Sing For Me by Rachel Schurig
Eva
The blond guy—River, I think they called him—leads us out a side door into a service hallway, and then up a flight of stairs into the darkened balcony. From here, we can see the entire ballroom spread out below us.
“Over here,” a female voice calls and we follow it over to a little alcove by the railing. Another blond guy and a stunning woman with honey-colored hair are already sitting there, shoeless feet propped up on empty chairs. The folding table next to them is filled with trays of food.
“Jesus, Alex,” River says. “What did you do, raid the kitchen?”
She smirks at him. “I got a few waiters to help me.”
“And how’d you convince them to do that?” Will asks.
The girl bats her eyelashes, looking coy. “I have many charms.”
River snorts. “So is that what we’re calling them now?”
“Hush,” Rose says. “You’re going to freak Eva out.”
The girl they called Alex stares over at me, eyes curious. In fact, that’s how most of them are looking at me—like my presence here is very interesting. I duck my head, taking one of the empty chairs.
“Finally,” Rose moans, kicking off her heels. “I don’t understand how women wear those all day.”
“Eventually your toes get numb and you forget how much it hurts,” the dark-haired girl says brightly, kicking off her shoes as well. The guys are removing suit jackets, loosening ties, and I get momentarily distracted by the sight of Will rolling up the sleeves of his dark dress shirt. Bright flashes of ink dot the smooth, tan skin, the muscles in his forearms flexing as he works.
“I have a thing for forearms, too,” the dark-haired girl whispers in my ear, and I blush. Not that I should really feel embarrassed by my gawking. I mean, just look at this man. Who could blame me for staring?
“Will,” Alex says, still eyeing me with interest. “Aren’t you going to introduce your friend?”
He grits his teeth, as if he expects this to be painful. “Everyone, this is Eva. Eva, these are my cousins.” He points around at the various faces. “Rose, River, Everly, Alexandria, and Fox.”
There is no way I’m going to remember those names, so I just smile and wave. Everyone watches me for a moment more, their gazes still curious, before Will clears his throat. “Are we eating, or what?”
The cousins grab plates and start filling up while Rose explains to Alex how they’d rescued us from the younger kids.
“They shouldn’t have been allowed to come,” Fox says. “Should have stayed home with the Littles.”
“But they were so excited,” Rose argues, and they all start talking over each other about younger siblings and cousins and how annoying they are. I attack my food, starving, and let the conversation flow around me.
“So this is probably crazy overwhelming for you, isn’t it?” the girl with the black curls asks, popping a crab puff in her mouth. She’s pretty with delicate features, huge blue eyes, and the creamiest complexion I’ve ever seen. “Our family can be a bit much.”
Will snorts. “Understatement.”
“I just don’t know how you all keep it straight,” I admit. “There are so many of you.” Seventeen cousins. I can barely wrap my mind around that number.
“Do not try to learn all the names,” Will orders. “You’ll just end up frustrated.”
“It’s really not that hard,” Rose says, and her family all make noises of disbelief.
“Jesus, Rose,” one of the guys—Fox?— says. “I’ve been stuck with you all my whole life and even I forget half your names most of the time.”
“No, really,” Rose insists. “There are patterns for the names in each family. That makes it easier to keep straight!”
“If you say so,” Will mutters.
“All right, hit me,” I tell Rose. “What are the patterns?”
She sits up straighter. “Okay, so Uncle Reed and Aunt Paige—they have all girls, so that’s easy enough. And all four of them have that same dark hair.” She points to the girl at my side, who holds out one of her curls as evidence.
“And,” Fox points out, “Uncle Reed is the only one who kept up the rock star naming tradition.” I chew on my pizza, remembering that all the Ransome brothers were famously named after the rock legends their father idolized—Lou Reed, Johnny Cash, John Lennon, and Roger Daltrey.
“I’m Everly,” the girl next to me says, waving. “I’m the oldest. Presley is my little sister, she’s around here somewhere, probably hiding because Mom wouldn’t let her wear jeans. You met Santana—sorry about her, by the way. Then Vega is the youngest, but she’s at home.”
