Page 1 of Verses

CHAPTER 1

“Get back here, you fucking bitch. We’re not done talking.”

“Yeah, we are.” Gritting my teeth, I pulled the metal door open and marched inside before Kyle had a chance to drop his cigarette and grab my arm to pull me back into the alley.Asshole.

Yeah…really tough talk, considering I said it under my breath.

But it was the nicest thing I could say right now.

He and I had always had a rocky relationship—but losing our bandmate, Kyle’s brother, had made it worse.

Had madeKyleworse. And I was starting to wonder if things would ever get better.

Ifhewould ever get better.

As I wound my way through the hallway at the back of the bar, I drew in a few slow breaths in an effort to calm down—especially now that it was evident Kyle wasn’t planning to follow me inside. That man was probably the only person who could make methisangry…where I felt like I was actually seeing the world through red-tinged lenses.

My mom used to always say about her boyfriends and husbands that the madder they made her, the more she knew she loved them. If that was a solid gauge, Kyle was my soulmate.

As I walked into the front area of the bar, its faint scent hit me again like it always did with the first whiff. Colorado hadn’t allowed smoking inside bars and restaurants for eons, but the odor of old smoke lingered in this part of the structure, clinging to the boards that had probably constituted the inner walls since the building had been erected decades earlier. But it was mixed with the smell of old whiskey and piss, giving The Apothecary its own unique scent.

It was something you got used to—especially after you downed a shot or two.

I was pretty sure The Apothecary, though not by that name, was one of the original structures of Charlotte, Colorado, an old oil and mining town turned retirement village. Or, as a good many kids born and raised here called it, a fucking dead end. A secret I held close to my heart was that I actually loved Charlotte, but saying that to any of my band members would have given me instant leper status.

Needless to say, I kept my mouth shut tight.

Like most of the buildings on Main Street in our home town, the bar was erected in the late 1800s and I was pretty sure not much had changed in all that time.

Just a few things…

Electricity. Running water. Even free WiFi.

And no smoking indoors.

I was really grateful for that, because it would keep Kyle outside for a few more minutes…not to mention, it was better for my voice.

As I rounded the corner, I noticed that our other two band members were gone, either going to work or already heading home. Well…to the place they paid rent to lay their heads atnight. The Apothecary had become our home away from home, long before we were able to legally drink.

Because we played our music here almost every night. Three nights a week, we played covers and original tunes for whoever showed up and then we spent another three nights, like tonight, practicing.

Tonight was our first night back since we’d lost Liam. And we were discovering that, without him, our band sucked hard. That revelation might have been difficult enough, but Kyle had felt the need to say that to all our faces.

With as much scorn and disgust as was humanly possible.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised the other guys had bolted as soon as I had stormed after Kyle outside.

Walking over to the bar where one other guy—a regular—sat, unfazed by our earlier antics, I nodded at my good old friend Wolf, the bartender.Wolfwasn’t his real name, but it was what everyone called him. As I got closer, I realized there were still a few other customers in the booths along one wall, so I stopped looking their way, trying not to feel bad that they’d all witnessed the possible breakup of Intent to Murder.

Well, at least my first band had been good while it lasted.

Wolf was wiping down the shiny polished surface of the bar. Although The Apothecary was a dive by any sane person’s standards, Wolf’s presence managed to elevate it several notches. “Hayley, my little bird. You look like you could use a stiff drink. Everything okay?”

I couldn’t help but smile at Wolf. Saying he was aray of sunshinewould have been completely incorrect—and yet closer than anything else I could think of. No matter how shitty my mood before, he always helped me feel better when I was around him.

And he wasn’t bad looking, either. Sure, he was probably old enough to be my dad, but for an older guy, he was moreappealing than most of the guys my age that I knew. He was tall, taller than everyone in the band except for Kyle, and solid. Although I was pretty sure he wasn’t the kind of guy to go to the gym every day to lift weights, he looked like he could win in a fight with a locomotive.

But what got me most of all was that beautiful beard. It wasn’t like the short, almost scraggly, scruffy things my bandmates wore on their chins and cheeks. Nope. Wolf’s was full and longish, the kind of facial hair that required dedication. And even though I could tell his hair had been jet black in the day, it was salt and pepper now.

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