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After two days, I begin to seriously worry. No one has seen him—I mean, absolutely no one. It’s like he’s fallen off the face of the earth.

On the third day, I can no longer take just sitting back and wondering what’s happened to him. Since Dad is a cop, I plead with him to allow me to file a missing persons report. It takes some convincing, but after I explain that I’ve searched everywhere and I can find no sign of him, he agrees that it might be a good idea to let everyone know he’s missing. I mean, he could be hurt somewhere, and Dad knows that being gone for this long isn’t in Jared’s character.

A month goes by, and we’ve had no luck in finding Jared. Everyone is beginning to expect the worst since there’s been no sign of him.

Summer break eventually rolls around, and with still no word from Jared, I volunteer to clear his dorm room out. My hope is beginning to fade, and it’s becoming clear to me that wherever he is, he doesn’t want to be found. The chances of him returning to school next semester are slight.

“Are you sure you don’t need my help?” Julie asks as she pulls into the parking lot just outside the dorm. “Don’t mind spending a couple hours packing up Jared’s room.”

I shake my head. “I can do it. Besides, you have a lot going on at the shop—just swing by after you’re done and I’ll load up your car with boxes.”

She sighs. “Okay, but call me if you change your mind and need my help. I really don’t mind. He is my son, after all—no matter where he is.”

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nbsp; I reach over and take her hand. “He’s going to turn up, Julie.”

Tears glisten in her eyes. “I hope so. I don’t think I can take the loss of someone else so close to me. My heart won’t survive it a second time.”

I can’t believe that Jared would do this to his mother, or to me. We both love him, and it’s like our love for him wasn’t good enough to keep him here. It makes me wonder how much he really cared for me in the first place. If I were in his position, no matter how hopeless things seemed, I would fight hard to keep my relationship with Jared alive because I love him with every inch of my heart. It hurts that he doesn’t feel the same, and if I could, I would kick my own ass for still loving him so much.

I sigh as I look at Julie’s face and watch the tears stream down her cheeks. No matter how angry I am at Jared, I still love him—Julie and I both do—and we need to find him to make sure he knows that we haven’t given up on him.

It’s then I decide I need to step it up and figure out a way to find Jared, not just for my sake, but for Julie’s too. It breaks my heart even more to see her so sad. I have to know that he’s all right.

THEN

JARED

Suzie Q wasn’t kidding when she said the women go mad over these Black Falcon guys. Every show we open for these guys in Nashville, the place is packed with women. Suzie Q and the rest of the chicks in the band have been having a field day trying to turn all these straight women out.

They’ve got some serious game, and I think they’re well on their way to becoming notorious ladies’ women . . . or however you want to label them.

Suzie Q screams into the microphone, “We’re Lick Me and Split. Thanks for coming out to see us! Make sure you stop over at our merchandise booth and say hello! Good night!”

I play the last few riffs in time with the drumbeats and then head off stage. We’re still very, very rough as a cohesive band, but I think we’ve come together quite well in the past few weeks. I’ve even gotten better with singing on stage with the band in front of crowds. It’s a big change from singing solo and playing acoustically, but I can see this as being a new dream for me—making it in the music business since baseball is further out of reach for a future career. Besides, playing ball doesn’t feel the same without Dad around.

Standing just to the side of the stage is a woman in a skintight red leather skirt with an equally tight red blouse to match. She must really be into red, considering her hair is also the same color. When I pass by, the woman smiles at me the moment we make eye contact. While I can honestly say she’s not my type, she’s attractive for a woman who has at least fifteen years on me.

“That was an amazing set. The girls really seem to be into you,” the redhead says to me.

When she points to the crowd behind her, I notice a lot of the women are still looking in my direction. I turn my attention back to the woman in red. “Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

At that point I imagine we’re done with the conversation because I don’t instantly feed into the woman’s compliments and hit on her, but instead she reaches into her purse and whips out a business card. “My name is Jane Ann Rogers, and I work for Mopar Records. I’m scouting for new talent for a special project that the label is working on. We’re putting together a band, and I’m looking for a front man—a guy with that ‘it’ thing that will pull people in. I think you might be the man I’m looking for.”

I raise my eyebrows and then stare down at the very official-looking business card. This is the record label that represents Black Falcon. Mopar Records has been making big waves signing new bands as of late, so her proposition definitely piques my interest. “You want me?”

“Yes. I think you’re exactly right. Come down to the office in Nashville Monday morning at nine sharp, and we’ll talk more.”

I flick the card between my fingers and smile. “Okay. Thank you. I’ll be there.”

Just as quickly as she appeared, she disappears into the crowd, leaving me elated.

“Who was that?” Suzie Q asks. “She was hot in that cougar kind of way.”

My first instinct is to bust out with the good news, but then I think better of it when I remember that the offer Jane Ann Rogers extended a moment ago was only to me and not to the rest of the band. It would make me a humongous asshole to rub in the fact that I just got propositioned to come talk business with a record company and the rest of the band didn’t.

I stuff the card into my back pocket and shrug. “She wanted to share a bed with me for the night.”

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