"Dude?" The cute guy cleared his throat, elbowing Steve. "Aren't you gonna introduce us?"

"What? Oh, yeah, sorry." Steve pushed up his glasses as he glanced at me. "Ember, this is my boy Collin."

The corner of my mouth lifted as I took in Collin's soft blond hair. It was messy, but I could tell he styled it to look that way.

The short guy next to Collin cleared his throat, getting Steve's attention.

"Oh, and Ember, this is Travis." Steve laughed as he glanced at me. "Everyone wants to know you."

I chuckled as my cheeks heated. "I guess it's the new girl thing."

"No. It's because you're badass." Faith poked me as she took a long swig of her beer. "Your house is amazing, Collin. When are your parents coming home?"

"Um... next week." Collin's blue eyes were kind as they wandered over me before he slid next to me. "Nice to finally meet you, Ember. I've seen you around school, and I was hoping you'd come tonight. I hope the clothes fit okay."

Biting my bottom lip, I glanced down at my fantastic outfit. "They fit great. Will you thank your sister for me?"

"Yeah, but she won't be home for a few months, so I'm sure she'll never even know." Collin's lips tipped into a sweet smile. "She's going to college upstate."

"Oh," I nodded. "Well, she has great taste."

"If you say so. Honestly, her clothes look a lot better on you." Collin was trying to flirt, and it was cute. "So, I hear you sing? I'd love for you to see something. Not many can appreciate it, but maybe you can."

Travis threw his head back, groaning. "Dude, just let her chill. She's not here to put on a show."

Collin eyed his brown haired friend. "What? I just want her to see it."

"See what?" I finished off my beer.

Collin politely took my cup and stacked it under his before he gestured for me to follow him.

"Where are you going?" Lucy asked.

"I'm just showing her the atrium. We'll be back in a minute." Collin lightly wrapped his hand around my elbow to help guide me around the swarming partiers.

Grinning with curiosity, I let him lead me into a massive room behind the kitchen. The lights were off, but the windows were gigantic, giving way to the bright moonlight. It was beautiful. From the looks of it, the moon would be full in a day or two.

Glancing around the darkness in the monstrous room, people loitered, but not many. One large object drew my attention.

"A piano?" I squinted as Collin slid the dimmer to half-mast, subtly illuminating the room.

"The acoustics in here are out of this world. My dad designed this room as a gift for my mother when they built the house, but she barely uses it. She isn't much of a musician anymore." Collin tugged me toward the piano, and I spotted microphones, amps, and several string instruments, including three guitars.

"Holy shit! You guys have everything. This is awesome. May I?" I pointed at the violin.

Collin leaned on the piano, smiling at me. "Be my guest. I thought you might wanna sing, but if you wanna jam, go for it. What instrument do you play?"

I smiled as I picked up the violin, careful not to smudge the immaculate polish. "All of them."

"All of these?" Collin's wide eyes skimmed over the string instruments before he scrutinized me.

"What?" I sent him a sly grin as I guided the violin to my shoulder, carefully placing it under my chin and lining up the bow. "Don't believe me?"

I didn't give Collin a chance to answer before I slid the bow over the strings and closed my eyes. I slowly began playing the main theme song to Game of Thrones.

It was the television series I used to watch with Dad. He always loved to talk about the kingdoms and about how their world wasn't far from our reality. Even though I argued with him, Dad told me there were parts of life I hadn't experienced yet, and that when I was older, I would understand.

As I played, the beautiful chords bounced off the windows, intensely echoing all around me. When I opened my eyes, the house was utterly silent and the entire room was filled with people as they watched me in awe.

I laughed nervously as I finished, carefully setting the violin back in its cradle.

"Ember." One girl hollered from the back of the room. "Play more."

People started clapping in unison. "More! More! More!"

Smiling, I glanced at Collin. He was staring at me like I was from another planet. "Will you sing for me?"

My eyes widened as I shook my head way too fast.

