Free Liron's Melody by Brieanna Robertson Page B

her wrist jangled with the action. “I did not dress
up for you, Rob, and save your coercion tactics. I have a date.” She got
tremendous satisfaction out of his reaction. He looked like someone had just
shot him in the butt.
    “A date?” he snapped. “With who?”
    She smirked. “With the man who wrote that music Nikki bought
me.”
    It took him a couple minutes to actually figure out what she
meant. She saw pain flash over his features from thinking too hard. “So,
basically, you mean you’re playing the piano all night again?” he grumbled.
“You got dressed up to sit at the piano? How boring is that?”
    She scowled. “I got dressed up because I wanted to. And
sitting at my piano is what makes me happy. Just like target practice makes you
happy.” She rolled her eyes. “At any rate, I’m not free tonight.”
    She’d seen children who’d been spanked who didn’t look as disgruntled
at he did. “Great, now I’m being replaced by a musical instrument.”
    “Music was always first in my life, in case you didn’t
remember me telling you I was a musician.”
    “You said you used to be a musician.”
    She frowned and folded her arms. “I’m sorry, is my line of
work going to be a problem for you? Because, by all means, go on back across
the street. No one’s forcing you to stay here.” For some reason, she was having
a difficult time finding the small smidgen of charm she usually found in Rob.
He was annoying her, and all he cared about was himself. His interests, his
wants.
    “Dude, what is with the attitude lately, Mel? All I want to
do is go on one stupid little date with you. You have something better to do?
Besides plunk away on your keyboard?” He snorted. “Like that’s a
productive pastime.”
    Anger flared to life inside of Melody. How dare he insult her
music? That was like insulting her soul, and insulting her parents as well.
“All right, you’ve overstayed your welcome. If you really want to go out with
me, I suggest leaving me be for a few days. Because right now all I really want
to do is kick you in the nads.” She grabbed hold of the inner door in one hand.
“I’m not even addressing what you just said to me. And if you can’t figure out
why that upset me, you should probably never come back here again.” She didn’t
wait for his response. She just shut the door. She didn’t have time for this. Arrogant,
belligerent idiot….
    She went back to the piano, sat down, and started to pound
out Liron’s music. She used far too much force, fueled by her aggravation and
imagining that all the keys were Rob’s eyes she was poking out. She didn’t do
the music justice, blasting through it with the grace and skill of a buffalo.
    When she got to the end of it, she looked over her shoulder,
but saw nothing that was any different than her usual sofa, door, and walls.
She heaved a sigh and let her shoulders slump as she turned back around. “Okay,
Melody, get a grip,” she muttered. She shook out her hands to release tension, cracked
her neck, and poised her fingers back over the keys.
    She thought of Liron’s eyes, his touch, his kind
attentiveness and subtle, graceful sensuality. She remembered how he had
infused her with music while he had held her protectively in his arms.
    Slowly, she began to play the music the way it was intended
to be played, and she was swept away within the beautiful notes once again.
    * * * *
    The castle looked different in the light of day than it had
the night before. Sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows, casting
rainbows across the stone. Outside, she could hear the crashing of the ocean
waves. “Liron?” she called, excited that she had managed to open the gateway
again. It was a cool power to be able to have, traveling between dimensions.
She wasn’t sure how she would get back home again, but eventually, something
would trigger the portal, as her alarm clock had done before. Right now, she
wasn’t really that concerned. She felt