Rock Courtship Rock Courtship (Rock Kiss #1.5) by Nalini Singh Page B
Authors: Nalini Singh
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memories, he focused on carefully following a detour for the next couple of minutes. “Then my folks stepped in.”
Thea touched his arm. “You’re deeply loved.”
“I know.” It was a gift he never took for granted, not after having seen the loneliness and isolation of Fox’s and Noah’s lives when it came to family. “But I love them, too. I could never follow my dream if it meant watching my parents work their fingers to the bone till the day they died. It would’ve killed me.”
Thea’s hair slid silkily across her shoulders as she nodded. “There’s something your parents don’t know, isn’t there?”
“Yeah.” Coming to a stop at the light, he glanced at her. “I gave myself a one-year time limit to make it. Not fame, nothing like that. I just wanted Schoolboy Choir in a position where we were gigging steadily, earning an income. If that didn’t happen, I was going to go to college, get myself a career.”
“Did you tell the other guys?”
“Yeah.” He’d never lied to his friends. “And the fuckers shrugged and said they’d just move to whichever college town I chose and drag me out to gigs on the weekends.” Laughing, he continued on down the road. “You know that wedding story?”
“The one about how the four of you once played six weekend weddings in a row?”
“Yeah.” To the public, the fact Schoolboy Choir had once had to earn rent money by doing covers of romantic ballads was an amusing anecdote in their history.
To David, it was one of the defining times of his life.
“We didn’t need those gigs for rent money,” he said, driving into the parking garage under his building and into his spot. “We were scraping by on our other jobs, making enough so we could take whatever gigs might get us some exposure.”
Thea’s face was shadowed in the dim light inside the garage when he looked at her, but he could feel the intent concentration of her gaze. “Was the money for your folks?”
“My dad broke his arm,” he told her, undoing his seat belt so he could face her. “My brothers were still only young, and even with my mom taking extra shifts, it would’ve been impossible for them to make ends meet.” David had known what he had to do. “I was going to come back to New York, find work here so I could help out, but Noah went out one day, all clean and shiny and polished, and came back having secured us the first wedding.”
Thea had never guessed at any of this; neither had the world. “Noah?” She liked the guitarist, but he didn’t give off the vibe that he could be counted on in a crunch.
“Don’t let his I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude fool you, Thea. Noah would kill for the people he loves.” That was what made it so damn frustrating that none of them could seem to do anything to help the other man in turn.
“The thing was, he and Abe, they both had trust funds, but they knew I’d never take their money.” It was a pledge the four of them had made as teenagers—that money would never come between them, that they’d always be equal, no matter if Fox and David didn’t have a nickel to their own names. “But if we earned it together, then I could accept it as a loan from the group.”
It had been a fine distinction, but one that mattered—a man could accept a favor from a friend when they were both on the same playing field. Three months later, when David paid the money back after an extended club run that had seen Schoolboy Choir earning a livable income for the first time, most of it had gone to replace Abe’s damaged keyboard. It had been their money, earned as a group and shared as needed.
“Noah’s the prettiest,” Thea said slowly. “Put him in clean, pressed clothing, comb his hair, block his tendency to swear a blue streak and that sharp, biting wit of his, and you’d think he’d stepped right out of a film catalog for ‘handsome, charming, elegant male.’”
“Perfect wedding singer, right?” David’s shoulders shook. “He
Thea touched his arm. “You’re deeply loved.”
“I know.” It was a gift he never took for granted, not after having seen the loneliness and isolation of Fox’s and Noah’s lives when it came to family. “But I love them, too. I could never follow my dream if it meant watching my parents work their fingers to the bone till the day they died. It would’ve killed me.”
Thea’s hair slid silkily across her shoulders as she nodded. “There’s something your parents don’t know, isn’t there?”
“Yeah.” Coming to a stop at the light, he glanced at her. “I gave myself a one-year time limit to make it. Not fame, nothing like that. I just wanted Schoolboy Choir in a position where we were gigging steadily, earning an income. If that didn’t happen, I was going to go to college, get myself a career.”
“Did you tell the other guys?”
“Yeah.” He’d never lied to his friends. “And the fuckers shrugged and said they’d just move to whichever college town I chose and drag me out to gigs on the weekends.” Laughing, he continued on down the road. “You know that wedding story?”
“The one about how the four of you once played six weekend weddings in a row?”
“Yeah.” To the public, the fact Schoolboy Choir had once had to earn rent money by doing covers of romantic ballads was an amusing anecdote in their history.
To David, it was one of the defining times of his life.
“We didn’t need those gigs for rent money,” he said, driving into the parking garage under his building and into his spot. “We were scraping by on our other jobs, making enough so we could take whatever gigs might get us some exposure.”
Thea’s face was shadowed in the dim light inside the garage when he looked at her, but he could feel the intent concentration of her gaze. “Was the money for your folks?”
“My dad broke his arm,” he told her, undoing his seat belt so he could face her. “My brothers were still only young, and even with my mom taking extra shifts, it would’ve been impossible for them to make ends meet.” David had known what he had to do. “I was going to come back to New York, find work here so I could help out, but Noah went out one day, all clean and shiny and polished, and came back having secured us the first wedding.”
Thea had never guessed at any of this; neither had the world. “Noah?” She liked the guitarist, but he didn’t give off the vibe that he could be counted on in a crunch.
“Don’t let his I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude fool you, Thea. Noah would kill for the people he loves.” That was what made it so damn frustrating that none of them could seem to do anything to help the other man in turn.
“The thing was, he and Abe, they both had trust funds, but they knew I’d never take their money.” It was a pledge the four of them had made as teenagers—that money would never come between them, that they’d always be equal, no matter if Fox and David didn’t have a nickel to their own names. “But if we earned it together, then I could accept it as a loan from the group.”
It had been a fine distinction, but one that mattered—a man could accept a favor from a friend when they were both on the same playing field. Three months later, when David paid the money back after an extended club run that had seen Schoolboy Choir earning a livable income for the first time, most of it had gone to replace Abe’s damaged keyboard. It had been their money, earned as a group and shared as needed.
“Noah’s the prettiest,” Thea said slowly. “Put him in clean, pressed clothing, comb his hair, block his tendency to swear a blue streak and that sharp, biting wit of his, and you’d think he’d stepped right out of a film catalog for ‘handsome, charming, elegant male.’”
“Perfect wedding singer, right?” David’s shoulders shook. “He
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