Page 10 of Unrequited (Unrequited 1)

I tilted my head. “I’m not sure I get your meanin’.”

“I mean, are you with them for the long haul, or are you looking for something bigger?”

With a jolt, it dawned on me. Diego, their drummer, hadn’t been there last night, and he wasn’t here tonight.

“Where’s Diego?” I asked.

“Gone,” Santi answered.

The sound of his gritty voice had been so unexpected, it knocked me off guard. My head turned in his direction before I could stop myself.

His steely gray eyes were trained on me. He’d been looking, even when I hadn’t.

“Gone?” I asked.

“Left the band.”

There was clearly more to the story, but I didn’t want to hear it from Santi.

“That’s a shame,” I said.

“I won’t bite,” he said in a tone so low, I wasn’t sure I really heard him. “You’re going to fall on your ass if you scoot any farther away.”

Better than the alternative of moving closer to you and your muscles and beard and tattoos and wicked, wicked ways.

“We need a drummer,” Murray announced.

A rumble that was nearly a growl came from the beast beside me. “We haven’t talked about this.” Santi’s words were tightly controlled, but Murray laughed.

“Are you kidding me, man? This is Maeve, our old friend, who happens to be a better drummer than Diego ever was. What’s to talk about?”

Even though I was still hanging off the edge of the bench, Ifeltthe tension emanating from Santi. He obviously did not agree with Murray’s assessment of the situation, and that rankled me.

“Here’s the thing, Maeve,” Yael intervened. “We’re down a drummer, we leave in four weeks for our European tour, and we have auditions next week for a replacement. Unrequited is beholden to their record label, but they have some say in who gets chosen. We’d like for you to audition. We can’t make any promises, but I’m personally pulling for you.”

“Same,” Mo said.

“Thritto,” Murray chimed.

Santi stayed silent.

Bless his dirty, rotten heart.

Haven and I had an agreement—if a better offer or role came along for either of us, our band would dissolve without any hard feelings. She’d tell me to go for it. She’d say I’d be stupid not to at leasttry.

“Okay.” I turned again, meeting those eyes I’d once thought I’d wanted to see every morning and night for the rest of my life—until the day he’d shown his true colors and I vowed never to see them again. “I’ll audition.”

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