was happening internally for each of his band mates, Luke was satisfied. Their show was all sorts of exciting.
Mike had been more at peace than Luke ever remembered seeing him. And they'd known each other for decades. Having the love of a good woman did that, though. Luke would know.
Blake hadn't gone through any more volatile mood swings since he and Lucy had gotten married. He was happy and played just as aggressively as ever, but it was with more glee rather than angst. It upped the energy of their shows to a level they hadn't achieved before.
And Harrison, the baby, the innocent in all of their shenanigans. Harrison had fallen in love with the photographer. Luke could have called it.
Though if he had known how it would make Harrison open up more onstage, he would have tracked Zelda down himself years ago. Harrison, while still being technically one of the best guitarists Luke had ever known, was now playing with a passion they'd never seen. He was animated on stage. And off.
Sway, on the other hand, was less animated. The fresh developments in his life were no doubt weighing on his mind. He was careful, introspective. Luke wanted to be worried about him, but he just wasn't. Sway was okay. He just had to get through this new stage of his life.
And the band would be there for him. As always.
“We don't do a lot of covers,” Luke said into the mic, breathing heavily. He took a long drink from his water bottle as the crowd screamed all around him. “But,” he continued, screwing the lid back on. He walked back to the drum kit and placed the bottle down, giving Mike a chin lift.
They'd talked about this ahead of time, though the others didn't really know. Luke took his guitar from the tech that ran out onto the stage. Returning to the microphone, he pushed his sweaty hair off of his face. “Tonight is special.”
He hit the right pedals with his foot, carefully checking the tuning as best he could amidst the onslaught of noise. The guys would join in easily, he had no doubt. But he wanted to do this for them.
“It's uh,” he said, testing the strum, adjusting his guitar strap. Satisfied, he gripped the mic with both hands and looked out over the crowd. “It's a newerish song by one of our all-time favorite artists. Without this guy, I really doubt this band would have come to be.”
He looked to his left at Sway and Blake. They looked curious, but not worried. He looked to his right, where Harrison was content to follow his leader in whatever direction he chose.
“You couldn't pay me to come down,” Luke said.
He began the strum to Tom Petty's “Top of the World” and Mike joined him. It didn't take long for the guys to filter in. Luke grinned in both directions, letting his brothers know this song was for them. Hoping they knew he meant every word.
No matter what happened, they were in this life as comrades. Their joys, hopes, and sorrows were shared. And right now? Right now was very good.
***
Harrison had declared to Zelda that he would be walking her to her hotel room at the bare minimum. So when the meet and greet wrapped up and Sam whisked them back to the high end hotel, she wasn't surprised that he'd stuck to his word and had his fingers laced with hers as they got on the elevator with Kendra, Zed, and Nick.
“Good show tonight,” Zed complimented Harrison, who nodded in acknowledgment.
“Thanks.”
“Did you know Luke was going to do that cover?” Kendra asked curiously.
“Nope,” Harrison said, giving a low chuckle. “But I'm glad he did it.” He squeezed Zelda's hand, brought it up to his mouth and kissed the back of it.
Kendra tried to hide her smile, but Zelda saw it. No, Harrison was not afraid to show his affection in public. Not even in front of his employees.
The doors to the lift opened and Zed and Nick led the way, bickering about what time to set the alarm for and who got to shower first.
Kendra stopped at the door she shared with Zelda and gave the couple a sweet smile. “See you tomorrow, Harrison.”
He lifted his chin at her.
“I'll be in in a minute,” Zelda said.
“No rush,” Kendra replied, letting herself in and closing the door.
Harrison brought Zelda to his front while pulling her arms behind her back. He smiled down at her, his dark eyes almost black. “See? We can be conventional. Look at me walking you to your door and not expecting to be asked inside.”
She grinned. “This is nice,” she agreed.
Thoughtfully, he scanned her face. “You're it, you know.”
“What?” she whispered, suddenly feeling just a touch lightheaded and thankful he was holding her up.
“Who knew you were the one who would end up seeing what my heart looks like on the inside?”
