Velvet Lullabies

“Liar.” She grimaced. “Tell me, Ads.”

In all their years of friendship, Adelina never lied to Gemma, except about Theo.

She was terrified of facing the wrath of Gemma. What she would think if she had known, what she would have done. It would have created problems, and the DelGado’s didn’t need an Adelina sized problem on their hands, so she kept it to herself.

She was a big girl.

She could take care of herself.

Now, she was just too embarrassed to admit everything to Gemma. Besides, Theo was long gone. What good would come of it now.

She sighed. “Just feeling sad. Can we get some food?”

Gemma eyed her skeptically. “Sure.” She grabbed her purse

???

The Verney-Woodly dining hall was packed for 2:00 pm on a Thursday. Gemma and Adelina found open seats at a wooden table to eat their selected meals. Gemma had a plate of fried food that would miraculously not cause her to gain a pound while Adelina opted for an apple. She was still on edge about Lucian’s offer and the churning in her stomach didn’t make her enthusiastic about food.

There was a part of her, deep inside, that wanted to say yes. She was interested in the guy, plus the drunk sex was great. If there weren’t so many strings attached she could see herself with him. Going out, drinks, staying up all night in the penthouse suite.

But there were strings attached.

He was a made man.

And she was broken.

This life just didn’t fit her anymore.

But if she said no, Vinny would probably kill her. He was pushing so hard for this arrangement she wasn’t sure what would happen if she said no. How would he take that? Would he blame her?

Instinctively her hand moved to the scar covering her left ribs.

Could she handle any more pain?

Plus, Lucian made her a promising offer, would anyone else care enough to do that?

“Ladies,” her thoughts were interrupted by her friends joining the table. Max sat down next to her, draping an arm easily over her shoulder. Max had been one of her closet friends since freshman year at Brown. They met in a music history class and quickly discovered they both had a passion for music. Max played the guitar and sang every chance he got. Soon, he was dragging Adelina along with him. They sang at old-folks home, open mic nights, at any Brown event that would have them. They became known for it, people would ask them to sing and Max thrived on it.

She had loved singing for her father when she was little. He would sit on the couch, a smile stretched across his face. Her mother and Vinny couldn’t bear to listen to her poking at the piano keys while her voice cracked as she sang, but her father would listen for hours.

He loved her like that.

For a while, she thought her love for music died with Theo and her father that night. Until she met Max, and he helped channel her pain into music. She wrote what felt like a million songs that first year, pushing all her pain and all this hate she felt into the songs. One after one she scribbled them on lined paper while belting out the lyrics. The she sealed each one in an envelope and stuck it in the box under her bed.

“Max,” Gemma greeted. “What’s on the docket for tonight?”

“Open mic?” He had a toothy grin, and he smiled right at Adelina.

Yeah, he knew what she needed.

Music.

Chapter Eight

On Thursday nights in Providence there was an open mic night at the Blue Door Cafe, which contrary to its name, actually had a red door.

The place was packed with locals and college students alike. Deep red brick walls were lined with posters for upcoming events and there were black cafe tables scattered about. The lights were dimmed and stale cigarette smoke lingered in the air.