Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) by Nicole Edwards

that she loved
him, and that was the last thing she needed to tell him. She was supposed to be
putting space between them, not getting closer.
    Seemed the universe wasn’t onboard with her plan just yet.
    She hoped like hell that it would get there soon, because Katie wasn’t
sure how long she’d be able to convince herself that walking away from him was
the right thing to do.

Chapter Ten
    Wednesday
night
    As he geared up to head back to Georgia, Dalton decided to spend his
last night in town at The Rusty Nail, wanting to see Katie before he left town.
He hadn’t seen her much since Sunday, just for a few hours when she worked at
the bar last night. He had tried to see her on Monday, but she’d informed him
she’d had to get her homework finished or she risked failing one of her
classes. Who was he to argue with that? She had responsibilities, and he
definitely didn’t want to get in the way of them.
    But tonight, he hoped to talk to her a little, maybe convince her to
dance with him once or twice. He had resigned himself to stay off the stage.
Not because he didn’t want to get up there and entertain the crowd, but he just
wasn’t sure he’d be able to give the crowd his full attention, and he wasn’t
going to half-ass it.
    Walking into the crowded bar, he noticed there was a guy up on stage,
singing to the crowd. He stopped for a minute, trying to see if he recognized
the man. His voice sounded familiar, but his face was cast in the shadow of his
hat. Noticing Jack and Eric working the bar, he managed to squeeze through the
hordes of people and found an empty spot near the wall.
    “What’s up, man?” Eric greeted. “Beer?”
    Dalton nodded, turning his attention to Jack, who was attempting to
fill orders; however, his gaze continued to slip up to the big guy on the
stage. He gave Jack a run for the money on height, Dalton could tell that from
where he was sitting. Wide shoulders, thick arms, the guy looked like he worked
out a lot. Or maybe he had some sort of manual labor job that got him looking
like that. Dalton didn’t know. He could see blond hair peeking out from beneath
his black Stetson, but because of the distance, he couldn’t make out his
features enough to recognize him.
    When Eric brought the cold bottle and set it in front of him, Dalton
stopped him before he wandered off again. “Who’s the guy up on stage?”
    “Brett Basson,” Eric informed him simply.
    “Why do I recognize the voice?” Dalton asked.
    “He’s been in here a coupla times.”
    “Has Coop heard him?”
    Eric nodded as he wiped down the bar.
    “I think we need to get David in here to listen to him,” Dalton told
Eric, referring to Cooper’s father, the man who’d recently taken on the position
of Cooper’s manager.
    “Well, the big man’s supposed to be here next week,” Eric told him.
    Dalton nodded, tilting his beer bottle to his lips and studying the guy
up on the stage. He had great presence, and the crowd seemed really into him.
Someone else seemed to be really into him, too, Dalton noticed. Jack was
stealing frequent glances while continuing to serve customers who came up to
the bar.
    “Hey.”
    Dalton turned at the sound of the female voice from behind him. His
lips had already curved up into a smile before he even turned around. “Hey,
darlin’,” he greeted Katie.
    “Didn’t know you were comin’ by tonight.”
    “Wanted to get one last night in before I head out.”
    “You going to your parents’?” she asked before rattling off a list of
drinks to Eric. Once she’d given the order, she turned back to face him.
    “Gonna be gone for a few weeks. Staying at my mom and dad’s for a
couple of weeks, then headin’ back to Nashville to work on the album before the
tour starts up again.”
    “Well, you be careful,” she said, her tone much too friendly for his
piece of mind.
    Dalton reached for her, pulling her over to him and pressing his lips
to her ear. “Stay with me tonight.”
    Katie