Scars and Songs (56 page)

I gripped onto her hips, digging into her skin, raking my fingers up her body into the silky veil of her hair.  Her heavy shaking breaths touched down along my neck.  Stepping forward, I pressed against her body until she was leaning back against my bookshelves, next to the karaoke speakers.  Resting my forehead on hers, I clenched her hair tightly between my fingers, twisting and pulling back to force her to look up at me.  “Then lose yourself in me, Grace, just like I’ve lost myself in you.”

The next thing I knew, we were being yanked apart by Ethan and Alex who were drunkenly singing about
having chills that were multiplying, and that we’d better shape up, because we’re the ones they want
.  Yep, their rendition of
You’re the one that I Want
, dance steps and all
.

After their serenade to us, I slapped both Alex and Ethan in the back of the head, “Did you not see the intense moment I was having with her?  What the hell is wrong with the both of you?”

We were stumbling through an ocean of sweaty dancing bodies trying to make our way into my empty room to get the hell away from all the people.  Ethan turned on me laughing, “Shut it, it’s not like you were going to throw her a hump on the bookcase, at least not while everybody is here to watch.”

Alex stopped in his tracks at Ethan’s words, “Oh.  That.  Would.  Be…”  His red unfocused eyes looked at me teasing, “I will pay you to watch that.  Name your price.”

I smacked him upside the head again.  “Shut up,” I whined. 
Yeah, I whined
.   “You both ruined my moment.”

Laughing loudly, Alex threw his arm over my shoulder as we tried to catch up to Grace and the others in the crowd.  “You know, bro, I have a special cream for that whining
of yours, it’s called Shut the Hell up Cream. You rub it all over your junk so you can grow a pair of balls and tell the girl you love her already.”

Reaching my bedroom door, I elbowed Alex off me, “Yeah, thanks for the pep talk,” I chuckled and unlocked my door.  We all piled into my room and locked the door behind us.  Ethan held up another bottle of whiskey and we sat in a circle, taking turns drinking, as the sounds of the party surrounded us from the other sides of the walls.

I leaned my back against my bed.  Grace sat across from me, long legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles, her eyes never leaving mine.

Everyone talked around us, moving in fast motion.  Everything moved and shifted into my peripheral vision. Lea sitting on Conner’s lap laughing, Alex trying to sit on Ethan’s lap, Ethan wrestling him away cursing, and Brayden was juggling.  In the middle of it all, the chaos outside, and the chaos in, Grace sat peacefully.  All I could do was stare at her, watch the way she flung her head back in laughter, the way her legs rubbed against each other, or the way her skin slowly turned ivory to pink because my eyes could not look away.  I was in awe of the goose bumps that puckered along her arms and the rise and fall of her chest.  This wasn’t love that I felt.  This was beyond love; this was something
more
.  Whatever it was, it ached in my bones.

“Earth to Shane!  I asked you a question!”  Lea laughed, while pinching the skin on the inside of my thigh.  Tears stung my eyes, it hurt so bad.  Son of a monkey’s uncle.  Fuuuccck, she pinched with her nails and I thought I must be bleeding out all over the floor.  It hurts worse than being stabbed in the shoulder.  The burning sting traveled down my leg, shaking me free of my Grace Taylor tunnel vision.  I just wanted to yelp in pain, but I squeezed my lips together so no one could call me a pussy. 
What damn question had she asked me?  How hard I’d like to choke her? 
“Huh?” is what I managed to say, finally seeing everyone else around me.

Alex was leaning up against Grace and he was giggling.

“We were talking about believing in soul mates.  I.  Just.  Asked.  You.  If.  You.  Believe. 
In soul mates
,” she spoke slowly as if I was a foreign preschooler trying to understand English for the very first time.

My gaze leveled on Grace again and I could see her piercing silver orbs peeking out at me through long thick lashes, waiting.  I opened my mouth to speak, but she made me breathless, made my mind empty and my body shiver.

