“I’ll have a Screaming Orgasm, please.” Her eyes gleam and I meet her interested gaze with a dispassionate one. “Multiples, actually.”
I barely suppress a loud sigh and grab the Baileys, Kahlua, and a top-shelf bottle of vodka. Once her drink is mixed I set it down in front of her.
“On the house. Feel free to take it and go.”
A frown mars her attractive face. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in such a hurry to get rid of me. You have a hot date later?”
I can’t help it—I glance over toward the piano. The music speeds up and so does my heart rate. The notes call to me like a siren song and I know I won’t be able to keep myself from barreling over there for much longer.
“The piano player? I saw her when I came in. She’s pretty.”
“You done?” I nod to a newbie barback named Jake to come get her empty glass and he does.
“Oh, I see,” she says evenly, watching me carefully. “It’s her, isn’t it? The one you’re so eager to get your shit together for, huh?”
“I need to get my shit together regardless, Ashley. You know that. How about helping me do that instead of causing more trouble?”
She frowns as if I’ve insulted her. “I’m not trying to cause trouble. I’m curious. Pretty sure curiosity isn’t a crime.”
Closing my eyes, I inhale through my nose and exhale out my mouth like the meetings have taught me. “You know what they say about curiosity.”
Cal walks by and I call out that I’m taking my break. Without waiting for his response or approval, I move out from behind the bar and make my way through the sea of bodies separating me from the girl behind the piano. Once I’ve navigated the treacherous waters, I see her.
It’s smoky in here tonight and several women I’m not familiar with are surrounding her but I see her sitting there—playing her heart out—and all I can do is watch.
She doesn’t make music, or create it. She is music. It flows through her as she plays and it’s an incredible sight to behold.
There she is. My beautiful bluebird.
My stomach tenses and my throat constricts.
She shouldn’t be here.
I shouldn’t be here.
Seeing me here will hurt her and there is nothing I wouldn’t give to prevent that.
Before I can even begin to formulate the words in my mind that I should say to make this okay, to make it somehow hurt her less, the music stops and she turns as if she can feel me standing there. Applause breaks out around us but it fades into background noise.
There isn’t a name for the emotion that crosses her face, darkening her eyes and causing the fire in them to flare at me. It’s part shock, part betrayal, and complete pain.
My jaw clenches and I force my eyes to remain on hers even though mine would prefer to close and block out the sight of her wounds deepening.
“Taking requests?” Ashley’s voice calls out from beside me. Her expression says she’s genuinely impressed by Dixie’s talent but I can guess what my temperamental Bluebird will see.
Dixie Leigh Lark arches an eyebrow at her and then shoots me a scowl of pure disgust before answering with a short, “Not at the moment.”
“Too bad,” Ashley answers with a shrug.
I step closer to Dixie just as she shoves the piano bench backward, scraping it across the hardwood floor. Before I can blink, we’re face-to-face and if looks could kill, someone would be performing CPR on me in a matter of seconds.
“Hey . . . I thought you might’ve gone on back to Houston. Or I’d hoped—”
“Go to hell, Gavin,” is all that escapes her beautiful mouth. Her rage hits me with the force of a ten-foot plate-glass window shattering over me.
I turn to watch her storm out, as I run a hand over my head and feel the heat of several angry glares from other women around me.
Ashley smirks from behind her glass as she polishes off another drink I didn’t realize she was holding. “Well that escalated quickly.”
Yeah. It did.
I am so fucked.
3 Months Later
1 | Dixie