Gabe stepped into the house and followed Owen toward the living room. He stopped short in the doorway when he saw Caitlyn sitting on the sofa.
“Are you staying for dinner?” Lindsey asked him.
Gabe blinked at Owen, pretending Lindsey hadn’t addressed him.
“Yeah, he’s staying. Kelly is on his way too.”
Lindsey lifted her brows. “And Caitlyn. So that makes five of us?”
“Sorry to keep adding to the guest list.”
“It’s no problem. You know I love to serve Sole Regret.”
Owen managed not to laugh at her claim. She’d served them more than once.
Lindsey glanced longingly at Gabe, who still wouldn’t look at her, and then hurried back into the kitchen.
“What is she doing?” Gabe asked, watching her retreating back until she was no longer visible.
“Trying too hard.” Owen sighed. “She wants love and marriage and babies and to make a home.”
“And you want?”
Owen smiled. “Caitlyn.”
“And Lindsey still wants to live here? Even though you’re not interested in her?”
“Yep.”
Gabe shook his head, tugged off his baseball cap, and stuffed it into his back pocket. “If you don’t know how stupid you are, there’s no sense in me trying to explain everything that’s wrong with this situation.”
“It’s just temporary.” And Caitlyn seemed okay with it. Maybe. They hadn’t had an opportunity to talk much with Lindsey turning up every few minutes.
“If you say so.”
Gabe followed Owen into the living room and dropped into the chair next to the sofa. Owen returned to his spot next to Caitlyn.
“How are you holding up?” Caitlyn asked Gabe.
He smiled at her “Me? I’ll be fine,” Gabe said. “But I fear Jacob has completely lost his mind.”
“That’s the same thing Kelly said,” Owen said.
“He’s under a lot of stress,” Caitlyn said. “You all are. Maybe he’ll pull himself together.”
“I don’t think so,” Gabe said. “There’s a For Sale sign on his lawn. It says fully furnished.”
“Fully furnished?” Owen asked. That sounded drastic.
“Yeah, like he’s up and left his life, not just the band. His entire life.”
“He wouldn’t leave Julie,” Owen said. Jacob could be a hardass and self-centered and a complete control freak, but his entire world revolved around that little girl. Jacob would never, ever do anything to jeopardize Julie.
“If he hasn’t left town, then where the hell is he?” Gabe asked.
“Did you try talking to Amanda? Surely, she knows—”
“She refused to talk about him.” Gabe massaged the back of his neck, refusing to meet Owen’s gaze. “She started sobbing the moment I mentioned his name. I think they broke up.”
“What? Why would he break up with her?” Owen had thought things were going well between Jacob and Amanda.
“I think she broke up with him.”
“Poor guy,” Caitlyn whispered, and Owen was glad she was there, but she didn’t really understand the depth of Jacob’s betrayal. Owen hadn’t taken a decent breath for two days.
“I can’t say that I blame her for dumping his ass,” Owen said. “He’s acting all weird. He got off the fucking bus in the middle of nowhere. Who does that?”
Gabe released a sigh and rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m worried about him. I know I should be pissed, but I’m worried.”
Owen had started that way, but now he was just angry. They’d located Adam, and if Jacob would just pull his head out of his ass, Owen was sure they could straighten things out. But Jacob had his head jammed up there more securely than an industrial-size butt plug.
“Jacob can take care of himself,” Owen said. “If he’s scheduled a news segment, he obviously didn’t get run over on the side of the road. He’s avoiding us.”
“We did sort of turn our backs on him. Not take his side or back him up.”
“Because he was acting crazy,” Owen reminded him.
“I think everything’s been piling up on him for months and he snapped. You don’t think he’d try to end it all, do you?”
Leaving his band, dumping his girlfriend, selling his house—Owen had heard that a person who was suicidal tended to distance himself from everything important in his life.
“Great,” Owen said. “Now I’m worried about him too. Thanks, dude.”
“Maybe the news segment will shed some light on all this,” Caitlyn said. “But if you really think he might be suicidal, you have to get him help, Owen.”
Owen nodded. “You’re right.” He and Gabe exchanged a long look. God, he hoped Jacob wasn’t that far gone.
The front door opened as Kelly let himself inside. “Is Gabe here too? Isn’t that his truck taking up half the street?”
“Hey,” Gabe said.
Kelly barely acknowledged anyone’s presence and flopped down on the sofa next to Owen.
“Turn the channel,” Kelly said, flicking a hand toward the television. “It should be starting.”
“Already?” Owen asked. “I thought you said tonight.”
“At five,” Kellen said.
