Ember

7 - A very talented woman

Marco

I’ve only just finished lunch when my front door knocks. I look at the clock. It’s a little early for the guys to be here for band practice. I hope it’s not my mother at the door. I could do without the smothering today. She already took the dog home, so I have no clue what she could want.

Suffice it to say, I’m surprised to see Saint and Bob on my doorstep. “What are you two doing here so early?”

“Christ knows,” Bob shrugs.

Saint rolls his eyes. “Colin asked us to meet him here now.”

I open the door wider and let the two of them walk through. I follow them and take a seat in the armchair beneath the window.

“Did Colin give you any indication of why you needed to be here two hours early?”

“Not really,” Saint tells me. “He just said that he had something special to show us.” The door knocks again.

“I’ll get it,” Bob’s out of his seat before I can answer. He’s back seconds later, with Colin and Ember following him.

I try not to smirk at seeing Ember in my house. “Twice in one day,” I wink at her. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Ember smiles at me, and my eyes are drawn to her lips.

“Cut the crap, Marco,” I roll my eyes at Colin and get out of my seat. “Saint, Bob, this is Ember. Ember, this is Bob, our drummer, and Saint, our bassist.”

“Nice to meet you both.”

Saint and Bob both tip their heads at Ember. Colin bangs on about why he thinks Ember should join Dun’s Dungeon, and all the while, Ember looks at me. I can’t tear my eyes away from her. It’s so wrong that I want Ember the way I do. I won’t turn into the type of person I despise, but there’s no harm in looking.

Look away, Marco. She’s just a woman like all the others.

Ember isn’t like all the others, though; I know that already. However, I do look away and tell myself that Ember is a friend, and that’s how it will stay.

Once Colin has finished talking, I lead everyone to the basement. I had the basement transformed into a studio for us to practice in not long after I moved in.

I pick up my guitar, but Colin shakes his head. “You won’t need that yet. Ember’s here to showcase her voice without music.”

I raise my eyebrow but nod my head. I suppose hearing Ember without music accompanying her voice is a good place to start. I take a seat on the high stool against the bar on the left of the room. Saint, Bob, and Colin sit down on the black leather couch. We all watch as Ember stands behind the microphone. She clutches the mic in one hand and the stand in the other. She adjusts it to her height, then coughs to clear her throat.

“Do you have something you want me to sing?” Ember asks no one in particular.

“What genre can you sing?” Bob asks.

Ember smiles slightly. “Any you want me to.”

“Start with Country,” Saint says.

Ember nods and begins to sing. The moment the first word comes out of her mouth, I’m lost. Ember’s voice is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. The love song she’s singing has to be an original. I’ve never heard those lyrics before. It’s beautiful, and she’ll blow the world away with that voice.

I listen as the guys have Ember sing every genre of music there is, testing her voice. She’s damn good, her voice is flexible, and she can bend it to her will. There’s so much soul and power behind it. Ember moves her body slightly as she sings, her eyes closing now and again, and the sound of her voice fills me.

We have to bring Ember into the band, no matter what it takes. We can’t let her walk away from Dun’s Dungeon.

Ember’s final song ends, and we all stare at her in awe. We’re all still shocked at the power of her voice while singing one of our songs. I don’t think Ember realizes just how good she is.

Ember looks at us one at a time, breathing in and out through her mouth. Singing the way Ember just did would take a lot out of anyone.

“That was…” Ember looks at me as I shake my head. “I don’t even have the words for how good that was.”

There aren’t many voices out there that could draw the kind of emotions from me as Ember’s just did. She pulled me into the song and made me feel sadness where I should. She also made me feel hope, desire, and everything in between. When you find a singer who can do that, you snap them up before someone else does, and someone else will sooner rather than later. Ember was born to sing. The world needs to hear Ember’s voice; it would be a crime to hide it.

“I told you she was good.”

“Thanks,” Ember laughs at Colin.

“Can you play any instruments?”

Ember nods at Bob. “A few,”

“Such as?”

“Guitar, piano, violin, cello… What?” She whispers the last word. I realize we’re all staring at her with wide eyes. Colin is chuckling to himself. He knew Ember could play all those instruments and said nothing.

“We don’t have a cello, but we have everything else you mentioned. Marco here is also able to play more instruments than the rest of us.” Colin tells her.

I can play all the instruments Ember mentioned and a couple of others.

Ember looks at me and smiles in surprise.

