Rock Me Faster (Licks of Leather #4) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,61
really is a long story.”
“Keep going,” Ross urged. “It’s fascinating.”
The others agreed, so I continued.
“The old man was in tears. His name was Bodhi Floyd. His wife, Helen, had just died of cancer. He was so heartbroken; he’d planned to drive his car off the side of a bridge a few miles down the road, but his car just stopped running.”
“Helen didn’t want Bodhi to drive off that bridge,” Mia whispered.
“No, she didn’t, and that’s exactly what my grandma told him. It was too dark for the guys to work on his car, so they tied a rope to the bumper and towed it back to his house. Bodhi invited them to camp out on his mountain for the night, which they did. The next day, my grandpa and the other men fixed his car, but they never left. Bodhi enjoyed having all the young people around him so much he forgot all about ending his life. Instead, he started helping the group plant crops and build houses, right there on his mountain.
“Six months later, he joined everyone around the nightly campfire and passed an envelope to my grandpa. It was a deed to the mountain…Bodhi gave his mountain to my grandpa and his friends. That same night, that sweet old man died in his sleep.”
“Wow,” Ross murmured.
“They buried him beneath a big pine tree that looks out over a beautiful valley. Every morning, one of us from the group goes and visits his grave. We talk to him, leave him flowers, pinecones, and even a shot glass of mead from time to time.” I couldn’t help but smile thinking about some of the conversations I’d shared with the old man I’d never even met…but whose generosity touched my life in every way.
“Six months later, my dad was born, and my grandparents named him Bodhi.”
“Do your parents still live on the mountain?” Ozzy asked.
“My dad does. My mom…left.”
“Why?” Mia asked, face filled with sadness.
“People come and people go on the mountain. It’s what they do. If the wind calls them, they leave.”
I didn’t want to tell them the wind of greed had swept my mother away, so I told them what life was like on the mountain. About how my grandpa and his resourceful friends had built restrooms and bath houses. How they extended electric, water, and sewer lines from Bodhi and Helen’s house. About how, a few years later, the original founders of Gaia Garden turned the couple’s beloved farmhouse into our general store.
Everyone had a million questions, but each asked with genuine curiosity and sincerity. There wasn’t a hint of judgment among any of them. I was in the middle of explaining how we sheared the sheep and spun their wool for blankets and sweaters when the alarm on Mia’s cell phone began blaring.
“Time to get the fans warmed up for the bad boys of rock,” she announced, wearing a tight smile.
“You got nothing to be nervous about, baby. Remember?” Ozzy cocked his head as he stood and helped her from her chair. Then he wrapped his arms around her, carefully avoiding the wicked spikes on her corset.
“Nothing but twenty thousand plus people watching and waiting for me to screw up.”
“You’re not going to screw up. I’ll be in the wings right there with you. If you get nervous, glance my way. I’ll make obscene tongue gestures at you.” He grinned then pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Then I will fuck up.” She rolled her eyes and drew in a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready.”
As Mia, Ozzy, Duke, and Mick hurried out the door, everyone else at the table stood. I didn’t know what was next on their agenda, but it didn’t matter. I was bubbling with excitement and ready to watch everyone perform.
Ross took my hand and glanced at his bandmates. “I’ll meet you in the dressing room in a few. There’s something I want to show Harmony.”
“Just go ahead and whip it out. We’ve all seen it before,” Syd drawled.
“I haven’t.” Sofia held up her palm and turned her head. “No offense, big guy, but I really don’t want to.”
“Fuck you,” Ross snarled at the bass player as he squeezed my hand and led me out the door.
“Where are we going?”
“Down the hall to the elevator.”
“Then where?”
“You’ll see.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ross
When Harmony told me she’d never been to a concert, I knew I had to do something epic to ensure this night was one she’d remember forever. Armed with one of the security pass keys, I commandeered the