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  "Yeah, but only in the morning. From the afternoon on, I'll all yours."

  "Then I'll make sure to get the roof done in the morning. I'm not gonna miss out on spending time with you. I feel like I never see you anymore."

  "You see me every day."

  "Yeah, but you keep making me leave earlier every time I come over. Soon you'll be kicking me out five minutes after I get there."

  "Don't be crazy. I wouldn't do that. So did you talk to June? Or just Harold?"

  "Just Harold. I asked him if any of his other friends need help. He mentioned a few people that need help with yard work, like raking leaves, cleaning out gutters, trimming hedges. When he said it, I was thinking there's gotta be a lot more people his age that need yard work done. So I decided to organize the first annual Wheeler Fall Fix-Up event." He grins like he's proud of himself.

  "What's that?"

  "It's an event to help seniors get their houses ready for winter. We're focusing on the outside. It'll be mostly yard work, like raking leaves, cleaning gutters, trimming trees, but if someone needs other exterior work done, like a roof repair or fixing a cracked sidewalk, we'll do that too. We'll do whatever they need."

  "Austin, that's great. Can I help?"

  "I was hoping you would, along with maybe Amber and whoever else you can recruit. I want this to be a big event, so the more people the better. I've already contacted some of the senior centers in town and they're going to give me a list of people that need help."

  "How long have you been planning this?"

  "I had the idea last week but I didn't start working on it until today. I had to get the okay from my dad first. Wheeler Construction is sponsoring it and donating all the supplies, so I had to make sure he was good with it. But I knew he'd say yes. He put me in charge of stuff like this. He wants me to plan charity events that get our name out there but also help the community."

  Austin pulls into the driveway of a one-story house and parks. I lean over and kiss him. "My boyfriend's awesome. I love how you help people."

  "I just don't want more old guys falling off ladders." He points to the house. "So this is it. We practice in the basement. The party's on the main level."

  Four girls walk up to the door and go inside. I look behind us and see cars parked all up and down the street.

  "Are all those cars here for the party?"

  "Probably. Dylan only invited a few people, but you know how word spreads. In an hour or so, the place will be packed."

  I watch as more girls go into the house. Tall, skinny, hot girls who I'm sure will soon be flirting with my boyfriend.

  "You gonna be okay in there?" he asks. "Because if you want to leave, we'll go."

  "I'll be fine. But don't get mad if I punch one of your fans." I say it only half-jokingly.

  "Let's try to avoid that. If you feel the need to punch someone, let me know and we'll leave. But I'm gonna do all I can to make sure those girls know I'm with you. So don't run off." He grins. "I need you to protect me."

  He gets out of the truck and comes around to open my door. He helps me out because it's hard to get out of the truck with a short dress on. I borrowed the red dress Amber was going to loan me when I first moved here. I wanted to look sexy tonight. I admit that's partly because I feel like I have to compete with Austin's female fans. Austin would say it's crazy to even think I have to compete with those girls, but I still feel like I do.

  We go inside the house, which is already filled with people. Most of them are just talking and drinking, but a few of the girls have clustered together and are dancing to the music that's pumping through the speakers. There's an old beat-up couch along one of the walls and Van is sitting there making out with some girl on his lap.

  Dylan spots us and comes over, a drink in his hand. "You made it," he says to Austin. "I wasn't sure if you were coming."

  "I told you I was last night."

  "Did you?" He pauses to think. "I don't remember talking to you last night."

  "Because you were wasted." Austin points at Dylan's drink. "You gotta lay off the booze, man. You're back in school now, remember?"

  "The school year's when I party the most. And now I'm a senior, which is just another reason to party. Soon I'll be done with all this school shit and making real money."

  "Have you started looking for jobs?" I ask.

  He shrugs. "Kind of, but not really. I can't take a job until May so it's not really worth applying for anything yet." He slings his arm over Austin's shoulder and grins at me. "So my boy, Austin, here won't stop talking about you. I think he might be in love. How'd you break him?"

