Fractured Frets (Flintlocks #4)

Chapter 1

SLIP

Twelve hours ago, on a drunken high, I’d married the girl of my dreams, Madison Reed, in Las Vegas. Ten hours had passed since we’d returned to the hotel and made wild, hot, crazy love...several times. But just before five a.m., she’d woken me, leaping out of our bed with tears streaming down her face, and begged for an annulment—adamant that getting hitched last night was a huge mistake. Regardless of how much I’d pleaded for her to stay and talk things through, she’d packed her bags and left. Taken off. Back to Vancouver.

I’d flown home to LA.

My heart and mind were still in tatters, trying to make sense of what had happened. Our quick getaway before I headed overseas to continue touring with my band, The Flintlocks, had been perfect. Our spontaneous “I do” had been one of the happiest moments in my life. But her heart-breaking blow had shattered my soul.

How had something that seemed so right turned into a fucked up mess?

What had I missed?

Maybe it was just me. I was the problem. She didn’t want to be married...to me .

Beckett, my bodyguard, had gotten my intoxicated ass from Las Vegas to my fellow bandmate’s place. I’d had to meet Flint and the guys there before we headed to Tokyo.

Drunk off my rocker,I’d crashed through the front door and hit a wall that appeared out of nowhere—my injured hip didn’t need that. Cole—our drummer— had rushed to help me, but after shrugging him off, and ignoring Flint’s concern, I’d staggered into the center of the living room. As my band, their girlfriends, Blake—our manager—and April—our publicist—stared at me with what-the-fuck expressions, and asked what was wrong, I’d held up my hand. My gold wedding ring caught the light. “We got fucking married.”

Commotion erupted throughout the room. My mind blurred. In a cloud of vodka vapor, I struggled to stay upright. My hip thudded with pain—old surfing injury ached like a bitch.

But visions of Maddy swam through my mind. Last night, her gorgeous white glitterydress had shimmered like a blanket of stars. Her beautiful dark eyes had captivated my soul.Her stunning smile had stolen my breath.

Underneath bright lights, we’d danced. Laughed. Drunk too much. And damn . . . we’d had fun. No one else existed when she was around. I wanted to hold her close forever. Alleviate all her concerns. Be hers. Her touch had brought my heart back to life. Her tears had destroyed it.

Anguish crushed my ribs. “...And she wants to end it.”

Fuck!

I didn’t want to face the consequences. Losing Maddy had never been part of the plan. I grabbed a bottle of vodka off Flint’s bar and headed for the door. “I just don’t want to think about or deal with this now. Let’s drink and get the fuck out of here.”

But before I made it to the front door, Flint caught my arm and spun me to face him. “You have to deal with this, Slip. What the fuck were you thinking? We’re going away for six months. You’ve barely even dated Maddy. And you married her?”

“Yep. I did. Didn’t you see this?” I held up my hand, thrusting my ring toward his face again.

“Noooo!” A shrill voice came from the hallway.

Harper covered her mouth with her hands. Cole’s cousin...my ex-hookup...had just come home after being away for two years to be Cole’s new nanny. She closed her eyes, staggered back a step—no, wait, that could just be me, still drunk—and then let her hands fall against her chest.

“Sorry. That didn’t come out right. Who...who did you marry?” The anguish in her eyes punched me low in the guts. I still felt bad for hurting her. But the past was the past, right?

“Maddy.” Every time I said Maddy’s name, my chest ached instead of swelled.

“Who...who’s Maddy?” Tentativeness touched Harper’s tone. I was certain she didn’t want to hear the answer.

“My girlfriend. Sutton’s bestie.” I half-heartedly flicked my hand toward her standing beside Flint. The moment I’d met Maddy—at Dalton’s Nightclub almost two years ago—I knew I’d found my forever. I’d never believed in love at first sight or any of that insta-love bullshit until I laid eyes on her.

Back then, the timing wasn’t right to get involved with anyone. Cole and I had been desperate to pull Flint out of his depression. We’d had to stop him from hitting the bottle and find a way for him to reconnect with music. He’d spiraled after he lost his brother, Phil, our bassist, my best friend, in a horrific car crash thanks to drugs on the night of my twenty-fourth birthday. We all struggled with the loss. Grief still lingered.

