I take a deep breath and close my eyes. The look in his green eyes tells me he means every word of what he’s saying. I can’t deny that I’ve had some pretty strong feelings for him too. How can I not tell him I feel the same way after he’s laid out his feelings so clearly. He deserves my complete honesty after that.

I open my eyes to meet his gaze. “I think I love you too.”

He grins. “Think, huh? That’s a start, I guess. But just so we’re clear, I know that I love you.”

That causes me to smile and it feels good to hear that after so much crying and sadness. “I love you too.”

“That’s much better,” he murmurs against my lips before I fade into his kiss.

Chapter 16

Light Up the Sky

TRIP

Holly’s dainty hand fits perfectly in mine as we walk around the track hand in hand. It’d taken an entire day of convincing, but she finally allowed me to dump some money into this place to get it ready for the race this weekend.

I throw my arm around her shoulders as we watch a crew repair parts of the track and build the stage for the band to perform. “This is going to be so awesome. I’m excited.”

She smiles up at me. “Me too, but I still feel like it’s wrong to allow you to spend so much of your own money on this place.”

I kiss the tip of her nose. “I’m a partner, right? I look at spending my money here as investing in a business I co-own. You being my girl doesn’t affect that.”

She runs her hand down my back and raises an eyebrow when she grabs my butt. “Are you sure?”

I nip her bottom lip. “Afraid so, but you know that I would give you the world if you asked.”

She grins. “Who knew the smart-assed player I met a month ago would be so sweet.”

I chuckle. “Not me. I didn’t know this part of me still existed until you brought it back out of me.”

“I like knowing I’m the one who makes you so sweet.” She rises up and presses her lips to mine.

“Okay, that’s enough of that.” Holly stiffens at the sound of my brother’s voice and turns around. Tyke stands there in his dark jeans, and gray t-shirt, his blonde hair spiked in every direction. He shoves his hands deep in his pockets and smiles as he checks out my girl. “This must be Holly.”

She tucks herself into my side and rests her hand on my stomach. “You must be Tyke.”

Tyke’s gaze cuts to me and he laughs before it returns to Holly. “How’d you know?”

She shrugs. “Lucky guess.”

Holly’s cell buzzes in her back pocket. After she checks the screen, she glances up at me. “Dad’s calling. He’s probably reminding me we have to get going to his appointment.”

I nod and kiss her forehead. “Don’t let us keep you. We’ll be here when you get back.”

“Okay,” she tells me before turning in my brother’s direction. “I guess I’ll see you later?”

Tyke smiles. “You can count on it.”

A light breeze blows Holly’s blonde hair as she walks toward the house, swaying her hips. I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s like a magnet and the attraction between us is crazy. Man, I hate to be apart from that girl, but I love watching her walk away. Her ass has to be one of my most favorite body parts.

Tyke steps beside me and he turns to catch the same view I have. “Now I know why you haven’t been returning my calls.”

I laugh. “Sorry about that. I’ve been a little preoccupied.”

“I can see that.” He glances over at me. “It’s good to see you happy again. It just sucks you had to find it on the other side of the country.”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “That’s going to be rough. She’ll never leave this place or her father. I wouldn’t ask her to either. Leaving her here is going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I don’t know how Noel and Riff do it.”

“They’ll be glad to hear that you’re finally sympathetic to them needing so much time off,” Tyke teases.

I rub my forehead. “I gave them a lot of shit for getting themselves tied down once it started affecting the band’s schedule. It seemed insensitive to us because we still lived and breathed just the band.”

“And now…” he prods.

“Now I get it. I don’t want to leave Holly here. Leaving her will kill me,” I admit.

“You love her,” his voice is as sure as the words he speaks. He’s always known me better than anyone else.

“I do.” I don’t even hesitate when I answer because I know I’ve never said anything truer in my life.

Tyke nods. “It seems that we’re all changing, going in different directions in life. I suspected this would happen one day. I just never imagined it would happen while we’re still on top.”

