Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 145746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Let me go.” I reach for the pitcher of water on the table and dump it over her head.
Petra sputters, soaking wet, outrage and fury distorting her features.
“Shoulda let her dumb ass go,” Randi tsks. “That’s what you get.”
“Yeah, that’s what you get. Now leave me the hell alone.” I turn on my heel, wobbling a little, but steady enough to make it back to my table.
The guys are still there and look eager to resume our fun. I frown at the empty glasses and pitchers.
“We need reinforcements.” I raise a half-empty glass and chug the remains. “Drinks for everybody on me!”
THIRTEEN
Monk
I may as well have left with Verity for all the value I’m adding to this session. I’m going through the motions, barely paying attention. The songs are being captured, but I’m not doing much to enhance them. Verity and I have never argued like that. She’s never been like that, though over the last few weeks she has been off. I chalked it up to this screenplay project that has been stressing her out. It’s one project, though. Her response seems out of proportion. Although she did say stress was part of what messed things up at USC.
“I should have pressed more to find out what happened in Cali,” I mumble.
“What was that?” Bret asks from the studio. “You say something, Monk?”
Shit.
“Nah. Sorry. Nothing.” I try to clear my head of the scene with Verity. “You guys wanna take it from verse one?”
They all look at me strangely.
“Verse one’s already in the can,” Bret reminds me. “We’re on verse three.”
“Right.” I nod and force my focus back to the session. “That’s what I meant. Let’s get verse three done.”
My phone lights up. I have it on silent and should really ignore it, but I can’t help but wonder… half hope… that it’s Verity offering some explanation for tonight. Petra’s contact appearing onscreen is the last thing I expect. I want to abandon the soundboard and answer immediately, but I’ve pushed it enough with this group. No doubt they’ll mention all the shit from tonight to the studio manager. The last thing I need in my final semester is to get fired. By my estimate, we’ll be here for another twenty minutes. I’ll call her back as soon as we break.
“Great job, guys,” I tell them once we wrap.
“You were the best, as always,” Bret says, the last of the musicians to finish packing up.
“Sorry for the, uh… distractions.”
“Girl that pretty can distract me anytime.” He winks and smiles without a trace of the annoyance from before.
“Yeah, she’s something else,” I sigh. “But she’s worth it.”
“She the one?” Bret’s brows lift. I’ve known him longer than the rest of his band, and he’s never seen me with the same girl twice.
“Yeah. I think she is, but don’t tell her,” I say dryly. “She might run a mile in the other direction.”
“It’s like that? Most guys I know are the ones runnin’.”
“Believe me, I usually am, but this one…” I shake my head, bemused by the depth of my own feelings. “We haven’t been together long, so I just don’t want to scare her off or jinx it, ya feel me?”
“Had me a girl like that. Faster she would run, the harder I’d chase.”
“How’d it turn out?”
“I married her,” he says with a cocky grin. “But it took longer to catch her than I thought it would. The wild ones take some time. Gotta let them come to it on their own.”
“Verity’s not a wild one.” I frown and shoot him an uncomfortable glance. “Today wasn’t… typical. She’s usually more reserved… I guess would be the word?”
“You like her better that way?”
“I like her any way I can get her,” I admit.
As odd as her behavior has been lately, the soul-deep connection I felt to her from the beginning hasn’t waned.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and Petra’s contact flashes on my screen again. I forgot all about ignoring her call earlier.
“Oh, ’scuse me, Bret. Gotta take this.”
We fist-pound and I answer the call as he exits.
“Petra, what’s up?”
“Nigga, I been trying to get ahold of you.”
“Sorry. I was in a session all night.”
“You need to get down here. Verity… she’s acting really strange. Something ain’t right.”
As soon as I hear Verity’s name, my feet start moving, even though I don’t know where they’re taking me yet.
“Get down where?” I ask sharply, jogging across the street to where my car is parked. “What’s wrong? Where is she?”
“We’re at Top Dog. She won’t listen to me. I tried—”
“Won’t listen to you? What do you mean?”
“Just come. How far away are you?”
“Maybe fifteen minutes.” My heart is pounding and skipping beats at the same time as I start the car. “Is she hurt?”
“No, just not herself. She’s drunk.”
“Verity doesn’t drink.”
“Exactly. Look, Randi and I gotta bounce, but I didn’t want to leave her here like this.”