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Mike stared thoughtfully at me. You know she worries about you. You give yourself
so easily, and she just doesn t get that. She s scared of losing you like she lost her brother.
I know. But I m not Alan. He had problems before that woman ever came along.
Yeah, but you know as well as I do that logic s got nothing to do with it. Alan s suicide
messed her up more than she likes to let on.
Don t I know it.
Alan had been twenty-five and Janey seventeen when he fell in love with Rhonda, a
woman he d met at church. They'd had a whirlwind romance and got married within a
24 Ally Blue
month of meeting each other. Janey had thought Rhonda hung the moon and stars and they
hung out together a lot. Janey opened up to her like she never had with anyone else, other
than me. Then less than a week after the honeymoon, Rhonda cleaned out Alan s bank
account and disappeared without a trace. Alan shot himself in the head a few weeks later.
Janey never got over it, and she never let anyone else get that close to her, except for Mike.
She was as fiercely protective of Mike and me as a mama bear with her cubs. I understood it,
but it was frustrating sometimes.
God, would you guys hurry up? Mike and I glanced at each other and hurried to the
car where Janey stood fuming with impatience.
We rode to Marco s in silence. Mike dropped Janey and me off in front then headed to
his own job as manager of the Alley Kat. If the ride over was tense, our shift at the restaurant
was even worse. Everyone there could feel Janey s anger and stayed the hell out of her way,
me included.
It worried me that she was so furious with me over Eric. I mean it s not like it was the
first time I d ever taken in someone that needed a place to stay. It wasn t even the first time
I d ever struck up a relationship of some sort with someone I d helped out. A couple of them
were still friends of mine, and she was even friends with one girl that she d hated when she
first met her. But I d never seen her this angry with so little reason. It was distracting as hell,
and I kept screwing up orders because I was so worried I couldn t concentrate.
By the time nine o clock rolled around and my shift was over, I felt wrung out and
irritable. I put in an order for an extra-large veggie pizza to go, and sat down in the break
room to wait. Janey came shuffling in a few minutes later. I ignored her.
Hey, Ben?
What? I crossed my arms and glared at her.
She sighed. Look, I don t blame you for being mad, but I wish you d try to see my side
of it.
Well, why don t you tell me what your side is, Janey? Because I m fucked if I know
why you re so pissed at me.
She bit her lip and I was startled to see tears gathering in her eyes. I jumped up and
hugged her.
Janey, come on, what s wrong? I stroked her hair and she relaxed a little.
I m sorry, Ben. She sniffled against my chest. It s just, I know this Eric guy is trouble.
I just know it, I can feel it. And you re falling for him, and I m scared he s gonna hurt you.
I laughed. What are you talking about? I m not falling for him. I mean I like him, and
he s definitely a babe, but we re just friends. I wished it was more, but right then I wasn t
sure it was, or ever would be. And I was sure I wasn t in love with him. Lust and love are not
the same thing. You re worrying over nothing, Janey.
Forgotten Song 25
She shook her head. No, I m not. You may not be ready to admit it, but I know that
look. You re falling for him, all right. I love you, and I don t want you to get hurt. I m scared
for you.
I lifted her chin so I could look her in the eye. I m a big boy. I can take care of myself.
No matter what happens with Eric, I ll be fine. You re not going to lose me like you lost
Alan. And we are always gonna be best friends, no matter what.
She smiled. I know that. And I know I m overprotective. I know you re not gonna ...
well, that you re not like Alan was. I know that. It s just hard to remember sometimes when
I see you doing something stupid.
I laughed. We ll have to agree to disagree on the stupid part. But I d like you to give
Eric a chance, okay? He s a lot like you, you know. I think you d like him if you got to know
him.
She regarded me silently for a while. Okay. I ll give him the benefit of the doubt. For
you. But if he ever hurts you, he s toast!
I ll be sure and tell him that. I grinned at her, she grinned back, and things were back
to normal again.
26 Ally Blue
Chapter Five
Mike was relieved when he heard that Janey and I had made up. Good! You have no
idea how miserable life with that woman is when you guys are fighting, man.
She gave him an evil look and I laughed. The ride back home was definitely more
relaxed than the ride to work, and my irritable mood was gone by the time I unlocked the
door and let myself into my apartment.
I was just about to holler that I was home, when I heard something that stopped the
words in my throat. Eric had found my acoustic guitar and was playing a song I didn t know.
It was so beautiful that I was afraid to even breathe because I didn t want to break its spell.
Then he started singing, and I had to set the pizza down before I dropped it. His voice was
gorgeous, low and powerful and sexy as hell.
I kicked my sneakers off and padded over to the bedroom door. Eric was sitting cross-
legged on the bed with his eyes closed and my guitar in his lap. He didn t seem to know I
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