Haunted (22 page)

“I’ll stay with him, thank you,” I said to Star.

I let Devon wrap himself around me and I held him, stroking his back and trying to calm him. He still hadn’t fully awakened. He was crying and shaking. It took another few minutes until his breathing leveled out and he was back to sleep. Obviously our discussion hit him hard and his subconscious wasn’t done dealing with it.

The room started to grow lighter with the rising sun. I looked down at Devon to find him finally at peace. I smiled and kissed his forehead. He snuggled closer and then opened one eye in surprise.

“Jaylene? Hmmmm, Jaylene. I thought I was dreaming. Am I dreaming?”

I smiled down at him. “No, it’s me. You were having a bad dream. Are you ok now?”

He nodded. “No bad dreams. Not with you here.”

He was so unbelievably adorable. His hair spilled over his cheeks and his lips curled into a smile as he pulled me closer. In minutes he was back asleep, snoring softly. Lying with him like this was bittersweet. He was still painfully beautiful to look at, but even more so now because I knew that as much fun as we were having and as much as he thought he was going to be with me when this was over, I couldn’t feel confident in that.

Before the moment was totally ruined for me he shifted again, rolling onto his back and pulling me across his chest. I waited until he was snoring again before trying to extricate myself.

Once out of his death grip, I crept downstairs needing to be moving around. My back was stiff from lying at a weird angle and my head was starting to spin with all kinds of non-productive thinking. I ended up in the kitchen and used what I could find to put together a breakfast casserole. I put it in the oven to cook, poured myself an OJ and went out back to enjoy the rest of the sunrise. The morning was chilly but the promise of a warm spring day was in the air. There were birds circling the tall ferns in the corner and others dipping in the fountain’s water for a quick bath. The sky was all pinks and purples like a watercolor painting. I wished I had my sketchbook. Instead, I made myself just sit and enjoy the quiet. It did a lot to calm me.

I went back inside in time to check on the casserole and leave it in the warmer for the guys. I still had some restless energy in me so I went into their makeshift weight room, spied an iPod and headphones someone had left behind, and I hit the treadmill. The music selection was decent. I chose some Queen, and I was jogging at a good pace when Jade came in dragging his feet.

“Good morning, Jaylene,” he said quietly before putting his own headphones in and starting on some free weights.

I waved to him and was glad I could take a few minutes longer to put my thoughts in order for the day. First, I would go upstairs and take a shower. Second, I would call Mackenzie to check in and ask her to bring a few of my sketchbooks so I could find the drawings I had done for Maggie. I wanted to show them to the guys. Third, get these guys to finish with the pictures. Then, take my sketchbook outside and work in the sun. I wanted some time alone today and I hoped I could work it.

I heard voices in the kitchen as I passed by. Star spotted me.

“Jaylene, thith ith delishuth,” he said with an obviously full mouth.

He, Mage, and Marcus were all gathered around the casserole dish eating my creation with sighs and grunts. And no silverware, eww.

“Thanks, glad you guys like it. I’m going to take a shower. Anything planned for the day besides practice?”  

Mage said with an equally full mouth, “Shewy ith coming tonighth.”

“Great, I’m looking forward to meeting her. See you guys later.”

They waved and I was glad to see they were at least taking breaths between shoveling more food in their mouths.

I went straight to my room and promptly ran out of steam. Instead of the shower, I fell on the bed and crashed.

Sometime later I woke up to the sound of nervous throat clearing. I opened one eye and found Mage, Jade and Star all sitting around the edge of my bed.

“Kinda creepy to be watched while you’re sleeping. What time is it?”  

They looked at each other and Jade cleared his voice again.

“It’s 3:30. We wouldn’t have woken you up, but Devon was worried when you were still sleeping and he had to go.” He looked to my nightstand and nodded. “Those are from him. He wanted to give them to you himself, but he and Marcus went to pick up Sherry and take her to dinner.”

On my nightstand was a gigantic bouquet of the most lovely coral, pink, and purple roses. Coral fell under the category of passion and desire, the pink for gratitude. Purple meant enchantment, as in love at first sight or something of equal magnitude. Whoa. I was curious if he knew just what message he was sending with them, then figured he probably did since it was an unusual combination. They were unbelievably lovely. I looked back at the guys, the stupid smile still on my face.