Surprised it was already that late, Owen switched through the local channels until he found Jacob’s familiar face. He exchanged a look of surprise with Kelly when the camera focused on Jacob and his despised ex-wife. He looked good and even sane, except for the fact that he was holding Tina’s fucking hand.
Owen rubbed his eyes. He must be seeing things. “What the . . .?”
“That settles it,” Gabe said while Owen cranked up the volume to catch what Jacob was saying. “He’s completely lost his shit. We’re having him committed.”
“. . . time I got my priorities straight and focused on what’s really important,” Jacob spoke to the camera in a calm, almost rehearsed cadence. “Not fame, not success, not money, but family. So the rest of Sole Regret’s summer tour is canceled. I’ll personally repay the fans for any nonrefundable tickets.”
“What?” Tina said, the satisfied smile slipping from her model-perfect face.
“What?” Gabe repeated to the television, his voice raised in anger.
“Are you back together with your ex-wife?” a reporter asked. “If I recall correctly, your divorce was rather messy.”
“And final!” Gabe shouted at the TV.
“We’re going to live together as a family,” Jacob said. “I won’t be able to afford two homes once all the lawsuits start being filed, so I’ve moved back in with my wife and daughter.”
“He can barely get the word wife out,” Caitlyn noted.
“Lawsuits?” Tina asked, her head whipping around so she could gawk at Jacob.
“I’m breaking all sorts of contracts to be with you,” Jacob said, feeding her a lovey-dovey look that made Owen want to vomit. “But none of that’s important. My career is over. I’ll be utterly broke, but none of that matters. All that matters is that you get what you want, Tina. You want me, right?”
Tina blinked at him and then looked down at the hands she had folded in her lap. “Of course I do.”
“Does he really not care that he’s going to lose everything?” Gabe yelled. “He doesn’t even like her!”
“All we need is love,” Jacob said. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” He lifted Tina’s hand to his lips and kissed it.
“That’s right,” she said weakly.
Something didn’t feel right, Owen thought. Why would Jacob ever take Tina back? He hated the woman. He loved his daughter—and Tina had custody of Julie—but Jacob couldn’t stand his ex-wife. The dumbass was in love with her sister, Amanda, not with Tina. And yet they certainly looked like a happy couple on television.
“We’re missing something,” Owen said. “Something monumental.”
Kelly snorted. “Don’t you see what he’s doing?”
“Being the biggest fucking idiot w
ho ever lived?” Gabe bellowed.
“He’s calling her bluff.”
“What bluff?” Owen asked.
“I don’t know,” Kelly said, “but look at her face. She started off smug—like she had him by the balls, like she was in charge and held all the aces. And now she looks like she’s ready to fold.”
“You don’t honestly think he’s willing to give up everything just to get back at her?” Gabe said. “And he’s not the only one he’s screwing here. What about us? We have a stake in this too. Did he ever consider how this would affect anyone but himself?”
“It has to have something to do with Julie,” Owen said. He absolutely would not believe that Jacob could be so callous toward his friends—his band brothers—for any other reason. And even then Owen couldn’t wrap his head around the drastic measures Jacob was willing to take to get whatever it was he was after without consulting any of those affected by his rash decision. If any of them had pulled such a stunt, he’d have been pissed. But maybe he expected them to be pissed and didn’t care.
“I’m going to kill him,” Gabe said. “If Adam doesn’t get to him before I do, I’m going to reach into his gut and yank out his balls from the inside.”
“Give him a little time to sort himself out,” Kelly said.
“He’s getting back together with Tina.” Owen pointed to the television where Jacob was now telling the interviewer he might never go back to singing.
“I might paint houses,” Jacob was saying. “Or sell tires. I do want to finish my education—get my GED and set the right example for my daughter.”
“I don’t think he is,” Kelly said, scrutinizing what was playing out on the screen with his head tilted slightly.
“You’re going to let him get away with this bullshit?” Gabe said. “He walked out on us, Kellen. And without him fronting the band, Sole Regret will never be the same.”
“Maybe he’ll change his mind,” Owen said.
“And maybe we’ll tell him to fuck off,” Gabe said.
“He’s obviously struggling. Look at him,” Kelly said. He stood and jabbed at the TV. “Look at his posture.”
Owen couldn’t see what Kelly was apparently seeing. Jacob seemed to know exactly what he was saying as he clearly stated his only future plans were to spend time with his family. A family which inexplicably included the ex-wife he despised.
“He was acting off before Adam left, you morons,” Kelly said. “I’m telling you, something is going on with him that he didn’t share with us.”
“Obviously,” Gabe said. “But that’s no excuse to stab your friends in the back. He just up and left.”
“Adam also fucking left,” Kelly said, his voice raised for the first time.
