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“On the house.” Remaining seated, Nick gave him a thin smile. “Family discount.”
Michael snorted. “Family, huh? You looking to make what you have permanent?”
He wasn’t about to reply to Michael’s question, but he knew the answer already. It was a question he’d been wrestling with for a while. First no condoms, then maybe moving in. And in time, marriage and what came after that. Lila was a traditional girl at heart, and he would give her whatever she wished for becauseshewas his wish. The trappings didn’t matter. Where—and how—they lived was meaningless, as long as they were together.
So maybe Michael wasn’t just a kid trying on a rock star’s clothes, because one simple question had clarified so much for him. That made Lila’s stepson a damn swami.
Michael slipped his guitar back in its case then stood gripping it lightly. “Are you going to talk to your sister?”
“We’ll see.” Something else he didn’t intend to give Michael. Too many variables were involved for him to just make decisions for his sister.
It was her choice. He could nudge, he could offer help, he could lend an ear. But ultimately, she called the shots. He’d just be there to open the door.
“I’m not offering her a job,” Michael added hastily. “She’d have to be vetted. What’s her experience?”
Other than dealing drugs and taking them, not much for far too long.
Again, Nick kept silent. He rose and skirted Michael to walk to the door. “If there’s something to talk about, I’ll be in touch.”
“That’s it?”
“Pretty much. You didn’t like what I showed you today? Send a note to the grievance board.” He propped a finger under his chin. “Oh yeah, forgot. There isn’t one. Guess you’re fucking out of luck.”
Michael laughed and shook his head. “Damn, you’re an ornery one.”
“Some of it is an act. Most of it isn’t. Now get the hell out of my place.” It wasn’t his place, might never be his place, and he was reminded as soon as the words left his mouth. But Michael didn’t call him on it.
Small favors.
“Thanks, man. Just playing with you today was an honor. For real.” Michael held out a hand and Nick narrowed his eyes before clasping it for a moment.
“Family discount is a one-time thing. I have no generosity to be abused, so scram, kid.”
“Gone.” Michael smiled and headed down the hall.
Nick shut the door behind him, then pressed his forehead into the wood. His heart was still beating way too fast. Side effect of playing with someone new. It never went away, no matter how many times he threw himself into the fire. The difference was that he’d gotten better at hiding it.
Was Ricki the same? He didn’t think she’d ever been on a true stage, so maybe she didn’t have a problem with stage fright. Other than the lessons she’d taken as a child, he didn’t know when she’d played with anyone else but him either.
Perhaps she’d have to face that too as she’d faced so much else. Or the burden might be his alone.
He hoped it was. She didn’t deserve to be hampered with that too. What she deserved was to get a gig playing with Warning Sign on a lark, something she didn’t have to struggle for. An opportunity that just floated on golden wings into her lap.
He’d be damned if he didn’t try to give her just that.
Turning back to the living room, he dug his phone out of his jeans. And stared as it went off in his hand.
Freaking twin thing. No matter how many years he experienced it, he’d always be by turns creeped out and awed.
“Hey you,” he said without even checking the readout. It would be her. Heknew. “Did you know I was about to call you? Frigging weirdness.”
“Nicky.”
Just that one solitary word was enough to make his blood turn to ice. His heart speeded up then slowed down until his pulse thudded in his ears like a metronome. Steady and so heavy that he could feel it throbbing under his hand when he placed his palm on his chest. “Dad?”
“Daddy’s gone.”
The sound of Ricki’s tears made his own eyes fill. It was part of an action-reaction chain he had no conscious control over. When she bled, he half expected to look down and see wounds opening up in his own skin.
