Read Online Drowning (Tears of Sin Series) by Rachel Firasek - Free Book Online Page A

expense?
    I trip up my next run and Deacon stalls on the guitar. “Seth?”
I glance at him and fold my sticks on top of my drum. “Why don’t we take a break?” “What’s going on with you?”
I ignore the three sets of eyes trained on me. “Too much beer earlier.”
Gabe laughs. “Sure. I don’t suppose it has anything to do with that little piece over
there.”
    That piece came in here with damp curls, sweats, and dirty runners. Still the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long time. I shrug and hope they’ll fall for my normal noncommittal reply.
Deacon strums softly on his guitar. “Right.”
    Gabe swings a leg over his bench and stands. “Bro, are you into this girl? Like seriously into her?”
I slide off my stool and pat Gabe’s shoulder. “Nope.” I have to keep my shit together, and she’s a distraction I don’t need right now. I swallow around the lie and fight the need to take it back. The thought of anyone else winning Alice’s heart settles like battery acid in my gut. She’s not for me. Not right now, anyway.
Alice’s face scrunches up into a grimace, and I have to admit that I feel the same way. I don’t want to see her with anyone else. I want to find out what this chemistry between us is really about. I want to know what dark secrets lurk beneath the scars on her shoulders. And I want to know why her eyes are always sad.
“Seth? I saw the way you looked at her when we came in.”
“Doesn’t matter. I have to make this work. A girl would just be a distraction none of us need.”
“You know that no matter what you do, it’ll never be good enough, right?” Gabe runs his hands over the ivory keys but doesn’t look up. “Dad will always want to push, and we’ll always want to rebel. It’s in the James’ DNA.”
Gabe is right. I know that I’m fooling myself with the idea that I’ll make my father pay attention one day, but I have to try. I have to make my music happen and in a big way. “Why don’t you guys head down for some pizza and refuel. We’ll take a break.”
Deacon groans. “We had pizza last night.”
“Best damn idea I heard today.” Evan sets his bass against the wall and flicks his hand over Gabe’s buzz cut. “Let’s go, pussy.”
Gabe laughs. “You only wish you could lick my pussy.” He frames his crotch and flicks his tongue in and out of his mouth.
I glance at Alice, but she doesn’t stir.
The noise dies out as they wrestle each other out of the room, and I’m left to watch the sleeping beauty. Okay, so she's not really beautiful in a classic sense. She's a little too rough. A little too hard. And she’s sleeping like a zombie on my couch. I’m pretty sure that’s the first hint of drool slipping from the corner of her mouth.
When I saw her in the hall yesterday with her father, all tense and scared, I noticed the cut definition in her arms. This girl worked on her body. Hard core. I've never had a hard girl. Most of my flings have been soft, simple women. Easy. No messes to clean up after. I'm not sure what I'd do with a girl like Alice. One that needs more than a good dicking on occasion.
I sit behind the piano and work on my unfinished melody. It's more chaotic than I'm used to. The notes bleed together, taking on a life of their own. I wonder if the scrambled sound is instigated by my inspiration less than five feet from me. I've known her all of two days, and somehow she's already crept into the shadows and poisoned my song.
“H EY , WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY .”
    “No. Not tonight, please.” The whimper wakes me, and I realize I’ve just given my tormentor a dark piece of my history. Shit. I sit up, scrub away the nap I stole on Seth James’ couch, and make sure I don’t catch his eye right away.
    He crouches—level with me—and reaches across, brushing stray curls behind my ear. “That’s an odd response.”
I flinch away from his touch. “You’re odd. One day you drag me into your apartment, and another you don’t want me