Page 16 of Muted

On my way to the office, I call out, “Thad here yet?”

“Nope,” is Vance’s clipped reply, and I clench my jaw, irritated with him. Not with Vance, but with Thad’s inability to show the fuck up on time. He should already be here.

I spot Susu at her usual corner table, head bowed low as she works through last night’s receipts. Before interrupting her, I take in the way her hair frames her body, hiding her face from view. We had a decent evening, so the stack is a bit larger than normal. That makes me happy.

Stopping just before I open the office, I get her attention. “Hey, Susu?”

Her head whips up the moment her name passes my lips, and she gives me her full attention. “You see Cliff here today?” She shakes her head slowly. Just before she looks back down at her work, I ask, “Would you come into the office for a minute? And bring your phone.”

As she’s setting her pencil down and doing as I ask, I holler back to Vance. “Thad coming in soon?”

“Yup.” Another irritated, one-worded answer. I nod once and tell him, “Have him come see me before you two get started.”

Vance studies me before his eyes fall to Susu, who’s making her way over to me, unaware of the way we’re both watching her and the plans we’ve made without her knowledge. He raises a single brow at me as if to question if I’m about to ask her to take on the extra job.

I wordlessly tell him I am, and his shoulders drop in relief. There’s a lot of faith on our parts riding on this woman we don’t know, and I’m really hoping that this will be the first step toward turning around this shit show Sonority has found itself in.

When Susu walks in, she looks at me and then the couch, like she’s unsure what I wanted her here for. Holding a hand out, as gently as I can, I say, “Please, have a seat.”

She still seems uneasy but doesn’t hesitate to obey. I like that about her. Susanna Walston is quick to please. Sinking into the couch, she does her best to sit up straight, hands folding on her lap, covering the phone I asked her to bring along.

Sitting on the edge of my desk so I’m in front of her, I plant my hands next to me, curling my fingers around the edge, and lean back. “You can relax. This isn’t about anything you’ve been working on.”

I swear I can hear her voice through her slow exhale, like a soft sigh, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

“I asked you to come in because I have a favor to ask.” She only blinks up at me, waiting for me to continue. Her lack of words throws me off a bit, removing that natural cadence you’d normally have with someone participating in a conversation. “You can use your phone to type out responses. Obviously, we know you play the piano. Have you ever played in front of people before? Or is it more of a hobby?”

She was already nodding her head yes at my first question, and when I ask the second, she opens her phone to type one word.

‘Both.’

Perfect. “When you played for people, what was it for?” I watch her fingers fly over her screen, this time giving me a lengthier response.

‘Recitals, mostly. I also filled in for different schools when they were short an accompanist for either choirs or solo vocal students. But that’s about it.’

Okay, this is a good start. “Did you have formal training? Or were the recitals things like talent shows, or something?” More typing before she hands her phone back to me to read her response.

‘I took lessons starting at 7 years old until my piano teacher retired when I was 17. Nothing after that, except playing on my own. Why do you want to know these things?’

When my eyes fall on her after reading her answer, I can tell that she’s confused by my questions. I lean forward to hand her phone back, then answer.

“We’re hurting, which I know you’re aware of. I don’t have all the solutions to fix everything right now because I’m not entirely surewhereI need to make changes. But one thing I know for sure is that Thad is losing us business.” I ignore the way she sucks in a breath because we both know where I’m going with this now. “Vance and I spoke last night. He explained that the two of you were compatible when you played together.”

The blush that explodes across her face just before she looks away from me is gorgeous, and I bite my cheek to stop myself from commenting on it.Was it the compliment or the mention of Vance that has her turning scarlet?

“Susu,” I call her name, wanting her eyes back on me. When I finally get them back, I feel a little bad for embarrassing her. It wasn’t intentional. “I’m asking if you’d like to take a night or two on the weekends as a trial basis. See how you like it, or like working with Vance.”

She looks toward the bar even though the door is shut, like she’s considering it. I’m not getting a rush of eagerness from her, which is discouraging. I open my mouth to persuade her, realizing I hadn’t even gotten to the financial benefits, when there’s a heavy knock on the door.

Fucking Thad doesn’t wait for an answer when he’s swinging it open and marching inside like he owns the place. When he sees Susu sitting on the couch, he halts and looks between the two of us. “Uhh, Vance said you wanted to talk to me. What’s up?”

What the fuck is my life right now?I don’t have an answer from Susu, and I can’t just send Thad away. Maybe it’s good he’s here to be part of the conversation. Running my hand down my face to wipe away my frustration, I tilt my head toward the couch. “Take a seat.”

The way he eyes Susu sets me on edge. After he sits down, I lurch forward involuntarily and have to physically stop myself from throwing him when he invades her space. He’s so goddamn close that the outside of his thigh is pressed along hers.

She side-eyes his leg and then shifts her body away from him, crossing hers to create some distance without actually standing up to move away. I know for a fact that she’s had minimal interaction with my second performer, so it settles me that even without knowing him, she’s feeling the same as I am. Thad absolutely needs to go.

Wanting to get through this quickly, I throw up a short prayer that Susu will step up and agree to my plan. I have no idea what her financial situation is, but I guarantee if she’s even equal to Thad’s skill, she’ll make more than she is right now.

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