“Everly, Presley, Santana, and Vega,” I repeat, then laugh. “But that’s only like, a third of you.”
“My family,” Rose continues, “you can recognize by the hair.” She holds up a white blonde strand and I realize that the two guys up here have the exact same shade. There’s no need to ask who their dad is—that’s Daltrey Ransome’s hair.
“So the girls in their family have flower names, like Aunt Daisy,” Everly explains. “Rose and Violet. And the boys have nature names.”
“Yeah,” Will says, smirking. “Because Aunt Daisy and Uncle Daltrey have a farm and they like to pretend to be hippies. So they have Rose, River, Fox, Ash, and Violet.”
The smug boy from downstairs waves. “I’m River,” he says, then points at the other guy. “Fox. And then Ash is at home with Vi.”
“Ash and Violet are twins,” Rose adds.
I stare around at all of them, possibly even more confused now than I was before.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Rose says confidently.
“What about your family?” I ask Will. “What’s your pattern?”
“Ours is easy,” he says. “My older brother Wyatt got to name me, so he picked a W name.”
“Still wish they would have gone with Wilbur,” River says.
Will ignores him. “So then they decided each person in the family should get a matching name. So Silas goes with Samantha, my mom. And Cecelia, the baby, goes with my dad.”
“Pretty much Uncle Cash just wanted to convince Aunt Sam to have four kids,” River says. “She was ready to be done after Will.”
“Because you can’t really top perfection,” he says, winking at me.
“Our dads are crazy competitive,” Rose explains. “Uncle Cash would have been mortified if he didn’t try to keep up with my dad and Uncle Reed.”
“Which reminds me,” Everly cuts in. “We didn’t cover Uncle Lennon and Aunt Haylee’s family.”
“Right,” Rose says, smacking her head.
“Like I said,” Fox laughs. “Easy to forget half of y’all.”
“Aunt Haylee and Uncle Lennon only have two kids,” Will says. “They both have musical names, since their parents are, you know—”
“Members of two of the most successful rock bands of the last quarter century?” I ask.
He laughs. “Yeah, that. You met the oldest downstairs, Lyric. She’s fifteen. And her little brother Cadence is at home.”
“And that’s everyone,” Rose declares, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
“Um,” I say, looking at the girl who had been waiting for us with the food. She doesn’t seem to share many similarities with the other cousins. Her shoulder length hair is blonde but unlike Daltrey’s three kids, hers is a warmer, honey color. She’s also drop dead gorgeous, like, supermodel beautiful. “Who are your parents, then?”
She waves a hand dismissively. “Oh, I’m not family.”
There’s a general outcry at that. “Like hell you aren’t,” Fox growls.
“Uncle Levi and Aunt Karen are our parents’ best friends,” Everly explains. “We grew up with Alex and her little brother Phoenix just as much as we were with each other.”
I know that name. Levi Fraser is a pretty big deal in the music industry. He’s Ransom’s manager and one of the top A&R guys on their label. I had actually met with him back when I was shopping my demo, looking for my first contract. I shake my head, thinking about how surreal it is to be here with the Ransome family.
“Now that really is everyone,” Rose says.
“Great,” I say drily, patting my temple. “I’ve got it all right here.”
“Maybe I’ll make you flash cards or something,” Will says, and I feel a little flutter at the idea. Does he think I’m going to be around long enough to get to know his family?
“Pretty good crowd, this year, huh?” Fox asks, looking out over the ballroom as he slides half a slice of pizza into his mouth.
“Aunt Sam told me we raised almost thirty percent more than last year,” Rose says, sounding proud.
“I suppose that’s worth putting this monkey suit on for,” River says, tugging at his already loosened tie. “Even though I still don’t see why we can’t change it up once in a while.”
“It’s a gala, River,” Rose says. “What the hell else are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know.” He shoves more pizza in his mouth then mumbles through the food, “reg ah ahmuzmuch pah.”
Rose glares at her little brother. “You are vile, you know that?”
He swallows. “I said, we could rent an amusement park. That at least would be fun.”
