Free Broken Sound by Karolyn James Page A

everything.  He left with their money and Davey’s mother suffered in the same painful fashion that Anna suffered now.  Left in debt.  It’s part of the reason Davey found himself out on the streets more times than not.  And sure, it led to music which led to guitar which led to Chasing Cross, but getting there was an unfair hell.
    If baby Donald wanted to be a rockstar someday, he could do it with the love and care from his father, couldn’t he?  He could keep Donald from living the life of pain and letdown that Davey had been forced to endure for a long time.  Those scars remained and weren’t hard to turn back into fresh wounds.
    Davey didn’t want lawyers and judges in the middle of it all... telling Davey what to pay and when.  Telling Davey when to see baby Donald and for how long.  That wasn’t a family.  That was exploiting a mistake.  That was turning the child into the victim.
    Davey put the phone on the table.  He couldn’t do it that way.  His heart ached for Donald.  Thinking about his eyes reminded Davey that the baby could be his. 
    And he’d do the right thing, no matter what.
    Davey found comfort again by touching Anna’s shoulder.  He worked his hand to her hair and started to play with her curls again.  Seeing Anna right there, next to him, didn’t make things better.  He’d have to tell her about Cassy and Donald.  But until then, her company was perhaps the greatest feeling in the world.

(10)
     
    Anna woke and found the bed empty.  She rolled to her back and put her arms out, needing to stretch.  Her hands wrapped tight on the sheets and she instantly thought of sex.  Sex with Davey.  Sex everywhere in the hotel room. 
    But that didn’t happen the night before.
    She vaguely recalled him touching her while she slept but none of it suggested for a second that he wanted more than to just be next to her.  When she kicked the covers off and found herself fully clothed, she was almost disappointed. 
    The smell of coffee and food hit Anna next and she walked from the bedroom, starving, and in need of finding Davey. 
    She found him standing at the kitchen counter, wearing different clothes.  In a black t-shirt, he was deadly.  It forced Anna to stop dead in her tracks and just stare at him.  The first thing she did was touch her own hair, knowing it had to look like a rat’s nest.  But that didn’t matter, not as her eyes were glued to Davey.  The way the t-shirt hugged his arms, she thought of the muscle underneath that shirt.  Her eyes scanned down to his jeans, wondering what waited behind those.
    “Morning,” Davey said.  “I ordered us some breakfast.  Hope you don’t mind.”
    “Why would I mind?” Anna asked.  “And why did you let me sleep like that?”
    “You worked all day and night, you needed it.  Plus, I had to get up, shower, and take care of some business.  I have to get going in a few minutes but you’re more than welcome to stay.  I called management and put your name on the room.  Nobody will bother you.”
    “Wait a second,” Anna said.  “You’re leaving?”
    Davey looked away quickly.  He pushed a plate towards the edge of the counter for Anna.
    “Just stuff I have to take care of,” Davey said.
    Anna saw the same look come across Davey’s face that he had when he spoke about his father.  As Anna’s stomach started to churn, she looked at the food and then at the carafe of coffee. 
    “I can eat,” she said.
    “Good.”
    They ate in silence.  Anna looked at Davey as much as she could.  A question burned in her, one that seemed so normal, but considering who she sat with in a hotel room, it made it all that more of a fantasy.
    Davey’s phone rang and he laughed when he saw the screen.
    “It’s the other manager,” he said, showing Anna the screen.
    Johnnie.
    Anna became star struck.  Johnnie from Chasing Cross was calling Davey... it just all seemed too wild to be real.
    “He takes his woman to his cabin,”