Guarding His Melody
Page 22
They all chatted eagerly for a few minutes, and Gray was fascinated. Apparently two others of the team couldn’t come because they hadn’t been able to get a babysitter, which seemed a ridiculously normal activity for superheroes to worry about. The others weren’t keen on traveling or something, but they all eagerly made plans for Gray and Seb to vacation down in Florida with them. Gray was happy Seb had friends who understood him. He felt a nudge and glanced down at Finn.
“It’s a little overwhelming, huh?”
Gray smiled and nodded. He suspected that Finn and Talon were more than partners on the job from the way Talon never took his eyes off Finn. Which was kind of nice. Maybe he ought to get Finn’s cell number and compare notes? The thought made him grin stupidly until another knock on Seb’s door interrupted them. Gray turned Seb so he could see the young lady clutching a clipboard who put her head around the door. “Five minutes, Mr. Armitage.” She glanced at Gray. “Will your security detail be accompanying you to the stage?”
Gray snorted and the rest of the guys laughed. They’d obviously found the question ridiculous as well. Seb wouldn’t be going near the stage without him. Seb thanked her, and she left with the team, promising to show them to their seats at the side of the stage, where no one was usually allowed to sit. Gray hoped Rig had managed to get the reinforced chairs they were probably going to need.
Seb turned and held his hand out, and Gray clasped it as they left the dressing room and walked toward the back of the stage. There was already someone out there, trying to whip up the crowd and introducing Seb.
Gray paused just behind the curtain as one of the sound engineers offered Seb an earpiece and then blushed furiously when he realized his mistake. Seb grinned good-naturedly and watched the tech counting down the seconds on his fingers to when Seb was supposed to run out onstage. Seb would sing “Bringing Him Home” while playing the guitar, but the song that Seb’s record label wanted to release as his debut single, Seb would sit at the piano to perform.
Seb ran out to enthusiastic cheers that carried on for a few seconds before the huge video feed focused on Seb… and his face… and the scar. One by one all the cheering died down in the audience. There were even a few people who got to their feet and scuttled out. Gray wanted nothing more than to go onstage and stand between Seb and the audience, but as he saw Seb take a calming breath and fix a smile on his lips, he knew this was one fight Seb would have to face on his own. Seb settled himself at the piano and played the opening bars to what Gray knew would always be his favorite song, no matter what success he ever had afterward.
Seb glanced at where he knew Gray stood, opened his mouth, and started singing the song everyone from the record label to Gray to Pink and Tabitha knew was going to be a hit.
“Guarding His Melody.”
And Gray would.
Every.
Damn.
Day.
More from Victoria Sue
Enhanced World: Book One
Talon Valdez knew when he transformed into an enhanced human, his life and his dreams were finished. Reviled, mistrusted, and often locked away, the enhanced were viewed as monsters, despised by the public, and never trusted to serve in the military or any law enforcement agency.
Years later he gets a chance to set up a task force of enhanced to serve in the FBI, but with one proviso: each enhanced must partner with a regular human.
Finn Mayer dreamed of joining the FBI from the time he was fourteen and made every possible sacrifice to make it happen, including living with his selfish mother and bullying, homophobic brother and never having a boyfriend. But his undiagnosed dyslexia stopped his aspirations dead in their tracks. His last chance is to partner with Talon, an enhanced with deadly abilities who doesn’t trust regular humans with their secrets and wants Finn to fail.
Four weeks to prove himself to the team. Four weeks for the team to prove itself to the public. And when another group threatens their success—and their lives—four weeks for them to survive.
Enhanced World: Book Two
Talon’s deadly abilities are spiraling out of control. Desperate to keep Finn safe, Talon struggles to protect the man he loves with all his heart and not become the greatest risk to Finn’s life.
Finn has no choice but to offer himself as bait for the evil forces kidnapping enhanced children, facing danger he is untrained and unprepared for, and he will have to do it alone.
Does Talon have one last fight in him? Will he slay everyone who wants to destroy Finn and the team, or will he finally discover that to defeat their enemy and the ultimate threat, the biggest battle he has to face is one with himself?
Enhanced World: Book Three
Gael Peterson has spent years hiding behind the enhanced abilities he wears like a mask, even though he is an important, confident member of the FBI’s exclusive H.E.R.O. team. The hurt and betrayal of his mom’s abandonment and his father’s fists are secrets buried deep beneath the ugly scars on his face, and he doesn’t trust Jake, his new regular human partner, with any of them. In a world where those with special abilities like Gael’s are regarded as freaks and monsters, it won’t be easy for him to rely on Jake to have his back, especially when the abilities of a vulnerable nonspeaking enhanced child make that child a murder suspect.
Tempers rise and loyalties are challenged, and when the serial killer targeting the enhanced finally sets his sights on Gael, not only will Gael have to trust Jake with his secrets, he might have to trust him to save his life.
Readers love the Enhanced World series by Victoria Sue
Five Minutes Longer
“…there are no right words to describe the story… it’s just freaking amazing!”
—Three Books Over The Rainbow
“Ms. Sue used Five Minutes Longer to set up a fabulous world that leaves imagination wide open and a place where anything can happen. I am already excited for the forthcoming books.”
—Alpha Book Club
Who We Truly Are
“It’s no secret that I had a book crush on Five Minutes Longer and I can wholeheartedly fess up that the crush only intensified. I’m madly in love with Talon and Finn…”
—Dirty Books Obsession
“The deepening relationship between Talon and Finn is adorable to watch and the plot was gripping enough to keep me turning the pages.”
—Sinfully: Gay Book Reviews
Beneath This Mask
“Victoria Sue has quickly turned into one of my favorite authors. This series is filled with action, a very good plotline, lots of hurt/comfort and pretty sweet romances.”
—Gay Book Reviews
“You will not be disappointed as this is yet another solid book…”
—Love Bytes
VICTORIA SUE fell in love with love stories as a child when she would hide away with her mom’s library books and dream of the dashing hero coming to rescue her from math homework. She never mastered math but never stopped loving her heroes and decided to give them the happy ever afters they fight so hard for.
She loves reading and writing about gorgeous boys loving each other the best—and creating a family for them to adore. Thrilled to hear from her readers, she can be found most days lurking on Facebook where she doesn’t need factor 1000 sun-cream to hide her freckles.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/victoriasueauthor
Twitter: @Vickysuewrites
Website: victoriasue.com
By Victoria Sue
ENHANCED WORLD
Five Minutes Longer
Who We Truly Are
Beneath This Mask
Guarding His Melody
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product o
f author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Guarding His Melody
© 2018 Victoria Sue.
Cover Art
© 2018 Jay Aheer.
www.simplydefinedart.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-799-0
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64080-800-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018940597
Digital published September 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America