Free Strings of the Heart by Katie Ashley Page A

cropped black hair sat a fruity looking drink with an umbrella down in front of Allison. “Drink up, Sonny. You sure as hell earned it tonight. That Etheridge cover was out of this fucking world.”
    “Thanks, Cassie.” Allison grinned as she picked up the drink. “I am feeling a little parched after all that singing.”
    Glancing between the two of them, I teasingly said, “Wait a minute, she’s not twenty-one yet.”
    Cassie’s dark eyes narrowed as she leaned in closer to me. “Yeah, well, you know what, pretty boy? I don’t give a fuck how old she is.”
    I felt like I had to stand my ground with this chick who looked like she wanted to kick my ass at daring to question her. “The owner might. I’d hate to see you lose your liquor license.”
    Both Cassie and Allison burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?” I demanded.
    “I am the owner,” Cassie replied.
    Nodding, Allison said, “Rhys, this is my roommate I was telling you about, Cassie Broughton.”
    My brows shot up in surprise. After all, Cassie didn’t look like she was much older than Allison, and here she owned a club. I threw out my hand. “Rhys McGowan. Nice meeting you.”
    Pumping my hand, Cassie gave me a genuine smile. “Nice to see you again.”
    “Again?” I questioned.
    She nodded. “You probably don’t remember me, but our parents are friends. I think we were forced to attend some dinner parties together when we were teenagers. Knowing my mother, she probably tried desperately to get you to date me.” With a dramatic flair of her hand, she said, “It’s so unsettling to have your only daughter be a lesbian. One simply cannot spend every waking moment planning the society wedding of the year. Why you’d have to go up north with all those—” She lowered her voice. “undesirable liberal Yankees just to have a legal wedding.” Placing the back of her hand on her forehead, she gasped. “Heaven forbid.”
    Suddenly, it hit me. I had met her before at party or two, and she’d been funny as hell. The much needed comic relief in the situation we found ourselves in. “Cassandra, right?”
    Rolling her eyes, she huffed out a contentious breath. “Only society assholes call me that.”
    I laughed. “Trust me, I have no love for our parents’ world.”
    Cassie grinned. “I knew I was going to like you. Allison talks about you all the time.” She winked at me. “Nothing but good.”
    With a strangled cry, Allison hurriedly corrected her. “ The band . I talk about Jake and you guys.” She once again grabbed her fruity concoction and took two long pulls of it through the small straw.
    An awkward silence fell over the table. Clearing her throat, Cassie leaned in on her elbows on the table. “So what do you think of my club?”
    “It’s great,” I replied, enthusiastically. “How is it you came to own it?”
    “My inheritance from my grandmother. It’s her house where Allison and I live.” A wistful smile graced Cassie’s face. “She was kind of a society rebel herself. You know the type—she drank and smoked when it wasn’t ladylike and cursed like a sailor. I like to think she would have approved of me buying an establishment that served hard drinks to people looking to engage in indecent acts.”
    I chuckled at her summation of Saffie’s Tea Room. “Compared to a lot of clubs I’ve been in, this place seems pretty tame.”
    “Trust me, it gets crazy on the weekends.”
    My gaze flickered over to Allison. “Do you perform during these ‘crazy weekends’?”
    A flush entered her cheeks. “We’ve done a set on Friday nights before, but mainly, it’s a DJ.”
    Cassie snickered. “I like to keep Allison out of here on the weekends. It never fails that some drunk chick wants to convert her to bat for the other team.”
    “So I’ve seen,” I replied, winking at Allison. Once again, Allison sputtered with mortification at mine and Cassie’s comments, and again I found it utterly endearing. She might’ve