Free Embracing Everly by Kelly Mooney Page B

She was adorable in the daylight hours and then turned into a hell on heels vixen come the evenings she had to work. But for some reason she had decided to turn into a genuine miss-goody-two-shoes. And I was determined to find out why she was playing catholic schoolgirl all of a sudden.
    She was already on stage with the house lights beaming right on her. She looked beautiful, angelic, and it was obvious half the clientele came just to gawk at her. I took a seat in the back knowing she most likely wouldn’t be able to see me back this far. I was scrolling through my phone but stopped, when I heard her voice. I shook my head hearing her sing some stupid pop love song from the top 20 and could tell she wasn’t feeling it. Usually she was up there proud, head held high and moved slowly to the point it was fucking erotic to watch. It took everything not to ask for a private show. Tonight she was demure, sitting up on that stool, dressed like a twelve-year-old. No five-inch heels, no black, tight as shit clothes like normal and I didn’t like what I was seeing. Some stupid ass pair of loose fitting jeans, a shirt looking like something my mom would’ve worn to the country club and a pair of black shoes that resembled my sister’s ballet shoes when she was little.
    It hit me like a freight train as I scanned the place, and my eyes landed on him standing to the side of the curtain watching her like he owned her. He must be the one for the sudden change of heart in her singing, her dressing, and her nasty behavior toward me. I was a man, so I got what it was like to be a little possessive toward a chick, especially one like Everly, but I knew he was up to no good when it came to her. I just had to prove it and get back in her good graces to make it work, or take him out of the equation like Dawson suggested.
    They go home together but not to her place. It took me all of five seconds to figure out they’re heading to the frat house. Ever since I pounded on the wall, I hadn’t heard shit from her side. I knew when she was home, which wasn’t a lot anymore, and it just made me more upset with her. But, I knew men like Charlie. He’d break down and make a mistake, and I’d only be too happy to be there to pick up the pieces when he did screw up.
     

     
    I’D HIT A low point. Everly had shut me out completely, and I’d reduced myself to breaking into her place while she was in class to see what might be going on with her. I’d gone to watch her play every time she went up on stage to sing, and it broke my heart that she didn’t seem happy, seem herself at any of the shows. Nothing comes of searching anywhere in her bedroom other than dirty clothes. I couldn’t tap into her computer since it had a password lock, but smiled when I found some old photos of her when she was younger and a man I assumed to be her dad. There was a bunch of papers sitting on the table by her couch, so I scanned them. They were all songs. All words she took the time to write down on paper.
     
    HEARTSTRINGS
     
    A guy walks into my heart
    Catches my eye, but it’s the wrong time
    Asks me to love him, tells me to sin
    Oh, how he makes my head spin (Stupid line)
     
    The words go on and on, page after page of lyrics in her writing all making me think she was writing about me. Words mentioning my smile, the green tone of my eyes or my cocky attitude. I was sitting ass on the floor lost in her words when I heard keys and saw the knob turning. I tried to come up with a quick escape plan, but there was nowhere to go. My knees were shaking, my heart was pounding in my chest waiting for her to come in and blow up. I sank into the wall like I was a piece of it, trying to hide. She walked straight past me without even realizing I was in the room as she sifted through her mail. You couldn’t even hear a pin drop it was so quiet as I tiptoed toward the door.
    “What the hell are you doing in here?”
    I turned on my heel, pretending I just walked in,