Page 141 of Wild

“I got in between her and her dad. I won’t let her choose me over her family.”

She pauses with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth. “Why is it you think you’re not worth loving?”

“I … I don’t know,” I whisper.

“If you love her, and she loves you, that’s all there is to it. None of the other shit matters. It’ll all work out given enough time.”

“I don’t have time.” At least, it feels that way. Not if I’m to find some way to fix this for the band. It feels like I can’t do both.

She levels me with a look like she wants to smack me for being an idiot. “Thenmaketime.”

I mull over her words.

In my life, loving another, someone who wasn’t family, or a friend, has been a fleeting whisper. Something I knew existed, but I could never seem to grasp. Then Mia came along. She wasn’t a whisper, but a roar. A roar I felt all the way to my bones, shaking me to my core, utterly changing everything I’ve ever known and ever been.

I can’t give her up. I won’t.

I have to go back.

For my girl.

For me.

Forus.

* * *

I getin the taxi at the airport and give him the address.

Nerves make my palms sweat and I wipe them on my jeans. The guy driving the car keeps trying to talk to me, asking me if I’m visiting the area and whatnot, but I can’t answer him because I’m freaking the fuck out too much.

Finally, we arrive, the gates mercifully open, and I get out of the car. “Wait here,” I tell him.

He grumbles, but I know he’ll be fine once he gets paid.

I ring the doorbell and wait.

It swings open revealing Mia’s mother.

“Hollis?” she gasps in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Is … uh … Hayes here?”

She steps aside. “Yeah, he’s in the family room.”

Taking a deep breath, I head that way and pause outside of the large room, clearing my throat. Hayes looks up, his eyes widening in surprise at seeing me.

“Can I talk to you … sir?” I add.

I figure the best way, the easiest way, to go about this is to be respectful.

He looks like he wants to say no, but finally nods.

I take a seat in a leather chair across from where he sits on the couch.

“What are you doing here? I thought your sorry ass went back to L.A.”

“I went back to Tennessee, actually,” I admit, rubbing my hands together. “To see my mom.”

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