Page 4 of Rock On

“He can’t answer,” an equally indignant voice responded. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”

I looked around, frowning.

Why did the voice sound so familiar?

“I was here first,” the female voice continued. “So go away and leave me the hell alone.”

Oh, yeah.

Indignation and spunk.

Now I knew why it was so familiar.

Dammit.

Why did she have to be here?

“It’s public property, Harley,” I muttered.

“Actually, it’s not.” She continued to speak, even though I couldn’t see her. “It’s private property and we’re both trespassing. But since I was here first, you need to leave.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere. And would you stop skulking around in the shadows?”

“How am I skulking?” She sounded irritated. “I was here first.”

For the first time, I realized her voice was coming from above me.

I gazed in that direction, shaking my head as I spotted her on the lowest branch of the tree behind me. Her legs dangled and she was holding a bottle of wine in one hand. She held it in my direction in a mock salute.

“How are you going to get home?” I asked, since I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I didn’t see your car.”

“I didn’t think that far ahead,” she admitted, “but I’ll figure it out.”

“It’s dangerous to be out here alone at night.”

She laughed, but it sounded wry and humorless. “You stopped being responsible for my safety a long time ago. Not that you ever cared about my safety, as long as I was the perfect rock star wife.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I demanded, putting my hands on my hips as I continued to stare up at her.

She guzzled from the bottle of wine and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “You weren’t exactly husband of the year.”

“I’m not the one who cheated!”

Before I realized what she was doing, she’d hurled the bottle in my direction, throwing it with such force she lost her balance.

“Harley!” Instinctively, I reached for her as she came toppling out of the tree in my direction.

TWO

Harley

The day that would have been Carter’s thirtieth birthday had hit me hard.

I hadn’t been able to go to the cemetery earlier in the day because thousands of fans had wanted to pay their respects, which made it difficult for me, so I’d sat at home with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and watched soap operas I didn’t care about on TV. Anything to stop missing him.

I’d had an enormous amount of love for a man who couldn’t seem to love himself, and it broke my heart all over again. Finally, sometime after midnight, when my sister got home and could stay with my three-year-old, I called an Uber and had it drop me off at the cemetery. I snuck under the gate and headed for my favorite spot, hoping to drink a bottle of wine and honor him with my presence.

The last thing I’d expected was for Tommy to show up.

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