Alex chuckled low.  “Soulmate,” he said in a deep rumbling commercial-guy voice.  “What Satan himself puts in his morning coffee.  It’s good to the last drop.  Start your day in an apocalyptic way.  Get Soulmate at your local grocer, today.”

Lea pinched him in the exact same place as she pinched me.  He howled like a little kitten.  I smiled at Grace, “Hell yeah, I believe in them.”

Grace’s eyes fluttered closed and she tilted her head back against the wall and slid herself up.  “Let’s get out of here, I’m hungry.”

Jumping up, I unlocked the door and stepped out into the insanity of hallway.  Bright red lips were on me instantly, “There you are!” Bliss’s voice screamed as her arms wrapped around me.

Grace swore and gasped beside me, stepping herself away from us.

I shoved Bliss away scowling and reach
ed for Grace, “What the hell is wrong with you?”  I asked Bliss when my fingers found Grace’s.

Bliss smiled sweetly and tried to step in between Grace and I, “You sounded great singing.  We should do some work in the studio together, just you and me.”  She rubbed her hands up my chest, and Grace tried to let go of my hand, but I held on tight.

I tugged gently on Grace’s hand until she stood in front of me, “No thanks, Mad World is absolutely perfect the way it is right now,” I snapped.

The rest of Vixen4 slinked up behind Bliss, arms crossed like they had shit to say.  “Shane, you guys aren’t much fun anymore,” Cream snapped.

“Yeah.  You guys haven’t partied with us too much while we were here, what gives?” Essex pouted.  They were moving closer.

“Maybe it’s their new guitarist,” Scratch said.  She stood on her tiptoes to see around me to Grace and sneered, “What was your name again?”

Grace squeezed my hand and stepped out from behind me.  Locking eyes with Lea, that mischievous smile once again dancing over her lips, “I’m sorry, what did you say?  I’m not fluent in stupid drunk slut.”  Crossing her arms, she laughed, “I don’t remember.  Lea, did they offer that class in our high school?” 

That’s
my
girl.

Lea giggled nodding her head seriously, “Skank 101.  No we definitely didn’t take
that
nasty class.”

“Bitch,” Bliss snapped crossing her arms in front of her chest.
That was all she could think to say?

Okay, this is stupid and knowing Bliss, it was going to escalate into blows and then I’d have to hit a girl
.  I opened my mouth but Lea shoved me back.  Hard.  Alex’s heavy arm landed on my shoulder and he pulled me back a step.  “Relax, Shane.  Grace isn’t breakable,” he whispered.

Lea laughed loudly, “Oh, one syllable word war.  You don’t even need a brain to play that game!  Okay, my turn! CUNT!”  She was jumping up and down all excited.

Grace was shaking her head and waving her hands at Lea, “No, no no.  You can’t call her a cunt, she lacks the warmth and depth of one.  Slut is much better; it really fits her,
well
,
all
of them better.”

Bliss stomped her foot, “Fuck off, you stupid bitch!”

Lea growled, “That’s not one syllable.  Skank!”

“Ass,” Grace called making a funny face at Bliss.

“Whore,” Lea added.

“Ho!” Grace yelled, laughing.

“Cow,” Lea continued.  Alex mooed loudly next to me.

Bliss’s face burned a deep shade of red,
holy crap I think her head might explode!

Lea tilted her head, I think in wonderment of Bliss’s new skin tone, “Should we move to two syllables or phrases now?  It doesn’t look like they understand the game.”  Her cheeks puffed out, she was trying desperately not to laugh.

“Should we talk slower?” Grace asked annunciating every syllable slowly.

My body tensed when I heard Bliss’s throaty growl.  She pitched herself forward, launching her body at Grace, spitting and screaming.  Alex held me back tightly.

Like slow moving frames in a movie, Grace smiled like the sun had just come out of hiding on a cloudy day, stepped forward into Bliss’s lunge and smashed her fist right into Bliss’s mouth.  She didn’t even cringe when her fist hit, she didn’t even stumble back from the motion.