  I ignore the love comment and say, "What do you mean by 'break him'?"

  "How'd you break him of his bachelorhood? He hasn't dated a girl this long in months. It usually doesn't go past a few dates."

  "Yeah, I'm sure she wants to hear that," Austin says, taking Dylan's arm off him. "Why don't you go find something to eat? Soak up some of that alcohol."

  Dylan ignores him and says to me, "Austin says you have a roommate. Maybe you could set us up. We could all go on a double date."

  Did he seriously just suggest that? If he only knew who my roommate is.

  "Um, sorry, but she has a boyfriend," I say.

  "That's right. I forgot. Austin mentioned that." Dylan gulps his beer. "What's her name?"

  Do I tell him? I might as well. A lot of girls have that name.

  "Amber," I say.

  His face falls and he looks down and mutters, "Amber."

  Austin leans over and whispers to me, "Amber's the name of the girl he wrote the song about."

  "Oh," I say, pretending I didn't know that.

  "I need another drink," Dylan says, holding up his cup. "See you guys later."

  "He's so messed up from that girl," Austin says. "Did you see his face when you said Amber's name?"

  "Yeah. Sorry, I didn't know."

  "Don't worry about it. A lot of girls have that name. But whoever this other Amber was, she got in Dylan's head and he can't get her out. He hasn't even slept with anyone since that night."

  "He hasn't?" I ask, sounding surprised, but actually I'm shocked. He hasn't had sex since doing it with Amber?

  "He's had plenty of offers," Austin says, "but he turns them down. Van and I told him he needs to just do it so he can move on. Hopefully he'll find someone tonight. There's plenty of girls here."

  Just as he says that, a girl comes up behind him. She's taller than me with long dark hair and dark eyes. She has on a sleeveless navy dress that's sporty and looks like something I would wear. Her arms are toned, like she works out a lot.

  "Hey, Austin." She puts her hand on his shoulder and I get that tightness in my gut that I get whenever I see girls touching him.

  He steps over just enough so that her hand falls off him. "Haley, how's it going?"

  "Good." She smiles at him. "I was hoping you'd be here tonight."

  He puts his arm around me. "This is my girlfriend, Kira. Kira, this is Haley."

  We say a brief hello, then she focuses back on Austin. "I saw you guys play last weekend. I like your new song."

  "Dylan wrote that, but yeah, it's good. A lot of people like it."

  "You still work out at the same gym?"

  "Yeah. Why?"

  "I was thinking of joining. I wondered if you could give me a tour of the place. I'd take you out afterward as a thank you."

  "Sorry, but I can't. If you go to the gym, they have people there who can show you around."

  "Or I could do it," I say, giving her an overly wide smile. "I have a membership there."

  "You work out?" she asks, eyeing me like she thinks I don't.

  I want to punch her but I just keep smiling. "I work out every day. With Austin."

  She looks back at him. "If you change your mind, let me know. Or just give me a call sometime. My number hasn't changed." She smiles at him as she walks off.

  "How do you know Haley?" I ask, glaring at her even though sh
e has her back to me.

  "We used to date."

  "Like one date or multiple dates?"

  "She's my ex." He takes out his phone, checks it, then puts it back.

  "Ex-girlfriend?"

  "Yeah. But it was a long time ago." He gives my hand a squeeze. "Come on. Let's get a drink."

  I face him. "How long ago?"

  "Kira." He pulls me off to the side. "You said you weren't going to get jealous."

  "I never said that. Of course I'm jealous. Gorgeous girls are constantly coming up to you, touching you, begging you to sleep with them."

  "But I'm with you, not them. You don't need to be jealous."

  I glance behind him. "Would you be jealous if I told you some guy was checking me out right now?"

  His head whips back to see who it is.

  "Austin, no one's checking me out. I just said that to prove a point. You'd be jealous if a guy was looking at me the way girls look at you. And if a guy was flirting with me and touching me right in front of you, like Haley just did to you, I'm pretty sure you'd punch him."

