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Wyatt rolled his eyes. “The song could suck, you know.”
Quinn snorted. “When have you ever written something that sucked? Now stop being a pussy and let’s hear it.”
Wyatt didn’t say anything else, but she could see just how much Ryder’s and Quinn’s support meant to him. It was in the way his face relaxed, the way his shoulders straightened, the way he had to clear his throat before he started talking way too fast about keys and tempos and chords.
And then he was tapping out the beat on the hi-hat, seconds later adding in the snare and bass and tom-toms. He ran through the verse twice, pointing out where he wanted Jared and Ryder to come in and the sound he wanted Quinn to bring. And then he was starting from the top and they were joining in. She listened, spellbound, because even though it was rudimentary and unpolished and far from perfect, it was also magic. Absolute magic.
And that was before he added in the chorus, which was all towering chords and powerful beats that got inside her, that grabbed on to her soul and wouldn’t let it go. She was on the edge of her seat as they played the verse and chorus through a couple of times, searching for the sweet spot. It sounded so good, and that was before the third time, when they got it. Really got it, enough so that goose bumps broke out all up and down her arms.
“This is good,” Ryder said when they stopped for a couple of minutes to regr
oup. “This is really fucking good.”
“I’d like to play it all the way through once or twice,” Jared suggested. “See how it sounds with a bridge between the second and third verses. Do you have any words in mind yet, or—”
“I wrote lyrics, but that’s always been more you and Ryder, so if you don’t like them, it’s no big deal. In fact, maybe you should just go ahead and come up with something—”
“Yeah, ’cuz that’s what we’re going to do—come up with something else before we even hear what you’ve got,” Ryder interjected. “Stop making excuses and let’s go, dude.”
Wyatt nodded, but for the first time, he looked nervous. Reluctant. And she got that—she did. Music was personal, emotional in its own right. It set the tone, the mood, told the listener how to feel and gave them an experience all on its own. But good lyrics could do so much more than that. If they were done right—and she had a feeling Wyatt’s were done very right—they drew the audience into the artist’s world, gave them an up close and personal look at a very specific experience or emotion in the writer’s life. That was something that even the best music couldn’t do on its own.
So it was no wonder, with all the shit he’d been through, that Wyatt was reluctant to open that vein and bleed, even in front of his closest friends and the woman he’d spent most of the previous night making love to. Or maybe especially in front of them. As worried as he was about fucking things up—and being rejected for it—it was a miracle he was willing to try at all.
Then again, she’d figured out days ago that his trust in the other guys was absolute. It was just one of the many things she admired about him—the way he could just give them that part of himself without reservation. Which was why, despite everything, she wasn’t surprised when he gave in and started marking the beat on the hi-hat again.
Seconds later, the others joined in with their instruments, and then Wyatt started to sing. He had a good voice—a really good voice, all gravel and sex and darkness. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard it—he had sung backup on more than a few of the tracks through the years. It was, however, the first time she’d heard it this up close and personal, and she was glad she was sitting down, since her knees were trembling so badly that she wasn’t sure they would have supported her if she’d been standing.
It wasn’t a traditional love song, wasn’t filled with sappy metaphors or promises of happy ever afters. What it was, was raw and broken and real. So real that as the words poured out, she forgot anything—she forgot everything—that wasn’t this song. That wasn’t this moment. That wasn’t him.
I spent all night watching you dreaming
I spent all day just looking for meaning
I spent all night lying beside you
I spent all day just trying to hide you…away, from me
I spent all night watching you sleep
I spent all day getting in too deep
You should be running far away
But baby all I want is for you to stay…with me
With me
Baby all I want
Baby all I need
Baby all I dream
Baby all I see…is you…and me
Just you and me
And I know…I know you need to go