But helping Flint had delivered more than we could’ve wished for. Setting him up on a few fake dates with Sutton to get in touch with life again had not only reignited his creativity, but his passion. They’d fallen hard for each other. I’d be forever in Sutton’s debt for saving him.

And she’d introduced me to Maddy.

Maddy and I had kept in touch since that night, constantly texting and calling. We’d never planned on hooking up, but no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t stay away from one another. That was what made her wanting to end things so difficult to comprehend.

“Okay.” Harper bobbed her head in short, sharp jerks. “So . . . you’re married. That’s . . . great. Congratulations.”

She stepped forward with her arms wide to give me a hug, but I held up my finger. I didn’t need one. Not from her. “Don’t pop the champagne.” I opened the vodka and took a swig. “It hasn’t gone to plan.”

“Slip?” Lewis—our bassist—lowered his voice. “Is Maddy really going to file for an annulment?”

Fire burned like acid in my eyes as I stared at everyone hovering around the living room. “That’s what she said before she left.” The notion of voiding our marriage drilled a huge hole into my heart. I slapped my hand against my chest. “I don’t want her to do that. I fucking love her.”

Sutton took a tiny step toward me. “She loves you too.”

“Then why the fuck does she want to end it? We haven’t even started our life together. I don’t understand.”

“Maybe you rushed into it, considering you hardly see each other.” Cole smirked. “Or maybe she’s already secretly hitched?”

Cole always joked and made light of situations. But this time...?Epic fail.

“She’s not already married.” I winced, but nothing stopped the ache slicing through the center of my soul. “I know her. We wanted this. I swear.” I turned to Sutton for answers. “Do you know why she’d want out?”

“Well, yeah.” She swept her long blonde bangs off her face with her manicured fingernails. “I could write a list a mile long. Can’t you?”

“Of course I can.” I downed another mouthful of vodka, then rattled off the obvious points. “Her mom’s not well.” Maddy was an angel sent from heaven. Taking care of her mom, who had advanced lupus, took up a lot of Maddy’s time when she was in LA. “We live in different countries, but distance has never been an issue” Vancouver wasn’t that far away. Maddy would only be based there while she starred in a TV show. We talked and texted all the time, every day without fail. We caught up every two to four weeks, for anything from a couple of hours to a couple of days. We hadn’t lived together, but I didn’t need to. “And she’s had other boyfriends and has been engaged before.” Shit...I’d been close to getting down on one knee for my ex, Courtney, too...until Flint had interfered. Ending things with Courtney had hurt—but that wasn’t in the same league as this. “None of those things matter. What the fuck am I missing?”

“Slip...she wasn’t just engaged.” Sutton’s voice came out as a pained whisper. “Didn’t she tell you? About Noah? He left her at the altar. He took off with his longtime friend, Jocelyn. That shattered her heart. Don’t you remember their breakup being in the news?”

My stomach sank into my ball sacs. Fuck. I didn’t know that. Noah, the fucker. Being dumped on your wedding day would gut anyone. But that was five years ago. Back then, the guys and I had created enough of our own headlines with our after-show drunken, drugged-out parties, womanizing ways and wild antics. I hadn’t had time to worry about other people’s lives. We’d been having fun, making music, traveling, and living life. “Sorry. I’ve never kept up with celebrity gossip.”

“The news was everywhere.” Sutton grimaced as if dumbfounded by my lack of knowledge. “He dumped her in the church, in front of their family and friends...and photographers from People magazine. It was awful. She was so humiliated. Hurt. And heartbroken.”

Who wouldn’t be?

But why hadn’t she told me about that? We’d told each other everything...well almost. She’d clearly held onto some secrets, but then...so had I. I’d sworn mine would never hurt her or anyone I cared about. I was doing everything to ensure that never happened.

Stretching my head from side to side, I massaged the back of my neck, digging my fingers into the tight muscles, unable to relieve the tension. I didn’t know every detail about Maddy’s past, but I didn’t need to. We’d both had broken hearts. We’d both moved on. We both loved each other. That was enough.

