“Any guitarist in particular?”
“Well, there is this one guy …”
She slides a button up the keyboard and it lights up.
“Oh yeah?”
Her gaze drops to the keys and she skims her fingertips across them, the electronic notes filling the silence. Behind her, the window is black with the night. “Yeah.”
“Play me your notes again, Omega. I want to record it.”
She turns towards the keyboard and her hands skip across the keys while he fiddles with the computer. Then he makes her play it again, adding his rift underneath.
“Do you write the lyrics too?” she asks him when they’ve got it sounding good.
“Sometimes.”
“You wrote the one about the wind, right?”
He nods.
“I like that one. What’s this one about?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” he tells her. “It isn’t finished.”
* * *
In the morning, he creeps out of the bedroom, leaving Ruby still sleeping in his bed, and meets Kim and Matt at the front door.
Kim has her shades on even though the day is muggy and clouded and Matt’s face betrays the lack of sleep he’s had.
“Morning,” West says to them both.
Kim frowns at him and stomps into the kitchen.
He grins at her. “So lovely to see you this morning, Kimberley. I know your kind don’t usually like to be up and about in daylight.”
“Is it morning? I thought it was the fucking middle of the night.”
He rests his hand on her shoulder. “I appreciate you coming.”
She nods and takes the tall foam cup of coffee offered by Matt.
“I thought we could all do with one of these this morning,” Matt says, handing one to West. “I got one for Ruby too.”
“She’s still sleeping.”
“How’s she doing?”
West takes a sip of the coffee, the bitter taste sharp against his tongue. He flips his gaze to Kim.
“Matt filled me in,” Kim says, waving her free hand through the air. “But Ash already told me. Ruby Bloom, huh?” She shakes her head in disbelief. “First Ash, now you. You enjoy watching me suffer?”
“Ash wasn’t meant to tell anyone.”
Kim arches an eyebrow. “You know Ash Canon can’t keep a secret?”
“Do the others know too?”