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His words hit me harder than I expected. Had I ever had someone squeeze me this tight before because they cared for me? No. Not even from my dad. At least not that I could remember.
“All right,” Bryan said. “Give her space.” He grabbed Toby’s shoulder and tried to tug him away. Calvin must have agreed because he used his smaller body to wedge between us, effectively separating me from Toby.
I smiled down at Calvin. “What did you think of my performance?”
“It was perfect.” He beamed up at me, his eyes finally gaining the spark I was used to seeing in them. I smiled at him. Good. “Do you have them downloaded? Can I listen to them?”
I laughed and rubbed his head. “Yeah, I can give them to you. Just don’t let anyone know you have them. I haven’t given those songs to anyone else, and I don’t plan to.”
Calvin’s eyes widened, and he nodded as if I’d given him a very important safeguarding mission.
“So now what do you need to do?” Paxon asked.
“Nothing. I’m free to go home if I want. I should go out and shake hands, try to squeeze out money from the donors, but I’m too tired.”
“Are you too tired for us to take you to dinner?” Seth asked.
“You didn’t eat here?”
They all shook their heads.
“I couldn’t even pronounce half the food on the list, let alone get up the nerve to try it,” Toby complained. “I love bacon, but it doesn’t make everything better. There is no making fucking dates better. Those things are nasty, even if wrapped in bacon.”
“Toby,” Bryan said in a warning. “Relax.”
“Ah, I see.” I chuckled. “Sorry this place is too fancy for you.”
“Hey! I take offense to that.” Toby glowered and then mumbled underneath his breath something about dates.
Everyone ignored him as we went to grab my bag.
“There is a place we want to take you,” Seth said. “It’s our favorite.”
I took a moment to think about it. I was hungry, but I wasn’t a fan of the food around here either. Apparently, it was too fancy for me too. The event was meant for those with fat paychecks looking to show off their wealth. And Toby was right, it was hard to pronounce the names of any of the dishes they had going around.
“If you don’t want to come out with us, that’s okay,” Seth said. I glanced at everyone. It’d be so easy to just go home. I kind of wanted to.
But I was hungry, and I wasn’t quite ready to be alone either.
“That’s fine. Anything is better than the food here,” I said, the smile I flashed them feeling a bit too tight.
“So you do agree with me.” Toby huffed and threw his hands up in a very dramatic Toby move.
“I never said I didn’t. I still don’t understand why they thought soaking pears in red wine was a good idea.”
The others smiled, no one disagreeing with me.
We snuck out to the parking lot and into our cars before any of the event managers had a chance to stop me. Calvin snuck into the back seat of my car, while Paxon took the front. Seth took Toby, Justin, and Bryan with him in his truck.
While we followed Seth, I played my music for Calvin, who had settled in the back and looked perfectly content listening to it. I made sure to play him the piano pieces I’d played tonight. When he closed his eyes, leaning against the window, I knew he was feeling the music as deeply as I did when I’d written the pieces. That alone made all that work worth it.
Chapter Eighteen
As I followed Seth, the area we went to grew sketchier and sketchier with each passing broken stoplight. My paranoia skyrocketed. I knew the area through rumors. It wasn’t like the Tri-Cities was strife with illegal activities or dangers at every corner. But it was big enough to attract a gang who wanted to call this particular area of Coronac Falls their home. Coronac was the biggest of the three towns so they were able to get away with it.
Since they moved in, they had been part of three massive drug busts just this year alone. In the spring, there had even been a meth lab explosion. There was a market for them from bored teenagers and adults, needing more than the small town life they had, so the gang stuck around and learned to be more careful.
I gripped the steering wheel, ignoring Paxon’s curious look as we passed by old broken-down homes and trailers, lawns overgrown, playgrounds forgotten.