“It would also be expensive as hell,” Alex points out. “The whole point of the gala is to raise money, not spend it, genius.”
“River bitches about the gala every year,” Everly tells me. “He’s very fragile.”
He flips her off. “Excuse me if I don’t like putting on this torture get-up and standing around watching rich people fawn over our dads and try to get close to us just because we’re related to them.”
“That part does blow,” Fox agrees. “Which is why we inevitably end up hiding away just like this.”
“Every year,” Everly agrees, raising a slider into the air like a champagne glass. The others hold up their food, pretending to toast.
I remember what Will had told me about his cousins coming in waves. These six must make up the older group. Which means these are the people Will grew up with. His best friends. I watch them interact, laughing and teasing each other, and wonder what that would have been like. To have had a support system like this. How much different would my mom’s death have been if I had family like this to rely on?
How much different would my own recovery have been?
“You okay?” Will asks, nudging my knee with his.
I smile up at him. “I’m good.”
His eyes search mine. “Having fun?”
“I am,” I tell him honestly. I can’t remember the last time I felt so comfortable with a group of people I didn’t know well. Sitting here with Will and his family, I almost feel normal.
Once we’ve destroyed a majority of the food, Everly pulls a pack of playing cards out of her purse. “Texas Hold ’Em?”
There’s a general murmur of agreement, River already moving to clear off the table, and Will looks at me. “You up for it?”
I make a face. “I don’t know how to play.”
“That’s okay,” he says easily. “You can be on my team.” He leans over and whispers in my ear, so only I can hear. “You’ll have to sit really close to me, though. So you can see the cards.”
His warm breath washes over the sensitive skin below my ear, making goosebumps erupt all up and down my arms. I even shiver a little, then smack Will when he chuckles. Of course he noticed.
Time for a little payback.
I lean into his ear this time, dropping my voice a little so it’s huskier. “Are you sure I’ll be able to see from there? Maybe I’ll need to sit in your lap.”
He lets out a little strangled noise, and it’s my turn to laugh, leaning back.
“Evil,” he mutters, but his eyes are sparkling with amusement.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rose watching us. Her expression is strange—she almost looks worried. I try to push that thought away. Will’s cousins have been nothing but welcoming to me.
As it turns out, I’m pretty damn good at poker. It only takes me a few rounds to get the hang of it and start playing my own hand without Will’s help. An hour after we started playing, the others are all giving me dirty looks.
“Are you sure you’ve never played this before?” River asks, scowling as he pushes his pile of peanut shells—the Ransome cousins’ version of poker chips—towards me.
I grin happily as I add the shells to my pile. “Beginner’s luck, I guess.”
“I think Will is helping her cheat,” Fox mutters. “Pathetic attempt to get in her pants, man.”
Will reaches over and smacks the back of his cousin’s head without saying a word. I snicker, even as I blush at the idea of Will wanting to get in my pants.
“Don’t worry,” he murmurs in my ear, voice a low rumble only I can hear, breath hot against my skin. “I’m not getting ahead of myself. First goal is to convince you to go on a date with me.”
“You want to go on a date with me?” I blurt out, surprised and way too loud. All the cousins turn and stare at us. Will looks like he’s trying hard not to laugh as my cheeks flush crimson. “Sorry,” I whisper, mortified.
He’s grinning broadly as he slips an arm over the back of my chair, fingers just brushing the skin of my shoulder. He looks completely at ease as he faces his gaping cousins. “Yes, you guys. I want to take Eva out on a date.”
“Really?” Fox asks in a dry tone. “You did such a good job of playing it cool.”
Everly gives me an encouraging smile. Alex looks like she’s biting back laughter. River and Rose share a glance I can’t read.
And Will sits confidently next to me, fingers brushing my shoulder lightly, seemingly oblivious to their stares and teasing. I appear to be his sole focus at the moment.
And I’m realizing just how nice that feels—to have the undivided attention of Will Ransome. So nice, in fact, that I link my fingers with his, squeezing gently.
“Name the time and place, Tattoo Boy,” I say, unable to wipe the grin from my face. “I’ll be there.”