The Greatest Show (Willow Son #5/Brothers of Rock #20) by Karolyn James Read Free Book Online Page A

car.
    She drove away telling herself this
wouldn ’ t be the last time
they saw each other.
    But it was.
     
    **
     
    *NOW*
     
    “ What
are you doing here? ” she
asked.
    “ I
tried calling you …”
    “ How
did you find out where I live? ”
    “ I
have resources, ” Brantley
said. “ That doesn ’ t matter. How is … how ’ s Seth? ”
    “ He ’ s napping. ”
    Anger flooded her body.
    Where were you? Huh? How many
women did you fuck since we last saw each other?
     
    “ Oh.
Sorry. ”
    You should be sorry. You son of
a bitch.
    “ Brantley …”
    He stood in the doorway, easily
filling it up with his tall size. His shoulders had become more rounded from
all the drumming. The long sleeved shirt did nothing to hide the body under it.
A body that Emma got to experience a couple times and that was it. He had his
sleeves pushed halfway up his forearm, showing off tattoos that weren ’ t there the last time they
talked.
    Fuck, why did he have to be sexy
still? Why did he have to be bigger and stronger? Weren ’ t rockstars supposed to get addicted to drugs and
burn out?
    “ Look, ” he said. “ The second you called Harry I
should have been here. But I didn ’ t
do that. I tried to respect what we decided to do and that was a mistake by me.
I ’ m here now. I ’ m not asking you to welcome me
in and let ’ s be a happy
family. If he needs anything from me …”
    Emma burst into tears.
    She remembered the first time
taking Seth to the doctors when he was just a few months old. That ’ s when they knew something was
wrong with him. She stood in the office, alone, listening to big words being
thrown at her. She knew that the road that would follow would be almost
impossible to navigate and she had to do it alone.
    Crying, Emma lunged forward and
buried her face into Brantley ’ s
chest. She clutched the back of his shirt. His hands hung at his sides for a
few seconds before he touched her. When he did, it ignited that old flame
again. The instant connection. Maybe it was just something deeper, maybe the
fact that they created a child together.
    “ I ’ m so sorry, ” Brantley whispered. “ Tell me what I can do right now. ”
    “ Just
give me a second, ” Emma
whispered back.
    So they stood there in silence.
    Emma took deep breaths, smelling
Brantley, hating herself with each breath she took of him. She then quickly
collected herself and pushed away. She backed into the house and kept a hand
out, putting distance between she and Brantley.
    “ I
shouldn ’ t have done that, ” she said.
    “ You
have every right to do that and then some, ” he said. “ You have every
right to slap me, punch me, kick me in the balls even. You didn ’ t answer your phone so I came to
see you. I shouldn ’ t have
contacted you when I was drunk. That was a bad move. We played this little
acoustic set at a bar and the entire time I just thought about things …”
    “ Let ’ s go outside, ” Emma said. “ So Seth doesn ’ t wake up. ”
    They backed up to the porch and
stood there.
    Never in Emma ’ s dreams did she imagine
standing on her father ’ s
porch with a rockstar. But it was happening. It was actually happening.
    “ How ’ s he doing? ” Brantley asked.
    “ Now?
He ’ s good. Doesn ’ t mean he ’ ll stay that way for long. ”
    “ So,
what happens? ”
    “ His
immune system is messed up. He picks up everything he ’ s around. It ’ s
a double hit with him because the medicines they give him kill infections but
in turn it makes his immune system even weaker. ”
    “ Jesus.
There ’ s nothing they can
do? ”
    “ Well … there sort of is. ”
    “ Which
is what? ”
    Emma didn ’ t want to go there just yet. “ Last night …”
    “ Don ’ t. ”
    “ No.
My father owns a bar, Brantley. I ’ ve
grown up there. I help on the weekends. I ’ ve
seen a lot of stuff in my life, okay? One thing I know for sure is that when
someone is drunk they ’ re
able to muster the strength to