I lowered my gaze and stared at the floor. “What happened with Noah was shitty.” We all had scars from the past. “But Maddy and I are meant to be together. This is right. I know it is.”

“Then don’t fuck it up.” Flint’s tone held a warning sting. “Talk to her.”

“She’s not answering my calls or texts.” I’d sent at least fifty messages to her on the flight back from Las Vegas. Not one reply.

The gossip sites were in meltdown about what we’d done. We’d been photographed last night. That was another shitshow we’d have to deal with. Why couldn’t the press just leave us alone? I hated that I couldn’t walk out my front door without being snapped by the paparazzi.

Flint closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. The muscles in his jaw twitched and ticked. I loved Flint like he was one of my brothers. But was this just our past on repeat, with tension mounting in our band caused by feelings over girls? Women were the only thing that caused issues between us guys. Were we on that road again? We wouldn’t be if Flint stayed out of it.

“Try harder.” Flint’s voice ricocheted off the ceiling .

“Why?” I snapped. “You’re only worried that Mads and I will cause issues between you and Sutton. Well, get this straight.” Swaying toward him, I got up in his face. “I’m not like you. If Mads and I don’t work out, I won’t ever blame your girlfriend for our breakup.”

“Fuck, Slip.” Sorrow dissolved the color from his ice-blue eyes. “Are you gonna hold what happened with Courtney against me for the rest of my days?” My ex, and his ex, Lena, had been best friends. They’d been inseparable. Flint should’ve followed our dibs rule we’d set years ago in high school. He shouldn’t have dated my girlfriend’s best friend. The rule was in place for a reason...to stop causing problems when things went wrong.

Frustration slithered through his voice. “I’ve apologized countless times. I didn’t handle breaking up with Lena well. But Courtney did cause my breakup. She was a bitch. And you know it.”

“Just stay out of this.” I didn’t need him, or my friends or family interfering like they’d always done. This was between Maddy and me—no one else. I didn’t need more stress. I had enough with the tour, my aching hip, and the press on my tail.

“I can’t do that.” Flint’s volume dialed down. “I’m worried about you, Slip.”

“I’ll sort it out.” Maybe . . . hopefully. God, I want to.

“Let me call her.” Sutton grabbed her phone off the sideboard and called Maddy, but then the light faded from her eyes. “She’s not answering. She’s at her condo in Vancouver. I can see her pin on Snap Map.”

Flint nodded, then threw me an icy glare that sobered me. “Go see her. We have two day’s grace in our schedule. Get on a plane to Van City. Fly to Tokyo from there. You’ll be a fucking mess until this is resolved.”

He wasn’t wrong there. Something had gotten in Maddy’s head, and I was hell-bent on finding out what that was. But a shudder ran down my spine. I had a hunch. That hunch stood by the hallway glaring at me, cuddling Charlotte, Cole’s daughter, in her arms. Harper.

Maddy had always been concerned about my reputation, the quantity of women I’d been with, and past girlfriends. But she had nothing to worry about. There was nothing between Harper and me. Nothing . I’d never been in love with Harper. I was Maddy’s, one thousand percent. If I had to spend the rest of my days proving that to Maddy, I would.

But could I do that now? My head ached and spun, torn between Maddy and my band. My obligations. I rubbed at the tension throbbing in my brow. “I can’t go via Canada. I don’t want to miss our first show in Tokyo.”

“You won’t. But time will be tight. You’ll miss the press conference, but that’s okay.” Flint clutched my shoulder and gave me a gentle shake. “Slip, you need to go. Even if it’s only for a few hours.”

Was that sensible? Rational? Nope. But I often wasn’t. So why start now?

Tears welled in Harper’s eyes before she turned and disappeared down the hall.

I didn’t like hurting people, but the more she stayed away from me the better.

“Slip, are you sure about Mads?” Cole asked.

Certainty set in every bone in my body. I eased back a few steps and leaned against the living room wall, relieving some of the ache in my hip and lower back. “Have you ever loved someone so much you’d give up everything to be with them?”

