Fading (52 page)

"Is it always this busy?" I ask.

"On Fridays and Saturdays, yeah." When his cell buzzes, he pulls it out of his pocket and says, "Mark and Jase just got here." Setting it down on his desk, he tells me, "I love that you're here," and then kisses my shoulder.

When there is a knock on the door, Ryan says, "Come in."

"Hey, guys," Jase says as he walks in. When he demands a hug, I get up off of Ryan's lap and walk over to him.

He folds his arms around me and leans in close to my ear, whispering, "I'm proud of you."

I sigh and squeeze my arms a bit tighter around him. Pulling back, I ask, "Where's Mark?"

"Downstairs. He said he'd find you before the band goes on."

"Oh, okay."

"Are you coming down to watch?"

"I...well, Ryan has some work to do, so I was just going to stay up here."

Jase tilts his head and shakes it.

"What?"

"Candace, at least go down for a couple songs."

"Did you see how many people are down there?"

"Yeah, sweetie. The same amount that are always here, and nothing has ever happened."

Looking over at Ryan, he shrugs his shoulders in agreement, and says, "I'll have Max stay with you."

I flop down on one of the chairs in front of Ryan's desk and think for a moment before saying, "I don't want everyone touching me."

"If Max is with us, trust me, you'll have breathing room."

"He's right," Ryan assures.

I take a moment before saying, "All right."

Ryan smiles at me as he picks up the phone and pushes some buttons before saying, "Hey, Mel, send Max up to my office."

I turn around when the door opens and Mark bounds in excitedly. "Hell, I thought it was a lie. I can't believe you're here."

"Tone that shit down," Ryan says to him as I stand up and give Mark a hug.

"I just wanted to see you before I go on. You coming down?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome. Well, I gotta go. Love that you came." He leans down, kisses my forehead, and then heads out at the same time as Max walks in.

"Hey, Max, Candace is going down with Jase. I don't want you to leave her side, got it?"

"What about the door?"

"I'll get Chase to take care of it." Ryan gets up from his seat and walks over to me. "You want me to come down with you?"

"No, it's fine. I haven't talked to Jase all week, so..."

"Are you okay with Max?"

"Yeah. It'll be fine." Even though it makes me uncomfortable, I know Ryan is protective over me and wouldn't leave me with anyone that's less than completely trustworthy.

"Okay. Let me take care of a few things, and I'll come down in a bit."

Nodding my head at him, he leans down to kiss me. When we walk out into the hall, Ryan calls for Max to come back to his office.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," he tells me and then walks into Ryan's office and shuts the door. It's only a short minute when he walks back out and leads me back downstairs into the throngs of people. Holding me safely under his arm, he moves us across the busy room, and I see him nod his head at some people who are sitting at a table. They quickly grab their drinks and free up the seats for us.

"Shit, Max, why have you never helped me out like that before?" Jase jokes.

"Because you're not the boss' girlfriend," he responds with a condescending kiss in the air.

I laugh at Max as he sits down next to me, and Jase leaves to go to the bar and grab some drinks.

"So how long have you worked here?" I ask.

"About three years. Ryan and I go to the same gym, so we were friends before he hired me."

"Here we go," Jase says when he returns with a bucket of beers. Popping the top for me, he hands me a bottle.

Max sits silently beside me as Jase and I start talking about this past week. I tell him everything that we did, and we talk a little about Donna when Mark's band takes the stage. When they start playing, I am impressed with their sound. It reminds me a lot of the Silversun Pickups.

"They're really good," I yell over at Jase.

"Yeah, I know. I knew you'd like them," he yells back.

We continue to sit there and drink our beers while listening to the band. I can't believe it took me so long to come here. I feel happy and relaxed being here with Jase and finally getting to hear one of my closest friends play. The room is chaotic and noisy and I have no concept of time, but when I feel Ryan's arms wrap around my waist from behind, I know I've been down here for a while.

He nuzzles my neck and gives me a nip before saying, "You having fun?"

"Yeah. I had no idea how good they were."

"They've really been bringing in the crowds since they started playing here. Been trying to figure shit out because they aren't sure if they are still going to play after this summer. A couple of the guys are graduating with Mark, so we'll see."

