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"I can’t Avery needs ainst ive me incentive to work faster"

Dylan shifts me so our bodies are lined up and draws me even closer "Feel what you do to er you keep us here, the more difficult it will be for you to walk tomorrow"

After a quick peck on the lips that Dylan tries to turn into more, I hurry back behind the bar, before I don’t Sos turned out I’ the man whose poster spent years on my bedroom wall, the rockstar who helped put Lucky’s on the n behind the bar catches s

Lucky--

Twelve years earlier,

age thirteen

"Keep your eyes shut, Luciana"

Uh oh He’s using Luciana That usually randfather, Luciano Valentine My parents thought changing the o to an a would make it a more acceptable feminine name They’d planned to call me Luciana Alessandra Valentine, until I was born Apparently, my auburn hair and fair skin didn’t ?" Dad insisted I keep my eyes closed since we climbed the stairs froo

"We’re aluides h for a quick peep, but wherever he’s takinggone

Another couple of steps, the floor squeaks beneath us, and then I hear a light switch flip on

"Okay You can open up"

I openroouessed from the smell He’s snuck me into the back room at plenty of places like this, since the day I could walk "A bar? You brought me to a bar?"

He smiles "It’s not just any bar" Dad’s eyes meet mine "It’s ours"

"What do you mean, it’s ours?"

"Ito stay"

"Really?" The teenage I-don’t-give-a-crap attitude I wear leah in its place Of all the places we’ve lived, I love New York the most The trains, the sidewalks packed with people, even the blare of the cabbies’ horns sounds like urban music to my ears And I have a best friend here Oh to turn it into a karaoke bar" Dad lifts me up onto the dusty bar and points to a corner The die strewn over the floor, but I can see the vision through Dad’s excited eyes "We’re going to build a stage over there And over here"--he waves his hand toward the other side--"we’ll put little round tables for people to watch the singers"

"Can I sing on stage?"

My dad chuckles "Once we’re open, it will be over twenty-one only, squirt"

The enthusiasm I felt fades a bit My life has been filled with places I’m not really supposed to be Bars, clubs, festivals I’e I’ve heard some of the best bands play, but seen only a few perfore when you’re ready If it’s before you’re twenty-one, we’ll shut the bar down and have a private party Think your old h on drums to back you?"

"Do you think Mom will come?"

His face wilts a bit "I don’t know, Lucky She’s on the road a lot"

"Can I ask her?"

"Of course"

"So what’s the na it after my favorite woman"

"Iris sounds nice I’ about Iris? This place is ours I’ to call it Lucky’s"