Free Tied - Part Three (The Tied Series) by Ellen Callahan

didn’t feel quite as out of place anymore.
     
    Amber danced up the sidewalk once we were aboveground again. I hoped that Lockett was in a better mood. When I’d left that morning he was brooding again. In fact, ever since I’d gotten back from visiting my mother, he’d been more and more withdrawn, falling back into his pre-surgery pattern of staring blankly at nothing, of not looking at me, not looking at or listening to anyone . It was disheartening. And scary. And I didn’t know what to do.
     
    “Tell me what’s bothering you,” I’d said, fighting the urge to help him as he struggled to cross the living room.
     
    “Nothing,” he’d grunted, but Mal cut in, “Braddock’s getting signed.” Dammit. That explained the mood. Braddock was one of Lockett’s training partners and competitors. I knew for a fact that he didn’t particularly like the guy. I didn’t, either. And now he was getting signed, probably stealing all of Lockett’s former fans, his good luck girls… not that I’ll miss them . I didn’t think he’d miss them either, but it was the principal of the thing. Braddock was getting everything that Lockett had worked so hard for.
     
    “It’s not a sure thing, yet,” Lockett said. “Saw it online. The girls are making a bigger deal of it than it is.”
     
    “Yeah, but it’s gonna happen. If not this month then the next time that Philadelphia guy comes around.”
     
    I shot Mal a look - he didn’t need to rub it in. “I’m sorry,” I said. “It sucks. I thought that guy was a jerk, too. He doesn’t deserve it.” You did. You do.
     
    “Doesn’t matter.”
     
    It did matter to him. It was all over his face. “We’ll talk more later,” I’d said, kissing him softly and getting no response. “You still want me to stop by with Amber this afternoon, right?”
     
    He shrugged.
     
    I went ahead with the plan, hoping that maybe Amber would cheer him up where I’d failed.
     
    “Uncle Rob!” She charged inside the apartment and flung herself onto the couch next to him. His stony face cracked into a smile. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and planted a big kiss on his cheek. “My show’s tonight,” she said, “But I wanted to sing you my song, first. Before anyone else hears it!”
     
    “I can’t wait to hear it,” he said, lifting her from his lap. Her little knees were digging into his cast. Carefully, he planted her back on her feet. “I hear you’ve been practicing a lot.”
     
    “Every day!”
     
    I plugged my phone into the set of speakers that sat below the television. “Let me know when you’re ready,” I said as she straightened and adjusted the skirt of her dress.
     
    She cleared her throat.
     
    I smiled encouragement at her as she began the song she’d finally chosen after much back-and-forth - the newest Taylor Swift song which, luckily, had a karaoke version on the internet.
     
    Her young voice was high and sweet, and gave the song a different note than the original - a truer innocence. One that came with being eight-years-old and having few cares in the world that weren’t centered around school and friends.
     
    Lockett played the good audience member, bobbing along with the beat and applauding loudly once she was finished.
     
    “You like it?” she asked, clapping her hands together, “I hope everyone else will like it. I practiced a lot.”
     
    “A lot,” Lisa said emphatically.
     
    “It was perfect,” Lockett said, “You’re a star. In fact, if Katherine doesn’t mind grabbing something out of my room? I might have something for you.”
     
    I found a small bouquet of roses waiting on his bed, trimmed short so they’d be easy for her to carry. I handed them to Lockett, and he presented them to her with a flourishing hand-wave.
     
    “Knock them dead,” he said.
     
    “Thanks, Uncle Rob!” She clutched them to her chest and buried her nose in the bright red petals.
     
    “My little celebrity,” Lisa said,