Forbidden Read Free

get.
    “You love what you do?” Tucker asked.
    “Sure, I do.”
    Tucker narrowed his eyes. “What do you love about it?”
    “The music.” Lee thought that much would be obvious.
    “Remember when we were working late at Chris’s, finishing up some of the trim work upstairs?”
    “Yeah, what about it?”
    “Chris talked you into running home and getting your guitar while we polished off that pizza.”
    “I remember.”
    “Man, I’ve been lucky enough to hear a lot of superstars sing, some right up on that stage,” he said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. “But I’ve never heard anything like I did that night.”
    Tucker wasn’t the first person to tell him that. Unique. Raspy. Soulful. All those words had been tossed around to describe Lee’s voice. Lee shifted uncomfortably.
    “You must’ve had a few too many beers.” He tried to laugh Tucker’s compliment off, and he hoped Tucker would do the same.
    “I didn’t have a drop to drink.” Pushing off the post, Tucker reached for the leather jacket he’d tossed on the seat. “It seems like a damn shame to waste a gift like that, if you ask me.”
    “I didn’t.” Lee didn’t mean to sound harsh, but he didn’t need anyone trying to convince him to chase his dreams. He had a daughter to raise, which meant he needed a steady paycheck.
    “I’m just saying, think about it,” Tucker said, seemingly unaffected by Lee’s tone. “Don’t do something just because you assume you’ve got to make up for something or prove yourself to people who aren’t asking you to.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “Your brother? Your daughter? You want to prove to Drake that you can be responsible, that you can hold down a job and stay clean. You want to be somebody Hannah can be proud of. I get that; I’m a father too. But there’s more than one way to do that.”
    Taking a deep breath, Lee hoped breathing slowly would help him hold his temper. Tucker was only trying to help, but he didn’t get it. He’d never hit bottom, never almost destroyed everyone who’d ever loved him.
    “You can follow your passion and prove to Hannah what can happen when you take a risk. I can’t think of a better way to set the right kind of example for her.” Tucker didn’t wait for Lee to respond before he walked away.
     

 
Chapter Two
     
    “You can’t be serious,” Indie Eaton said, glaring at her boss. “Why the hell would you want to hire your brother, of all people?” After what Lee had done to Cassidy, Indie didn’t think he deserved a second chance. Cassidy claimed she forgave him for taking advantage of her, but Indie knew better. Some sins were unforgiveable, and that was one of them.
    “What have you got against my brother?” Drake asked, looking more amused than annoyed.
    That only incensed Indie more. If there was one thing that set her off, it was being patronized. No one knew that better than Drake.
    “You said yourself he can’t be trusted,” she reminded him. She was trying to keep a tight rein on her patience. Even though she considered Drake and Cassidy her friends, he was still her boss, and it was his company to run as he saw fit.
    “That was a long time ago,” Drake said, lowering his voice when someone walked by. “People change.”
    “Not people like that.” She could barely contain the shudder rippling through her. Men like Lee were takers, incapable of changing unless it suited them.
    Narrowing his eyes, Drake leaned forward and laced his hands on the desktop. Indie edged away and sat in the chair across from him.
    “We’ve never really talked about this,” Drake said. “How much has Cassidy told you about what caused the rift between us?”
    “Not a lot,” she said, clenching the wrists of her black sweater in her fists. Indie didn’t want Drake to think his wife had overstepped by confiding in an outsider.
    A few weeks after Indie had accepted the job as Drake’s administrative assistant, Cassidy asked if she could