Free Be Careful What You Wish For by Jade C. Jamison

exciting, believe me.  I work at the mill.”
    “The steel mill?”  He nodded.  Maybe not exciting, but Pueblo, Colorado, was known for the steel mill that had been the backbone of the city since the 1800s.  It was even called “Steel City” by the locals.  It had been one of the town’s main industries back in the day and was still one of its larger employers…and, it turned out, also employed this guy who had my eye and had captured my heart.
    “Yeah.”
    “But you said you’d rather play in your band full-time?”
    He swallowed the piece of bacon he’d been chewing.  “Hell, yeah.”
    “I’d love to watch you play sometime.”
    He grinned again.  Oh, so endearing.  “I’d like that.”  He picked up his coffee.  “I’ll have to see what shows we have coming up soon.”
    Yeah…like my loins could handle this hot guy up on a stage.  Holy hell.  I’d probably come just watching him.  I thought about saying that, but I was feeling a little more subdued that morning.  “What’s your name?”  He started laughing.  “I mean your band name.”
    He was still chuckling when he answered.  “Pretty Little Lies.”
    I took a bite of my pancakes, considering it.  It was a cool name, different, and I wondered if I knew why he’d chosen that name.  Maybe he wasn’t the only one who had a say in the name, though.  Maybe he and all his bandmates had been in on it.  “That’s cool.”  I cut off another bite-sized wedge out of my cakes.  “So when do you guys practice?”
    “Saturday afternoons and sometimes Tuesday nights if we feel up for it.   We only play once a month or so, so we don’t need a whole lot of practice.  And we haven’t written anything new in months, so it’s not like we need to get together a lot.”
    No…but if he really, truly wanted his band to be his full-time job, I thought, he’d need to spend more time doing it.  I didn’t know this man in and out, though, even if my soul was sure it knew his, and I wasn’t going to presume to know what he had and hadn’t done or what had led up to those decisions.  That made me realize that there was so much about him I didn’t know.  Hell, I’d known the guy for less than a day.  We had a lot to learn about each other.
    We ate in silence for a while and as I approached the halfway mark on the pancakes, I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish them, but when he offered me a slice of bacon, I couldn’t resist.  God, those eyes…I could get lost in them.  He asked, “You said you don’t have class today, but is there anywhere else you need to be?”
    Well…I supposed we’d need to discuss our future sometime, and that future involved his wife.  His question made me realize that we had to assess ourselves (and the two of us together) in the broad light of day.  “Uh, yeah, actually.  I need to text your wife later and meet her.”
    He scowled and I saw his shoulders drop some.  “I’d like to be there for that.”
    I took a deep breath.  No matter how I felt about Kage or his wife, I did not want to be in the middle of that or even anywhere near the fringe.  “Uh…”
    “No, trust me.  It’s…”  He took a sip of coffee.  “What were you going to meet her for?”
    It sounded so sordid—and it was, really.  “I’m supposed to provide, uh, evidence of our encounter.”
    He nearly spat the coffee out of his mouth.  “Evidence?”
    “Pictures.”
    He set his cup down on the table and looked me square in the eye.  I could almost see the gears turning.  He said, “Don’t you think we should give my wife what she’s paid for?”
    * * *
    As per Fay’s instructions, I walked into Starbucks to meet her.  I was tired, not just physically but emotionally.  I had the photographic evidence she’d asked for…and then some.
    She was sitting in the back, and I didn’t want any coffee, so I walked straight back to where she was seated, near the restrooms.  When I sat across from her, she