Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69610 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
I nod, shoulders slumping as I exhale.
“And as for your music,” he tells me. “Don’t give up on that, either. I know what your mother thinks of it, but I don’t agree. You have an incredibly rare talent, Amalie. Don’t let it go.”
“I can’t play anymore, Daddy,” I say softly. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t play. I can’t get the pitch or the tones right. I can’t hear if it sounds good, or bad, and my fingers won’t do what they’re supposed to.”
He smiles at me. “You’re focusing so much on hearing the music. You need to accept the fact that you can’t hear it anymore, Amalie. So you need to find another way to let it into your soul. Connect with it on a different level. Music is your soul, and it goes far deeper than hearing. Trust in yourself.”
With that, he turns and walks out.
I glance back at the piano, and I place my fingers on the keys, pressing down. My fingers vibrate with the sound, only a little, but I can feel it. I shuffle forward and place my feet against the back of it, and press on the keys. The vibrations go right through it.
Is he right?
If I stop concentrating on hearing it, maybe I’ll learn to feel it?
Maybe my fingers will just let me do what it is I need to do.
I close my eyes, and I start playing a basic song that I know the notes to like the back of my hand. Every note I press, I take note of how the vibrations feel against my fingers and against my feet. I also take note of how it sounds to me. As I am now. Not as I remember it. I listen carefully, I take note of the different ways the music sounds to me, and I know my father is right.
I will never play the way I did before.
Because I’ll never be the way I was before.
I’m different now.
And so is my music.
~*~*~*~
MALAKAI
“Charlie’s here, boss,” Koda tells me, swinging the door open to my office and strolling in.
“Ever heard of fuckin’ knockin’?” I bark at him, frustrated.
I’m frustrated because since Scarlett’s attack, I’ve heard fucking nothing from Treyton. Nothing about Treyton. He took the drugs he transported into Denver with Scarlett’s bus, and he disappeared. Where he went, I do not fucking know, all I know is that he’ll come back.
Because he isn’t done.
He made that clear.
“What got up your fuckin’ nose?” Koda grunts.
“Just send Charlie in.”
“Righto.”
He walks out and comes back a minute later with Charlie by his side. She strolls in without a fear in the world and stops at the front of my desk, looking down at me. Her tits are popping out of her tight shirt. Fucking rebel, this girl, without a doubt. Will take a strong man to tame her down.
“I got a little information, it isn’t a lot, but it’s a start.”
“Well, spill it, girl,” I growl. “Not in the mood for fuckin’ games.”
“You want the information, you better start speaking to me with a little respect, biker.”
I launch out of my chair and slam my hands on the desk, leaning forward and holding her eyes. “You want me to protect your fuckin’ ass from whatever it is you’re runnin’ from, you will start doin’ as I fuckin’ say, when I fuckin’ say it.”
Her jaw tics, but she doesn’t fight me any further. In a rough, pissed off voice, she tells me, “There are a lot of drugs running through town. More than usual. A big deal. The drugs are good. Selling for a lot of money. Whoever is sourcing them is doing a good job at hiding. I couldn’t get a name, or any information, out of anyone I tried to buy off. But I did get some of the stuff being sold.”
She reaches into her pocket and tosses a small plastic bag at me. It skitters across the table and lands right in front of my hand. I pick it up, shaking the white powder around. It’s got something else in it. A different texture. A mixture.
“What is this?” I ask her.
“I’m not sure, and I’m not willing to try it. I asked for ice. They told me they could get better. They’re calling it Whack, and they’re saying it’s better, stronger, and more powerful.”
I toss the bag at Koda and he catches it with one hand. “See if you can find anythin’ out about this. Anythin’ at all.”
“On it, Prez.”
I look back to Charlie. “Anythin’ else?”
“People are showing up dead, going missing, it’s a dangerous operation, whatever it is. I don’t know who you’re chasing, I don’t really care, but I do know whoever he or she is, they’re doing an incredible job at running drugs through this town undetected.”
“Go back out there, ask more questions, cozy up to whoever you have to and find some answers.”