Chapter 188
She hums, already halfway through her first few bites of dinner. The way her face softens as she chews – like this is the best thing she’s eaten all month makes something warm settle in my chest.
–
She takes a slow sip of her cocktail and sighs, eyes fluttering shut for a second. “The drink alone just made me reconsider all my life choices.”
I raise an eyebrow. “That good?”
She nods seriously. “I’d betray a minor moral code for this.”
I lean in, grinning against the rim of my glass. “Careful, love. I know people here. I might just make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
Before she can fire back with something equally ridiculous, a stir near the stage catches our attention. Someone’s adjusting the mic, and a murmur starts to ripple through the room. Emilia and I immediately abandon our plates to start wildly guessing who the performer might be.
—
!
We’re still mid–debate loud, wrong, and thoroughly entertained — when a familiar freckled redhead slides into our booth like he owns the place. Probably because, technically, he kind of does.
“Liam, you bastard,” Daniel beams. His accent is always worse when he’s excited. “You said you’d bring her to the back so we could chat.”
I don’t even look away from Emilia. “I said no such thing. Why would I subject my woman to a degenerate like you?”
“Bloody asshat,” he mutters, before turning to Emilia with a charming
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grin. “Hi, love. I’m Daniel. You’ve probably heard all about me from this tosser.”
“She hasn’t.” I deadpan, slapping his hand away as he reaches across the table, aiming to clasp hers like he’s royalty.
Emilia lets out a laugh a loud one- and flashes him a polite smile. Too polite. “It’s lovely to meet you. This place is incredible.”
“I know,” he says, smirking with absolutely no humility.
I sigh and pat her head like she’s a small child who doesn’t know better. “This is exactly why you don’t feed strays. Now he thinks you like him.”
“You can’t treat me like this in front of your girlfriend,” Daniel whines, dramatically offended. “It’s humiliating.”
“Please. You don’t even know what that word means.”
“And here I was,” he continues, ignoring me, “coming to do you a favour. Now? I’m not sure you deserve it.”
I tilt my head. “Spill it. I’ll pay for that stage renovation you keep begging about.”
His grin sharpens instantly. “Well, since you’ve put it so nicely…” He turns to Emilia, eyes sparkling. “You’ve met my cousin, right?”
She nods. “Once. At his wedding. He was really sweet.”
Daniel clutches his heart. “Sweet? He’s a bloody ray of sunshine. Until he picks up a violin then he’s a possessed demon with a bow.”
I feel my stomach drop just slightly. My gaze flicks to the stage. “Mar’s performing tonight?”
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Daniel smirks. “The one and only.”
As if on cue, the curtains part and Mar steps onto the stage, ginger curls gleaming under the lights, eyes already half–lidded in that familiar pre–performance trance. His makeup is soft, but striking-— just like him and he’s carrying his violin case like it holds all his secrets.
–
I exhale, something nostalgic catching in my throat. “Is Elijah here too?”
Daniel gives me a look like I’ve asked whether the sky is blue. “What kind of ridiculous question is that? When is Elijah ever not orbiting Mar like a lovesick moon?”
“Right,” I mutter, watching the pair exchange a brief glance across the
room.
The air in the club changes, subtle and magnetic, as Mar steps up to the mic. Something tells me this is going to be one of those performances.
And, judging by the way Emilia leans into my side without even realising it, she already feels it too.
LIAM
The lights dim a little more just as Mar steps onto the stage, and immediately, the room changes.
He doesn’t say a word. Just lifts the violin to his shoulder, settles it under his chin, and starts to play.
Mar picked up the violin out of pure boredom. There’s no dramatic backstory. Just something to do when I was off at hockey camp and he wasn’t sitting in the bleachers at my games. Julie in one of her endless phases – had tried and failed to learn it, guilt–tripped our mom
–
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into buying the thing, then tossed it at Mar one summer like a frisbee. Said he had pretty hands. Figured he might as well give it a shot.
Funny how fate works out.
I’ve heard him play a hundred times. Still guts me every time.
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