September Rain Bk 2, Savor The Days Series (33 page)

Pushing him back down to the bed, I
took his hands and stretched them out at his sides, then, began
trailing my lips from his palm, up along his arm, to his wonderful
strong shoulder. I went for his neck, suckling at his hot skin.
Jake held my head and leaned his back. When I sat up to examine my
handy work, a large red love bite marked his creamy
skin.

Jakes’ eyes were dancing as he sat up,
placing a hand on either side of my face. “‘I wish I was Adam. Then
you’d be my Eve. And you would know it’s true when I say you were
made for me.’ Do you get it?”

My chest filled with his sweetness.
Heat blossomed in my belly. He was reciting the last lines from my
song. And the way he said it, I knew he really felt that way.
“Jake. You’re my Shakespeare.”

He rolled his eyes, but those lips of
his came down with righteous enthusiasm. He scraped his palms over
me, digging his fingers into my hips. He lifted me from his lap and
laid me down on my back. His mouth was soft, moving languidly over
me; making me want to scream and cry, and thank him for loving me.
Or for breathing. His existence made the word a better
place.

The delicious feeling of being
everything to the man I loved danced inside my chest. I reached for
him. He pulled me up from the bed until I was on back his lap.
Cocooning me in his embrace, his tongue parted my lips; dancing
against mine and filling my mouth the same way his body filled
mine.

He spoke into my mouth as we kissed;
sweet poetry and promises. I closed my eyes, focusing on the
feeling of being devoured, being consumed by him.

His husky voice was in my ear. “Say it
again. Say ‘yes’.”

It was an exquisite feeling, making
love with Jake. So intense and encompassing. I did as he commanded,
repeated everything he told me to. I was his. Body and soul. And he
was mine. We kissed sweetly, reverently, holding each other in the
most intimate way.

He opened his shining hazel eyes.
“Angel. I love you.”

The look on his face was so intense,
it made the tight coils of my desire break. Shredding and
shattering me into a thousand glorious pieces. Jake watched me come
apart and then wrapped his arms tighter around me, uttering my
name.

Once we caught our breath, I turned on
the television in time to catch the two a.m. repeat of the eleven
o’clock news. Jake was quiet and red-faced through the three-minute
edited interview they aired, but I was so proud. They mentioned his
proposal but thankfully didn’t air any of it. And then, we made
love some more.

As far as either of us knew, it was
just one of the thousands of nights we would have together. We were
sure our future was just beginning.

+ + +

3
6

—Avery

I am curled up in the corner of my
cell: knees tucked up into my chest, my arms curled around them,
trying to hold myself together, like always.

I think the problem was that
everything was changing too fast. When we left that morning, I had
never felt so alive, so free, so at peace, but by that same night,
I could hardly catch my breath. I should have been content with
leaving my screwed up life behind. I should have been happy
standing beside Angel as the one thing she had in her life finally
came together.

But I couldn’t.

+++

The bathrooms in the Mystic Muse were
perpetually disgusting but I’d had like three sodas. I had to wait
for someone else to open the door to let me out because I didn’t
want to risk contact with the handle.

When a fat chick barreled in with a
spray bottle and a push broom, I slunk out into the hall opposite
the bar. The whole club smelled like beer with subtle whiffs of
green smoke and urine. It seemed strongest near the trash can
that’d been left outside the ladies room. It smelled like someone
pissed in it.

As I wandered around, people were
pouring in. The night looked promising.

When the first band was introduced,
Jake left his spot near the front, pushing past the growing crowd
and I noticed how so few people recognized the greatness passing
by. I knew that, in a few years, when him and the band were
well-known, the clueless lot that let him through might recall that
they once saw Analog Controller perform at a local club, but none
would recall the tall, hot guy with the boyish features currently
pressing into the crowd against traffic, repeating, “excuse me,” in
an oddly polite way.

I loved Analog Controller. But unlike
Angel, the guys in the band never seemed anything other than normal
to me. I didn’t get why making music would suddenly elevate a
person inside the minds of the people that heard them. Was a
persons’ capability so closely entwined to their value as people?
If that was the case, I was in trouble because I could barely
breathe most days. The guys did make great music, but they were
still people.

Angel was leaning against one of the
pillars in back and I kept an eye on her, but wanted to see where
Jake was rushing off to. As I pushed through a group of guys, one
of them grabbed my ass and squeezed. Normally, something like that
would have me pivoting to sucker punch the asshole, but I felt the
constant ice in my chest melt for a second and it threw me off.
Took me a second longer to mull over what should happen
next.

Who the hell did
whoever
think he was,
touching me like he knew me? What gave him the fucking right to
familiarize himself with
my
body? The black inside me wanted to boil over,
but I took a deep breath, reminding myself to stay in control. To
be careful.