  "Or kill him." He smiles a little. "Okay, you're right. I'd be jealous."

  "At least I didn't punch Haley." I pause. "But I really wanted to."

  He cups my face and leans down and kisses me. It's a deep, lingering kiss, and he keeps it going as he slowly backs me into the wall behind me. I like the kiss, but I feel a little strange doing this in a roomful of people.

  I break from his lips and whisper, "What are you doing?"

  "Making it clear to Haley and everyone here that you're mine and I'm not interested in anyone else."

  "They could just think you're making out with some random girl."

  "I don't make out like this in public. I go find a room, or go in my truck, or someplace else that's private. People know that about me. So if they see me doing this here with you, they'll know it's serious. That I want people to see."

  I smile. "Then go ahead. Kiss me."

  And so he does. And girls leave him alone for the rest of the night. Sure they stare at him and their jealous eyes throw daggers at me, but it doesn't matter. Because they know I'm his. He's made that clear. So back off, girls. Austin Wheeler is mine.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Austin

  Kira and I have now been dating for over a month and that nagging feeling I had that something's going to go wrong and end this is finally going away. I don't know why I ever felt that way with her. I knew from the beginning she wasn't like the other girls I've dated. Unlike them, Kira wasn't dating me because of my name. When we met, she'd never even heard of me or the band. And I had to practically beg her to go out with me. But once she agreed to it, our relationship took off. We quickly became friends and then became more than that.

  Now it's the end of September and our relationship is better than ever. We work out together every morning and see each other almost every night. We spend most of our weekends together and she's been to two Wheeler family dinners. My family loves her, and...I think I might too. I'm afraid to admit that, even to myself, because I'm not ready to feel that way about a girl. So for now, I try not to label my feelings. I just know that Kira's everything I've ever wanted in a girl.

  Today is Friday, and tomorrow I move into my new apartment. I can't wait. I think my dad's a little sad to see me go, but he only lives fifteen minutes away so I'll go over there and have dinner with him a few nights a week so he's not stuck eating alone every night.

  I don't have much stuff to move, but my brothers are still coming over to help. Callie, Jen, and Ivy all offered to decorate the place, but I politely declined their offer. This is my first apartment and I want to be the one who decides how it looks. Given that it's a studio, I don't have much space to work with. I'm going to hang my old guitars on one wall and mount the TV on the wall next to it. The other walls are windows so that takes care of my wall decorations.

  "Almost done," I say as Kira positions herself on the leg press. "Ten reps and then we can go."

  We're at the gym, finishing up another really tough workout. Kira keeps making me push her harder, which I do, but I really wish she'd take it easy. I've tried to get her to slow down, or at least ease up a little on the intensity, but she won't listen to me.

  "Add some more weight," she says after the first couple reps.

  "What you've got on there is plenty," I say, standing next to the machine.

  "It's not enough."

  "We just upped the weight last week. It's too soon to add more."

  "Look." She does another rep, going faster than she should. "It's too easy."

  "It's not too easy. Your legs were shaking and your form was off, both signs that you're using too much weight."

  "Please." She gives me that smile that she knows I have a hard time saying no to.

  I check that no one's watching, then lean down and kiss her. "That smile will earn you a kiss but not more weight on the machine."

  "But—"

  "If you want to work harder, do more reps. We'll add five more." I step back. "Go ahead."

  She sighs and continues with the reps.

  "Okay, last five," I say, coaching her. I can tell she's tired and I want her to quit but she's determined to push herself. At least more reps is better than more weight.

  She does the first one, going slow because her legs are about to give out.

  "Kira, let's just forget the extra reps. You did enough for today."

  "No. You're my trainer and you told me to do them so I'm doing them."

  "I only told you to do them so you wouldn't add more weight. If you'd just—"

  "Oww!" She cringes and the weight she was lifting slams down, making a loud noise that makes everyone around us look over.

  "What happened?" I ask, holding her arm.

