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HARPER
*
MY DEFIANT STREAK ALWAYS got me into trouble and yet here I was with my bandmates the day after getting married without a word to my husband about it.
Finn's hit song came on the radio as we pulled into the parking lot.
"What a coincidence," Coco said, pointing out Finn's big black SUV taking up two spaces.
Considering that this particular song seemed to be playing nonstop on the radio lately, it really wasn't that much of a coincidence.
I glanced at his expensive vehicle as we hauled our gear through the parking lot. I recalled riding in his ancient jeep with the wind whistling through the split in the convertible top. The man was moving up fast. His success was understandable. He was a talented songwriter and he had the looks teen girls went nuts for. Handsome but vulnerable, like an underfed, brooding poet, with his blue eyes and long dark hair.
Finn was already backstage, straddling a chair with a beer can dangling from his fingers. The beer carton had been mauled open and he'd accumulated quite a pile of crushed cans by his chair. His bass player, Connor, was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside him, laughing uproariously at something Finn had just said. Finn's gaze followed me as I passed and the bass player stopped laughing to direct a dirty look at me.
I remembered how nervous Finn would get before a show. How he'd vomit before going on stage. He would never dream of getting drunk before a gig. Now he looked like he couldn't give a damn. This would probably be the last small club he'd be playing at. He was just a star fulfilling a nuisance promise.
He wasn't kicking back when it came to his looks though. He was dyeing his hair darker now. It was nearly black, making the contrast between his blue eyes even more vivid. His whole look had been taken up a notch. New tattoos, leather wristbands, jeans with strategically placed holes.
I certainly did not miss being his personal stylist. When we were together, he would get downright pissy if I didn't get his pirate braids just right or I smudged too much kohl around his eyes.
I pretended to be interested in the conversation I was having with my bandmates, but I waited nervously for Finn's inevitable approach. I caught the flash of surprise in Lili's eyes and knew he was behind me. He took my arm and peeled me away from my friends.
Once he had me relatively alone in an alcove, he released me and shoved his hands into his pockets. He gave me his best mournful look. "How are you, Harper?"
I decided to jump right in, there was no point prolonging this. "Married."
Shock and hurt flashed in his eyes. "You certainly didn't waste any time."
"Guess not."
"Does he realize what he's gotten himself into?"
"Yeah, he realizes," I admitted. "He doesn't have a lot of a faith that I'm in it for the long haul."
He also thinks I'm too flighty to have his babies, and that I confuse puppy love with real love, I thought but didn't say. Did I really have the right to be offended? Here I was, this very moment, proving how unreliable I was.
"Who is it? Who's the lucky guy?" Finn asked, his voice strained.
"A friend of my brother's."
"Are you fucking serious? That square-jawed, all American getting the medal. The reason you agreed to marry me in the first place."
"The very same."
"Well, you've had a thing for him forever. Maybe he has a chance."
Someone was shouting his name.
"Gotta go," he said. He took his hands out of his pockets and reached for me. He pulled me into an embrace. "Believe it or not, I do want the best for you," he said into my hair.
"I want the same for you," I said and hugged him back.