The bistro was the same as yesterday, but the violin hadn’t started yet.
We ordered two beers and a Coke—I wasn’t about to wreck a car over a stupid drink—and sat at a table.
Leo started eyeing a woman older than us.
I usually had women my age or slightly older hanging all over me, but they mostly just bored me.
Barely any of them ever made it to my guest room.
Leo, on the other hand, slept with anyone he could.
“Are you ready for a new challenge?” a deep male voice announced over the speakers.
The crowd at the podium cheered.
“Anyone who can request a song Ginger can’t play eats and drinks on me for a week.” Another roar of applause.
“You know the rules: she gets two minutes to listen to the song before she plays.
Good luck.”
I stood up, Coke in hand, and walked to the edge of the crowd.
Leo and Mike followed curiously.
“Okay,” a female voice said into the mic.
“Make your requests.”
I could see over everyone’s heads; it was Ginger from college again.
She sat on a barstool with her violin.
She was wearing different clothes, but they were just as baggy as this morning’s outfit, her hair pinned up the same way.
A woman shouted a song title.
Ginger smiled and began to play.
I knew the original song; she captured it perfectly on the violin.
After a few bars, the crowd cheered, and she stopped.
Two more people requested songs; she listened to one of them through headphones for a few minutes before playing it.
“She’s good,” Leo noted.
“But she can’t be more than seventeen.”
“By my count, she’s at least twenty-one,” I said.
Mike looked at me, stunned.
“I ran into her at college today,” I added.
“She’s an adult, just tiny.” I chuckled.
“If you’re here to insult her again, I’m not letting you go home alive,” a voice said behind me.
I turned around—it was Dominic.
Leo and Mike burst out laughing.
Dominic was nearly as tall as I was.
“What are you?” I asked.
“Her bodyguard?”
“Something like that,” Dominic replied.
Ginger started another song.
“Go home to your middle-aged sugar mommy.”
“I didn’t expect to have this much fun today,” I remarked.
“But I’d be happy to kick your ass.”
“Boys,” the man who had introduced Ginger spoke up from the side.
“Either take it outside or knock it off.
Dom,” he said kindly to the guy, “it’s not worth it.”
Dominic nodded and turned his back, walking away.
The crowd cheered for the song, and I shouldered my way through.
Leo and Mike followed.
“Do you know the song ‘Your Friend is a Clown’?” I called out toward the podium.
Ginger arched an eyebrow.
“I don’t know that one,” she said, glancing sideways at Dominic.
“I must have gotten the title wrong,” I added, requesting a simple rock song instead.
Ginger played it until the applause kicked in.
“Five-minute break,” Ginger smiled, heading toward the bar.
Dominic followed her like a puppy.
I sat down on the other side of her.
“I didn’t know you played the violin,” I said.
“Fits the Mother Teresa vibe, don’t you think?” she asked coldly, taking a sip of her juice.
I reached out and touched her left shoulder to get her to look at me, but her eyes filled with terror.
She instantly jerked her hand away and scrambled to her feet.
I caught the glass before it tipped over.
“I’ll play two more and then I’m going home,” Ginger told the bartender before heading back to the podium.
Dom stood beside me while someone requested another song from her.
“Don’t ever touch her,” Dominic said, his tone more pleading than threatening.
“Why not?” Leo asked with a grin.
“Women love Cas’s touch.” Mike and he laughed, but Dom just left us.
The second song ended.
Ginger packed up her violin and walked out with Dominic at her heels.
“What does that little prick think he’s doing?” Leo asked me, but I didn’t answer.
Leo left shortly after with the woman.
“Keep an eye on the girl,” I told Mike before we headed home.
He just nodded.