“I’m sorry I slept so long. The last thing I remember was sitting down for a minute before I was going to take a shower.”

They chuckled and Star said, “Yeah, I guess that’s what happens when you hang around with us. We don’t keep a real consistent schedule. You were up the whole night after all. I’m not surprised you needed the sleep.”

I sat up and smoothed my hair back, thinking that these guys have sure seen me at my worst and they hadn’t run for cover. “So why did just Marcus and Devon go to meet with Sherry?”  

Mage answered, “They thought it would be better if they just went alone. We’re not where we are supposed to be with the album and she’s not going to be happy. So yeah, they are going to take the brunt of it, explain our plans.”

Uh oh. That didn’t sound good.

“Is she going to be really mad?” I was still confused by this whole deadline thing. “I mean, it’s not like you’ve all been hanging out in the Bahamas, drinking fruity beverages. She can’t rush genius!” They were smiling at me and I just raised my eyebrow. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”  

They blushed a little and Star said, “You sounded a little like Maggie right then. She was always standing up for us.”

I crossed my arms. “Well, it’s true! And you have a plan, right? Right! So, is she coming back tonight?” They nodded. “Ok, so let’s finish the pictures and see what we can come up with. Then after she’s gone, we can all talk some more. I have an idea, but I need Mackenzie to bring me some of my books, is that ok?”

“SURE! Of course, Mackenzie can totally come over tonight.”

Star was bouncing with excitement. I winked at him and he beamed back at me.

“Now I really need that shower. I’ll meet you guys downstairs.”

They got up and left in a hurry and a minute later I heard the three of them practicing. I took a shower and got myself cleaned up, putting on one of my dresses. I thought I should dress up before meeting this woman. She seemed so nice when we spoke on the phone, but now that I’d met the boys, I felt protective over them. They were vulnerable and sweet under their heavy metal glamour. And they were in pain. I hoped she realized that if she continued to push them they would be worse off than they were now. I tried to keep myself from getting angry, I didn’t know the whole story and I was just a hired hand.

After my shower, I called Mackenzie and told her what I needed.

“Of course I will be there, no need to ask me twice! What time?”  

I told her I'd call her with a time to come over and we hung up with a giggle. I knew Star was excited to see her. I smiled at the memory of them curled up on the couches, their heads next to each other. It was a rare moment of innocence and it made me hopeful. Hopeful that these guys could all beat this and find happiness.

Before I left my room, I lightly touched the petals of the bouquet and inhaled the sweet fragrance of the roses. This man was too perfect. He was beautiful, he was thoughtful and sensitive, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he was trying to charm the pants off me. All of his actions didn’t compute with the shy, awkward guy the others tried to make him out to be. He seemed to really know what he was doing. I’d always heard you needed to beware of the quiet ones. Now I knew what they meant! I was falling hard for him. I had to admit it. And this was going to hurt, a lot. But right now it wasn’t about me, or even my feelings. It was about getting Devon and the others on their feet so they could do what they needed to do.

Marie was in the kitchen when I went downstairs, so I asked her if I could help her finish dinner. When she saw me she grabbed me into a tight hug.

“Bless you, dear. I heard what you did for my boy last night.”

I pulled back and shrugged. “He was having some sort of nightmare. Has he had these before?”

She nodded grimly. “After he came home it seemed like every night I heard him screaming in his sleep. I would run in and find him curled up on the floor. I tried to help him, but all I could do was cover him up and hope he got back to sleep. He was a wreck, tired all the time. He stopped eating. Being back here with the guys at least has brought his appetite back.” She laughed and gave me a mischievous grin. “You have heard where their name came from by now, haven’t you?”  

I shook my head, anxious to hear. “I assumed it had something to do with Maggie.”

