Music of the Heart Read Online Free Page A

seduced into one or
    more of their STD infested beds?”
    Rolling my eyes, I replied, “No, I think it would be good to see the inner-workings of another
    band. And I think you’re being very unfair and judgmental about the guys.” Okay, so maybe he was
    right on the mark about all of them but Brayden thinking that way, but I wouldn’t give in and let Eli
    know that—I would never hear the end of it.
    “Abby, you’re a twenty-one-year-old virgin who has no experience with men outside the two
    relationships you’ve had with youth group leaders who probably never got past first base with you.”
    “Ha, I’ll have you know it was second with Paul!” The moment the words left my lips, I cringed.
    The last thing I needed was my brothers knowing my sexual past…or lack thereof.
    “I think my eyes need bleaching with the mental image I just got,” Gabe moaned.
    “Whatever,” I grumbled.
    Eli snorted into the phone. “Regardless of what you’ve done or not done, since we are guys and
    have dicks, I think we know a little more about what Runaway Train is thinking about you right now,
    and all of them, but maybe the married one, wants to screw you!” he snapped.
    I gasped at the same time I heard a smack on the other line. “Don’t talk like that in front of her,”
    Micah admonished. I was glad to finally hear his voice. He was the shyest of boys, the deep thinker,
    and the one with a tender heart and soul as deep as the ocean. “What about you, Mike?” I asked.
    He sighed deeply. “While I share some of the boys’ apprehension, I also try to look at this through
    a greater scheme of events. You’re a bright light, Abby, and who knows the good you might do with
    those guys in the short time you have with Runaway Train.”
    “Exactly. I mean, Mom and Dad brought us up to give people from all walks of life and
    circumstances a chance, right?”
    Before Micah could reply, Eli laughed manically. “If you think for one minute that Dad is going to
    be okay with you on a bus with four hard-core rockers, you have lost your freakin’ mind.”
    The mention of our father doused my confidence. Oh jeez, what had I done? He was going to kill
    me. Twenty-one or not, overprotective fathers never seem to fully realize that their daughters were
    grown adults.
    At my silence, Micah said, “Don’t worry, Abby. I’ll talk to him and try to smooth things over. At
    the end of the day, we all know your true character. We know that you’re capable of doing this and
    not succumbing to temptation. Right?”
    “Well, duh, of course.”
    “Then I look forward to seeing you in a week.”
    “Me too, Mike.”
    He exhaled noisily into the phone. “But don’t think for a minute I won’t be calling in to check on
    you every day—maybe twice.”
    I laughed. “I wouldn’t expect any less of you.”
    “Love ya, Baby Girl.”
    “Love you, too.” When the other guys were silent, I added, “And I love you too, Gabe and Eli even
    though you’re being jerkfaces!”
    A deep chuckle came from Eli. “You know we love you, Abster. You’ve been a sweet pain in the
    ass since the moment Mom brought you home from the hospital.”
    “Thanks a lot,” I grumbled.
    “If one of those douchebags dares to lay even a finger on you, I’m totally forgetting the turn the
    other cheek message, and I’ll pound his ass, got it?” Gabe growled.
    I grinned as I shook my head. “Yeah, I’ll be sure to pass on your message.”
    “I’m glad to hear it.”
    “Okay then. I guess this is goodbye for now.”
    A deep chorus of “Byes” echoed around me before I hung up the phone. Cradling it to my chest, a
    tremble went through me when the enormity of what I had done finally crashed over me. I had made a
    bet with the notorious womanizing lead singer of Runaway Train to stay on their bus for an entire
    week. What the hell had I been thinking? I blew out a frustrated breath. Well, no time for worrying
    about it now. As my mom would say, I’d made