"Virginia...hey..."

"Actually, you can call me V. If you're looking for my dad, he's-"

"No, I'm looking for you. I mean, I was...hey."

A stuttering, nervous Eli. That was a change of pace, for sure, no matter the fact that he still took my breath away with how he looked.

Windswept, his chestnut hair was pushed back and a bit spiked without that gelled look that most guys used, a pair of black ray-bans covering his jade green eyes and suddenly an unknown emotion pitched through my gut, almost doubling me over in its wake.

Tight denim jeans, high top sneakers and a tight black t-shirt spanning his entire broad chest, I was sucking in air and trying not to hyperventilate just as my keyboard (which was huge, by the way) began to slip out of my hands.

Eyes wide in fear that my favorite keyboard was going to fall to the concrete steps outside of the main entry, I bent down to save it just as Eli did the same, and all at once we butted heads.

What was this, some rom com where the two leads had a meet-cute by bumping their heads together? Hell no, this was me being frustrated and pissed that I was going to have a freshly forming bruise on my forehead just in time for one of the biggest shows my band had ever played.

"Ow."

Thankfully, Eli had the sense to catch my keyboard before it went tumbling down the stairs, but pretty soon I was seeing stars, and not just because I was in the presence of the great Eli Shepherd. No, this was for an entirely different reason. A stupid, anemic reason.

I swayed on my feet, reaching out to grab the thing nearest to me, which just so happened to be Eli's rock hard bicep. Why, world, did you have to make that the closest refuge I sought?!

"You okay? I didn't think we hit heads too hard," he said, sounding more concerned than I would've expected.

"Virginia? What's going on?"

Stars. I was still seeing stars, swimming around in my mind so prominently that I could've went fishing for them. Black spots adorned the stars, and a pressure pulsed in my head that accompanied the roar and rush of blood thumping rhythmically behind my ears.

"It's just some vertigo," I managed to ground out, but the fact that I was still unable to see on a bright and sunny day was disheartening. I had had multiple episodes of vertigo lately, but none that lasted as long as that one.

When the spots cleared, my father was in the entryway, concern and worry etched onto his face.

"Are you sure you should go to this show?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm probably already late. Can you hand me my keyboard please," I asked Eli who's arm I had finally (reluctantly) let go of. I missed the way it felt in my hands, strong, sturdy, and warm.

"She hit her head," Eli said for me, not picking my keyboard up. Pretty soon, the entire family plus Jared were crowding around me trying to make sure that I was okay, and the second the spots cleared up and the vertigo passed, I was crouched down with my head on my knees and Eli Shepherd was kneeling directly in front of me.

Without those glasses on, his eyes up close in person were breathtaking and captivating and I just wanted to swim around in them, allow them to melt me from the inside out as they shone and undressed me within their depths.

His stare turned from almost medically calculating, checking me over for injury, into something almost molten and forbidden, our locked eyes never parting even as my lips fell open and my tongue darted out to wet them, much like his did the night before.

As we sat there staring at each other, sharing breath as the space between us shrunk more and more I couldn't help but notice how intimate the moment had become, like the electricity charging between us held more voltage than a downed power line in a lightning storm, but still we didn't look away. Still, we didn't move an inch, perplexed, drowning in each other in the midst of a storm neither of us wanted to pull ourselves out of.

My father cleared his throat. Maybe he'd done it once, twice before, I couldn't tell, but the force of this cough was like he'd been choking on a piece of candy and was desperately trying to dislodge it from his throat, so of course thinking my father was in imminent danger I snapped my gaze from Eli, and found my father staring at the two of us with a peculiar look on his face, one I could discern clearly due to how close his face was, had he been standing at his solid height, that would've been a different story.

His face was a mix of suspicion, concern, confusion and half amusement. My dad was a complex man, apparently.

"Virginia, I don't want you going to this show."

"Dad, I-"

"If Virginia really has to go to this show, I can drive her, make sure she didn't hurt her head too much."

I was half out of my mind if I thought that his idea was a good one, but honestly, if it appeased my father...

"I really have to go. They don't have another female lead singer and Leo can't sing Ariana Grande," I argued, ready to run out of the house and tell my dad he couldn't make me stay. At least he conceded...

"Fine. But I want your sis-Sara, and Jared to go along with you. Much as I respect your playing, Eli, I don't really think you're all that qualified with all things medical. Jared is pre med, and I'd feel better with him tagging along."

I didn't have the time to argue that Jared didn't know jack shit about anything medical. He was in his first semester of college, getting his basics, just like the rest of us. At that point I would've done anything to appease my father.

"Okay okay, as long as we can leave right now?"

I was back on my feet, Eli beside me as I swayed a bit but managed to stay upright and pulled the legs of my short shorts back down to cover my ass.

My performance outfit consisted of said black denim short shorts, tan fishnet tights interwoven with tiny sparkling gems at each criss crossed section of fabric, a tight black shirt tucked into the shorts and matching black heeled boots that crested over the tops of my thighs with its suede fabric.