She swallowed as her chest warmed and it spread slowly to her limbs. “Well,” she whispered. “Just so you know, it's bigger on the inside.”
His lips twitched with the hint of a smile, but his face remained serious as it slowly dipped towards hers. He paused at her lips. “I'm gonna love you forever, Zelda Fitzpatrick.”
Then he kissed her.
His mouth claimed hers, his hands let go of hers, so he could wrap his arms around her. With her newly freed hands, she ran them up his chest, to his shoulders, his neck, then his gloriously thick hair.
Her body melted against his and she sighed as she sank into the kiss. He relaxed his hold just a bit and released her lips, moving his mouth to the spot just below her earlobe.
“Forever,” he repeated there.
She closed her eyes and whispered her own promise in his ear. “Until there's nothing left of me.”
He tightened his grip before backing away slowly. “Goodnight, Zeldy. Don't forget, breakfast with my crazy sister in the morning.”
She arched an eyebrow. “There's no way I could forget that.”
He grinned and winked.
“Goodnight, Harrison.” She opened the door, gave him one last smile that she hoped conveyed everything she felt, then went inside.
***
Okay, so she couldn't get onto the floor where the band was staying. But she did check-in as a guest on one of the lower floors.
Harrison would have to leave eventually, Kiley told herself. She would just wait in the lobby until she saw him. It would happen. Harrison never took security with him when he left and he was too restless of a person to just sit in his hotel room.
Patience was not a strength that Kiley possessed. But for this? For this she could wait.
She was out of options.
Almost.
Chapter 18
How Long Will I Love You
For a second Zelda thought maybe she was dreaming that someone was knocking on her hotel room door.
Her body jolted with the repeated pounding again. Nope, not a dream.
She pushed her hair out of her eyes, but it flopped in the way again anyway. She swallowed and smacked her mouth, trying to clear up the dryness from sleeping with it hanging wide open.
“Tell your boyfriend to take a cold shower,” Kendra growled from the next bed.
“Okay,” Zelda agreed as she struggled out of the tangled covers and stumbled across the dark room towards the door.
Harrison should really be sleeping. Why wouldn't he just call her if he needed something?
Flipping the latch on the door and then tugging it open, she frowned in confusion at the woman standing before her.
Long, dark hair, bright blue eyes, skinny jeans and a hot pink tank top all held together with a smirk.
“Good morning,” the woman greeted her, the smirk getting smirkier as she took in Zelda's sleepy attire. “I like it,” she declared bizarrely.
“Can I help you?” Zelda asked, wondering if maybe this was one of those dreams where she thought she was awake, but she was actually still sleeping and the pounding would start again any second.
“I know it's early, but Harrison said you had plans later today and if I wanted to meet you, I had to get my ass up here at the crack.” Those brilliant blue eyes flared as she widened them. “So, welcome to the crack.”
Zelda frowned heavily and leaned into the doorframe. “The crack of what now?”
“The crack of dawn.”
Kendra yanked the door open fully and let out a stunted laugh. “Greta O'Neil. I should have known.”
Greta O'Neil? Wait. This was Harrison's sister? Shit. Zelda thought she'd have time to wash her hair and have a private freakout before meeting Greta. This wasn't part of the plan.
“It's Greta Brookings now,” Greta corrected her, the smirk dissolving into a smile.
“I think I heard that rumor,” Kendra said.
Zelda placed one hand over her eyes as she tried to decide what to do. Her options were pretty limited. She could feign sleepwalking and go back to bed, pretending like none of this had happened. Or she could... no, that was pretty much it.
“C'mon,” Greta said, inviting herself into the room. “Shower and stuff. I'll take you to breakfast and you can tell me your life story, et cetera.”
“You're very early,” Zelda said without intending to.
Greta grinned. “Yeah, I drove a little faster than I probably should have.” She shrugged. “The husband let me take the Viper.”
“Oh golly,” Zelda said. She'd heard about Greta's driving. Harrison had filled her in on as much as he could to help prepare her to meet the firecracker that stood before her now. So Zelda realized this was happening... like, right now.
Greta sat down on the end of the bed. “Hurry up, I want to see if you really do put maple syrup on everything.”
