Page 76 of Verses

All the bullshit and lies and tragedy

Made us cling to each other

Too long.

It’s over now.

Maybe we didn’t really try.

It’s over now.

And it’s time for us to fly.

Wolf started playing a solo,and it was coming straight from his heart. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to just feel the music and let it flow through him. The way he played so calmly, even with a rocking tune coming from his guitar, was the exact opposite of how Liam and Kyle played. Although Liam hadn’t seemed nervous like Kyle sometimes did, both men played as if they were wrangling a cougar.

If I’d been watching Wolf without hearing what he was playing, it could have just as easily been a soft ballad or something light and classical.

When he finished, he kept playing what would have been the final verse, but I just watched this time instead of singing. I’d be able to come up with better lyrics if I could think about them and write them out rather than just vomiting the first words out of my brain.

I said, “I think we could definitely make this a great song. The music is already solid.”

“It’s a start—but after hearing you sing, I think I want to play with it some more—maybe make some of the notes longer so you can take your time.”

“I love it, no matter what.” Already, I was feeling better that he hadn’t said anything about the first words I’d been singing.

But I thought that way too soon. “Hayley, I don’t usually put too much stock into lyrics, but I know you sing from your heart a lot. A lot of your words seem autobiographical.”

It wasn’t a question, although I felt like he was asking something, so I nodded my head slowly. “Yeah.”

“Your first go…do you mind sharing what you were thinking?” In the spotlight, I stammered a bit, so he said, “I get it might be too personal, but I just want to make sure you know we’re just friends.”

Fuck. I could be good at deflecting—and it helped that I was angry at being shoved away all the time. Angrier that I’d said those words in the first place. Angrier still that he’d figured it out and had the balls to call me on it. “Wow. That seems a little egotistical.”

For the first time ever, I saw an uncertain look in his eye. Sure, this man had so much more experience and resulting wisdom than I and my other friends in the band, but my words took him off solid footing. In his expression, I could see the revelation that he wasn’t all knowing.

And maybe it hurt him a little bit imagining hewasn’tthe object of my affection.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I just know—”

My chair was on rollers, and I slid it so I was closer to him and I placed a finger over his lips. I hadn’t meant to hurt him. “No. You’re right. I know you want to be my friend—”

He didn’t push my finger away, and I wasn’t going to remove it, but he still spoke. “And you seem like you could use a friend or two.”

He wasn’t wrong there. Besides the guys in the band, I had one or two friends remaining in Charlotte. Most of them had left after high school. “I could. But why can’t we be friends…andmore?” I was searching his eyes, looking for an answer I didn’t think was there.

Because the only good answer to that question seemed to be the one he didn’t want to give.

I wasn’t that experienced in matters of love. Kyle was the only adult relationship I’d ever had—and that had started when we were kids in high school. So I had no experience telling me that Wolf was about to give in.

But I sensed it.

I moved my face closer to his and stroked his bearded cheek. “I care a lot about you and I don’t think of you as just a friend. I don’t want to be just friends. I don’t think you want that, either.” By now, my nose was touching his and I was staring straight into his green eyes, feeling like I could lose myself in them.

He brushed my hair back behind my shoulder and rubbed a finger down my cheek. “I don’t want to hurt you, songbird.”

“Then don’t.” And I closed my eyes, turning my head enough that our noses weren’t resisting each other as I touched his lips with mine. Then I flicked his lips with my tongue and he took over.

First, he ran his fingers through my hair to cup my head and, as his tongue danced with mine, stars exploded in my head.

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