I furrow my brow. “What are you talking about? Short vacations don’t mean the band is breaking up. You need to get that thought out of your head. We’re all finding something else to love other than just the band and music. Don’t you see that we’re all finally starting to live our lives? No one is calling it quits.”

I don’t understand his line of thinking. My brother may be great at seeing the bigger picture in most things, but he’s way off base on this one. No way will Black Falcon ever break up. That’s just fucking insane.

Tyke gives me a sad smile. “I hope you’re right, baby brother.” He claps me on the back. “Come on. Give me the grand tour of your new business.”

We spend the next couple of hours walking the dirt track, checking out all the rabbit hills, doubles and tabletop jumps. This place is really coming together. When you see it from this perspective, it really is amazing how much easier and quicker money makes things. Everything is newly painted and the porch on Holly and Bill’s house is finally complete, along with the office being sandblasted. I even have a few computer nerds on the property hooking up new electronic equipment all over the place.

Shit is really coming together. Not only here at Mountain Time, but with Bill and Holly as well. The initial shock of Bill’s diagnosis was hard for Holly, and I’m not sure she’s quite over it yet, but I think once she gets involved in his medical care that will help. Holly is a fixer, so she’ll want to know all the details about her father’s condition and ways she can help ease his discomfort.

She’s never once mentioned her mother to me again. I think there are some things a person just can’t forgive. Maybe with time and a lot of soul-searching she’ll figure out that situation on her own, but I’m not going to push her. It’s her choice if she wants to reconcile with her mother. I don’t know if I ever would if I were in her position.

I guess only time will tell.

As we’re walking back toward the office, Tyke asks, “What’s going on with the beats for the new tracks? Have you worked on them at all?”

I shove my hands into my pockets. “I’ve thought about a few of the songs, but I have to be honest, man, my mind has been on other things lately.”

“Things as in Holly,” he says filling in the blanks. “I suppose I should’ve accepted that. When we talked about her on the phone, I figured she was your main priority at the moment. Riff and Noel haven’t worked on anything either.”

The disgruntled tone in his voice doesn’t go unnoticed. “Are you pissed? We still have loads of time. You know shit will come together and flow once we’re in the studio. Don’t sweat it.”

“That’s the problem, Trip. I’m the only one of us that does sweat it. I write the songs and ninety percent of the time, I’m the one who develops the melody too. It wasn’t always like that. I remember a time when all of you wanted to chip in and put in the work to make the album kick ass.” He scrubs his hand down his face.

I stop dead in my tracks and turn towards him. “Is that why you’re really here so early—to lecture me about not working hard enough on the album?”

“That’s part of the reason.”

I flinch and let out an exasperated laugh. “You’ve got to be joking. Have you lectured the other two about this, or are you only going to single me out as usual.”

“No, I plan on telling them too,” Tyke answers.

“Good. If I’m going to get a talking to, then they should to. You should’ve been elected band leader. God knows Noel doesn’t do much with his power except exploit it for his own personal gain.”

He shakes his head. “No. I’m responsible for enough as it is and quite frankly, I’m tired of it.”

Alarms go off in my brain. Fuck. I don’t like where this conversation is leading. “What do you mean, Tyke? What are you not telling me?”

Tyke takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m thinking of leaving the band.”

“WHAT?!” My heart bangs against my ribs. I can’t believe what I’m fucking hearing. “What the fuck do you mean? Wha—I don’t…I mean…Damn it! Why?”

He frowns. “I’m ready to branch out and do my own thing for a while. I want to be able to perform the music that I write, the exact way I envision it in my mind.”

I throw my hands up. “You can do that right now. Running off and starting over isn’t the answer.”

He tilts his head. “It is, Trip. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, and this is the perfect time to branch out on my own. I’m not saying I’ll leave the band forever. I just need a break, like the rest of you, only my break from Black Falcon won’t be because of a woman.”

Every fiber in my body buzzes with emotion, and for the first time in a long while, I feel like crying. “I’m begging you to not do this. It will ruin everything.”

He places his hand on my shoulder. “It’s all going to work out. You’ll see. Thousands of bass players will line up to fill in for me. You guys won’t even miss a beat.”