All Chapters of No Strings Attached: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

STORY TITLE: NO STRINGS ATTACHEDHaunted by the past, can a legend & a single mom find love? Hope you enjoy the story. *************Alex POVI stood at the doorway watching her. I don't like kids. I don't dislike them either, they simply don't exist in my day-to-day life so I don't really think about them much. But, something about the little girl was compelling. She was talking to a woman who was clearly her mother. They could have been twins, separated by 20 years and a few hundred dollars' worth of tattoos. The woman was shaking her head and the little girl was looking up at the acoustic guitar.Walking over, I took it off the wall. "Hey, I'm Alex. Did you wanna see the guitar?"The woman smiled but shook her head again. "Oh, no, thank you. She's just... Well, her uncle plays and she wants to. She, uh, gets excited.""Honestly? It's more of a prop than anything else. She's welcome to fool around with it. Worst-case scenario, we'll re-string it.""That's really kind, she'll be ca

Mike was the center of more urban legends than Ozzy.He was older now and retired from managing bands, but that hadn't mellowed him much. The thing that pissed him off the most? If anyone let it be known that he was actually the nicest guy they'd ever met. There was a local father and daughter duo that played charity gigs around the area. The girl played the violin, the father played pretty much anything else; guitar, another violin, bass, etc. Big Mike was visiting his mom at a senior center they played at when he saw them playing for the residents. They sold CDs after the shows and donated the money to homes for homeless vets.The quality was crap. Mike had to fix that. So that day, he had them in a studio and they were playing as we went over the books. Gratis. He also paid for the engineer and the artist who worked on the cover. His only condition was that they never, ever mention his involvement. He'd disappeared from the studio a number of times over the years for up to two week

"Smart ass," I muttered.She grin and crouched down near Leia. "Did you say thank you?"Leia gave me a hug again, mumbled a "thanks" and started towards their car. Em stood up and her shirt rose a little revealing a belly chain.A fucking belly chain. The hottest piece of jewelry a woman could wear. That just wasn't fair."See ya Tuesday, Alex. Thanks.'"Yeah. Not a problem."A fucking belly chain.Big Mike stopped me as I walked back through reception. "Hey, you put any thought into playing with that father-daughter band?""What the hell, Mike. I said no. I'll write them a check.""Coward.""Yeah? Go fuck yourself, you Polynesian wannabe!"I stormed off to my office. A few minutes later the phone rang."Yeah?""Italian good for lunch?""Sure. Get me some sort of pasta with chicken.""You got it. You're still a coward, but you're my coward. Make it a big check."I laughed.**Em POV"...hey soul sis... soul sister..."A sharp twang."Ain't that Mr. Mister on the... radio, stereo..."A

He chuckled a bit. "As interesting as vodka and grape soda sounds, I'm good with water."Yeah, it definitely wasn't a date.I poured him a glass of water and considered grabbing a beer for myself. Jimmy wasn't drinking, Alex wanted water... I sighed and grabbed a Diet Coke for myself.Dinner was a simple curry with rice, yet another sign that I hadn't realized I'd asked Alex on a date. I just wanted to make something that wasn't covered in processed cheese or ketchup. My kitchen was small to begin with and the addition of the silent tension between Alex and Jimmy was making it feel unmanageably cramped. By the time I put their plates in front of them, I was seriously regretting agreeing to this.The first few bites were taken in silence. I glanced at Jimmy.Please just say whatever the fuck you wanted to say. Please.I had to think it really hard at him a few more times before he finally put his fork down, took a breath, and steadied hands that I hadn't realized had been shaking."Lei

"Sure. Good deal.""Jimmy, you gotta be sober. That going to be an issue?""No. I haven't touched anything in more than three weeks and I'm going to keep that up. But maybe we should start Monday. That'll give me a month dry. Sort of a nice, round number. It's not too bad. I just need to sorta get my head straight. I don't want to be flipping out on people here because I want a drink.""Okay. If that's an issue, Big Mike can help. He's my sponsor.""Your... Seriously? You're in a program?""Yup.""Um, I don't think I'm at that point, but if it's worse than I thought, I'll let you know."I believed him. He didn't have the signs of an issue so bad he'd get DTs or serious withdrawals. He went home and I told Lini and Mike. He'd be stringing instruments, teaching lessons, playing for anyone that needed it and anything else we could think of.Towards the end of the day, I got a text from Em.How many kids would be performing?Not sure. 10? Maybe?U sure she's ready?They will all be at her