Page 10 of Finding Emotion

Skylar clicked on the seat belt. Her fingers tapped on her knee as the beat of a new song hummed in her blood. She’d call it “Rocket.” The smirk that settled over her lips felt a lot more comfortable.

Twilight had fallen when Damon entered The Last Shot Tavern, but it had been falling a lot earlier lately.

“I can go get your hotel room situated,” Jimmy said. He’d been a little off ever since the jet. It made Damon think his illicit activities with Skylar hadn’t gone as unnoticed as the managers had pretended.

“We’ll head that way soon enough. Stay and have a drink at least.” When he spotted Malcolm behind the bar, some of his tension faded. “Yo, Mal!” he called out, happiness filling him when his friend looked up and smiled.

Murmurs started among the early dinner crowd, but his friend’s customers weren’t the mob type. Damon’s path to the bar remained unhindered, and he grabbed a barstool.

“I heard you were getting in today,” Malcolm said. “It’s good to see you in person. Though I’m assuming you need a drink?”

The tequila from earlier had done little to calm his mind. “Are you saying that because you caught my interview?”

Malcolm shrugged. “Erin did, and you know how she is.”

Damon’s sister had the loudest mouth around. Even louder than Skylar’s. Thinking about her made him frown.

“Is she coming by?” Jimmy asked. “Erin is always a hoot.”

“Not tonight,” Malcolm said.

“I’m surprised she had time to catch the interview, what with them just getting back.” Damon stared down at the bar. Technically, his sister had married her husband a while ago, but they’d postponed their honeymoon. Damon hadn’t met Nicholas in person yet, but the guy seemed to make her happy, now that they’d worked out their shit.

He’d been practicing a new song he’d made with his sister in mind. The chorus played inside his head, bringing a smile to his lips.

“That looks better,” Malcolm said, turning to Jimmy. “What’ll you have to drink?”

Jimmy gave his order.

Damon never could get away with a case of angst around Malcolm. He studied his friend as he turned to make the drinks. “You really did chop off all your hair, didn’t you?” he said.

Malcolm ran a hand through his shorter hair, which now curled just past his collar. “It’ll grow. I promised Jami I’d let it get long again.”

“Where is your girl?” Damon asked. He spotted the server, but her features looked nothing like Skylar’s. “Doesn’t she work here?”

“She’s taking classes in the evenings,” Malcolm said, the softest of smiles appearing on his face.

Damon had never imagined his brawler friend could look quite that way. Sure, he’d always been gentle with his cousin, but not with that particularly sappy smile. “Damn, you’ve got it bad. I’m looking forward to meeting her for real.” He and Jami had chatted a couple of times over the phone, but more in the background of his calls to Malcolm. Keeping up with his friends had been a little touch and go over the past year, especially now that none of them were single and half of them had babies in the background. Blake had even claimed his daughter was Damon’s biggest fan after Damon had sung her to sleep over the phone one time.

“Are you really dating Skylar’s sister?” Jimmy asked.

Malcolm set his drink in front of him with a thud. “Her name is Jami.”

Jimmy squirmed under Malcolm’s stare. “Right, sorry.”

“My manager has been a Skylar fanatic ever since her first single,” Damon explained.

“Long before that!” Jimmy snorted. “She absolutely made Winter Dust Storm what it was. Losing her was their biggest mistake, and the flop of their latest album proves it.”

“Was that the name of her band?” Damon frowned as he tried to remember if he’d heard one of their songs.

“Fuck, Dame, you need to learn this shit if you’re going to fake a relationship with her.” Jimmy brooded into his glass. “Among other things.”

Malcolm studied his manager. “So the stuff Erin mentioned isn’t real?”

“Let’s just say even I was surprised.” Damon reached for his drink, his stomach twisting when he realized it was Patrón again.

“She’s a complete original,” Jimmy said with a sigh.

---