“How did it go with Joey? Are you coming back?”
“Oh.” My smile grows big. “Yeah, he booked me for a few days.”
To my surprise, he swoops in, picks me up, and swings me around, making me laugh out loud. I might not know this guy, but him doing this is the exact thing I wanted right now.
I moved to Nashville all alone. I’ve made a few friends, but no one could come watch me tonight. I didn’t realize how much I needed someone there to share in the excitement with me until this very second. There is truly something special about having people in your corner, stranger or not.
He puts me back on my feet, and I place my hand on his chest to stabilize myself.
He lowers his head to meet my eyes. “I mean it, congratulations. You deserve it. Your set was really good.”
Though I had my hand on his chest to help me gain my bearings from him twirling me around, now, I need it there to due to my weak knees from the spell he just put over me with his piercing green eyes that feel like they touch my soul.
“Thank you,” I whisper, not sure if my lips will say much more.
“Let’s get this girl a drink to celebrate!” he shouts out as he points to the guy behind the bar, who I assume is Joey’s brother.
I check the time on my phone, seeing it’s eight p.m. My actual job in Nashville is as a nanny to the most adorable little girls. I’ve grown to really like the parents, and the mom asked me to come over tonight after they went to bed to help organize some things over wine, but I don’t need to be there until eight thirty. This guy has me wanting to stay after just that one look, so I shrug.
“Only one though, and then I have to be somewhere soon.” I meet eyes with the bartender. “Can I get a Bud Light?”
Silas cracks a smile my way, and I hold up my finger up at him.
“No. I’m not one of those girls,” I say, not able to hold back my laugh after referencing the song he teased me about earlier.
He nods his head slowly, like he’s weighing something over in his mind. “We’ll see about that. I can see how you broke every heart in your hometown before you came here.”
His words make me blush, so I look away, hoping he doesn’t see. I’m not so lucky though.
He leans in, whispering in my ear, “You’re gorgeous when you blush; don’t ever try to hide it.” He steps back, gives me a wink, then reaches over to grab the beer I ordered and hands it to me. “Let’s go over here, away from these troublemakers.”
He nudges one of them, who turns around to face us.
“Little does she know, you’re the worst one of us all,” the guy says.
“Ha!” Silas laughs out loud. “You forget the stories I’ve heard. Just because your old ass doesn’t act like that anymore doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I might be wilder than you now, but I’ll never be who you were ten years ago.”
The guy looks at me and shrugs. “He’s got a point.”
He turns back to his crew while we walk to a table off to the side.
“So, who was that?” I ask as we sit down, and I take a drink of my beer.
“That’s Hayes. He’s the craziest one. I thought he would be like that forever, but ever since he got with Sienna, he’s calmed down a bit.”
I turn back to the group of guys. “Who is everyone else?”
“Well, Marchy—the guy behind the bar, who now has his arm wrapped around Haley—is Joey’s brother. Hawk is the guy on the end. Brax is the guy with the most tattoos in the middle. Let me see if you can guess who we call Hollywood.”
I look with intent, then laugh out loud. “Must be the guy with the hair.”
He nods. “Yep, that’s Rhett, but we call him Hollywood, and the guy on the end is Ghost Pepper.”
I turn to him in question. “Ghost Pepper?”
“His real name is Myles.”
“Love the names.”