Gabe slammed his fist into the sofa’s arm. Beside Owen, Caitlyn jumped, but she didn’t say anything. She probably didn’t know what to say.
“And the three of us are left here holding our dicks,” Gabe said.
“Jacob has only fucked us over this once; Adam has left us high and dry dozens of times,” Owen said. They all knew it. They treaded lightly on the subject because Adam was an addict, because Adam was unstable.
They were used to Adam living by his own agenda; they decidedly were not used to Jacob putting himself before the rest of them. They were used to Jacob fixing Adam, Jacob keeping them together, Jacob being dependable. The dude on TV looked like Jacob and he sounded like Jacob, but he sure as fuck didn’t act like Jacob.
“I think we have to support him until he figures out what he wants,” Kelly said.
“I’m not supporting his insanity.” Gabe stood and pulled his baseball cap on. “We put all our faith in him and he left us. Without a word, he left.”
And they’d never had faith in Adam. It didn’t hurt when he disappointed them all time and again. They expected his self-centered behavior. They didn’t expect the same from Jacob.
“You need to think this through before you go off, Gabe,” Kelly said. “You could make things worse.”
“Stop being so goddamned even-tempered, Cuff! This doesn’t piss you off? Not even a little?”
Kelly shook his head. “It makes me sad.”
Gabe turned his attention to Owen. “And I suppose you’re in agreement with your friend here. You two practically share a brain.”
Owen glanced at Kelly. He found his friend’s calm admirable, but Owen wasn’t calm or sad. He wasn’t angry either. He was in denial. This could not be happening. They’d worked so hard to get where they were, and Owen could not wrap his head around the idea that any of this was real. He had to be dreaming or something. Jacob would not trade his career for Tina, he just wouldn’t. But he might give it up for Amanda. Maybe. And he would definitely give it up for his daughter.
“Maybe Julie is sick,” he said, not sure where the idea had come from, but at least it made logical sense to him. Jacob suddenly being in love with Tina and giving up the music he valued in order to be with a woman he hated made no sense at all.
Gabe blinked at him in confusion. “Why would you think that?”
“He’s been adamant about spending time with Julie lately. Scheduled the entire tour around his visitation days. So maybe something is terribly wrong with her.” The mere thought was heartbreaking.
“It could be that,” Kelly said. “But I don’t think he’d hide that from us.” He looked up at Gabe. “Will you sit down? We need to figure this mess out.”
“We need to get Shade back,” Owen said. Kelly smiled at him and nodded.
“Maybe I don’t want him back,” Gabe said, but he sat and they brainstormed—rather ineffectually—until Lindsey entered the room. Her nose was red and her cheeks tear streaked.
“Are you okay?” Owen said, rising from the sofa and grasping her shoulder. “Are you in pain? Is it the baby?”
She shook her head. “Is Sole Regret really breaking up?”
“We hope not,” Owen said. When she wrapped her arms around him, he tried his best to comfort her casually. He glanced at Caitlyn, knowing she wouldn’t like him that close to Lindsey. If she’s staying with you, there can be no touching, she’d included on her list of conditions. But now Caitlyn just shrugged, as if to say, someone needs to hug the poor woman—might as well be you.
“It’s all my fault,” Lindsey said. “I show up pregnant and you all start arguing and then Adam leaves and now Shade is gone and . . . and . . .”
“This has nothing to do with you,” Gabe said. “Adam has been unreliable and self-absorbed since the day I met him.”
“But he left to be reliable for Madison,” Kelly said. “Selfless for Madison.”
Kelly and his uncanny ability to see things from every perspective—Owen wished he thought that way.
“How very nice for Madison,” Gabe said, his temper still not entirely cool. “How utterly devastating for the rest of us. Did Adam even admit he was in the wrong when you talked to him? Because when I talked to him all he wanted to know was what Jacob had done.”
“He admitted he should have told us where he was going,” Owen said. “He seemed sorry.”
“But he didn’t say it.”
Owen shook his head.
“Adam’s always been unapologetic,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel remorse. He just doesn’t express it.”
Owen pulled Lindsey away from his chest to look down into her eyes. “We’re going to do whatever we can to keep Sole Regret together. No more crying over this.”
She wiped at her face with the back of her hand and nodded. “I came to tell you dinner is ready and overheard you talking about the band.”
“I can’t stay,” Gabe said, but his expression as he looked at Lindsey said I don’t want to stay. “I’m going to see if I can find out some real information. Maybe I can corner Jacob outside the news studio if I hurry.”
Owen exchanged a fist bump with Gabe. “Keep us posted.”
“Once things settle down, I want a backgammon rematch,” Caitlyn called
after him.