Flesh & Bone - a contemporary romance: The Minstrel Series #2 (11 page)

She finally fell asleep just as dawn broke and the partiers outside quieted, but she woke abruptly to the beeping of the alarm on Gabriele’s phone. Normally, the intrusive ping didn’t bother her because she usually woke earlier than her sister. Today she groaned into her pillow.

“Are you sick?” Gabriele asked when she noticed Eva’s form under the summer blanket.

“I’m fine,” Eva croaked. She waited for Gabriele to finish in the WC before getting up. She willed the fog in her mind to clear, and then her eyelids snapped open. She remembered her encounter with Sebastian Weiss the day before and how she’d promised to go to his flat that evening.

What was she thinking?

She reached for her phone and pressed the contacts button. Sure enough Sebastian’s name was there. She hadn’t dreamed it.

And now she had the whole day to get through. It took her longer than “normal” girls to get ready for the day. She donned another summer skirt—she didn’t like to wear shorts because it was hard to hide her scar and jeans were too hot—a blouse and leather sandals. She knew she wouldn’t make the cut for the cover of a fashion magazine, but she had never cared about things like that. She brushed her hair, choosing to keep it down even though it would be cooler to pin it back or put it in a ponytail. She liked how she could hide behind it if necessary. It was an ostrich maneuver—hiding her cane and her limp was impossible—but it brought her a sense of ease in awkward moments.

Her parents didn’t expect much from her when it came to cleaning the house, but she did insist that they let her do the dishes and make the short trek to the grocery store, at least when the weather was good. Pushing a cart wasn’t that difficult, and she could get quite a lot in her backpack to bring the goods home.

She spent the afternoon working on the one university course she had recently decided to take online. Theoretically, she could get a degree this way, but it would take a decade or more. Gabriele and Annette were right. She should go to university this fall. Stop being a chicken and face the stares and questions. It wasn’t just the people that frightened her: it was also the structure. How would she manage the crowded hallway and get to her classes on time? Everyone would stare if she arrived late. And there was a lot of ice in the winter. She could fall. She could miss the transit, stumble on slippery steps. What if one of the professors called her out in class?

Eva shook her head and sighed. Next year. She’d go next year for sure.

Eventually, the day passed.
Abendbrot
discussions mercifully moved from her to other topics like world events, neighborhood gossip, and of course, Gabriele and Lennon’s wedding.

She excused herself afterward, announcing that she was going for a walk, and it hit her that she had no way of getting her guitar downstairs. How was she going to write songs without it? There was no way she could ask for assistance and even if she did get Gabriele’s help, her parents would ask questions. She hoped Sebastian had an extra guitar.

She slipped her notebook into her large shoulder bag and threaded her arm through the strap. She was down the stairs and halfway to the address Sebastian had left her before she paused. Was she really going to do this? She didn’t have to. She could just text him an excuse and maybe he’d leave her be. She furrowed her brow in thought. The guy seemed pretty intent on this writing experiment, and Sebastian Weiss didn’t come across as someone who gave up easily.

Eva’s heart raced as she pushed the button by his flat number on the door of the building. It buzzed and clicked open. Sebastian would have to live on the third floor.

He waited for her in the doorway of his flat and his face broke into a smile when he saw her. She wiped her brow of the moisture that had beaded there and smiled back. Sebastian wore knee-length shorts and a red muscle shirt. His feet were bare, and she wondered if she should take her sandals off when she entered.

He saw her reaching for the strap. “You can leave them on if you want.” She did. “Can I get you a drink? I have water with and without bubbles. Or soda? Or beer?”

“Water with bubbles, please.”

Eva remained standing, leaning on her cane. Sebastian’s flat looked lived in, with stuff everywhere, including a lot of instruments. She hadn’t needed to worry about him having an extra guitar. There were several hanging from hooks on the wall and a number sitting on guitar stands on the floor. Three hand drums of different sizes sat beside a sizable stereo system in the corner. A violin lay in an open velvet-lined case on the coffee table. A projector hung from the ceiling across the room from a pull-down screen for watching TV.

She wasn’t sure what to do. She’d never been alone with a boy in his flat before. No, not a boy. A man. She’d never been alone with a
man
in his flat before.

Sebastian removed the lid from a bottle and poured the contents into a glass. “Have a seat,” he said. She claimed the nearest armchair and he handed her the water.

She watched him over the rim of the glass. He grabbed one of his acoustic guitars and sat across from her on the couch. It looked like he hadn’t shaved that day and Eva found herself wondering what it would feel like to rub her fingers over his jaw. He was better looking in real life than on TV, and he looked pretty good there.

“Eva?”

She snapped to attention.
Focus, Eva!
“Yeah?”

“I was wondering if you had any ideas?” He strummed a little riff. “Something to get us started?”

“Oh,” Eva shifted, looking for a place to put her cane. She settled with laying it on the floor beside her chair. “I’ve never written a song with anyone before, so I’m not sure.” She fished the notebook out of her bag. Her eyes fell on the lyrics she had scribbled there and she frowned. They felt good at the time, but now she wasn’t sure.

“What is it?” Sebastian prodded.

“Just some notes, a few lines about an idea I had. More like a concept, really.”

“Okay?”

“I was thinking about how humans are made up of more than just flesh and bone. That there must be something beyond…” She motioned to her bad leg. “…this.”