My makeup was going to be finished once we made it to the venue, at outdoor pavilion in front of the carnival rides, but I had the basic foundation, contour and false lashes on. Bea was going to help with the lipstick and eyeshadow, or so I hoped.

"Hand me that," Eli said and I gladly gave him the large black bag that carried my microphone, the pedal to my keyboard, my headphones, several chords and my inner ear piece as well as a few other miscellaneous items which may or may not have included a mini amp, and glanced around as Sara and Jared were standing nearby with hands in their pockets, clearly not happy about being misplaced for the day.

Well, I wasn't too happy about being misplaced in my own home last night, so it was the least you could do.

"Oh, did you guys like the songs I was playing last night? It sure was noisy next door. Maybe next time, you can, you know, put a muzzle on it?"

I adopted my traditional bitch face and raised my eyebrows but didn't wait for a response as my father and Kara, who had just walked into the room, heard my comment. I didn't respond to Eli's snorted laughter that followed me as I walked out of the house, on steady heeled feet, and out to his awaiting car.

I said car. Whoops. I meant giant SUV. Black, almost like a government issued Tahoe, the car easily held all of us and I immediately took the front seat, uncaring who it would seat me directly beside.

Crossing my legs, I dug my AirPods from my front pocket of my jeans and threw on our setlist playlist and scrolled through the lyrics on my phone while awaiting the rest of the 'crew' to join me in the car.

I didn't know where the snarky comment had come from...I guessed I was just fed up with them being able to parade their relationship around me in my own house, like we had never dated in the first place. It was uncalled for and completely selfish and tone deaf.

They needed a taste of their own medicine, but I didn't dare call Jared out in front of Sara about what he'd texted me. Yes, they both had hurt me, and no, she didn't ask me if it was okay if she could date him immediately after our breakup, but I wasn't that kind of person.

Yes, I called them out on their loud af sex, but I wouldn't have done anything to cause real emotional strife to Sara. My dad had almost slipped calling her my sister, but that's really what she was like to me.

My aunt Kara and Sara had come into our lives after my mother's death and made us whole again, patching up our broken parts, and Kara was so helpful with my father when I had to go to school. She didn't have to work because his salary was more than enough to care for her and Sara, and she was basically his in home caretaker considering her nursing degree gave her plenty of knowledge on how to care for him after the accident.

While most thought I escaped from that nightmare unscathed save for a jagged scar on my hip from where a piece of glass had cut into my skin, the truth was that mentally and emotionally? I was as broken as my father's legs, but I didn't let anyone know that.

How could I have let anyone know just how much I was suffering, when my mother was gone and my dad couldn't walk? I decided not to be selfish and hold it in. Just to make things easier on my dad. He had enough to worry about then...

Eli lumbered into the car, his frame so large his head almost touched the roof despite his seat being lowered as far as it could go.

Donning those sexy-for-no-reason sunglasses, he pushed a hand through equally sexy mussed up mocha colored locks, and then his head turned towards me, and I knew I was in for a world of hurt.

It had been different from the moment our eyes had connected across the basketball court that first time, but I was in denial up until that point. Each time our eyes locked, we were the only ones in the world. We were the only ones who even existed in the universe. He sucked the breath from my lungs, charged the air with lightning drizzled in desire and promise.

"You sure you're okay?"

His dark and deep voice rocked me out of my reverie, and my eyes traveled from his sunglasses down to his lush, pink and plump lips, a perfectly set mouth with perfectly straight and dazzling white teeth, then my eyes darted to his straight jaw and high cheekbones, ridiculously smooth and absent of any hint of stubble.

"I'm fine, but I won't be if I miss this show," I said impatiently, and he put his hands up again in mock surrender like he had the night before at the dinner table.

"Listen, I wanted to come over today to say that I was-"

"Alright let's get this show on the road. We had to cancel our plans for this thanks to you being clumsy, so let's get it over with already," Sara interrupted and Eli's jaw ticked at her words.

It was obvious how much she irritated him. Well, at least I didn't have to worry about her stealing this one from me too.

Wait, no. She couldn't steal him. He wasn't mine, I didn't even like the guy.

"Babe, calm down. Sorry about her, she's just kind of cranky," Jared defended his girlfriend but I only rolled my eyes at his attempt. Sara had been more than getting on my nerves lately.

"Sure. Just put the address in my phone," Eli stated softly, the 'sure' coming out cold and flat as it was directed towards Jared, but when he addressed me, his voice took on another quality. He handed me his phone and of course, our fingers just had to brush as he did so.

A small thrill shot through me at the fact that it almost seemed like he'd been trying to touch me, but I couldn't be sure.

GPS inputted into Eli's phone, the radio on and my AirPods blasting music loud enough the entire car heard it, I fell into a blessed mental silence that would soon be roaring with anxiety and excitement of the crowd.

If I didn't swoon from emotion by being in the same car with both my ex boyfriend, boyfriend stealing cousin, and basketball sex god first.