  "My leg." She points to it.

  "Is it a cramp?"

  She shakes her head, then bites her lip and clenches the side of the machine with her hands. "Oh, God, it hurts."

  I look at her leg. It looks okay on the outside. I look back at her. "Kira, you need to tell me what's wrong."

  She looks at me and I see tears in her eyes. "I have to get to a doctor."

  I'm panicking now. "Why? What's going on? What's wrong with your leg?"

  "I don't know. I think I might have broke it."

  "Fuck, are you serious?" I look at her leg again. "Where does it hurt?"

  "All over. I need to get off this machine." She goes to get up but I stop her.

  "Wait. I don't think you should move." I glance around the gym. "Just wait here."

  She grabs my arm. "No. Don't go. Please." She squeezes my arm, cringing in pain.

  I lean down to her. "Kira, you're scaring the shit out of me. You need to tell me what to do. Should I call an ambulance?" I get my phone out. "I'm calling 911."

  "No." She takes my phone. "Just drive me in your truck." She takes a deep breath. "I'll be okay. I just need to get to a doctor."

  "I'm not moving you if your leg is broken."

  "It's not," she says, quickly shaking her head. "It just hurts."

  "You just said—"

  "What's going on?" a guy asks. I turn and see Mark behind me. He's the manager.

  "She thinks she broke her leg."

  He gets his phone out. "I'll call an ambulance."

  "No!" Kira says. "Don't call them! If my parents find out I went by ambulance, they'll freak out."

  Mark looks at me, his phone in his hand, unsure what to do.

  I look back at Kira. "I think you should go by ambulance. If your leg hurts that bad then—"

  "It doesn't. It's getting a little better. Can you just get me to a doctor?"

  "I can help you move her," Mark says from behind me.

  I keep my eyes on Kira. "Can I carry you or will that hurt your leg?"

  "I don't know. We'll just have to try it and see."

  I turn back to Mark. "Can you help me get her off the machine?"

  "Sure." He stands next to me
.

  "Can I touch your leg?" I ask her.

  She nods and I slide my hands under her leg and gently lift it up. "You doing okay?"

  She nods again, her eyes on her leg.

  "Mark, you help her sit up while I move her leg."

  We slowly move her so that she's sitting up straight.

  "I'm going to lift you up, okay?"

  "Yeah." She holds onto me and I lift her into my arms. "Mark, can you grab my wallet and keys? They're in my locker." I give him my locker number and combination and moments later, he's back and helping us out the door. We go to my truck and he opens it and I set Kira inside. "You still doing okay?"

  "Yeah," she says, but she doesn't look okay. She looks scared and in pain.

  I secure her seatbelt in place and look at her. "It's gonna be okay."

  She nods, but still looks scared.

  I go around to the driver's side and head to the nearest hospital. I reach over and hold her hand, and when I glance at her, I see her quietly crying. Shit. She's in pain. What am I doing driving her? I should've called an ambulance.

  "Is the pain getting worse?" I ask.

  "No. It's the same. I just..." She closes her eyes.

  "What?" I squeeze her hand. "What is it?"

  She shakes her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

  The hospital's just up ahead. I spot the emergency room sign and follow it to the entrance. I park the truck right by the door.

  "Wait here," I tell Kira. I go inside and find a nurse.

  A few minutes later, Kira and I are sitting in the waiting room, her in a wheelchair with her leg up, and me sitting beside her as she fills out the insurance forms.

  My phone's been buzzing for the past ten minutes. I'm late to work. I call Nash.

  "Hey, I can't come in," I tell him.

  "Why? What's wrong?"

  "Kira got hurt at the gym. We're in the ER."

  "Shit. What the hell happened?"

  "She was using one of the weight machines and hurt her leg."

  "Did she break it?"

  "We don't know yet. She's waiting to see a doctor."

  "Don't worry about work. I'll bring a guy in to cover your shift."

  "Thanks."

  I must sound nervous because Nash says, "Austin. She's gonna be okay."