Zelda paused. Harrison was telling people about her. Not just regular people, sister people.
“It's totally true,” Kendra said sleepily as she crawled back into her covers and pulled the blanket up to her chin. “I think that if the world were to run out of sugar, Zelda would be the first to die.”
Greta grinned and looked to Zelda for confirmation. She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “I like sweets.”
Greta's face softened. “I'm glad for that.” Then she cleared her throat. “Get ready, I told Harrison to meet us in the lobby in twenty minutes.”
Zelda did her best. She showered, dressed in jeans and a shirt that said, “I'll be in my bunk,” and her aquamarine Chucks.
When she boarded the elevator with Harrison's sister, her nerves hadn't been quieted at all.
“Relax,” Greta said with a smile. “I'm not here to investigate you.”
Zelda laughed nervously, not believing her at all. “Okay, then why are you here?”
“Curiosity,” Greta said. “I've never heard my brother talk about a girl like he talks about you.” She turned her head to look at Zelda, and Zelda saw something there she hadn't identified before. Apprehension.
“How does he talk about me?” Zelda asked.
“Like you're the most amazing person he's ever met in his whole life.”
The doors opened and they stepped out into lobby.
“That sounds like an investigation,” Zelda pointed out.
Greta grinned. “It's my brother I'm here to pin down. I have to make sure he doesn't screw this up.” She shrugged one shoulder. “And maybe make him a bit nervous. You know he told our mom about Shane before Shane and I were even a thing, right?”
“Shane is your... husband?” Zelda didn't see the problem.
Greta laughed. “Yeah, but I kind of wanted to be the one to figure that out first.”
“Is that why you eloped?” Zelda asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs that Greta motioned to.
“No, we eloped because it was time.” Greta leaned back in her chair and lifted an eyebrow. “How do you feel about elopement?”
Zelda couldn't help it, she blushed deeply. “It's not...” She shook her head and looked into her lap.
“Just kidding,” Greta said, relieving her. “Ma would kill Harrison if he eloped. Speak of the devil...”
Zelda looked up in time to see Harrison striding toward them. His beautiful curls were still damp from his shower, his eyes sleepy, a light pillow crease along one cheek.
Those dark eyes connected with hers and ev
en though she had just said goodnight to him a couple of hours ago, she suddenly felt like she hadn't seen him in weeks. Expecting him to go to his sister first to say hello, she was delightfully surprised when he came straight to her. Taking her hand and pulling her to her feet, he slid one arm around her waist before kissing her deeply.
Zelda wanted to be self-conscious, but that would have required her being aware of herself outside of that kiss. So in other words, that was impossible.
“I am sitting right here,” Greta said, making Harrison smile against Zelda's mouth.
“I know,” he said, then he kissed Zelda just a little bit more.
“Good grief,” Greta said, humor lacing her tone. “Maybe you should just elope.”
Harrison pulled away from Zelda's lips, a lazy, happy smile on his face. His dark eyes took her in and she felt her chest heat up.
“Nope,” he said softly. “I want everyone there, and I want her in a dress, and I want the biggest cake ever...” Zelda's breath caught in her lungs, Harrison's mouth smiled in that gentle, secretive way. “And I want to dance all night long.”
Zelda's eyes burned and she willed it to stop. It wasn't appropriate to cry, even if it was nerd tears! “Me too,” she managed to say back to him. His eyes lit and his smile grew as his arms tightened around her.
“It's like I'm not even here,” Greta said, not sounding like she actually minded.
Harrison tucked Zelda into his side and he finally faced his sister. “Should we go eat? I'm starving.”
***
Breakfast was great.
At least, if you had to boil it down to one word.
It was great.
Harrison hadn't been sure what to expect when his sister had told him she was driving up that morning to meet Zelda. He knew the moment was inevitable, but Greta could be... overwhelming at times.
But breakfast was great.
And he wasn't just thinking about the food.
He watched his woman and his sister talk, laugh and share stories while he ate. He ate until he was so full, he was the happiest he'd been in a very long time. He was full of good food, and good feelings.
The Hope That Starts Page 24
