Chapter Sixty-One

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She was still giving herself that pep talk later.

She was a grown woman who’d ended relationships before. And the fact that those relationships hadn’t seemed to hurt as much as this one didn’t make much of a difference.

She’d gotten over those men, she’d get over this one. A week together couldn’t make that much of a difference in how she felt about someone. That was unrealistic. Al knew better; she was a smart, successful woman.

She didn’t need Seth Lorcan.

What she needed to do was focus on getting her life back on track, and focusing on the people in it. Like Ruthie, Mal, Mick, and Jules. Her parents. Her team and friends. The people who loved her, who she saw across the breakfast table nearly every day and who she worked with and depended on.

Not some arrogant jerk she’d only been with for a week.

And her friends needed her. This competition mattered to Carrie and Paige. And if they won, the money would go far in helping repair the damage done to the shelter Carrie and Paige had helped setup nearly two years ago.

She owed it to them to be in the game tonight.

Five minutes before six she entered the backroom of Smokey Jo’s. Smokey had taken over the bar and grill from her father two years ago and had worked her tail off to transform it from a somewhat shady place to a warm haven for local FBI and St. Louis police.

She’d agreed to let them practice on her small stage in exchange for them performing one weekend a month at no charge for her. It worked for them, and gave them a way to let off steam. The arrangement had been in place for three months and suited them all.

Payton and Kelly were already there, setting up their instruments. Paige and Carrie met them a few minutes later.

“Where’s Cody?”

“Underneath a body-filled Hummer, last I heard,” Paige said. “She’ll be a few minutes late.”

Cody worked automotive forensics. “Then let’s get inside and get set up.”

One of the benefits—or drawbacks, depending on viewpoint—of her type of position was that she’d learned early on to push her own problems away and focus on the tasks at hand.

She was determined to do the same tonight.

Cody was only a few minutes late, and they started their warm ups. Most of their pieces involved Al, Cody, and Paige out front dancing. Some pieces had Al on the guitar, others had her center stage. It was physical and exhausting but once the first run-through was finished Al felt better than she had that afternoon.

Things would return to normal. She’d be able to remember Seth as just another experience in her life, both good and bad. And she’d move on. It would just take time.

“Ok, Cody, ready for Black & White?” The song Paige had written was about differences between lovers and friends. Al carried most of the song, with backup from both Carrie and Cody.

It was one of their strongest pieces, but—damn it—it echoed her heart just flat out too much right now. She closed her eyes, trying to erase Seth from her mind. Her heart. Her words faltered on the final line.

Not that it mattered.

No one else was singing, either. And they should have been.

Al glanced at Paige, surprised to see her friend smiling and staring off to the left of the stage. Toward where Carrie was supposed to be.

Carrie wasn’t there.

In her place was Sebastian.

And a man who almost looked just like him. But a bit more wild. A bit more untamed.

Dear God.

Al couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe.

Seth.