Free Taking Something by Elizabeth Lee Page A

the moon tattoo on my right forearm. I wanted her to run her fingers over my skin again. All of my skin.
    “Um, thanks. I got it for this girl. Lila,” I rambled, staring down her hand as it slowly traced the outline of the ink. She quickly pulled her hand away at the mention of Lila.
    “Like a girlfriend?” She stepped back, putting a little distance between us. “Do you have a girlfriend back home?”
    “I don't,” I managed to answer. “She's my best friend. Maybe could have been something more.” I looked down at the tattoo and thought about all the ways I screwed things up with her. “I ruined any chance of there being anything between us. Wasn't honest about the way I felt.”
    What am I doing?
    I'd never talked to anyone about what happened back then. Not even Lila knew the full story. The story that included exactly how heartbroken I had been that day when she told me she loved my brother more than she loved me. That I wasn't enough. That I'd missed my shot.
    Now here I was, spilling my guts to a girl I barely knew in the kitchen of another girl I barely knew who just so happened to be my new girlfriend.
    “I made a few mistakes. But no. I do not have a girlfriend back in Chicago. Lila is happily married to my brother and very, very pregnant with his baby.”
    She nodded, and the way she looked at me told me that she understood exactly how I was feeling.
    “Why are you worried about if I have a girlfriend back home? Jealous?” I grinned, thinking for split second that maybe our conversation was somehow only about the two people standing in the kitchen.
    She shook her head. “Not at all,” she said with finality. “I'm asking because you do have a girlfriend here who will be up in about twenty-two minutes.” She pointed at the clock on the microwave. “Remember her?”
    “How could I forget?” I said under my breath as I moved back around to my barstool, welcoming the solid island between us. “So, I've got a question for you, Gia.”
    “Okay.” She went about her business as if I weren’t even there.
    “I'm wondering why exactly you gave up singing, acting, all of it?”
    Her back was to me, but I could see the weight of the question by the way her breath drew in then stalled and her head dropped.
    “Not something I'm ready to talk about it with someone I barely know.”
    “That's fair.” I took a sip of my coffee. Touchy subject apparently. “That's not the question I should have led with. What I really want to know is if you still sing?”
    “If you're a singer, you don't just quit singing, Nick,” she answered softly. “I may have quit singing for a living, but that doesn't mean I forgot how or don't still do it.”
    “How would you feel about singing for a living again?” I could see her thinking about. Very intently. I could tell because her eyes narrowed out and her teeth tugged at her bottom lip. “I've got something you should listen to. It's going to be a huge hit, and your name came up in a conversation I had last night.” I'd managed to pry Sadie off my arm long enough to sneak outside for a cigarette and to pull up the file Landry had sent me on my phone. It was a sure thing. Like a number-one-on-the-charts sure thing. Especially with Landry attached.
    “My name? Why would my name come up? I never even had a song on the radio.”
    “My guess? You left a lasting impression on Landry Westwood back in the day.”
    The color drained from her face at the mention of his name and her eyes darted around the room as if she were looking for the right response.
    “Pass,” she finally said. “Hard pass.”
    “You haven't even heard the song,” I argued. “It's amazing.”
    “I don't care if it's a guaranteed gold record.”
    “Platinum, at least. It’s something you should seriously consider. The kind of opportunity that only comes around once in a lifetime. Well, twice for you.” I smirked. “You don't want to regret this like your first shot.”
    “I don't regret