Page 48 of Whirlwind

“Yes, Beck Lanier thanks you. Beck Lanier has been having a shitty time of working on new material lately. Sometimes the muse doesn’t come. She came that night in the form of you.”

“I came all right. But I’m no muse.”

“No, baby, you’re very real.” My throat burned as my voice turned rougher, lower. “Very, very real.” She let out a small noise on the line, and my pulse jumped. I cleared my throat. “Muses are a convenient idea, but I believe in hard work.”

“Me too.” She took in a breath. “I’m sorry I did that. I couldn’t help myself. It was wrong.”

“I liked it. That was your goodbye. Maybe our fucking had inspired you?”

“Our fucking was fucking amazing and very inspiring,” she said.

“Thank you.”

“For the fucking?”

I laughed. “For your lyrics.”

“But not the fucking?”

“Violet!” Laughter erupted from me.

“What?”

“I want to see you again. And I want to fuck you again. I miss you.”

A sudden beat of silence was as loud and breathtaking as the slide of a zipper revealing something secret.

“I miss you too,” she whispered, and my soul soared.

An emphatic knock rapped on the door behind me, and I jerked away from the wall. Kendrick. “Sorry, Beck, but I have another appointment, and I need to get going. Are we finished here, or do you need to see more?”

“Violet, sorry, I’ll call you back later.”

“Okay. Bye.”

I clicked off my phone. “Sorry, Kendrick. I lost track of time. I like the house, but it’s not for me right now. Thank you for showing it to me. ”

“Of course.” He shot me a brittle grin and led me back down the staircase.

“You were right, this is a great neighborhood.”

“Isn’t it? I’ll call you when something else comes up.” He opened the front door for me.

“Terrific.” I didn’t sound convincing, even to myself.

Kendrick took off in his Mercedes. I got in my car, and my head fell back against the headrest, my thoughts swerving back to Violet. A soft laugh escaped my lips. I’d missed her biting humor.

I miss her biting.

My phone rang. Mack. “Hey. Did you find anything?”

“Nope, not today.”

“It’s the first day. Kendrick’s good. He’ll find you something. Did you like the area? Super trendy now.”

“Yeah.”

“I knew you would.”

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