Release Me (The Music Within Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

her, and she was currently pregnant with her fourth kid. Not that
they could afford four kids, but Neil didn’t care. If she was pregnant, no
other man would want her. None of that made any sense to Mal, but his sister
obviously loved the stupid fuck, or she’d have left him by now. They came by
for Sunday dinner every week because it was one meal they didn’t have to pay
for.
    Even
though Mal shouldn’t feel ill will toward his sister, he couldn’t help but
think she had abandoned him and their mother, the same way their younger
brother Curtis had. It was up to him, and him alone, to keep the farm going.
    Cade
began tapping his hands on his legs in an elaborate rhythm reminding Mal he
wasn’t alone in the truck. Cade had admitted to being a musician, so it held
reason he’d be a drummer with the way his hands were moving to a song Mal
couldn’t hear. He was curious about Cade, wanted to know everything about the
handsome stranger sitting two feet away from him. Then again, what did it
matter? He would drop him off in Nashville and never see him again.
    “You
want to tell me what happened back there?” Cade asked, his hands still moving.
    Mal
didn’t see the harm in telling him the truth. Part of it anyway. “Several cows
were down. Wild animal got to ‘em.”
    Cade’s
fingers stopped their tapping. “Does that happen often? Is that why you told
your mother to stay inside? If she’s blind, how can she go outside?”
    Mal
waited until Cade took a breath, and he answered, “No, it doesn’t happen often.
There’s gotta be a hole in the fence line somewhere. I’ll have to repair it
when I get home. Yes, it’s why I told Ma to stay inside, and she isn’t
completely blind. She can see outlines, but nothin’ really clear. Even as close
as you were to her, you were still a blur.”
    “Is
it just the two of you? I saw pictures of you with a guy who looks a lot like
you. Is he your brother? I know I stayed in your sister’s room last night.
Where is she?”
    Mal
had hoped for a quiet ride, but it seemed Cade was full of questions, and not
just one at a time. “My brother joined the military. Said the farm life wasn’t
for him. He wanted to go blow shit up and get paid for it. My sister got
married about eight years ago. We see her and her kids every Sunday.” He didn’t
elaborate on his brother. He prayed Cade would let that one go. “What about you?
You got any brothers or sisters?” He wanted to take the focus off himself.
    “Nope.
I am an only child. Where’s your father? I didn’t see any pictures of someone
who looked like he donated sperm.”
     Cade
had to have noticed the shift in the atmosphere. Dwight Wilson was not a
subject Mal would discuss. “You mentioned you’re a musician. Are you a drummer?
What band are you in? Anyone I’ve ever heard of?” Mal knew it was rude to
completely ignore the question, but the topic of his father was off limits.
    “Welcome
to Tennessee,” Cade mumbled when he saw the sign. He turned around in the seat,
looking back at where they’d come from. “What the fuck? Where the fuck were
we?” Cade implored when he turned back around. Mal couldn’t help but laugh at
the concerned look on the dazzling man’s face.
    “Well,
we weren’t in Deliverance country, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Mal
continued to laugh as Cade glared at him. “You seriously took a taxi to
Kentucky and didn’t know it?”
    Cade
crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the side window. “I guess I
did.” About twenty minutes passed before he spoke again. As they closed in on
downtown, Cade admitted, “I’m a drummer without a band. It’s why I’m in
Nashville – to audition.”
    Like
Mal, Cade didn’t give out more information than he felt was necessary. When
they got close to the tall building where Mal was meeting his lawyer, he asked,
“Listen, I hate to ask this, but instead of takin’ you to the hotel, can you
catch a taxi from a little farther