A girl in a tight black tank top with the word 'BLUR' written across her chest, like Max's, approaches the table with a beverage tray in her hands. She sets the tray on the table, and while she is placing our empty bottles on it, she says, "So this is the girl that finally took you off the market," while looking at me. She doesn't give my stomach a chance to knot up when she gives me a warm smile. "I'm Mel." She reaches over to shake my hand and continues, "It's great to finally put a face to the name. Ryan never shuts up about you."

She laughs as she rushes away, not giving Ryan a chance to say anything.

He leans down to my ear and tells me, "She's worked here for years, you'll like her."

When I give him a side stare, he says, "Don't worry, she's married."

I shake my head and turn my attention back to the stage as I lean back in Ryan's arms.

It feels good to finally be here in Ryan's world. It's always felt weird to me to not be involved in such a big part of his life. I guess it must be the same way he felt about never seeing me dance. Finally being able to link these two missing pieces, I feel more connected to who he is.

For the past several weeks, Ryan has been good with me only staying with him a few nights a week, and although he complains, I know he understands. Kimber and I still don't really talk that much, but she has asked about Ryan and I have opened up to her a little about him. She is still dating Seth, even though she says it's not too serious. She told me he was accepted into graduate school at UCLA, so there is no reason for her to get too attached. She's convincing when she says that they are both just having fun together at this point.

I talked to Roxy the other day about changing my tattoo. She wanted to know why I wasn't happy with it, so I just told her that I wanted it to be more of a reflection of who I am now. She didn't really understand, and of course, I didn't expect her to. But I came to the decision to simply have the heart shaded in. I didn't want to add to it to make it any larger than what it already is. I like that it's tiny. I didn't realize until I fell in love with Ryan how full my heart could actually be, so having the empty heart on my hip filled in only makes sense. Ryan loved that idea and went with me yesterday to get it done.

I was a nervous wreck, the same as I was when I first got it. Jared was quick, and it didn't hurt too bad. Ryan held my hand through the short process, and now I have a solid black heart instead of the empty outline. Even though it's the same, it feels very different to me. I love Ryan for helping me transform something that was filled with such bad memories into something that now makes me happy when I look at it. I think of him when I see it, and I love that he was able to give that to me.

While I was going through my drawers and getting rid of old clothes, I ran across Detective Patterson's card again. I held it in my hands and thought about how I first met Jack and how quickly it spun out of control. I'm not even sure if too much time has passed to call. Not that I would call. I don't really know what to do about it all. I have always just assumed I would leave it be and move on.

But then the thought crept into my head that if he did that to me, then he has the potential to do it to someone else. What if he already has done it to someone else? What if I wasn't the first? What if there is a girl out there just like me? I wondered if he was seeing anyone; if he had a girlfriend now. She has the right to know what kind of guy she's with. But the thought of having people know what happened to me, having to talk about it, I'm terrified it could break me. Even though Ryan assures me that I did nothing wrong, I still feel responsible for sending Jack over the edge and leading him on.

After a while, I give up on thinking too much about it all and slip the card back into my sock drawer. If I was going to do anything about it, I should have done it already. I need to just let it go, but for some reason, I can't bring myself to throw the card away.

Ryan and I jog up the steps of my house after our morning run. It's still early out, and the sun is just starting to rise behind the grey clouds that blanket the city. Once inside, we each grab a bottle of water and go back to my room so I can clean up.

Shutting the door, he walks up behind me and starts planting kisses on the back of my neck. I reach up and wrap my hand behind his damp neck. His kisses make me shiver, and he grazes his lips over my ear and says, "I want you in your bed."

It may sound weird, but we haven't ever had sex in my bed, but then again, Ryan rarely spends the night here with me and the few times that he has, Kimber was home, and it made me feel uncomfortable with her in the next room. But she is gone this morning, and the way his kisses are affecting me, I don't want to say no.

Turning around in his arms, I start tugging up his shirt. He reaches over his head and pulls it off at the same time I take mine off. We stumble over to the bed and when we collapse on it, we are a tangled mess, fumbling to get each other's clothes off. Running my lips down his neck and along his broad shoulders, I taste the salt on his skin. I knot my fingers in his sweaty hair and pull him down on me.

My body bows into his when he grinds his hips into me, pushing himself deep inside me, and we begin to move together. Reaching behind my back, he pulls us onto our sides, and I wrap my leg around his waist pulling him closer to me. We lie face-to-face, flushed and panting, as he grips tightly onto my thigh.

We don't speak, and with our foreheads connected, we keep our eyes locked while he takes his time with me. Never rushing. Never in a hurry.