Free In the Rain by Erin Lark Page B

right at me. "Of course not. I told you, I
did it so you could hear yourself play, and so I'd still have a copy in case
you decided it wasn't for you. Jesus, Moyra, I only want
to help."
    "You
probably should've thought of that before
taking me to bed with you." I snapped my mouth shut, but it was too late.
    I
wanted to be angry. To argue mixing professional and personal lives was wrong.
Thing is, I wanted one as much as the other. Hell, Thayre could've invited me
along to do sound checks and it would've been worlds better than keeping my job
at Kimber's.
    "I'm
sorry, I just need
more time," I said, wanting nothing more than to say yes if only to
get things moving again.
    Fact
of the matter was I
couldn't forget the past three years, or how I might be taking this job away
from someone else— someone who went to school for it. Someone who had
kept playing. Someone who actually owns her own violin.
    I
sighed, and my shoulders dropped. "Even if I wanted to take you up on your
offer, I don't have an instrument."
    "Not
as much of a problem as you'd think." He held up a hand. "No, I
wouldn't get it for you because, yes, that would
be favoritism. But, I could get it for you and deduct the cost from your first
pay."
    A
violin against royalties? I guess it made sense, but— "What
if I don't enjoy the music? You'd be out a player, not to mention a violin."
    "True,
but believe me when I say that won't
happen. Right now I can tell the music we play and what you did earlier this evening
are so similar, you'll feel as though you're playing for yourself."
    "Only
I'm not. I'd be playing for others. For the orchestra. For you."
    He
bobbed his head. "You make it sound as if I'm offering you a job that's
worse than the one you've got now. You already told me how you feel about
working for that jerk. If you had a choice that was as beneficial moneywise
you'd take it." He took my hands in his own when I didn't pull away. "I'm
offering you the job you want." 
    I
exhaled. He obviously wouldn't let this go until the dust had settled around
us. May as well get this over with. "Not to be rude, but I have to
ask. Feel free to ignore me. How much does a first violinist make anyway?"
    "You
mean you don't know?"
    I
shrugged. "When we were in school, sure. But I don't know what your violinists
make."
    "We
may be getting too far ahead of ourselves, but let's say the pay is a lot
better than whatever you're getting now."
    "How
can you be so sure? Is this per gig, or what?"
    There
was that smile
again. "There's something you might not realize about Transcendence .
It isn't just  an
orchestra. Between the shows we play and the albums I burn our music to, we
make enough to keep things going. And we're still growing."
    My
eyes widened. "All from playing music?" The idea of making a living
wage from something I once loved was unbelievable.
    "Not
all music, no, but like I
said, we aren't any orchestra. Besides, do you think I'd be working this hard
if it didn't pay out somehow? This is my job."
    "What
about the guys at the bar?"
    "Additional
hands for stage management. The guys you saw with me the night at the bar are
Joey and Felix, both of which help setup and take down everything before and
after our shows. I cannot pay them fulltime of course, but we'd met to go over
specifics for the shows we have in a few months."
    I
frowned. "Exactly how many instruments do you have?"
    "Depends
on the song. Can range from a dozen to sixteen, but two of our pieces involve about
forty different instruments. And that's
not including the trance tracks I make in the studio, either. I guess I could record
various instruments to remove the additional support, but I always find that
live music is always better. While we're still on topic, stringed instruments
are only part
of what we do. There are also keyboards, horns and percussion. I have
considered a guitar as well."
    "A
guitar mixed in with the strings?" I couldn't imagine.
    "Oh,
like you
haven't heard of