But none of that held my attention.
The only thing I could see was the Grand piano that sat in the middle of the stage. It was bathed in the warm wash of spotlights perfectly angled to capture the bench where the pianist would sit.
I struggled for a breath when we made it halfway down the middle aisle.
“You okay?” Ash asked.
I forced myself to nod.
“Where would you like to sit?” He waved a hand out over the empty seats. “House is yours.”
“Right here is good.” I couldn’t bring myself to get any closer.
Not without being completely consumed by this brilliant boy.
Ash’s mouth tweaked in a knowing smile before he released me, murmuring, “Enjoy the show,” with another bow.
Anxiously, I eased into a seat.
Movement caught my eye to the right of the stage. I leaned forward, captured by an expectation unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
Zee.
Zee.
The bold, gorgeous man slowly made his way out onto the stage.
Confident. Owning the space as if he’d never stepped away.
I swore, he was the most intriguing man I’d ever seen.
He wore an outfit identical to Ash’s, his pants fitted, sleeves rolled up those arms and exposing the ink etched into his skin. His head was tilted down, his face hidden beneath the shadow drawn by the lock of hair guarding his expression.
But I could feel it. The emotion that rippled through the auditorium like a shockwave.
Annihilating everything in its path.
I sucked in a ragged breath. The air thinned.
Tears gathered in my eyes as I watched him take a seat at the place where he’d always belonged.
Clearing his throat, he looked out into the darkness.
Without a doubt, I was cast in shadows. Hidden.
But it didn’t matter.
That bronze gaze found me. Penetrating and piercing.
My stomach tightened as I felt everything gather to a pinpoint.
Waiting on a moment.
For this moment.
He settled his fingers on the keys.
A shudder captured his body and his tongue darted out to wet his lips.
Shivers flushed across my skin when his powerful voice struck the air.
“When I was a little boy, I made a million wishes that one day I’d get to sit right here. On a stage just like this. I couldn’t imagine anything better than people piling in to hear me play, thinking I might have the chance to affect them the same way the music affected me.”
My body shifted forward, drawn to him through the hazy distance.
“And I’d had that dream right in the palm of my hands. Already becoming a reality. But I fucked it all away.” The words grated from his mouth. “The day my brother died, a piece of me died, too. And that music, Alexis? That music that had been there since the day I was born was silenced. I couldn’t hear it. Couldn’t feel it anymore. It left this vacancy inside me that I’d accepted as a reminder of what I’d done. Welcomed it as a punishment for what I’d cost my brother. That silent echo the price for what I owed him.”
His thick throat bobbed heavily as he swallowed. “For seven years, I tried to fill his shoes. Did everything in my power to make it up to him when I knew nothin’ I did would ever be enough. But I was committed to seeing it through anyway. I never expected anything to change. Not ever. I’d been happy to live out this life sentence if it meant protecting a little boy who’d become the entire meaning of my life.”
His jaw clenched, and he pulled in a deep breath as I battled to draw one of my own.
“Then there was this girl…this brilliant girl who’d needed me in one of the darkest moments of her life.” His voice deepened in sincerity. “I’d thought it was chance, finding her that way, rushing in to save her and having no clue what it was I was saving her from.”
His fingers pressed down, playing a single chord.
It resonated through my being, the beat of my heart turning erratic.
“I was terrified when I realized when I was with her I could feel it again. Music. Strains of a song that had been silenced for so many years.”
My insides clenched.
Oh God. This boy. This brilliant boy.
“It didn’t take me long to realize it was her song,” he continued, voice rough. “That she was the music. That she was the harmony behind it that stirred my spirit and itched my fingers to play.”
His mouth tweaked at the corner, a broken bow of sadness and a crest of hope. “I was terrified of her because she represented everything I couldn’t have. Because she made me want the things that had been missing. Because she filled the spaces that had been empty and filled me with song.”
My hands went to my thundering heart, as if it might stand the chance of keeping it from beating from its confines.
Regret poured from his mouth. “I hurt her because I was a coward, thinking again I didn’t deserve something so right. Something so good. Thinking maybe I was being selfish if I asked her to stay.”
His head slowly shook as he played another echoing chord. “But I realized I don’t want that silence in my life. I want the beauty. I want the music. God, Alexis, I want to live. And I know every time I turn around, I fuck things up. Make the wrong decision. But I know sitting here tonight, I’m finally making the right one. I should have said these things all along, and I hope maybe there’s a chance you’ll hear them tonight. I hope maybe…maybe you’ll listen.”
Emotion rushed me. Wave after wave, joy and pain as I watched Zee turn to the piano. His eyes dropped closed and his expression hardened.
A mesmerizing intensity. Deep and real.
It lifted and rose as his fingers began to move across the keys.
The sound strummed through my body like a caress.
His masterful fingers weaved that same web of beauty, the same maze of sorrow, that had staggered me the first day I’d come to his loft.
The impact of it slammed me. The energy pulsed and lapped, incited by the talented stroke of his hands as they danced across the keys.
That day back at his loft, I’d wanted to beg him to sing the lyrics. To let me hear what this sad, mesmerizing song meant. I’d wanted to know. To understand.
And now he was offering it to me.
His voice was both smooth and rough. It skated my skin like desire. Like relief.
Live my life in silence A razor-sharp edge Easy destruction my surrender Fractured honor my sacrifice I cast my dreams upon the stars Then turned and left them there
I choked over a tiny sob as he allowed me into a place he’d never allowed me before.
As he let me glimpse inside.
Let me into that place where he kept his secrets and his pain.
His voice lifted and the song took a turn, rising into the chorus that penetrated the air.
Written in the skies Bleeding stars and broken hearts Scattered wishes and shattered dreams
That’s exactly what I felt.
Shattered.
Consumed by this broken heart I could feel him healing with each of his words.