Page 119 of Under the Ink

As she carried it across the room, she had to continually work her way around pockets of people talking and drinking, either not ready to leave or waiting for others to get out of the way. Lots of people were starting to fill the booths to the side, so she imagined lots of the stragglers had the intention of sticking around and drinking till closing time.

As she placed the chair against the stage, she climbed up on it. When she did, someone started walking across the stage toward her.

“Hey, Lex!”

“Naomi? What are you doing?”

“I wanted to get backstage to say hi to the guys.”

“There’s an easier way to do that. Head over there to the side and I’ll let you in the door.”

Door?Getting off the chair, she looked up at Lex again, and he was already moving to the left side of the stage. When she walked over there, it was easier to see the black door tucked off to the left, and she wondered why there wasn’t an Exit sign above it. Not that this bar had seemed particularly safe up to this point anyway.

Therehadto be an exit back there somewhere—because the equipment hadn’t come this way.

Finally, Lex opened the door from the other side. “Come on in.” As she walked through, he said, “What are you doing here?”

“Ilivehere.”

“Ah. Makes sense. So is this a last goodbye?”

No…it was the exact opposite. She needed to tell Sage how wrong she’d been…and just how right he was for her.

If he’d even listen now.

But Lex didn’t need to know any of that.

“Yeah, you could call it that.” As Lex led her into a long hallway behind the stage, she said, “I already miss them all.”

Soon, Lex was rapping on a small door before opening it. “You’ve got a visitor,” he said, but Naomi couldn’t quite see inside. But when he held the door open, Naomi’s eyes scoured the room. She couldn’t see Sage, but there were lots of people there, and maybe he was still in his dressing room.

Her eyes landed on Kiefer, the person Lex had been talking to, and she gave him a quick nod. Lex said, “Good to see you, Naomi.”

“Likewise.”

Even though she’d never gotten to know all these people well…they felt like family just the same. As she glanced around the room, she spied Johnny with his wife and Mickey with his, lots of other people in the room, probably friends from Winchester. This space was jam-packed like the bar had been—but not quite so bad. Noticing he was alone, Naomi asked Kiefer, “You have a girlfriend, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but she couldn’t make it. But don’t you worry—I’m heading home tomorrow and she’s gonna be in Europe with me.” His green eyes sparkled like gems as he grinned.

“I’m sure you’re ready for some time off.”

“You know it.”

“Where’s Sippi and the guys? Did they already leave?”

“Yeah. They have some huge party planned at his girlfriend’s place, so most of the crew went with him. Bobby, too, I think.”

“And, uh…” She let out a long breath, because she’d been putting off askingthisparticular question. “Is Sage still in his dressing room?”

“Nah. He blazed as soon as he knew his drums were in good shape.”

Shit. “Do you know if he—”

“He was heading to Chipeta Springs tonight.”

“I knew he was planning to.”

“Look…it’s none of my business, but that man cares about you. And—”

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