The air in the bar was thick with smoke and cheap liquor, the kind of place Rafe Cameron usually wouldn’t find himself. But Barry had dragged him along, promising some deal that was supposed to fix the mess Rafe had gotten himself into. He wasn’t paying attention to the murmurs of the crowd or the clinking of glasses—his mind was elsewhere, restless and angry.

Until he heard you.

The soft strum of a guitar cut through the noise, and then your voice followed, clear and aching, like it was meant to seep into the cracks of his heart. Rafe turned toward the stage, his breath catching the moment he saw you.

You were standing in the dim light, the glow surrounding you like a halo. Your voice carried a vulnerability that made his chest tighten, every note and lyric sinking deeper into him.

“There are things I want to say to you, but I’ll just let you live.”

Rafe froze, the words hitting harder than he thought they should. You looked untouchable up there—an angel in a place like this, singing words that felt like they were meant just for him.

“Like if you hold me without hurting me, you’ll be the one you ever did.”

The weight of the lyrics branded themselves into his mind. He sat back in his chair, his eyes locked on you, the world around him fading into static. There was something in your voice, in the way you sang those words, that made him feel exposed, raw, like you’d pulled apart every piece of him and laid it bare.

Barry nudged him, saying something about moving along, but Rafe didn’t care. He wasn’t leaving. Not yet. Not when he felt like he was finally seeing something real in a world full of lies.

As the song ended, you looked out into the crowd, your gaze sweeping past him without stopping. And yet, Rafe felt like you knew he was there. Like you could feel the way he was breaking apart and piecing himself back together just by hearing you.

He didn’t know who you were, but he knew one thing for certain: he wasn’t walking away. Not without knowing the girl who had just branded herself onto his soul.