Page 24 of Forged By Sacrifice

“Why?”

“Just…I’m sure this isn’t your first fireworks show, and yet, you looked as excited as my niece and nephews watching them.”

“With all the humming and talk about America, I would have thought you’d already have guessed that it’s one of my favorite holidays. Plus, fireworks are just…breathtaking.”

“I think you’re?”

A commotion in the parking lot below us stopped him from finishing his sentence, but I had an idea of what he was going to say, and it made my heart pound furiously in my chest. I’d been called beautiful and gorgeous by my share of men. But Mac almost saying it felt different. Something I couldn’t explain. Like maybe the ache I felt really could be filled.

We all jumped up from the benches to see the commotion, and the wood scraped at the back of my leg, making me wince, but I ignored it as we looked down to see Brady and several others disembarking from a couple dark SUVs and a van.

Ava and Eli headed for the ladder.

Mac and I watched for a moment as the people waiting to get into the bar burst into a chorus of voices calling Brady’s name. Brady was still all blond-haired, casual grace just like he’d always been when he and Ava had played the open mic nights I’d hosted out of the salon. It had been a weird combination. Hair salon and open mic nights. But the coffee bar next door hadn’t been big enough to house one all on their own, and we’d worked out a deal where I held the music, he did the food and drinks, and we shared the profits. It had worked. I missed it, but it had never been quite the same since Ava and Brady had stopped coming.

I leaned over the brick so I could watch Brady work the crowd. He smiled and waved and took pictures with them, signing things as he made his way toward the door with some of his own security surrounding him. Mac put a hand on my waist.

“Don’t fall.” His voice was deep, full of worry.

I turned, my smile reappearing. “Brady is in heaven.”

He took my smile in, and his didn’t appear as I thought it would. But then, I realized that Mac didn’t really know Brady. He only knew him in a roundabout way through Ava. Brady could seem like one big egotistical monster if you hadn’t seen his passion and kindness at work.

We turned and headed toward the ladder.

Mac went down ahead of me, and as I started my way down, he stopped me with a hand on my leg, swiping at it. “You’re bleeding.”

Concern laced his voice. I looked backward and wavered on the ladder, all but falling into his arms. He caught me. His arms were around my waist, making me feel protected in a way that was foreign to me. His eyes drifted to my lips in the dim light of the storeroom. The noise from the bar increased even as my heartbeat increased. We stood that way for a long moment, both of us focused on the other’s lips and the feel of our hearts pounding together. The feel of our arms around each other. Bodies tight.

Finally, I breathed out, “Is it a lot of blood? I can’t even feel it.”

“I can’t tell. Hard to see in this lighting,” Mac said, stepping away and turning me to look down at my leg below my short dress.

I pulled away from the hands that were burning through my skin like the lights had just burned through the sky. “It’ll be fine. I need to go say hi to Brady.”

When I hit the main room, the crowd was hyped to a level that was almost a scream as Brady made his way through the room. He patiently continued with signing bar napkins, papers, and chests while people took pictures with their phones. He had two bodyguards with him who were all muscle, even more than Mac, Truck, and Eli. The bodyguards eyed the crowd and the people who approached Brady like Secret Service agents. It made my grin return because Brady had really made it.

I waited until Brady got close to the stage, and then I threw myself into his arms. When one of his agents tried to pull me away, Mac immediately had his hand on the guy’s arm, and we all would have been a heap of punches if Brady hadn’t waved the guy off. “Georgie-Porgie, I missed you!”

Brady hugged me tight, and I hugged him back.

He stepped back, eyeing Mac who was still waiting at my side for some reason I couldn’t fathom. Ava and Eli joined us, and Ava hugged Brady even tighter than I had. When Ava stepped away, Eli shook Brady’s hand. “Thanks for playing tonight.”

“Well, it was on my way and gave me an excuse to say hi to everyone,” Brady said with a shrug.

His crew from the van was setting up the stage with his equipment. Two women dressed in matching white summer dresses were helping the crew. Brady was in a red, white, and blue plaid shirt, a leather choker peeking out from the collar. His jeans were worn and ripped in all the right, rock-star ways even though he was a country singer and not rock at all.

Ava jumped on the stage and took the mic. “Hello, Salty Dog.”

Everyone cheered.

“What do you think of our Fourth of July surprise?”

More hollering, louder.

“Are you ready for some Brady O’Neil music?”

The crowd pretty much blew my eardrums out as their cries bounced around the small room, feet stomping on the wood floors, hands clapping. Brady joined Ava, taking another mic that was handed to him. “Hello, Rockport!”

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