Fulfillment (Book 3 in The Temptation Series) (39 page)

I winked at
her and put my finger to my lips. “Shhh, it’s a secret for
Bryce.”

Standing back
up, I smoothed down the front of my pink floral patterned dress.
I’d pinned my hair up on purpose, making sure it was neatly secured
and out of my way.

“You’ll be
fine,” Lucy said as she stood, giving my hand a quick squeeze. She
then proceeded to direct Charlotte back to the table. I continued
on and stepped up on the stage, taking a deep breath before turning
around. When I did turn around I found Bryce’s eyes and his eyes
only, causing an overwhelming calm to roll across me. I smiled at
him and his brow furrowed.

Derek stepped
up to the stool I was standing by and handed me Bryce’s guitar,
having prepared it for me moments ago. I put the strap over my head
and took a seat on the stool, adjusting the microphone
comfortably.

As I
repositioned it, I spoke to the crowd, but my message was for one
person. “Hello everyone. I have to let you all in on a little
secret. You see, for the past few months, I have been learning to
play the guitar for the sole purpose of performing here today as a
surprise for someone who means the world to me.” I allowed my eyes
to find Bryce’s again. “This special someone and I suffered a great
tragedy recently, and in amongst that tragedy, I came to realise
that I couldn’t live without him. He always finds ways to support
me and give me everything that I could possibly want or need. So I
wanted to give him something back, something only I could give him.
Bryce, this is from me to you.”

His face was
emotionless, but not in a bad way. I think he was in shock in some
way or another. I looked down and positioned my fingers and began
strumming, counting the 6/8 time signature. Derek joined in,
playing his part and smiling encouragingly at me. I looked up
again, deliberately finding Bryce as I sang the opening line. He
adjusted his seated position, leaning forward with his elbows
balanced on his knees and his hand covering his mouth. He shook his
head in disbelief, which made me smile through the lyrics as I
continued to play the song.

When I got to
the chorus, I emphasized that he was my only exception by looking
deep into his eyes and singing the words to him and him only. He
repeated the shaking of his head at me, shock and disbelief still
plastered across his face. Lucy gave him a loving nudge to the
shoulder but he didn’t take his eyes from mine.

As I began the
second verse, I relaxed a little and swayed to the rhythm, closing
my eyes and letting the song absorb me. I sang like this until the
song escalated into the chorus, which was when I reopened my eyes
to find Carly, Nate, Charli and the rest of the band smiling and
swaying along with me. The fact that I had naturally closed my eyes
stunned me a little, instantly worrying me that I may have stuffed
up my playing in one way or another. Ironically, worrying if I had
stuffed up or not, caused me to then accidently miss a chord, but
luckily it was the chord that Derek played along with me, so my
mistake would’ve gone unnoticed to majority of the room. I gave
Derek a knowing look, but he just continued to smile
reassuringly.

So I stepped
it up a little and held the final note in the chorus, deciding I
would do what I had informed Derek I wanted to do. I stood up and
removed my guitar, gently placing it on my stool, then I grabbed
the microphone from the stand with the intention to concentrate
more on my vocals. As the song escalated during the bridge, I
started to make my way down off the stage, just like Bryce had done
when he played the guitar solo for me. I watched his expression
change from awed disbelief to amusement as I slowly stepped toward
him singing the lyrics in the bridge. I stopped just in front of
him and held the longest note before the final chorus then dropped
my hand from the microphone to touch his face as I once again told
him he was the only exception. He placed his hands on top of mine
and pressed them to the side of his face then pulled me to him,
forcing me to sit on his lap. I giggled a lyric as he helped
position me comfortably on top of him, wrapping his arms around my
back and across my lap.

I looked into
his eyes as I sang the final line, and no longer able to hold in my
emotion, I let a tear fall to my cheek. He reached up and wiped it
tenderly with his finger then pulled me down to kiss him. The crowd
then broke into applause, some even sounding a few wolf whistles,
but I didn’t pull away, my lips were stuck on his—perfectly
attached. He threaded his fingers through my hair and tightened his
grip as his tongue found mine, lovingly caressing it with
passionate strokes. Eventually, he loosened his grip and released
me from his kiss.