“Care to play them for us?”

I grit my teeth at Bob. Why the fuc.k he’s pushing her like this is beyond me.

“She doesn’t need to do that, Bob.”

“It’s okay,” Ember smiles at me while picking up my guitar and hooking the strap over her shoulder.

I hear the gasps of my friends. They know I don’t allow anyone to touch my guitar, never mind play it. It’s a little odd that my gut hasn’t dropped. If anyone else, even my bandmates, had picked up my guitar, I’d be sweating right now.

“Ember, maybe you should use one of the other guitars,” Colin points to the two spares at the back of the room. They’re mine also, but I’m not as attached to them as I am to Dolly, my shiny black fender. That guitar cost me a small fortune. I bought her because the moment I held her in my hands, I knew we were meant to be. I play my best when I’m holding Dolly.

“Marco doesn’t allow anyone to use his guitar,” Saint tells Ember.

She looks at me, then down at Dolly. Ember is in love with my guitar; I can see it in the way she caresses the wood. If Ember were anyone else, I would have lost my shi.t already. As it is, I don’t feel any destructive emotions seeing Ember with Dolly. In fact, it’s turning me on, and that’s wrong. Shi.t, I can see Ember in my mind wearing nothing but my guitar.

Mind out of the gutter, Marco!

Ember moves to take the strap from her shoulder. “No,” I hold my hand up, stopping her. Every eye turns to me. “Play the guitar, Ember.”

She smiles at me, and I ignore the mumbling and stares of my friends. I don’t know what it is about Ember, but she calms me. The demons that haunt me sleep when she’s around. As I listen to her playing my guitar, better than any woman I’ve ever known, I think I fall a little bit in love with her.

Once Ember is done with my guitar, she showcases how good she is on the bass guitar. She then picks up my sister’s old violin, something she left here months ago. I watch as Ember tweets the strings a little before belting out ‘Hell Bound,’ an original Dun’s Dungeon song. Every one of us is shocked and awed by this woman.

I’ve never met another person who could play as many instruments as I can. Bob, Saint, and Colin can all play two instruments, and I can play seven. I can play that many because I had too much energy as a child, and Mom had to find ways to occupy my mind.

Ember finally sits behind my piano and plays a tune I’ve never heard before. Then, she ups the tempo and plays Beethoven. By the time she’s done, we’re all applauding loudly. Ember chuckles while taking a bow.

“I think it’s pretty unanimous,” Colin smiles. “You belong with us, Ember.”

“I’ll say,” Saint pipes in. “Someone with your talent has to join the band.”

Ember looks at me, and I nod my head. She bites her lip and looks at Colin. “I’m still trying to decide what to do. There’s a lot for me to consider, and of course, I need to speak with Toby,” The boyfriend. If the guy loves Ember, he’ll be happy and encourage her to follow her dream. It’s not hard to see that Ember wants to join us.

“Well, we’ll need an answer within the next couple of days.” Ember nods her head at Colin. “I don’t want to sound pushy, but there’s a lot to sort before we leave. Contracts need to be signed, and you need to meet our manager.” I watch Ember swallow hard. This is a lot for her to take in. “Then there’s recording time that needs to be sorted. We’ll need to get your vocals added to our songs. Not to mention, we need to get merchandise sorted,” Colin bangs on and on.

It’s annoying, but he’s right.

I can see Ember is overwhelmed with everything he’s saying, but the life of a singer in a band isn’t easy. Life is fast-paced; there’s always a lot to do and not enough time in which to do it. Matt, our manager, isn’t going to be pleased about having to change all the merchandise he ordered. If Ember joins the band, we have no choice but to change it. Ember isn’t featured on any of it, so it would be useless to us.

Colin and I have already discussed putting the money up ourselves to sort things. We can use Photoshop and plant Ember in the photograph we initially chose. There’s a damn app for everything these days, even fast-track services. As long as Ember decides within the next few days, we can do this.

“I promise to have an answer for you within the next three days.”

“Can I ask you something?” Ember looks at me and nods her head. “The obvious reasons aside, do you want to be part of Dun’s Dungeon, Ember? Would you sign the contract without question if nothing was standing in your way?”

“Yes, and yes,” Ember tells me without hesitation.

I smirk because that’s all I needed to hear. I just hope Ember’s family and her boyfriend don’t guilt her into staying here. It’s time for Ember to fly free.