‘And the remakes are never as good as the original.’
‘You’re…’ Jake suddenly paused and several people on the coach started whooping and cheering.
I frowned, but then the volume on the song playing in the background was turned up and it started to make sense.
They were playing one of Jake’s songs on the radio.I turned to him, expecting a smug look to be written over his face, but instead he looked mortified.
‘Fuck,’ he muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for me to hear it.
‘It’s your song!’ Mandy called out, her eyes wide.
‘Yeah,’ Jake replied with a tight smile.
The coach erupted as some of the guests started clapping and singing along enthusiastically.
But the more they sang, the more Jake retreated in his seat.
‘Not a fan of your own music?’ I frowned.
‘This song is… let’s just say it’s kinda personal.’ He dragged his hand down his face.
I knew this one.It was called ‘Somethin’ Special’ and was all about the joy of falling in love.It was one of his most romantic tunes.And it was definitely one of his biggest hits, so it was weird that he seemed to hate it.
Unless…
Then it dawned on me that maybe it was personal because it was about one of his past loves.And obviously they weren’t together any more.
The thought of a man like Jake ever being deeply in love was a complete contradiction to his playboy image.
I’d always assumed that these songs were just written to sell records because it appealed to his female fan-base.But judging by the look of horror on Jake’s face, there was more meaning to the words.
I could be wrong, but it seemed like Jake was in love.
Clearly, I didn’t know what had happened and I wasn’t about to ask him in front of a coach full of strangers, but if I had to guess, Jake had experienced real, deep, soul-crushing heartbreak.
A wave of sympathy and understanding instantly flooded my chest.
Maybe we had more in common than I thought…
20
JAKE
Of all of the songs they could’ve played on the radio, it had to be that one.
Although it was one of my biggest hits, at times like right now, I wished I’d never fucking written it.
My chest tightened as the painful memories of discovering my ex-girlfriend’s betrayal whooshed into my mind like a tsunami.
As the cheers around the bus got louder, my throat constricted and my pulse rocketed.I felt like I was gonna barf.
Everything started to spin.
Was the song always this long?
It felt like it’d been playing for hours rather than minutes.
I wiped the back of my hand over my forehead as I tried to calm my racing heartbeat.
