Rock the City: A Midnight Fate Novel Read Free Page A

you’re fuckin’ married. I’d have put money on Dom and Gina long before you.”
    “What can I say? I’m irresistible.”
    “So I’ve heard—pretty much every day of the tour. I don’t know about you, but I’m more than ready for this break.” Not to mention I’m ready to be in the same city as Noelle. To have her in my condo, my bed, and anywhere else she’ll let me have her.
    “Are you sayin’ you’re sick of me, Lane?”
    “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. When Lark isn’t on the bus keeping you in line, you’re a real pain in the ass.”
    “She keeps us all in line, and we’re damn lucky to have her. Don’t you forget it.”
    “I can’t—you went and married her.”
    “And you’re probably next. You may not say much about Noelle, but I can tell you’ve changed, too. If you ask me, she’s probably the best thing to ever happen to you.”
    He’s right, she definitely is. “I guess we’ll see. If we can stop arguing long enough to get anywhere.”
    “You argue because you love her. If you didn’t, you’d still be quietly sitting in the corner writing songs on napkins. But she has you so distracted, all you can do is sit and wait for her.”
    “She’s different, East.”
    Noelle’s like no one I’ve ever met. She’s so badass, she’s not afraid to go toe to toe with anyone. Her dirty mouth can get her in trouble, but she’s so sarcastic, you can’t help but laugh.
    And I’ll take the good with the bad because from the second I saw her, I felt her tiny hands wrap around my heart and squeeze the life back into me. For the first time in years, I felt my pulse in my throat.
    She’s had me every day since.
    Not that I need Easton’s approval, but when he says, “That’s why she’s good for you,” with as much confidence as I wish I had, I want to believe him. “I don’t see her ever running, Lane.”
    I want to believe that, too, but while Easton knows about my demons, he doesn’t have a clue how deep they cut. I’ve scratched the surface during some low points on the road, times when all I wanted was to throw in the towel and get wasted. And, like the best friend he is, he was there to talk some sense into me before I threw it all away for one night of numbness.
    Alcohol and drugs may take away the sting, but as soon as the high wears off, the pain slams into me ten times harder. I don’t see that changing unless I accept the past and leave it there, but that would mean I’m okay with it—and even ten years isn’t enough time to separate reality from the shit show I had to deal with.
    “I’m trying,” I tell him, hoping I say it with enough conviction for him to believe me.
    He could be right about Noelle, and even though we need more time together, instead of living through phone calls and the Internet, I want her to be everything I think she is.
    “Take it from the married guy—the right ones are the scary ones. They’ll fuck with your head as much as they’ll toy with your heart. But the making up is just as fun as the fighting.”
    I smile, picturing how Lark had him so tied up when they first met he could barely remember his own damn name. He’d miss the intro to the next song in the set because he was thinking about her, screw up lyrics to songs he wrote because he was too busy staring at her in the crowd. He was fucked seven ways to Sunday.
    I didn’t get what the fuss was all about at the time, but now that I have Noelle to get lost in, I get it. Fuck, do I get it. “Even though I’m scared as hell to want her, I want her anyway. It makes no sense to want more of something that could do you in if you lost it.”
    “Even if you lose it, you get it back. You’ll screw it up, Lane—it’s what guys do best—but she’ll be there even when you piss her off. Sure, you’ll have to buy her something special and grovel way more than you’re comfortable with, but you’ll do it anyway and never regret it.”
    “Noelle’s a little nuts.”
    “I