She played like he hadn’t seen anyone play in two hundred years, her fingers and bow moving deftly across the strings like it was as natural as breathing. Sure, he’d seen thousands of talented musicians with great technical skill, but with her, there was something more. There wasfeeling. Soul. And the classical influence over the contemporary growling bass tones and artificial drums made an undeniably appealing combination.
He was intrigued. Impressed.
For the hour and a half she played, his night of waiting became an enjoyable concert. It didn’t matter that her music was meant for wild dancing; he enjoyed it in his own way. Standing like a statue by the bar, he cast the occasional eye across the club to be sure his brothers weren’t in any trouble and soaked up the music like the first heat of the sun in spring after a long winter. Or a tall glass of cool water after a long thirst. Or a pleasant breeze on a hot day. Or—
Damn, he was making similes. It must really be good.
Eventually, her set drew to a close, and he was forced to accept he would once again be on sentry duty sans the entrancing music. That was until Bel approached, arms around two attractive brunettes, closely followed by Raum, his arms around another two women, and Meph, in much the same manner.
“Ash!” Meph called out, grinning broadly. “We brought you a present!”
Ash groaned. “I told you—”
“There are four of us and six of them,” Bel said. The women under his arms stared up at him eagerly, utterly oblivious to Ash’s existence. “I told them we have another brother, and they’re down to share. They won’t notice you—”
“And that’s exactly my point.”
“They won’t mind you being there.”
“I’llmind me being there.”
“Lighten up, bro,” Raum said. “We’re finally free. Have some fun.”
How to explain to his brothers that “fun” didn’t mean having sex with women who found him as attractive as their old shoes? “No.”
Meph stuck out his pierced lower lip. “You’re such a buzzkill. How are we supposed to enjoy ourselves if we know you’re not?”
Ah yes, making it all about him—classic Meph.
“Piss off, all of you. I’m not interested.”
“But what about—”
“Hey!”
They turned toward the source of the voice, shouting to be heard over the music. It was the woman from the stage, the violinist. And she was looking right at him.
It didn’t mean anything. He wasn’t actually invisible, just uninteresting.
Looking like they hoped to add another female to the menagerie, Ash’s brothers disentangled themselves from their companions and stepped in front of him. It was a well-known fact that if they wanted to bed a woman, introducing her to Ash was a surefire way to prevent that from happening. Yeah, it sucked, but he’d long since gotten used to it.
“Hey,” Raum said.
“What’s your name?” Meph asked, offering a seductive grin.
They didn’t realize she’d been performing on the stage ten minutes ago—clueless idiots.
“Um, actually, I—” The woman appeared to be trying to see around their broad shoulders to something behind them.
“Are you looking for someone?”
“I wanted to talk to—”
“Maybe we can help you.”
“Well, actually—”
“Tell us what you need.”
