Jesus, I knew the kid was good, but this was something else.
My stare slid to Saint, and my mouth hitched again when I saw the light dancing in her eyes as she grinned at Kady encouragingly.
I hadn’t fucking smiled this much since I was a goofy teenager. She brought something out in me I hadn’t ever experienced before, a kind of freedom and lightness that made me feel like I was walking on air.
She had something about her that moved me, and a grace that humbled me. Saint McClure should’ve been a bitch, but instead, she was an angel.
Something pinged in my mind, and I leaned closer to Talia to ask her the question that had been on my mind since the night Saint had played with Dischordium. “Why doesn’t Blue De Santis like Saint?”
She rolled her eyes. “Blue De Santis is an arrogant asshole who thinks women should drop their panties for him whenever he walks into a room.” Her eyes came to me, and she cocked a questioning eyebrow. “Can you see Saint dropping anything for him?”
I almost laughed at the thought. “No.”
Her eyes went back to Kady. “Men have come a long way in the last hundred years, Iceman, but Blue De Santis is still stuck in a time period where he thinks if a woman doesn’t want him, she’s either frigid or a lesbian. Frankly, he’s an asshole.”
“So he tried his shit with Saint?” I asked.
Her lips thinned. “Blue tries his shit with everyone. The problem is, he’s hot as Hades, so he usually gets away with it.”
“Good to know,” I muttered, storing that shit away for future use.
She chuckled just as the song reached a crescendo. All the guitars played together in such perfect synchronicity that even the odd bum chord couldn’t spoil the magic they weaved as they strummed the last chords.
A loud roar went up, and immediately, Saint began to strum another set of chords, these ones sharper than the last. She counted down, calling out the sequence and nodding to Diablo and Kady, who joined in, closely followed by the others as they began to play the opening bars of one of our favorite songs called “We Are the People.”
The notes seemed heavier when Saint played the chords. The tune was a dance track, but I liked it because it fucking rocked; plus, Saint was good at dirtying it up to make it more my taste. The dazzling smile she threw my way conveyed her joy, and I knew she was playing this one for me because it was a favorite.
It was Sam who leaned forward and began singing the words in a surprisingly tuneful voice. You could tell he was no singer, but he carried it well, all the same, and when Boomer and Saint came in on the chorus to sing the harmonies, it sounded fucking awesome.
The momentum of the song built, the sound of guitars crashing through the air, causing vibrations thathit me down to my bones. It was easy to get caught up in the feeling of it all, and when Saint’s eyes locked with mine, her expression full of fire from the hard edge of the song she played, I found myself getting caught up in her, too.
She made me feel everything with just a look, and I wondered how it could be that I’d gone through the last twelve years not really getting close to anyone, and then along came Saint, and suddenly, connecting was easy.
We just fit. Sometimes it was chaotic, other times it was peaceful, but it always felt right because being around Saint made me feel softer and brighter. Like I’d woken up from hibernation and was ready to meet the sun head-on after a long-assed sleep.
She was pure beauty, and that was exactly what she brought to my life. I thought after Allie passed that I was destined to be alone. I thought nobody else could compare, but that was my first mistake because it wasn’t about comparisons. It was about letting the person you loved and admired be themselves, as well as accepting and celebrating everything about them.
Allie was Allie, and I loved her to my bones.
Saint was Saint, and I loved her to my soul.
It wasn’t more or less; it was just different. Loving Saint didn’t stop me from missing Allie, but missing Allie also didn’t stop me from loving Saint.
Time had moved on, and thankfully, so had I.
Now, it was all about letting go of the past and living again.
The song began to wind down, so I turned to Gopher and jerked my chin, watching as he came sauntering over before ordering, “Get me a Coke for Saint, brother.”
“Sure you don’t want a cocktail?” he inquired, smirking slightly.
“I want a cocktail,” Kennedy piped up.
“Me too,” Talia declared.
Breaker grinned and whispered something in Kennedy’s ear that made her giggle. “On second thoughts, I’ll leave it,” she said decisively. “I’m going to bed soon.”
Gopher shook his head, smiling before going to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of Coke, popping the cap, and placing it on the bar. Then he set about making Talia her cocktail.