Suddenly, someone nudged my elbow, and I glanced over to see Lucas holding out an acoustic guitar as he tuned another one. "Play a song, Gorgeous. You can't tell me you don't want to."

"You play?" My eyebrows shot up.

Lucas nodded and chuckled. "Yeah. There's a lot you don't know about us."

"You any good?" I asked as I took the guitar, wondering what else I didn't know about the guys.

Lucas's lips tipped up as he leaned his head back. "Try me."

I cocked my head to the side as I slid the strap over my head. "Okay. I'm gonna play Katy Perry's Dark Horse, but I play it fast and put my own twist on it."

Lucas eyed me as he smiled. "I'll back you up."

Grinning, I turned to find the microphone in front of me as Collin plugged in our guitars and switched on the amp.

"Thanks." I mouthed.

"Thank you." Collin mouthed back with a grin. He was a really nice guy.

"Bear with me. I suck at performing in front of people, so don't be assholes if I mess up." I spoke into the microphone.

The crowd broke into a fit of laughter as more people shoved their way in.

"She's so beautiful. I wish I looked like her." I heard one girl say from the back of the room.

"Wait 'til you hear her sing. She's so so good." Another girl said.

"Did you hear her play the violin?" One dude said. "She's fucking awesome. I need to get her number, bro."

I chuckled at all the remarks I was overhearing. No average person would be able to hear them, but I could, which reminded me how much of a freak I really was.

Ember. A voice spoke inside my head this time, and it wasn't Justin.

You're not a freak. You're amazing. It was Tyler. Damn it.

Somehow, I knew exactly where he was in the room. I threw a quick glance in his direction and spotted both he and Justin leaning against the wall, analyzing my every move. They looked so fucking sexy.

I shook off the need to go to them as I started playing the song's intro. Glancing at Lucas, I nodded encouragingly as he easily kept up.

I started singing my heart out as Justin and Tyler's eyes began to barely glow in the dim room. The crowd started screaming in joy and dancing like idiots. What the hell was going on?

Sweat rolled down my temples when I hit the final lines of the song. My eyes connected with Tyler's as I sang. "So, you wanna play with magic? Boy, you should know what you're falling for. Baby, do you dare to do this? 'Cause I'm coming at you like a dark horse."

Tyler came alive, pushing off the wall, his eyes blazing into their full light blue as he began pushing people aside to get closer.

Ripping my gaze off him, I found Justin's eyes fully ablaze as I sang the final lyrics directly to him. "Are you ready for, ready for? A perfect storm, a perfect storm? 'Cause once you're mine, once you're mine."

"There's no goin' back." Lucas's hard body pressed tight to mine, as his low voice sang into the mic, successfully ending the song.

Our proximity sent shivers throughout my entire body as the room burst into applause and cheers.

I laughed, high-fiving Lucas. "Nice. You're pretty good on that thing."

Lucas appraised me as he slid the guitar strap over his head. "I've told you this already, but you're fucking incredible. You have the entire crowd wrapped around your finger."

His compliment made my heart soar, causing my smile to spread so wide that my cheeks began to ache.

Placing the guitar back on its stand. I turned to thank Collin, but Tyler was in front of me. "Shortie, I fell for you a long time ago, and I love your magic. You don't have to dare me. I'm yours. I always have been."

Remembering the lyrics I sang to him, my heart clenched with pure desire. No. I couldn't fall for him again.

I shoved past Tyler. "I don't need people like you in my life. One minute you want me and the next you're naked with some random chick. I won't gamble away my happiness on a maybe."

"But—"

Justin pushed Tyler aside beaming at me. "You fucking blew the roof off, Angel."

I blushed under Justin's smoldering gaze. "Thanks."

"You still mad at us?" Lucas's fingers skimmed over mine.

I shook my head. "I was never mad at you or Justin. I'm sorry I yelled like that."

Swallowing hard, I glanced at Tyler, who looked miserable, and realized I didn't want to deal with any of this right now. It was suffocating.

That's when I realized the entire room was watching our conversation like I was still singing.

