AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fuckingup.
Every word, every song, fills me as if I’m the one singing, and my lungs expand until I think my chest willburst.
It’s beautifully, achinglyhuman.
By the end, I feelreborn.
“Well?” Tyler asks when the ovation finishes and our row filesout.
I don’t move, staring at the stage after everyone’s left our row. “This is it,” I state. “This is what I want todo.”
I cut a look up at Tyler’s amused face. “Talbot sent me part of the book she’s cowriting for a new musical. It’s nearly finished, but she’s been stuck on a couple of songs. I sent her some lyrics, just some spur-of-the-moment ideas, and she actually liked them. There’s a chance I could work on it withher.”
His grin is dazzling. Tyler wraps an arm around me, and we head down the aisle for the exit, my program tucked safely in my little bag like a perfect memory oftonight.
After the theater, the car takes us to abar.
“Don’t wait. We’ll find our own way home,” Tyler tells the driver when he lets us out, and we watch the car glide slowly down thestreet.
We reach the bar, and he holds the door. Inside, it’s charming and funky, and we weave through the hip crowd and snag twostools.
We order from the bartender, and he returns a moment later with ourdrinks.
I lift mine as I consider. “To bigdreams.”
“To being so good they can’t look away.” Tyler’s mouth tugs at the corner as if he’s remembering the moment a year and a half ago when he gave me thosewords.
I take a sip of my drink, humming with pleasure at the smoothness as I glance around thebar.
“You hear anything from your dad?” Tylerasks.
Sadness edges into my excitement, though if I’m honest, a part of it’s been there the past week, lingering in the corners of my mind, my soul. “JustHaley.”
Tyler reaches over to rest a hand on my thigh. “He’s not perfect, Annie, but none of us are. I know you’ve had your issues, and I don’t agree with everything he does, but he loves the hell out ofyou.”
Tyler’s words have me sighing. “I know. And I probably should have told him. But I’m stubborn and so is he, and we both suck at backing down.” I turn that over. “I told him about the letter from my birth mom. He was shocked. He almost looked… guilty. Like I caught him doing something heshouldn’t.”
“You could reach out toher.”
“Maybe Iwill.”
I scan the bar over his shoulder, the dozens of people drinking and laughing and joking. Is she somewhere doing the same thing rightnow?
I shake it off as my attention comes back to Tyler. Tonight’s not for that—tonight is for us. “So,” I start, my mouth twitching, “what does the future look like for Tyler Adams now that he has a recorddeal?”
His thumb strokes my thigh absently, sending little ripples of awareness through me. “Zeke wants me to record an EP to start. A combination of my own songs and a cover or two. I told him I wanted to record our songs, if you’d be open to that. The one from the showcase, and maybe we could work on moretogether.”
Disbelief washes over me. “Tyler?! Yes. A million times,yes.”
He grins at my response. “There’s more, though.” The brightness in his eyes dims a few watts. “The band I played with loved my sound, and they have a slot for an opener on their tour in a couple months. They want me to go with them. I have a couple days todecide.”
My jaw drops. “Wow. That’shuge.”
“Two months ago, all I wanted was to get the hell out of Vanier. Now, I don’t want to leave my friends or New York.” He inspects the contents of his drink, then tosses it back in a single gulp before setting the glass down with a thud and meeting my gaze. “I don’t want to leaveyou.”
My chest warms at hisadmission.
“I feel as if I’ve always wanted you,” he goes on, “and this is the first time I haveyou.”
