Page 10 of Muted

His smirk only serves to raise my stress levels another few notches. “Gonna watch you get schooled.” Then, holding his hand out for me to continue, he urges, “Go on then.”

“Fuck off, Theo,” I snarl, hiking my bag higher over my shoulder. I can’t figure out if this ex-military security guard wants to always fuck with me, or he truly doesn’t give a shit about pissing people off.Fuck him and his goddamn tattoos.

His laughter follows me into the main room where I head straight for the girl. I slow down when I see Cliff standing behind her, one hand on the back of her chair and the other palm down on the table she’s working at, caging her in. His body is blocking her, but when I round the table, my anger shifts toward Cliff when I see her shoulders hunched and hear him speaking to her in low tones.

“Everything good here?” I ask and immediately know I’ve interrupted something with the way both of their eyes shoot up to meet mine. Cliff’s with irritation at being interrupted, and Susu with her completely dead gaze. Everything on her face is neutral, closed off with no hint of what she’s thinking.

“What do you need,Vance?” The way he stresses my name has me standing up straighter.

I ignore him and look directly at the girl still hunched over and leaning slightly away from my other boss. “You done working?”

Her hesitant nod irks me. Why? I’m not sure, but it does, nonetheless. “Can you sight read?”

This time, her nod is more confident, and I blow out a breath of relief. “I’ll apologize now. I didn’t pay attention to how you were playing when I first walked in, but I need your help. I need to warm up and run through some of the songs tonight. Would you be willing to give it ago and partner me?”

Her eyes fly over to Cliff like she’s checking with him, then back to me, so I add, “Chester told me if you’re done for the day, it would be cool.”

Huffing in irritation, Cliff shoves himself away from the table and storms back into the storage room. My head turns to follow him as he marches away, and I catch Theo still standing slightly behind me. He’s not watching Cliff; he’s staring at the girl. The sight of him brings me back to why I’m standing here, and I turn back to Susu. “So, do you mind?”

She shakes her head no; then closes the book she was writing in and stacks the loose paper on top. Standing up, she hugs her work to her chest and side steps around the two of us to hurry back to the office to, I assume, set her stuff down. It’s not long when she’s walking back out and heading toward the platform where the pianos are lit by the stage lights.

Alright then, guess we’re doing this.

Ignoring Theo, I follow and silently thank her for not sitting at my piano and choosing Thad’s instead. The way her body settles on the bench, I know instantly that she’s at home in front of this instrument. Whether she’s good remains to be seen, but I’m desperate.

I point at the binder sitting on the top of her piano. “That’s the music for most of our sets. The beginning has some warmup material where we alternate scales and runs. It takes about ten minutes to run through it. Do you need someone to turn your page or anything?”

She shakes her head again and quickly places the book in front of her. The entirety of her is almost fully covered by the book now, and I can only see the top of her head when I sit down. Sighing, I leave my book closed, having it memorized at this point.

“You see the warmup? Need a minute to run through it before we start?” I can hear the way I’m asking. It’s condescending, which isn’t fair to her, but I don’t have the energy to rein it in. Thad needs to fucking be here.

When her hand raises above her head to give me a thumbs up, I bite back a laugh. I’m not sure why I find that funny, but it’s like she’s not even going to bother catering to my mood. Without another word, I start the intro to the warmup, and silently pray that she comes in and follows along at the right moment.

As I begin the measure leading into her part, I squeeze my eyes shut, then pop them open when she flawlessly starts playing. The perfect speed, the perfect tempo. Her fingers mimic mine and we sound identical. Thad’s playing is heavy, clunky, and stilted. Not Susu. Her transitions are smooth, flowing through each phrase effortlessly.

I sit up slightly to spy her over the top of her music. Her eyes are locked on the music in front of her and when she senses me, her eyes flicker up to mine for half a second before they focus back on the music.

She has another twelve measures before I come in again, and I turn my head to find Theo sitting on his normal stool by the door. I expected him to be watching her, but he’s grinning at me while his arms are crossed over his chest.I told you sois screaming from his body language, and I simply nod my head at him, then ready myself to come in again.

The warmup piece has us alternating a few times before we duet the ending together. Normally I take the melody, which I do to begin with, and without hesitation, she takes the lower accompaniment.

Curious about her adaptability, I lift my hands from the higher notes and play along with her part. In less than a measure, she’s shifted higher up the keyboard to play the melody and I grin to myself.

Well, fuck me. This is a surprise.

We finish the piece with flare, and as we both hold the last notes, I meet her eyes over the music and lift my fingers from the piano. I have no idea how she did it, but she read me like a book and released her own notes at the exact moment I did.

I can’t take my eyes off her, excited over the prospect that this girl is a thousand times better as a partner than Thad ever could be. My heart pounds harder, and I open my mouth to say something when I hear voices from where Theo is sitting.

Tearing my eyes off the woman sitting opposite me, I watch as Thad comes storming into the bar, glaring at Susu.

“Nobody touches my piano. Get the fuck out of the way.”

My lip curls at the way he’s speaking to her, but don’t say a word because I essentially said the same thing to her only thirty minutes earlier. Looking back at her, she’s still staring at me with something flashing behind her eyes before she deflates and gives me a sad smile.

Standing, she moves away from the piano to allow Thad room. He’s babbling excuses for why he was late and bitching about Chester calling him to chew his ass out.

I ignore everything to watch her head back into the office, where she grabs her stuff from the floor. Susu doesn’t look at me again. She shoulders her bag and walks briskly to the front door where Theo stands and holds it open for her. I keep watching until she disappears, allowing the sunlight to filter back in, making me squint against the brightness.

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