Fractured Trust by L. M. Dalgleish
Chapter 24
Summer’s warm laugh cut through the loud, thumping bass of the music that filled the club, and Noah was already smiling as he glanced over at where she was sitting at a bar table with Lexie and Eden. She looked stunning in a short, silver dress that showed off her long, bare legs. The silky material clung to all her curves, shimmering as it caught flashes of light from the VIP section dance floor. The dress was sexy as hell, but all he could think about was taking her somewhere private, stripping it off her, and having her wrap those long legs around him.
He would have liked for her to be sitting next to him, or better yet, in his lap. But it was good that she was bonding with Eden and Lexie too. It would be important for her to have that support system when he was away, so she’d have them to help her cope.
Tex distracted him from his admiration of Summer by nudging him in the side with his elbow. He nodded his head over at where Devon and Beau were sitting with their friend Shae corralled on the couch between them. “Are you sure they’re all just friends?”
The two large men dwarfed the pretty brunette the rest of them had all met for the first time that evening. She’d been a little star-struck to start with but had soon relaxed and now she was chatting animatedly with Devon while Beau had his arm draped casually around her shoulders.
“That’s what they both said,” Zac replied, glancing over at the cozy threesome sitting opposite them.
“Could’ve fooled me.” Tex smirked as Devon leaned down and whispered something in Shae’s ear.
Noah wasn’t sure though. He hadn’t missed the way Shae’s big brown eyes kept wandering over in Zac’s direction. Not that Zac seemed to have noticed.
“Yeah, I think she might be into bass players,” he said casually. Zac’s head swung in her direction just as she was smiling up at Beau, Crossfire’s bass player.
Noah grinned. “Made you look,” he said, and Zac turned a narrowed gaze in his direction. “But seriously man, I think she’s into you. How long did the guys say she was here for?”
“Just this weekend. And fucking the best friend of two of my bandmates is the epitome of asking for trouble. So, I’m good. Thanks for the suggestion though.”
Noah laughed and held up his hands. “Hey, just trying to help a friend out. You’ve had quite a dry spell lately. Or maybe you haven’t; it’s impossible to tell with you.”
Zac shook his head, but the corners of his mouth lifted. “I’m going to get another drink. You guys good?”
Noah, Tex, and Connor all nodded, and Zac stood and wandered over to the bar. Noah snorted with amusement as about five seconds after he got there, a group of women had surrounded him.
He watched Zac for a second, wondering whether it was just his imagination or if Zac was even more reserved than normal. Well, if something was bothering him, hopefully he’d talk to one of them about it as soon as he managed to get out of his own head.
Unable to keep his attention off her for long, Noah looked back over at Summer, wanting to catch her eye. But she was deep in conversation with the other two women.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” he asked Connor and Tex, nodding his head over at where the girls were sitting.
Just as he said it, Lexie held up her hands about ten inches apart and all three of them laughed.
“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious, don’t you?” Connor’s voice was smug.
Noah was going to comment when Summer held her hands up only about three inches apart, causing Connor and Tex to burst into laughter.
Completely unfazed, Noah grinned and leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out. “Yeah, laugh it up. She’s talking about width.”
His friends chuckled and Noah tried again to catch Summer’s gaze, wanting her smile, her eyes on him. As if sensing his gaze, she turned her head, but before he could get the smile he wanted, two bodies blocked his view. Irritated, he looked up to see a couple of women standing in front of him, looking down at him with bright, excited eyes and big smiles on their faces. Both were dressed alike in halter-neck tops and skirts which barely covered the tops of their thighs. One of them was clutching her phone in her hand.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s actually you,” the one holding the phone squealed. “Can we please, please get a photo with you, Noah? You’re our absolute favorite.” She turned her eyes to Tex and Connor. “We love you guys too, but…” She shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head over at the table where Eden and Lexie were sitting with Summer.
Yeah, he guessed he was their favorite because they thought he was single, unlike the other two. Good to know it wasn’t his mad skills as a musician or his sparkling personality. Repressing the urge to roll his eyes, he sighed. Best just to get it over and done with.
“Yeah, sure,” he said. He’d been planning to stand up to take a quick selfie with them, but before he had a chance, they dropped down on the couch on either side of him. It was a tight fit, so they had to press up next to him, and out of habit, he put his arms around them both and smiled for the camera. Before her friend took the shot, the girl on his right put one hand on his chest and dropped her head onto his shoulder, and fuck, he already knew how that shit was going to look.
Gritting his teeth, sure his smile was going to look anything but friendly in the resulting photo, he waited for the girl on his left to take the shot. When she finally did, he quickly withdrew his arms and waited for them to get up and leave. He tried to look over at Summer to check whether she was watching, but now someone was standing between them, and he couldn’t see her.
He realized the girls still hadn’t moved, and he looked from one to the other. They were both smiling up at him, the one on his right still with her hand on his chest.
“Okay, I think we’re done,” he said, watching their faces fall but too worried about Summer’s reaction to care if he came across as rude.
The girls stood up and thanked him for the photo, still seemingly reluctant to leave, but when he just smiled politely and nodded at them, they turned and wandered off.
Finally, the person who had been blocking his view of Summer moved, and Noah’s heart sunk. The laughing, happy woman he’d been watching before had gone. Instead, she was sitting stiffly, eyes cast down at the drink in front of her as she played with the straw.
Fuck, she obviously had seen. He was about to jump up and head over there, so he could reassure her, when Connor’s low voice stopped him.
“Don’t.”
Noah jerked his head around. “What?” he snapped.
“You can’t keep running to her every time she gets upset.”
“Why the hell not?”
It was Tex that answered. “Because you’re not always going to be around to do it, Noah. If this thing between you has any chance of working, she needs to be able to handle it on her own.”
“She needs to know I’m doing everything I can.”
“You are doing everything you can. Look, you can’t control other people’s actions. You can’t control the fans and the groupies. Unless you quit being a drummer, they’re not going anywhere. You can’t control them, what they want from you, the things they do and say, and you can’t control Summer’s reaction to it. The only person you can control is you. And you’re already doing the only thing you can, which is acknowledging your fans, thanking them for their support, and not allowing them any other liberties. That is the only control you have over this situation. Now Summer has to step up and do everything she can. You’re both going to have to fight for this; it can’t just be you.”
Noah ground his teeth together, fighting the urge to go to her, to take her in his arms, press his lips to hers and tell her she had nothing to worry about. But Tex and Connor were right, if she couldn’t handle it when he was right there in front of her, and she could see there was nothing going on, then there was no way she’d be able to handle it when he was all the way across the country. She needed to take that next step. And if she couldn’t… his heart sank. If she couldn’t, then there was no future for them, no matter how much he wanted there to be.
He knew she had to be feeling the same connection he was. He could see it shimmering in her eyes when she looked at him, feel it in the urgency of her touch. She had said she wanted things between them to be casual, but it didn’t feel casual. It felt like she couldn’t get enough of him, just the way he could never get enough of her.
Summer had slipped back into his life and his heart effortlessly, between one breath and another. The life he’d been living without her had been like a song without a drumbeat—it might sound okay to some, but to him, it would always be incomplete. He’d spent the intervening years trying to fill the void she’d left, always pushing himself harder, doing more, making sure he never had time to think about what he’d lost. Now his song had a beat again, but he couldn’t relax because he didn’t know how long it would be until the song ended.
Noah reached out for his beer and took a long swallow. He’d give her a few minutes to deal with whatever she was feeling, then screw his friends’ advice; he was going over there.