In Your Honor by Heidi Hutchinson Read Free Book Online Page A

to do this.”
    “ Yes, we do.” Blake was
resolved. “I'll be fine. I'll stay away from her... and all that.”
He ran a shaky hand through his hair again and trudged towards his
own bus, leaving Luke and Harrison behind him.
    He wanted to get frickin' hammered but
he wasn't going to do that. He was going to be clearheaded tonight.
He hadn't heard her play since... well, it had been far too
long.
    Sway was taking a nap on the couch in
the main lounge, but the brilliant sunlight that came in with Blake
woke him up.
    “ Hey, where you been?”
Sway asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “And why do you look
so pissed?”
    “ I went to the diner.”
Blake slumped into a chair. The heaviness he carried settled across
his shoulders.
    “ What? I wanted to go with
you!” Sway looked hurt.
    “ I took Harrison,” Blake
mumbled, then closed his eyes and sighed. “She was there,
Sway.”
    “ Really?” He sat up
straighter, worry in his voice. “I thought...?” He didn't finish
the question. He didn't have to. Blake had thought the same
thing.
    “ She wasn't wearing a
ring.” It was eating Blake inside to have that information without
knowing anything else. It was the second thing he had noticed when
he saw her standing in front of him, right after her gorgeous
face.
    Sway was quiet for a few seconds.
“Maybe she killed him.”
    Blake glared at him before he finally
let out a stubborn chuckle. “You never liked Lucy.”
    “ It's not that I didn't
like her,” Sway explained carefully. “She scared the hell out of
me. There's a difference.”
    “ Me too,” Blake muttered,
feeling that old familiar burn in his chest.
    ***
    It wasn't the biggest crowd Luke had
ever seen, but it was fairly large for a local band. His eyes swept
over the buzzed audience and he smiled at the memories of playing
similar venues in his younger years. Large, open lawn, no chairs,
just people milling about and packed densely closer to the
stage.
    He squeezed Lenny's hand as they made
their way through the crowd. He wanted to be far away to see the
entirety of the show. A friend had sent him a demo CD of Taylor
Stevens and it had piqued his interest. He knew what the guy
sounded like on a recording, now he wanted to see if he had enough
stage presence to be viable as an opener. He was still nervous
about Lucy being a part of the package, regardless of what Blake
said or what promises he had made. She was his
kryptonite.
    He found a small patch of open lawn
and sat down, pulling Lenny with him. He draped his arm around her
back and pulled her to his side.
    “ Where's Blake?” Lenny
asked, looking around at the people nearby.
    “ He and Sway are down in
the pit.” Luke gestured to the throng of people at the front of the
stage. “They wanted a front row seat.” He had tried to talk them
out of it, and he thought Blake should skip the show altogether.
But Sway was certain that he'd take care of it if anything
happened. Luke still didn't know what that meant. Sway had been
right there when Blake had gotten the tattoo. Luke didn't agree
with his methods.
    “ What about Mike and
Harry?” Lenny sat up straighter as the stage lights came on and the
crowd moved closer to the front.
    “ Mike wanted to check out
their set-up, so they went backstage to meet the guys and stuff.”
Luke rolled his head back and forth, cracking his neck. His
movement drew Lenny's attention and she bumped him with her
shoulder.
    “ Don't worry so much.” She
smiled crookedly at him. “I'm sure everything is going to be
fine.”
    Luke smiled back, his worries easing
slightly. She was his center. His beautiful, perfect calm that he
could stand still in forever. He leaned towards her, brushing her
lower lip with his thumb, and then captured her in a deeper kiss
than he probably should have for the setting they were in. The
crowd began to gain volume, and he broke away from her reluctantly
to return to the task at hand.
    Taylor Stevens crossed the stage
without