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Nikki’s gaze sharpened at him. “You’ve been writing?” She tried to make it sound casual but he heard the barely stifled surprise.
He nodded once, holding eye contact.
Nikki swallowed hard and blinked too fast.
“For fuck’s sake, Nik,” he muttered. “Don’t cry.”
She shook her head in denial even as her blue eyes got glassy.
Zara sat up and dropped her feet to the floor. “Why are you crying?” she asked, concerned.
Nikki wiped under her eyes and blinked up at the ceiling. “It’s uh…” she cleared her throat. “It’s allergies.”
Asa rolled his eyes, but his chest compressed with something that felt like guilt. She’d been worried about him, he’d known that. But he had no idea she would have this kind of a reaction.
Nikki took a deep breath and looked at Asa seriously. “It’s good. I’m glad is all.”
“Do you want to hear what we have so far?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“Are you joking?” Nikki asked like he was crazy.
He got up from the couch and went over to the control board. Zara sat on the stool by his side and keyed up the track they had roughly finished putting together earlier.
A low hum filled the room, the echo he’d had stuck in his head and body since that night in LA. He’d managed to find it in a particular keyboard at the studio. He’d plugged it in and it had lit up every neuron in his brain. The sound was how it felt to be near her, to create with her, to know her.
The hum was joined by an under riff she’d written and then played on that same keyboard. It was heavily synthed and reverberated throughout the control room. A sound that wasn’t all her and wasn’t all him but was something new. Something that didn’t exist until they’d met.
The drums they’d added had a tight popping snare that sounded like a slow heartbeat that he could feel in the center of his chest. It was welded to the rest of the sound with his characteristic bass notes and her talent for melody.
It still needed a lot of work. It wasrough.Backing vocals and echoes and mixing, just to start. But he could hear it. The song that had started in the middle of a thunderstorm months ago. It was alive and starting to breathe on its own.
The song ended and he shared a smile with Zara. She could hear it too. He turned to get Nikki’s reaction.
His bestie was staring at him with wide eyes, her arms crossed over her middle.
“Holy shit, Ace,” she said just above a whisper.
He tipped his chin down. “You think you could polish this up? Maybe make it into something?”
Nikki’s eyes darted from him to Zara like she wasn’t sure she heard him right.
“I mean, unless you’re busy,” Zara added when Nikki hadn’t responded after a minute.
Nikki’s expression turned annoyed before she barked a laugh. “You two are going to kill me, aren’t you? With all this—” she wiggled her fingers to encompass both Zara and Asa— “extreme talent working together. What’s the plan? Is this a Zara record or something new?” She arched an eyebrow with her question.
Asa shrugged. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead.
That was a lie.
He’d thought about it. He wanted it to be hers. For all of it to be hers. He just wanted to be around to help make it.
“We’re still discussing that,” Zara said, spinning back around on the stool.
Nikki shot a curious frown to Asa but he didn’t have an answer.
“Hey, Nik, have you talked to—oh.” Johnny came into the room and stopped when he saw who was there. He scratched the back of his head. “Hey.”
Nikki took a deep breath and blinked at their boss. “No. I just found them in here. Johnny, you gotta hear what they’ve made.”
