all those years ago. If you loved someone, really loved someone, you had to give them the freedom to pursue their dreams.
Even if giving them that freedom left you behind.
Storm
“WHAT ARE YOU guys doing?” Shield asked, standing in the doorway of the studio Cork and I were in.
“We’re just messing around,” I said carefully. “Doing something personal while we wait for Saber to show up. Is he here yet?”
“Nah.” Shield lowered his gaze, his lids hooding his eyes. “He had something to do.”
Interesting. I wondered what that something could be. It must be really important to take precedence over band practice.
I raised a brow. “He seemed in a fucking hurry for us to get here.”
“He was.” Shield shrugged. “Then he wasn’t.” He gestured to my SG, and his braided bracelets slid along his arm. “Sounded good, the messing around you two are doing. Mind if I join you?”
I started to say hell no. This was personal.
The chords and the lyrics were about Lotus, my attempt to express the feelings that hammered deep inside my chest whenever I thought of her. Cork got it. He knew my situation, and he knew her. Understanding grew from knowledge, empathy too. I wasn’t sure Shield was capable of either.
“Deep shit makes the best kind of music.” Shield took a step toward me, his sticks in his right hand. “That’s why Saber and I started the band in the first place. That and to piss off our old man.”
Our father inspiring something good was surprising. So was Shield’s perspective on the formation of the band. Saber had made it seem like his creation.
“But your song needs a little drum fill, don’t you think?” Shield hit me with pleading eyes.
I remembered him doing that when we were kids, and I had my hand on the last Oreo. Although now there was a seriousness to his expression that hadn’t been there when the prize was only a cookie. His head was slightly tilted, his dark brown hair in his eyes, and inside his gaze was a weighted expectancy.
I got the feeling that he wanted to be included in my heavy shit. Maybe that was projection on my part. He was my little brother. I barely knew him anymore, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to know him or have him know me. I lacked the experience to facilitate that happening. However, I knew music, and inside the music, anything was possible.
“I think you’re right.” I lifted my chin to Shield. “The song does need a drum fill.”
“Righteous.” Grinning, he headed for his kit in the back of the room.
I turned to Cork. “Can we start it all over again at the beginning?”
“Sure.” His pick between his fingers, he pointed at me. “But I think the intro would be better this time with just you and the SG.”
“I don’t know.” My brows inched together.
“Unplugged effect, you mean,” Shield said from behind me.
“Your voice and those words will be more earnest without any other instruments.” Cork gave me a look. “Then when Shield and I come in, we’ll add a punch to that earnestness.”
Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of my voice on its own, his idea fit my theme, so I gave him a nod. “Let’s try it.”
Lowering my head, I positioned myself at the mic, plucking the strings and filling the air with the music that had been filling my mind since breakfast.
I closed my eyes and sang. “Her smile, her heart, her a beacon shining in the dark.”
The feelings I buried deep, I unearthed thinking of her. My feelings weren’t land mines, but seeds that only needed replanting in the right soil to grow. The chaos inside me could be ordered. Something good could come from something bad.
I’d made a mistake at the beginning, but we were together now. Lotus made me want to believe that love could overcome a lie. That love could overcome anything.
I cracked open my eyes as I sang the oo, oo, oo, oo, oo on the second chorus.
Saber had arrived, and he harmonized beautifully with the rest of us. He also added a pleasant little rhythm, using the sweet midnight-black Gibson strapped to his shoulder. Behind me, Shield tapped a light pattern on his snare. On my right, Cork continued his groove, his hips swaying in time to the beat. I was in front, something I rarely did, but it felt good.
Then Lotus appeared in the hallway just outside our room. As if mesmerized by the musical synergy inside, she