Page 55 of Heartbreaker

Well, like sandpaper has been rubbed along my skin.

Raw and a little vulnerable.

I don’t talk about this shit with people.

Let alone with people I barely know.

And here I am, spilling my guts to Jade.

Christ. I jab at a leaf of spinach, wondering how the hell I’m going to put the genie back in the bottle.

“What do you think if, right before the chorus, we change the progression to…” She names a series of chords.

It’s a good tweak.

Agreatone, actually.

But something tells me that it’s not just about the music right now.

Something tells me she sees right fucking through me.

It should be terrifying…

Only, as I look into those storm cloud gray eyes, that’s not what I’m feeling.

“Jade?”

Her face falls. “You hate it?”

Music.Justmusic.

Thank God.

“No,” I say. “I think it’s perfect.”

Like her.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jade

After dinner,we settle back in the living room and pick up where we left off with “Midnight Snow.” Despite having a nice breakfast together, I’m not sure what’s going on with him because he’s spent the day running hot and cold. One minute he’s opening up about Colt and his found family. The next, he’s surlier than ever, hunched over in the chair as I play the new chord progression.

“No?” I ask when he doesn’t respond.

“It’s fine,” he says, in a weird tone of voice that tells me everything is anythingbutfine.

“I can tell when you don’t like something,” I say quietly. “Just say what it is. We’re supposed to be a team here.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it…I just feel like something is off.”

“Like?”

“If I could show you, it would be easier, but I can’t. So let me think, okay?” He snaps a little and I bite back an equally snippy response.

If he could show meon the guitar, it would be easier.

But he can’t.

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