Somberness warped the air, slamming against my chest as Cole nodded. His gaze fell toward the floor. “Yeah, I have.”

Okay, Cole had me on that one. He’d nearly quit the band to move to India to be with Priah, his ex, a couple of years ago. Thank fuck, he hadn’t. But I now understood what he’d gone through. I’d do whatever it took to stay with Maddy. “That’s how serious I am about her.”

“You’re not giving us up.” Irritation sliced through Flint’s tone. “So sort your shit out.”

I slumped my shoulders and bobbed my head. But for the first time, I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t know if my future was with the band. That scared the shit out of me. Music was a huge part of me. My life. I’d already lost so much; I couldn’t lose that too. “I love you guys. You know that. But don’t make me choose.”

“We’re not and never will.” Anguish softened Flint’s tone. We’d had our moments over the years. We didn’t always see eye to eye. But we were closer than blood. I’d never question that. He placed his hand on my shoulder. “You need to go see Mads.” Flint looked at Blake, then at April, who coordinated our schedule. “Can you get him on fights?”

No one raised any objections.

April grabbed her cell phone and laptop out of her tote bag and headed over to Flint’s dining table. “I’ll do my best.”

Flint was right. I had to see Maddy.

“I’m sorry.” I took in all my friends. “I don’t want this to cause problems.”

“Oh, it will.” Blake stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and shook his head . “I guarantee it.”

No. I wouldn’t let it. I’d sort everything out. Maddy and I just needed to talk this through. Sober.

“Would you like me to come with you?” Sutton stepped in. “I’ll cancel dinner with the girls.”

“Thanks, but no. This is something we have to work out ourselves.” I needed to sober up so I could think straight by the time I got to Vancouver.

“We’re here if you need us.” Lewis wrapped his arm around Tia, Cole’s sister, and they stood as a united front. He and I had become best buddies since he’d joined our band. But the scar of losing Phil, my best friend, still remained. This tour had opened old wounds and the loss I’d never fully processed. I’d helped everyone else deal with their issues but had left mine well alone. The only time I was grounded and in a good place was when I was with Maddy.

I prayed we weren’t over.

“You’ll work things out.” Tia’s heartfelt concern gave me a thread of hope.

April came over with her cell phone in hand. “Flights, a hotel, and a driver are booked. You and Beckett are on a plane in two hours. You fly to Tokyo tomorrow afternoon at three.” She threw me a sympathetic smile. “I hope you work things out.”

“Thanks, April.” I gave her a quick hug. “I’m outta here.”

“Go.” She waved toward the door. “We won’t be far off leaving either.”

I staggered out of Flint’s house and hollered to Beckett waiting outside with the rest of our security team. “Change of plan, Becks. We’re going via Vancouver.”

“Great.” He smirked and mumbled. “More air miles. Awesome.”

I chuckled . . . smartass . But we got on super well.

I grabbed a few clothes and things out of my luggage and stuffed them into a small overnight bag. The rest of my gear could go with the band.

I slipped into the backseat of one of the waiting cars and rested my head against the plush leather seat. Beckett shut the door after me and jumped in next to the driver.

As we drove off, I kept my head down as we passed through the group of paparazzi hovering outside Flint’s front gate. Cameras flashed. Voices hollered. We escaped. Heading for LAX, my palms sweated. My stomach swayed. My head and chest ached .

I had no plan. No idea what to say to Maddy when I got to her place. But I knew one thing for certain—I’d do anything to make this work.

I wriggled on the seat, trying to get comfortable. But as I twisted, a sharp pain pierced the top of my hip. It radiated across my lower back, down my right butt cheek and my thigh, and settled in my bad knee. Fucking injury. No matter which way I sat, nothing relieved the tension.

I dug in my bag and retrieved my pain-killers. I popped two Tramadol into my mouth, washed them down with some water, and closed my eyes.

They’d kick in soon and all would be okay.

It had to be.

I needed to convince Maddy we were a good thing. There was nothing in her past that could change the way I felt about her. There was nothing I wasn’t prepared to do for her. I had to make this right. She was my wife. We were married. And I planned on staying that way.

Vancouver, here I come.