Needing some space, I glanced at Collin. "So, you got anything stronger than beer around here?"

Collin chuckled nervously when everyone looked at him. "Yeah. You want a shot?"

"I'm down if you are." I shrugged and ducked between Justin and Tyler, urging Collin forward. "On to shotville."

The guys growled under their breath, but I didn't look back. I didn't belong to any of them, and I wanted a damn shot. In fact, I wanted two damn shots.

Collin grinned as he led the way. After we got out of the music room, people finally began piling out.

"Ember! Oh, my God! That was badass. I didn't know you could sing like that." Lucy grabbed my shoulder.

"How are you so good at everything?" Faith asked, and I noticed Travis practically drooling all over her.

I shrugged. "My parents."

"Your parents?" Some girl screamed in a slurred voice. "Your parents, or should I say your one parent that can't stand you?"

I spun to find Missy glaring, her face twisted when my gaze landed on her. Jenny and Jessica and the rest of my hate club backed away from Missy before they glanced at Justin. They didn't want to be blamed for Missy's outburst.

"Whoa, there." Collin caught Missy when she nearly fell over.

I could've said something back to her, but Missy was drunk as a skunk. I felt terrible for her. Her drunken state was partly my fault since she and her friends had been kicked out of Justin's group for mistreating me.

Missy pushed Collin's hand off her shoulder as she wobbled in my direction. "Tell them! Tell them about what you did!"

I shook my head, confused. "What did I do?"

"To your dad." Missy might've been drunk, but she had no right bringing up my father in front of all these people, and I really had no idea what she was insinuating. I hadn't done anything to my dad.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" I stalked toward her, getting right in her face. "You're drunk. Stop embarrassing yourself."

Missy's makeup-caked cheeks scrunched up as she glanced around, finding we were the main attraction. "Embarrassing myself? Well, at least my dad wants to see me. At least, my dad didn't run away because he hated me."

Anger that I hadn't felt in years rushed into existence. "My dad didn't leave because of me!"

Missy crossed her arms as she tried to look at me like I was stupid. "That's not what the note said."

"What note?" I hollered, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"You don't know about the note?" Missy threw her head back, laughing. "I knew it! Your mom hates you so much she can't even look at you. Why would she tell you that you're the reason your dad killed himself? That's why you were sent here. My mom said your mom can't stand to look at you since you're the reason he's dead!"

Holding my breath, my jaw dropped as my heart fell into my stomach. Killed himself? I never heard anything like that. Like Tyler's dad, my dad was supposedly missing. Why? Why was she doing this?

Missy's eyes were full of hatred. "What? You got nothing to say now? How about you go sing a fucking song about—"

"That's enough!" Lucas snatched her by the arm, tugging her out of the room.

"Lucas? It's true! Why won't you listen to me?" Missy hollered as he led her upstairs.

"Ember, are you okay?" Collin grasped my arm as the room began to spin. My dad was dead? There was a note? What the fuck was going on? I was really in the motherfucking twilight zone.

"Holy shit, Missy's such a bitch!" Someone said. "How could she say that?"

"Is Ember okay?" Some guy said. "She looks like she's gonna throw up."

"Ember!" Lucy was yelling at me, but I couldn't concentrate on her.

"I got her." Faith tugged on my arm, but I pulled it back. I didn't want her accidentally touching my bare skin.

I didn't want anyone touching me. I was already having a hard enough time keeping it together.

The room began to spin as people encompassed me, but I was drowning in sad desperation, tumbling into the dark abyss, losing my dad all over again.

My breathing picked up as I started hyperventilating, and my vision blurred as bright dots rushed toward me, telling me I was about to pass out.

"Move!" A deep voice yelled as I tried to hold myself up on the kitchen island. Warm arms slid around me and tugged me upward, cradling me to a firm chest. "Breathe, Angel."

People were rushing around us, but I had to focus on breathing. I wrapped my arms around Justin's neck as he carried me out the front door.

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