Page 49 of Echoes of a Muted Song

“Too many to catch up,” Draven declared, using his voice instead of his device.

From the look on his face, he was about as thrilled with Claude as I was.

“Night’s over, for everyone,” Draven declared. “No ifs, ands, or tie breakers.”

Dash and Rebel, who were rooming together, immediately nodded, and turned to head for the walkway leading to their suite.

“And no in room shenanigans, either,” Draven called after them. I could tell that it taxed his voice to do so, with the way he winced, but they clearly heard him.

“Nothing but water and green tea for the rest of the night,” Rebel declared.

“Thank you,” Draven replied.

I knew Rebel would keep to it, too, and make sure that Dash did as well. He was good that way. His declaration was as good as a promise, not that Claude liked hearing it. The man looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon, and I could just tell he was itching to say some shit, at which point, there were plenty of things I was itching to say right back.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ozzy heading his way, which was likely the only thing that got Claude to finally nod and scurry for the room he was sharing with Kit before Ozzy was forced to check him.

As for Kit, he was holding a bottle of water, looking sleepy eyed as he waited patiently for Sully to finish speaking to his guards. Kit looked as blissed out exhausted as I felt, and man, I couldn’t wait to take a shower and cuddle up beside Draven.

The sky was actually beginning to brightensome as we left the poolside area and headed down the path to the building we were staying in. The place was a literal resort and the rooms, let’s just say they’d hooked us up with a space that had a couch, a kitchenette and a giant ass king-sized bed that I couldn’t wait to pass out in.

My brain was focused on soft, soft, soft as I walked with Draven’s arm around me. He even had the key card out and ready so I wouldn’t have to remember which pocket I’d put mine in.

“Almost there,” Draven murmured in my ear.

He carded us into the building, which was an amazing security feature. Leaning against him as we took the elevator up, I groaned, sighed, and pressed my head against his shoulder.

“Man, that was fuckin’ mystical,” I murmured. “Time just sort of melted and slipped away. The only downer of the whole damn day was Claude. I hope like hell Ozzy doesn’t pick him.”

“He won’t,” Draven said. “You didn’t see his face, but I did. He’s pissed. By the time tomorrow is over, Claude will be a distant memory.”

“I love it when the universe smiles on me.”

Chuckling, he led me into the room and straight to the bathroom, where the bed and the shower started to seem so far apart that the thought of sleeping in the tub popped into my head and began putting down roots.

“You just lean right here,” Draven said, propping me against the sink. “And let me get the water going.”

“Can’t I just crash in the tub and worry about a shower in the morning?” I grumbled.

“Nope. Here,” he said as he passed me a makeup wipe. “See if you can get your eyeliner off.”

I did as I was told, clumsily scrubbing at my eyes until he took the wipe back and finished wiping them.

“All right now, arms up.”

I did as I was told, glad it was just the two of us and a shower stall that muffled enough of the sound that he didn’t need to use his device to be heard.

“You might not have noticed that they were live streaming the whole thing,” he said as he pulled the shirt off over my head before cupping my cheek and stroking it. “We’ve already received five requests to play different venues, and those are just the ones I dealt with while you guys were playing. Talk about an experience, you guys truly gave the fans ones they aren’t likely to forget anytime soon.”

“Sweet.”

“Yup.”

He kissed the top of my nose, unbuttoned my jeans, and peeled them off me while I used the counter to hold myself up.

“You always light up a room,” Dravenmurmured as I lifted one foot so he could tug the jeans free. “But tonight, it was like you were this otherworldly being. I’m just glad I was here to see it.”

“I’m grateful I was here to take part,” I admitted. “The whole night was magic.”

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