“You are
incredible. I’m...” He shook his head and looked down, his eyes
level with my chest. “I’m just so...” He looked back up to my face.
“I...thank you—”

I interrupted
him, seeing he was struggling for words. “You’re welcome. Sometimes
it’s easier to hide something furtively than it is to hide it
blatantly,” I said with a sneaky smile, reversing his earlier
explanation.

“Nice work,
Alexis,” said Will, while tilting his beer in my direction. “Now we
can finally get rid of Derek.”

Derek stopped
by the chair Bryce and I were sitting on. “I heard that,
arsehole.”

I climbed off
of Bryce’s lap and stood up, giving Derek a hug. “Thank you so
much. But, fuck I’m glad that is over.” I whispered into his
ear.

He chuckled
and pulled away. “You did great.”

I rolled my
eyes. “I did miss that chord.”

“What chord?”
he said with a shrug of his shoulders, obviously trying to dismiss
my mistake.

Bryce stood up
and shook Derek’s hand. “Thanks, Mate. Although, I’m not too sure
what to think about your ability to spend so much time with my girl
behind my back without me knowing.”

Derek patted
Bryce on the back. “You should be worried about that, Mate,” he
said playfully before he moved away to pull up a chair next to
Carly.

“Mum?”

I turned to
Charlotte. “Yes, Sweetheart.”

“Do you want
to be in my band?” she offered like quite the bargaining
professional. “You can play the guitar and help me sing the songs.
I’ll be the lead singer though.”

I laughed and
ran my hand down her head. “Sure. I’d love to.”

Bryce insisted
I take my seat back on his lap while the band finished their drinks
before having to get up to perform their final set. He made his
possession of me quite obvious through his touch, whether it was
his hand placed on my lap or his fingers that gently caressed my
lower back. Every now again I would catch him staring up at me or
at my hands, and when I did catch him staring at my hands I would
move them to find his, seizing them and breaking his trance.

“Are you
alright? You seem a bit lost in thought?” I whispered as I leaned
back into him.

He
inconspicuously moved my hair away from my neck and with a voice no
louder than my own, breathed out. “I’m just thinking about all the
ways I can show you how much I fucking enjoyed that performance,
how fucking perfect it was and how fucking perfect you are.”

I took a sip
of my wine and swallowed heavily.

“If you are
not already carrying our next child, my love, you will be by the
end of the night.”

I leaned
forward and put my glass down then turned back to him. “Well, best
you hurry up and finish this set. We have work to do.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN

Bryce, Derek,
Will, Matt, and Lucy played the remainder of their gig, and I
watched the ease with which they all complimented each other. None
of them were serious die hard musicians in a sense that they wanted
to live and breathe performing, they all just seemed to casually
enjoy being able to get together and play for a group of people. I
wondered if, at any stage during the past, they’d wanted to become
a professionally-signed band. My curiosity would have to be
addressed later.

Now that the
gig was coming to a close, I found myself starting to think about
my pending conversation with Rick, the one I planned on having with
him when we dropped Nate and Charli off at the house. A year of
separation between the two of us was fast approaching, and I needed
to discuss with him my wish to apply for a divorce. I didn’t really
know how he would react to my request, and it worried me that it
would ruin the good progress we had made with each other of
late.

“Ready to go?”
Bryce asked, as he slid his hand across my back, resting it on my
hip.

“No, Alexis
and I need the ladies room,” Carly insisted.
Do I?
I gave
Carly an unsure glance, her expression enforcing that I did.
Oh,
okay...I do need the loo.

“Be back in a
minute. I’ll meet you at the car.” I gave him a quick peck on the
lips and followed Carly to the bathroom.

As we pushed
through the door, I gave Carly my questioning stare. “So why the
last minute toilet trip?”

“Because I
need to go,” she answered flatly.

Okay, well
I guess I’ll go too.
I entered the cubicle next to her. “Why
else?” I probed further as I awkwardly relieved myself.

“Because I’m
still shitting bricks,” she divulged.
Not the best choice of
words while in the toilet, Carls.

