Page 17 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

James’s cheek twitches as he turns the knob on the volume, and I rub at my temple. This woman is ridiculous. A few awkward minutes later, we pull up at her street, and before the van even fully stops, I’m opening the door for her to get out.

As she climbs down, she turns and wraps her arms around me and kisses me full on the lips. “I had a great time, pumpkin. You’ll call me?”

“Sure, yeah . . . I have your number.”

“Don’t keep me waiting,” she whispers, her teeth nibbling on my chin.

I pull back, prying her arms out from around my neck. “Right. Thanks again. Bye.”

Before she can even respond, I’m slamming the van door and telling James to floor it.

“You sure you don’t want me to wait while you profess your love for each other on the street corner, pumpkin?” James asks through a wicked grin.

I shove his shoulder and slump in my seat. “Just shut up and drive.”

“I’m tryingto get you guys into the studio the moment there’s a cancellation. We need to get those drum sets on tape, so you’ll be up to bat first, Noblar,” Al says through the phone. “Are you guys good with something last minute?”

“Yeah, man. We’re ready,” I say, nodding.

“Good to hear.”

Al shouts something at someone on the other end of the line, his hand obviously covering the speaker to muffle the noise. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t able to get that Wednesday gig locked down unfortunately, but I still have a few more lines in the water. I’ll let you know what I can come up with. Hang in there.”

“Okay,” I say, trying to cover the disappointment in my voice.

“I’ll be in touch.”

The line goes dead and when I hang up, the receiver feels heavier than ever before.

“Well?” Key asks from his place on the couch.

“Nothing until the weekend, and no studio time yet. Al’shoping for a cancellation.” I sigh. “He’ll let us know, so we need to be ready to drop everything and go.”

Key curses under his breath and takes a long sip of beer. “Yeah, all right. Well, I’m sure it’ll pick up soon.”

“Only if our luck changes,” I mutter. Key holds my gaze. It’s hard to stay positive when things keep going wrong.

We both look over at the sound of a grunt to find Joel passed out on the couch with his mouth hanging open and his beer precariously perched on his knee. I walk over and grab it before it makes a mess on the shag carpet.

“I think that redhead tired him out last night,” Key observes. “How was your night?”

I glance back at the kitchen, where I found the daintily scrawled number earlier and promptly tossed in the trash. Apparently her name is Ashley. “It was good.”

“James came to your rescue, I heard,” he says smiling.

I shrug. “Asshole can’t keep anything to himself, can he?”

Key slaps me on the shoulder as I sink into the cushions next to him to watchDays of Our Lives. “She just wants to go on a double date with her pumpkin,” he simpers, screwing his face up and giving me the most grotesque puppy dog eyes.

“Fuck off.”

He laughs and Joel looses a startled snore from a few feet away.

“I’m just busting your balls, man. I’ve been there. Chicks can be nuts.”

A smile starts to pull at the corners of my lips, but a pressure I haven’t felt in a while creeps over my chest, and my breath halts. “Yeah. Yeah, they can.”

CHAPTER 5

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