AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” I can see the worry in the lines on his face.
“Did you know that when I first left home, all of the songs I wrote were my way of writing home to you?” I ask. “I wanted you to be proud of me.”
I lean my cheek against the leather of the seat and stare at my dad. He’s tall and lean, still handsome, with soft brown eyes and messy hair.
“I am,” he says and smiles at me. “You have always been a force of nature, Mia. I have never not been proud of you.” My heart swells, and that is all I needed to hear.
He starts the car and pulls away from the curb. I watch my childhood home become smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.
No regrets.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
It's Not Easy to be in Love with an Addict
THE DOOR TO the studio bangs open and I turn around from my seat at the piano, annoyed at whoever is interrupting me. When I see Peter and the rest of his band standing in the doorway, a smile spreads across my face. They argue and knock into each other as Peter pushes them aside so he can enter the room. He still looks like trouble, a narcissistic front man who thinks he’s God’s gift to women.
“Who the fuck let you riff-raff in?” I bark as I fake being upset.
“Sorry, sorry.” Greta pushes them aside and stumbles into the room, glaring at Sam and Jay.
“Who’s this bird?” Jay asks, while basically eye fucking her.
“What the fuck did you call me?” If looks could kill, Jay would be dead right now.
“Just giving a compliment,” he wrongly states.
Greta narrows her eyes at him and straightens the cat’s eye glasses on her face. “A compliment is an expression of respect, and since nothing you said was respectful to me, I suggest you refrain from opening your mouth again,” Greta slams him, but Jay continues to watch her curiously.
“Are you one of those feminists?” he asks, maybe not so innocently, and I cringe.
“Who the fuck gave this Cro-Magnon a voice box?” she snarls and hooks her thumb in his direction.
Sam sniggers and Peter shakes his head. Erick stands at the back of the group, a drumstick shoved into his back pocket looking bored.
“I was always better with my hands than my voice,” Jay says suggestively, and Greta rolls her eyes at him.
“It’s okay, Greta, I know these misfits.” I try to save him from being annihilated, at least for today.
“I have to go run some errands,” she tells me. “I’ll be back in an hour.” She gives Jay a menacing look. “Hopefully you’ll be gone by then.”
“Don’t miss me too much,” Jay teases and gives her an air kiss.
“Don’t count on it,” Greta huffs and pushes past them.
“Let me guess,” I purse my lips and tap my finger against them, “You missed me.”
“I came to see if you wanted to grab a cup of coffee and a smoke?” Peter asks.
“I don’t smoke.”
Peter rolls his eyes. “We were in the neighborhood.”
“And you spend your free time coming here? You really do need to get a life,” I tease. Heaven’s A Lie has been on tour nonstop for the last several years. Although their last couple of albums were not as popular as the one I worked on with him, they’ve had a pretty stellar career.
Jay picks up the bass I have propped up next to the couch. It’s the old Washburn I used when I didn’t have access to the piano. I still play like shit, but it’s enough to help with the melody when I am working on a song.
Sam plucks it from Jay’s lap and inspects it. “Hey!” Jay protests.
