Sneak Peek of ON SOLID GROUND

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Sneak peek of

ON SOLID GROUND

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Today, in celebration for the LAST day of the IN TOO DEEP Blog Hop I am releasing a sneak peek from the sequel, ON SOLID GROUND.

After some positive feedback from a mini-peek yesterday on my facebook page, I decided I could let the rest of that scene slip out because it's probably NOT the male character your expecting to...but the one you want her with is close by, he's not out of the picture (go ahead, wipe your brow and say, "WHEW!")...this scene just introduces someone who takes on a much bigger role in this book!

Enjoy Gracie as she steps out of her comfort zone:

Calon: Yaz wants to do your guitar lesson at Mitchell’s tonight. 7:00 instead of 6:30.

           That was odd. Why in the world would Yaz have Calon text me?

I walked through the door of Mitchell's and could hear voices. I got to the bottom of the stairs and realized it was Alternate Tragedy but just the band, no Calon. I looked over at the bar just as Jake looked up. He smiled at what he thought was a surprise visit just as his instructor told them to practice something on their own while he took an important phone call.

“What are you doing here? I thought you had a lesson.”

“Calon texted me to meet Yaz here.”

“Oh. He’s in the back booth.” He motioned with his chin toward the back of the bar and then smiled.

I turned to go see Yaz who’d just leaned out into the aisle and caught a glimpse of me.  He held up a finger to whoever he was talking to. That was the only bad thing about the basement of Mitchell’s; the high back booths. You couldn’t see into a booth unless someone was leaning out of it or you were directly next to it. I didn’t know how the wait staff kept track of their customers when they couldn’t even see if anyone was occupying the booths in their section. “Gracie, you ready?” Calon came out of nowhere.

            “Huh?” Panic seized my chest and I stared at Yaz like a deer in  the headlights waiting for an explanation.

            “You’re practicing with AT tonight. Wednesdays are rehearsals for the weekend bands. You’re going to rehearse with them in place of your regular guitar lesson.”

            “Oh, I can’t—”

            “Oh but you can. Grab your guitar and follow me.”

            I could barely breathe. This was ridiculous. I searched behind the bar for Jake but his bartending class must have gone to the back room. The dimly lit room was empty except for us. Me, the guys of Alternate Tragedy and Yaz.

            “Guys, this is Gracie. Gracie, this is Spider, Manny, Bones and Phil.” All the guys said “hi” in unison. They smiled as though they were trying to comfort me. I was positive there was no way I could hide how terrified I was.

            “Can’t I just watch tonight? I’m not sure I’m ready—”

            “Gracie,” Calon took me by the shoulders and spun me so I faced him. He tilted his head down to catch my gaze. “have you ever seen the videos of the people who put babies in pools and they instinctively swim?”

            “I nodded.”

            “What’s the reason for that?”

            “Because if …oh, wait, I know what you’re doing! Come on, guys!” I wiggled away from Calon and hugged my guitar case close to me.”

            “Finish what you were going to say.” Calon smirked.

            “You are infuriating.” I tried to look my angriest.

            “Baby, you’re not the first person to tell me that. Now finish.”

            I sighed with a frustrated growl and spoke quickly, “They throw them in so it’s a sink or swim kind of thing. Anyone can be taught through lessons but the sink or swim technique makes swimming instinctive.”

            “Right on, G!” Spider called from  his stool at the drums. I should have assumed a band made up mostly of men with nicknames would grant me my very own nickname. G? It could be worse.

            I saw the group of bartenders move out from the back room and take their spots behind the bar. Jake looked up and smiled and winked but I wondered if he was still bothered by my artistic connection with Calon.

            Calon ushered me to a stool at center stage with a mic stand directly in front of it. He took Josephine out of her case and helped me under the strap Jake got for me.

            “Now, if you decide you want to be our opening act, you will be playing acoustic. Just you and Josephine on the stage. But if you want to mix it up a bit tonight, the guys have offered to be back up for you for a couple songs. They’re going to play along tonight just to take the pressure off a little.”

            “Calon. I didn’t prepare anything. I can’t—”

           “Sink or swim, Gracie.”      

          And with that he stepped down off the stage and sat down in a chair directly in front of me. He leaned back in the chair and started tapping one of his boots loud enough for the band to hear. On cue, Bones came in with the bass guitar, then Manny and Spider joined him with drums and Phil slammed a tambourine against his palm. “Rearview Mirror.”

          I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. I took so many deep breaths that the guys had to do the whole eight measure intro three times before I was ready to sing.

Sooooo, not who you expected?
There may just be TWO HOTTER THAN HOT guys in ON SOLID GROUND!
You're welcome.

:)

To see the last stops on the BLOG HOP, check out the previous post...there are links to all this week's stops!