Sebastian nodded and when he didn’t say anything Eva hurried to fill in the silence. “I guess it’s something I think about a lot, considering. We can scrap it if you don’t like it.”

“No, it’s a good concept.” He passed her the guitar. “Show me what you have so far?”

She accepted the instrument. “It’s not much yet.” She strummed a shuffle beat and hummed a melody idea, and then she sang softly.

I can’t say what lies beyond my flesh and bone,

But for the pull here beneath

We reach to the sky

Here like shadows moving transience

Turning the fallow

Or building the gallows

To the certain uncertainty

Like an unremembered memory

She covered the strings with her palm. “That’s all I have so far. It’s not a rock song…”

He chuckled. “I can turn anything into a rock song. I like the groove. I was worried it would be mopey, but it comes across as an honest question.”

She cocked her head. “Rather than preaching?”

His lip tugged up crookedly. “Well, the subject matter… along with your family’s influence…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing, just that I’m not religious.”

“Me neither.”

He balked. “
You
don’t believe in God?”

“I never said that. I said I wasn’t religious… in the sense that I’m not bound by the laws and beliefs of a particular denomination.”

Sebastian’s gaze narrowed, and his lips parted like he was going to respond, but then he stood and crossed the room. He picked up a second acoustic guitar. “I have some ideas.”

He shared a few lines and Eva wrote them down. She added a couple. Sebastian played a harmony riff when they tested them out. Some lines, they agreed, needed to be crossed out and a couple they deliberated over.

When it occurred to Eva to check her phone for the time, she stammered, “Two hours! I have to go.”

“Wow.” Sebastian leaned back and said with a lazy grin, “You’re on a tight leash. How old did you say you were?”

Eva swallowed a wad of embarrassment. He knew how old she was. “Don’t judge me.”

“Okay, sorry. It’s just that I’m excited with the momentum we’ve got going.”

“Yeah, well,” she said coolly. She handed the guitar to Sebastian’s outstretched hand and reached for her cane on the floor. She hated the way Sebastian watched her slow movements and how she felt his eyes on the back of her head as she limped to the door. He had no idea what it was like to be her. No idea.

“Eva?”

She turned slowly and caught his eye.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a jerk.”

He could be such an a-hole. Here she’d come, acting against her family’s approval, just to help him write a dumb song, and he had to go and make her feel stupid. He needed to make it up to her somehow. He didn’t want her to feel like he was using her.

Was he?

No. They’d share songwriting credits. If it became a hit for Hollow Fellows, she’d make a lot of money.
He
was doing
her
the favor.

Still, she didn’t seem to care about the money, and he could totally picture her quitting on him. She wasn’t the one who needed a partner to write.

Eva Baumann was the best thing to happen to him in a long time. He enjoyed her company. She was smart and talented, and her innocence was refreshing. When the guitar was on her lap, covering her leg, it was easy to forget she was handicapped.

And she was cute. The way her eyes sparkled when they came up with just the right line, and the little lilt to her laugh. It was easy to be with her. No expectations. No drama.

Except for when he stupidly caused it.

Maybe he should take her out. Not on a date, just as friends. Somewhere nice. Somewhere she probably never goes. He drummed his fingertips on the tops of his thighs.

There was a tap on the door and he sprang to his feet to get it. Had Eva forgotten something?

He hurried to answer it but it wasn’t the sweet face of Eva Baumann on the other side. It was the pinched face of Yvonne.

Sebastian huffed. “What are you doing here?”

Yvonne smiled like he’d just hit on her. She was dressed in short shorts and a revealing T-shirt. She tucked her short hair, tinted blue now, behind her studded ears and looked up at Sebastian from heavily made-up eyes. “I came to see you. We’re still friends aren’t we? She seductively outlined the peacock tattoo with her fingernail, a move that had once turned him on.

He tugged his arm away. “You should go.”

“Basti, let’s be adults here.” She strutted over to an armchair, slouched into it and draped a bare leg over the arm. “I know you’re angry, and rightly so, but nothing actually happened between Karl and me.”

“I saw you kissing him.”

“Yeah, okay. We kissed. But we never went beyond that.”

Sebastian leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because it’s true. Besides, it didn’t mean anything.”

Maybe not to her, but it sure did to him. “It doesn’t matter. You lied to me so you could be with him instead. That speaks volumes.”

Yvonne pushed herself gracefully off the chair and walked toward him. “It was stupid, and I’m so, so sorry.”

“I know. You told me that already.”

“I just feel so bad. I heard the band broke up?”

“We’re on hiatus.”

She stepped closer. He could smell the hair products in her hair. “I feel responsible.”

He kept his arms folded tight against his chest, a barrier. “You did have something to do with it.”

Yvonne placed a manicured hand on his arm. “Basti.” Her painted nails crawled up to the soft skin of his neck. She whispered, “Are you sure we can’t start over? Just forget this ever happened?”

“Pretty sure.”

She let her arm fall. “Don’t tell me there’s someone else already.”

Eva’s lips crossed Sebastian’s mind, but he shook the thought away. “No. I’m just not interested in you anymore.”

It was harsh, but it was true. Seeing her now and knowing she would follow him into the bedroom at the flick of a finger, it didn’t stir anything in him. Her face blushed with embarrassment. She wasn’t used to rejection. She stormed away and slammed the door, a move she’d made many times over the years when they’d fought. He’d always chased after her then, but this time he flopped on the couch and let her go.

A soft chuckle escaped his lips. He was free of her.