Bliss’s body slammed back against the wall and crumpled to the floor
.
  My eyes were on Grace instantly, shoving Alex out of the way to grab her around the waist. She immediately threw her arms up ready to block the other members of Vixen4, but none of them moved.  They just looked down at Bliss and laughed.  Ethan jumped in front of Grace, ready to defend her, and I swirled her around to face me.

“Well, hello there Mr. Rockstar,” she smiled up at me.

Pulling her closer, I slid my arms up her spine, “Hello yourself, Miss Ultimate Fighting Champ.”

Bringing her hands up around my neck, she pulled me forward and whispered over my lips, “Take me home, Shane.” 

When we got to the door, we were greeted by police officers, who were ending Vixen4’s little get together.  Ethan, Grace and I stayed for a few minutes making sure everyone left the apartment while Lea and Conner helped Brayden and Alex carry a passed out Tucker back to Grace’s apartment. 

As the police escorted the last of the partygoers out, Ethan, Grace and I stood in my destroyed apartment and cringed.  Grace’s eyes were wide as she took in the mess, “How the hell are we going to clean this up?”

Ethan laughed and walked to the door, shaking hands with the officers, who thank God we knew, so we didn’t get any summons
this time
. 
Or arrested.  Again
. 
Fucking Vixen4
.

Grabbing Grace by the waist, I lifted her over my shoulder as she giggled.  “Bliss’s problem.  She’ll call a cleaning service.”  I carried her, ass to the ceiling; one arm wrapped around the back of her thighs, out the door and locked it behind us.  “I seem to remember someone telling me in the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard to take them home.  And that’s the only thing on my mind right now, Gray.”

She smacked me on my ass and told me to walk faster. 

However, since I have the shittiest friends in the world, when we got there, Tucker and Alex were sound asleep on the floor in sleeping bags in Grace’s bedroom.  Brayden was snoring loudly on the couch and Lea was attempting to make hot chocolate for everyone.  Ethan plopped his ass on one of the chairs in the living room and laughed at us.

Fuck that.  I grabbed a huge metal frying pan and a metal spoon and clanged it loudly over Alex’s head while screaming.  The douche snored louder.  Tucker didn’t even move.  I wondered if he was still even breathing, but then I didn’t really care, so I left the room.  I walked back into the living room, burdened with a pair of giant blue balls and watched a horror movie with the rest of the cockblocking idiots.

Grace sat on the floor with her back against the couch, leaning her shoulder up against my leg.  In the middle of the first movie, she tilted her head on my knee and I played with her hair, twirling the silky strands between my fingers.  She turned her head to look up at me and I twisted her hair in my fingers tighter.  I leaned my face down to hers, pulling her hair back.  “Come to bed with me,” I said.

Letting her hair fall free from my hands, I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her up gently.  Holding her hand, I led her through the hallway into her bedroom.  She turned to face me in her room, gave me a cute little pout and nodded toward our two sleeping friends. I just shrugged and pulled her against my body, “I’m just dying to put my arms around you,” I whispered.  With our body’s touching, I walked her towards her bed, my lips hovering over hers, reaching past her to pull down the cover on her bed. 

She crawled into bed and I slid in after her, molding my body with hers.  She turned her body towards me so our faces were almost touching.  Pale moonlight fell gently across her bed through the open curtains.

I brushed a loose hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear and skimmed my fingertips over her neck.  She shivered.  “Tell me more about Gabriel,” I whispered.

“I really don’t want to talk about him, Shane.  I don’t want you anywhere near him either.  He’s a monster,” she murmured.

I leaned my head on my arm and stared deeply into her eyes wishing she would tell me everything, wishing she would just ask me who I was, so I could just smile and without really telling her,
tell her
.  “I promise Grace, I won’t let him hurt you.  I’ll stay here with you every night if I have to.”

“I believe you.  And I think you staying here every night might make me feel a little itsy bitty bit better,” she giggled and showed me how little by bringing her index finger to her thumb.

I brushed my thumb over her lips, “The way you sang to me tonight, was…you just completely took my breath away, Grace,” I whispered.   My body inched closer to her, we were completely touching, everywhere along our bodies.