No Shelter Left novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Open Mic

Jude Ransom did not make the offer in front of her family.

He held the door and nodded at the sidewalk. "Two minutes. Out here."

Colby started to follow, and Jude said, without turning around, "Not you."

Colby stopped.

Aisling went out into the July heat and stood with her back against a dryer vent that blew warm air at her ankles.

Jude leaned on his car.

Up close, he had a scar through his left eyebrow and the tired eyes of a man who had slept in a studio chair.

Her chest hurt looking at him.

He had not done anything yet.

"Colby says you're going through something," Jude said.

"Colby says a lot."

"I heard what you played in there. The window was open."

Aisling waited.

"I'm not here to tell you what it means." He opened the folder. "I'm here because the showcase is in three weeks, and Kaitlyn has nothing finished."

"She has two albums."

"She has a voice. I need a song."

He turned the folder around and let her read the top page.

It was a purchase offer. A line at the bottom held a number with five digits and a comma.

"Sixty thousand dollars for the song," Jude said. "Plus a writing credit under a name you pick."

"Under a name I pick."

"Your own, if you want."

"Whose voice would be on it?"

He did not answer right away.

"Kaitlyn's," he said.

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