“Literally or
figuratively speaking, Carls? We are in the loo, remember?”

“Figuratively,
you idiot! I’m terrified of having sex with Derek, and clearly he
wants it...tonight!”

“Carls, for
God’s sake just screw the man. What is wrong with you? I’ve never
seen you this apprehensive about intimacy, ever!” I flushed the
toilet and made my way to the sink.

Carls followed
shortly after. “I don’t fucking know. I hate this feeling. What.
The. Fuck, is this feeling?”

“I think it’s
lurrvvee,” I purred like an adolescent idiot.

She shrugged
it off. “Pfft. It’s not love. I barely know him.”

I flicked
water at her head, getting her attention. “You love him.”

She wiped her
head and made a spitting noise at me. “You’re disgusting.”

“Well, you are
falling for him at least. That’s the only explanation.”

She looked at
her reflection in the mirror as if she were trying to catch herself
in a lie. “Urgh! You’re right. I think I’m falling in love with
him, and I haven’t even seen his cock yet. This is insane.”

I moved to the
hand dryer, raising my voice over the loud hum. “No, it’s not. It’s
exciting and wonderful, and the first time you have sex with him is
going to be great.”

A smile teased
at the corner of Carly’s mouth as she joined me to dry her
hands.

“Go home
Carls. Shave your legs, arms, pussy and toes if you have to—”

“I don’t have
hairy toes. Who has hairy toes?”

“Shave
whatever needs shaving, then moisturize and do all the fucked up
shit we think we have to do before we let a man see us naked. Then
make sure you practice your alphabet to loosen the muscles in your
face.” I started empathising the letters ‘A’ and ‘O’ opening my
mouth wide, suggestively. “When was the last time you sucked cock?
It’s been a while hasn’t it? You would’ve told me, otherwise.”

She sheepishly
looked away. “Fuck off.”

“Yeah, I
thought as much.”

“Well, I’m not
telling you anymore.” She walked past me and pushed the door open
back out onto the rooftop.

“Oh yes you
will. I want a phone call first thing tomorrow morning.”

***

Bryce and I
drove to my former house to deliver the kids to Rick for the next
few days. He invited us in for a drink which we accepted, however,
it was slightly strange sitting at my former dining table, in my
former house with my former husband. Strange as it was though, it
was exactly that...the former. The past. History. And in order to
move on from history, I needed to get the wheels of my divorce in
motion, I just didn’t know how to break it to Rick. Letting my
nerves get the better of me, I decided to chicken out and tell him
another time, and as we made our way out of the house, Rick must’ve
picked up on my withholding of information—he was always good at
sensing my reluctance.

“Lex, you got
a minute?” he asked, as Bryce and I stepped out the front door. I’d
already kissed the kids goodbye, and they were now out playing in
the backyard.

“Sure,” I said
hesitantly.

Bryce gave
Rick a courteous nod. “I’ll wait in the car.”

Claire had
remained inside.

Once Bryce was
in the car I turned back to Rick. “What’s up?”

“You tell me?
We might no longer be happily married, Lex, but I can still tell
when you are stewing on something.” He leaned his weight on the
door frame and crossed his arms confidently.

“Um...I just
didn’t want to do it like this,” I said sadly as I twiddled my
fingers.

“Just say it,
Lex.”

“After
Christmas, I’m going to get Bernie to prepare an Application for
Divorce.” I looked at him hesitantly but he didn’t flinch. “Once
the application is complete, the process is fairly straight
forward, and a hearing date will be set. You don’t have to attend
the hearing if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s
alright, I’ll attend. Just let me know what you need,” he said
calmly.

His placid
demeanour kind of threw me off a little. I’d half expected him to
fly off the handle with anger then compose himself shortly after
and apologise like he normally would. But he didn’t, he just
casually accepted my information.

A confused
smile started to creep across my face, forcing one on his. “Lex, I
think you said to me a while back... ‘It is what it is’.”

I nodded.
“Yeah, I did.”

“Well, you
were right. It is what it is. I lost you and you lost me. We can’t
change that, nor should we try. You are happy now, I can see that.
And I’m becoming happy, too. Hopefully not before long you will
also see that.”