We weren’t just caught up in the moment, Brooklyn. Don’t you get that?
I stayed still, but every muscle in my body was coiled so tightly that it physically ached. I slowly brought my eyes up to Brooklyn who was standing with her hands on her hips, staring at me intently with that same fire in her eye that I’d seen the first time I’d met her. Suddenly, she threw her arms up and glared. “Was it the phone call? Was it Angelina? What is holding you back?!”
With my hands clenched by my side, I grounded out, “Please don’t bring her up.” Jesus, just don’t remind me of her. Not now.
Brooklyn rolled her eyes. “Is it about her? Is that why you act this way? Something is eating at you, and until you face it, you’ll never again be the Reid King who can silence an entire stadium full of people with one strum of your guitar.” She paused, and I could hear my heart thump, thump, thumping beneath my ribcage. “I don’t know what happened, and I said I wouldn’t ask, but goddamnit, Reid! If you want us to part ways and to stop fighting the urge to kiss each other again, WRITE A GODDAMN SONG!”
Brooklyn’s breathing was erratic, her face flushed, her eyes glaring in my direction. She was seething—like a lion ready to attack.
Her words sounded irate. “Just write from the heart, Reid. Sing the truth. Write about what’s bothering you. You and I both know that’s the real issue here. You need to face whatever it is that’s got you all messed up. The second you face it and let go, the sooner your music will have meaning and you’ll be able to write the stellar songs that I know you can write. Find that passion again! Find something—anything—to hold on to so it’ll help you, because I’m at a loss.”
I growled aloud and snatched my guitar back onto my lap.
Brooklyn wanted to know the truth?
Well, she was going to get it.
Chapter Twenty
Brooklyn
I had never felt so pissed off in my life. My blood ran cold, but my body was simmering. I was fuming. All the pent-up aggression from the last several days was thrown together and had me acting out in ways I’d never imagined, especially not in front of Reid King.
And then, something happened.
The most beautiful melody floated around the room—so beautiful that I was left speechless. The rage I’d been feeling vanished into thin air. Reid’s large fingers moved gracefully over his guitar, and my eyes were trained on every single move he made.
He silenced the room with his talent. His face was relaxed, eyes shut peacefully, jaw loose as he skillfully did what I demanded. He wrote a song. And even from the first verse, I knew it was the song.
“I swore I’d never fall again.
Attraction is all it should’ve been.
But then you gave me your heart
As if it were a delicate piece of art.”
I watched as Reid’s mouth opened with each raw but soft word that fell off his lips. He moved his body with the music in ways that only a true musician could understand. He played a few more notes on his guitar, causing goosebumps to rise on my arms, and then he began to sing more of the masterpiece at hand.
“We were one touch away from lust.
So much that your kiss was a must.
Losing track of time, with no direction in sight.
I just might…
“But I swore I’d never fall again.
Because my heart couldn’t stand to bend.
But then you gave me your heart
As if it were a delicate piece of art.
“I just might…
We’re one touch away from lust.