Page 28 of Don't Bang a Bandmate

Melanie smiles. “No,” she says. “But there is a little piece of him in all my romance heroes, I’ll say.”

“Robbie’s the best,” Trix says. As for her, I’m not sure what to think. She’s stunningly gorgeous, for starters, with dark hair and features as sharp as nails. A sleeve of tattoos pokes out of the end of her shirt, which I eye curiously.

Nora nods. “He took a bullet for me once.”

The rest of us gasp.

“Are you serious?” Katrina asks, her eyes shining with tears already.

“Oh, he wasfine,”Melanie says.

“He was brave and heroic,” Nora says. “Everything a hero should be.”

“Why is he anex-husband, then?” Addison asks.

“Oh,” Melanie says, chuckling into her mug. “Well, that is also a very long story.”

“Dude liked booze,” Trix answers.

“Okay, it’s actually a short one, but my man got clean and he’s stayed clean.”

“Good on him,” I say.

“Very good.” Melanie’s eyes soften beneath the weight of what I’m sure are some hard memories. “Robbie’s got a lot of good qualities, which currently outweigh the bad. So I’m sticking with him.”

“You bring the good out of him, you know,” Nora says.

“And it’s mutual,” Trix adds. “That’s love.”

I catch Addison glancing at Harvey; her smile warm.

“I wouldn’t say we bring out thebestin each other,” Melanie says. “But we definitely bring out parts of each other that no one else can. And sometimes, that’s just what love looks like.”

Katrina swoons. “Like Richard and Melissa fromSoulmates,” she says.

“Yeah.” Melanie smiles. “Kind of like them.”

9

BRONSON

Jordan’s not here.

Jordan’salwayshere.

“All right, Mac,” Chrissy says as we all climb aboard the bus. “Let’s roll out.”

“Where’s Jordan?” Jonah asks, thinking the same as me.

Chrissy glances at her clipboard. “She’s taking a personal day,” she answers.

“A personal day?” Knox asks. “What’s that?”

“Well, Knox, it’s a brief vacation that hard-working folk take sometimes so they can get away from people and their annoying questions.”

Knox recoils. “Damn. I see why Cobraville split now.”

Chrissy takes the jab with a smile before sitting down at the front table next to August, who admires her with the eyes of a man who... has obviously seen her naked before.

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