She giggled. “They had a studio at my place in the garage. They were trying to come up with a name for their new band. They had all these tough names like ‘Love Blade’ and ‘Universal Foe’ and when they called Maggie and asked her, she snickered and told them, “Boys, you’re just a bag of bones, not some tough guys. That should be your name, Bag of Bones.” They decided on Maggie’s Bones after they got to LA. They were a scrawny bunch back then. They would eat and eat and try to compare their sad excuses for muscle. I had such a hard time not laughing. Maggie never held back. She told them just how much work they needed, had them seeing trainers and eating right, working out. Well, they’ve just turned out to be the best bunch of young men. I’m so proud of them!” She had tears in her eyes and I smiled at her.

“As well you should be, Marie. It’s refreshing to be around guys my age and a little younger who actually respect women and can hold a conversation.”

She chuckled. “That’s another thing you can thank Maggie for. She practically beat it into them from the time they were small. Devon’s father was also on them about being respectful.” She frowned for a moment. “I’m not sure it sunk in with Marcus. That boy, he worries me.”

“All it’s going to take is one woman to put him in his place and that will cure him of his lothario ways!” She agreed with me and we plotted how that scenario would play out.

Dinner was ready then and the five of us ate together, waiting for the others to return. The guys were quiet. I think they were worried about what Sherry would say.

Around 7:30 we heard the back door open and the roar of screams and laughter filtered in. The door slammed shut and Marcus came forward with Sherry behind him, Devon bringing up the rear.

“Well, my friends. Our little hideaway has been discovered. We got recognized at Antoine’s and unfortunately they followed us back. There are probably about twenty screaming women out there right now.” Marcus only seemed slightly bothered by this pronouncement.

Devon, on the other hand, was visibly frustrated, but when his eyes found mine, his face relaxed into a hesitant grin. I smiled back and mouthed, “Thank you,” to him. He nodded and winked, prompting me to blush profusely just in time for Sherry to march up and stick out her hand.

“And you must be the Tattoo Girl! So glad to meet you in the flesh.”

She was a stunning woman. Her corkscrew curls bounced playfully and her features and shape were super model material. She had the most gorgeous caramel coloring and huge green eyes shaped like a cat’s. She was dressed in black slacks with a lime-green sleeveless blouse. Her handshake was firm and enthusiastic.

“Nice to meet you too. How was dinner?”  

She looked at Marcus and back to me. “I’m in New Orleans! It was fantastic! I have to say I’ve been secretly excited that they came here so I’d have an excuse to visit and eat my way through town.”

I looked down at her perfect shape and thought she was probably exaggerating.

“That is one of the more dangerous aspects of this fair city.” She smiled back at me.

“So I’m ready to hear what you guys have been working on. I understand it’s not where you want to be but that’s ok.”

The guys got ready to play. A few nervous glances were exchanged. Sherry and I sat on chairs a ways back from where they were playing. She grabbed a pair of earplugs out of her handbag and I found my box. We made small talk while they warmed up, but when they started playing, it was too loud to hear each other.

They played the four heavy songs that they’d worked out and they all sounded great. Some of the lyrics were unfinished, but Marcus had explained to Sherry that the songs were still rough. She alternated between smiling appreciatively and listening with her business side. I could only imagine that she was thinking about which songs would sell.

Then Devon grabbed his acoustic and sat down to play ‘Heavy’ for her. This time, however, Marcus sang it. I guess I missed him learning it today. While I much preferred Devon’s voice, (I know, so bad of me) Marcus was doing a nice job of adding some vulnerability to the words. Sherry frowned a little when the song started, but by the end she was tearing up as well.

When they finished, it was quiet like it was the first time, but they were all looking at Sherry. She pulled a tissue out of her handbag and just stared back.

“Wow. That was beautiful. Different, but beautiful. It’s for her, isn’t it?”  

Devon nodded and looked at me. Sherry looked at me out of the corner of her eye, picking up on whatever was traveling the ether between us.

“So that’s what you have? It’s a start. How do you guys feel?”

The guys shrugged.

Mage spoke up. “It’s ok, ‘Heavy’ is a for sure I think. But we’ve also talked about changing the focus a little, writing more about us and about Maggie. ‘Heavy’ fits in perfect for that. Jaylene has been talking to us and we want to make this a really personal album.” He looked to Marcus to make sure he wasn’t speaking out of turn. Marcus smiled and nodded.