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She loved a variety of music and, because of that, The Synners played a wide selection, but some songs simply stuck with her. When they did, they put it into their rotation as long as she could pull off the vocals. Or at least get away with putting her twist on it enough so that it sounded good.
When the last note drifted off and nothing but the noise of the bar patrons surrounded them, Rex took the time to announce once more who they were and thanked them for coming out to see them. He always thanked them for their generous tips, even when that wasn’t true.
It was a passive-aggressive way to try to get some of the audience to dig a little deeper. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it failed.
She turned as the applause began and gave her guys a smile. She received a smile and a return nod from Nico and a tip of the head from Eddie.
Rex was looking past her. Toward the bar. His face a mask.
A burst of heat rolled through her because she knew exactly who he was staring at.
She cleared her throat, called out, “Hey,” to get their attention. “One more.” She wasn’t surprised when confusion filled their faces. “For me.”
She told them the name of the song, then stepped back in front of the microphone stand, wrapping her ringed fingers around the mic.
Then she found what—or who—Rex was staring at. Since the platform wasn’t high, at first it was difficult seeing him through the crowd as he worked the back side of the bar. But he was there. She quickly zeroed in on him like a moth drawn to a flame.
When she began to sing Fade into You by Mazzy Star, suddenly no one stood between them. No one existed but the two of them in that bar. In that time. In that space.
It was at that very fucking moment she knew how her night would end.
He would be giving her more than the four hundred dollars he owed them.
And she would be taking everything else he was willing to give.
Nico slammed the hatch closed to the compartment under the bus where they stored their equipment.
Once again, their bellies were full. She was no longer hungry or thirsty thanks to Dodge’s generosity, but she was now past the point of tired.
Her ass was dragging.
She glanced at her cell phone. It was already one in the morning and too late to hit the road. The best thing to do would be take the skoolie back to the Fury’s farm, plug in for the night and leave once the sun rose.
But her night wasn’t over yet.
One hour remained before the bar’s last call. Though, by the time they were done stuffing their faces and packing away their stuff, the crowd had thinned to just a handful of people.
Plus, it started snowing again a couple of hours ago, which might have made customers scurry home earlier than normal. With her eyes closed, she tipped up her face and let some of the large flakes slowly falling from the sky land on her. She stuck out her tongue and caught a few of the frozen crystals but they quickly melted away.
“You ready?” Rex asked.
She opened her eyes and saw him perched on the bottom step of the open bus door.
They were waiting on her.
“Take the bus back to the farm.”
“That was already the plan,” he said with a frown. “Wait…” His eyes narrowed. “Do you mean without you?”
She nodded as more cold, crystalized flakes fell on her cheeks and quickly melted. She shivered and her words turned into white cloudy puffs. “I’ll get a ride back with one of the prospects.”
“Syn.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“I don’t like this,” Rex said.
“You don’t have to.”
“We need to be off the farm in the morning.”
“We will,” she promised.
He stared at her and she stared back. Finally, he shook his head. “We’ll keep our phones on.”
She appreciated that he worried about her and she always worried when one of the guys went off with some random woman they met at one of their gigs.
In truth, women could be just as dangerous as men. Whether with false accusations or with violence. The world was full of unstable people who would simply hurt another person for no valid reason.
She had lost faith in humanity a long damn time ago.
“Call if you need us to come back and get you,” he insisted.
“Thanks, Rex.”
“Anything for you, Syn.”
She quickly turned away since she didn’t want him to see how those words affected her.
It made all of this worthwhile.
The struggle.
The persistence.
The hope.
Her little patchwork family.
Unfortunately, her family was missing a member. An important one. Maybe not to the guys but to her.
She couldn’t let that darkness swallow her. Not tonight.
Tonight, she was going to do something for herself. Not for anyone else.
