And he said, “Oh god, yeah. Yeah, Gin! Yeah!”
Our sounds were carried by rain, by thunder, by winds.
And we contributed to them.
In the end, when it was all finished, when he was smiling and I was smiling and our lungs had been freed up and we could breathe more easily—we stayed there, let the rain cover us. There was no better place to be. No better place to go.
We were right where we wanted to be.
We were with each other.
~ EPILOGUE ~
GIN
-80-
I’m not afraid. What happens will happen. I’m confident. I’m sure of myself.
And I love him.
And if he decides to be an asshole to me, I’ll put him in his place, because he needs me as much as I need him. And if I pick up a little extra weight on my hips, he’s gonna have to deal. Because it’s not about that. It’s about who I am, and what I mean to him.
And how damn sexy my “tits” look in a plus-size negligee.
So there.
ACE
-81-
“It’s great to be back here at the Blues Bar in Nashville. I been gone a long time—”
“We remember you, baby!” some girl screams from the gallery.
I smile up at her. Politely.
“I wrote this song for a girl I love. A girl who taught me not to run. This girl y’all see right here, standing next to me. This sexy, sexy fox who I owe my life to.”
The same girl above: “You’re sexy, Ace!”
A dude from below: “Gin, when you’re done with him, I’ll be here!”
Me: “It’s great to see such a great crowd here, even though the weather’s broken and it’s really cold outside. Well, lemme stop talking, and let’s start singing. A-one, a-two, a-one, two, three, four—”
Gin, on the rocks.
Gin, my lady fox.
Ginger, cool as ice.
Ooh, my sexy baby, you lookin so nice.
Gin, hot as coal.
Gin, you burnin my soul.
Ginger, cool blue eyes.
Gin, oh my sugar, please don’t tell me no lies!
She swings her hips. Looks bad and cool.
She licks her lips. I’m such a fool.
’Cause, sugar-baby, you’re bad for me.
She’s so good lookin that I’m strugglin to breathe!
I got home one night, dirty and tired.
Saw my baby Gin lying there, sexy an’ inspired.
She curled her finger to me, called me to her side.
But when I got there, honey, she turned away and I almost died!
She swaggered her hips.
She licked her lips.
She turned and glared at me.
She said, “Don’t play no tricks!”
I almost begged.
I was...down on my knees.
I said, “Ginger, baby, honey-bunny—
You killin me by bein’ such a tease!”
Yow! Ginger, on the rocks.
Ginger, you such a fox.
Gin, sugar honey, you blow my mind.
I can’t see when you’re around because....you got such a sexy bee-hind! (drums, heavy guitar.)
Gin, on the rocks.
Gin, my lady fox.
Ginger, cool as ice.
Ooh, my sexy baby, you lookin so nice.
Ginger comes in:
Ooooooooooooh-ah!
Ooooooooooooh-ah!
Ace:
“Oh, yeah, baby. Swing them hips.” (She does.)
“Swing em honey, oh god you’re so sexy!”
Ginger, on the rocks.
(Ooooooooooh-ah!)
Ginger, you such a fox.
(Ooooooooooh-ah!)
Gin sugar honey, you blow my mind.
I can’t see when you’re around because....you got such a sexy bee-hind! (drums, heavy guitar)
(Major guitar solo, piano solo, drum solo)
Ginger, on the rocks.
(Ooooooooooh-ah!)
Ginger, you such a fox.
(Ooooooooooh-ah!)
Gin sugar honey, you blow my mind.
I can’t see when you’re around because....you got such a sexy bee-hind!
(All instruments at once now! Drum-roll! Guitar! Piano! Drums-again!)
Bam! Bam! Bam!
And the crowd—goes—wild.
“Encore! Encore! Encore!”
~ ... ~
~ FROM THE AUTHOR ~
To those of you who know Nashville better than I do, if I made mistakes, I’m sorry. But that’s the cool thing about fiction, we get to make things up as well. :)
There was so much more that I learned about in Nashville, so many beautiful details, so many amazing places and things to see, people to meet, that putting them all in this book while maintaining the pace of the story, was impossible. Maybe I’ll add them in another book.
I am indebted, of course, to everyone I met there. Locals, out-of-towners, everyone. The Virginia stuff was all made up. The Nashville locations, bars, scenery, were all based on real places.
You should check out that Blues Bar one day. The inspiration for this entire story came from that bar, and watching the magnificent upcoming artists playing on an Open Jam night (which actually happens on a Monday, not a Tuesday). The entire story came to me one night while I was sitting there, entranced by all these amazing musicians, sipping on great Tennessean Honey Whiskey.
I would imagine the only other place cooler, for a blues lover, would be Memphis. That’s on my travel to-do list.
If you’re interested in books where the location plays a big role, try out another book of mine, Like You, which is based in Frankfurt, Germany, another place I’ve researched to the max by actually visiting and walking the streets of until my feet hurt. Then doing it again the next day. The Truthful Lies trilogy is set in New York (Brooklyn.)
I hope you enjoyed this story. Most of all, I hope you loved Gin and Ace. Location aside, that’s what the story was really all about.
If you’d like to keep in touch with upcoming releases, please subscribe by email to my blog here: http://racheldunningauthor.blogspot.com
If you’re more of a Facebook person, here’s my page: http://bit.ly/RachelDunning. Please give it a like or just pop in and say hi.
If you enjoyed this story, I’d really appreciate it if you could review it on the site from which you bought it, and also on Goodreads if you happen to be a member there. Here is the link for Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22712610-red-hot-blues
There’s a list of other books I’ve written, below.
See you in the next one!
Love,
R
Also by Rachel Dunning:
Know Me, #1 Truthful Lies
Find Me, #2 Truthful Lies
Need Me, #3 Truthful Lies
Finding North, #1 Naïve Mistakes Trilogy
East Rising, #2 Naïve Mistakes Trilogy
West-End Boys, #3 Naïve Mistakes Trilogy
Like You, #1 Perfectly Flawed Series
Christmas Comfort, #1 Hot Holidays Series
Easter Sundae, #2 Hot Holidays Series
Girl-Nerds Like it Harder, #1 Girl-Nerd Series
Girl Nerds Like it Faster, #2 Girl-Nerd Series
Girl-Nerds Like it Deeper, #3 Girl-Nerd Series
Girl-Nerds Like it Longer, #4 Girl-Nerd Series
For news of upcoming releases, visit:
http://racheldunningauthor.blogspot.com
Or connect with me on Facebook:
http://bit.ly/RachelDunning
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Red Hot Blues Page 17