I spun back around, catching the
drummer and bassist from Anemic Psychos laughing at me. Morons,
that’s what they looked like, with their nicotine stained teeth and
chain wallets. I wanted to punch them both before killing one to
force-feed his remains to the other. I’d seen them at sound check,
but didn’t know their names. They were both tall and lean, both
smiling at their probing conquest. The fucking egos were twice the
size of the puny Indie label they were on.

“Which one?” I pointed at them each in
turn.

The drummer pointed at the bassist,
while the bassist pointed at the drummer. Neither spoke.

“That’s the way you want it?” I
stepped in between them, threw both my hands out, and
simultaneously grabbed both their scrawny asses, kneading a shocked
musicians’ cheek on each side of me. The drummer jumped, belting
out a surprised laugh, but the bass player leaned into
me.

Yeah, he’s the
one
, I thought, and looked him square in
the eyes. “Don’t touch me. Ever. Again.”

When I turned back towards the stage,
Andrew was watching me. Well, gaping might be a better description.
I winked at him and walked back to the pillar where Angel was
watching on the opening act.

Amid my little foray, I’d lost track
of Jake, but he’d turn up sooner or later. I took the time to talk
myself down. Grab-assing was par for the course at shows like this.
Both those idiots smelled like booze, too. I wanted to dismiss it
and set my mind on the show I was supposed to be enjoying instead
of the shitheads trying to ruin it for me.

The second band, Proselytes, took the
stage and it was a major improvement over Playing Doctor. As I
listened, I noticed Jake peeking from a doorway just off stage.
Studying him, I saw something mischievous in his eyes. That look .
. . it meant he was planning something. It had to be something for
Angel.

For some reason that I could not
unearth, that upset me. Being left out was nothing new, actually it
was standard procedure. But what was new to me was who that feeling
was being directed at. My girl was getting what she wanted and I
was happy for her. Wasn’t I? And why did her fulfillment make me
feel so angry with Jake?

From the beginning, I did not think
Angel’s life would change because of him. I had never seen a
relationship bloom before. I didn’t know what the buds looked like.
I thought their little encounter would start hot and fizzle fast;
for whatever reason it didn’t.

Jake wasn’t exactly some douche trying
to get Angel to give it up under the bleachers. I knew what he did
with me played no part in how he felt for her. He never had to say
it. It was obvious. It didn’t bother me. Not at all. I knew I was
not the ‘take home to mom’ type of girl. Angel was. And those two
had this . . . connection, like this visible thread that seemed to
tie their souls together when they locked eyes. It was nauseating
to watch half the time, but seeing the way she smiled made it worth
the pukey-burps.

I’d made a habit of disappearing when
Jake came around Angel. So it was no different when Jake walked
onto the stage during the second performance. I always came up with
an excuse—I had to go to the bathroom or needed some air, or a
smoke, or whatever would fit in the moment. Angel never noticed the
excuses. She never noticed anything but Jake.

But then he sang for her. Sank to his
knees for her. Poured his heart out for her in front of a room full
of rowdy, drunken strangers as they openly made fun of
him.

Angel was the third person
to fall to her knees. First it was Jake, when he asked his
question. And then it was my turn. I couldn’t believe he was
asking. And then she said yes! She sank to her knees and
said
yes
. What
was he thinking? She was seventeen years old. Didn’t she want to
continue with school? We grew up watching the shit that happened to
girls that married too young and hadn’t we decided that an
education and independence was more important? Weren’t we supposed
to get a place together in California? Then, she said
yes.
To him! And that
made me realize that my answers were
no
.
Hell
no.

After the shock had time to
sink in, I went and had a nice conversation with my reflection in
the bathroom mirror; reminded myself that
I
loved Angel and wanted her to be
happy, that the whole trek out to the land of sunshine was
for her
.

Jake gave her the
forever
kind of
memories, the kind she’d look back on and smile, long after they
broke up—which was inevitable and unmentionable as far as my best
friend was concerned. I didn’t want to take that connection away
from my friend—but also I really didn’t want to look at Jake when
he was looking at Angel.

Jake’s proposal surprised
the hell out of her. He left her no choice, really. Angel would
never humiliate Jake by turning him down in front of an audience.
It seemed that Jake had no problem with putting her in that
position, though. Did he ever ask her what she wanted? Did he care?
Being Mrs. Haddon had never been part of Angels dreams. She would
have talked about it with me, otherwise. Even though there were
things that I did not tell Angel about my life, she told me
everything. She loved Jake—that was obvious—but that love wasn’t
supposed to lead to marriage.
What a
selfish asshole.

This was wrong, but I couldn’t jump
into the fight and take over like I usually did. This was Jake.
Angel had never been so entangled with someone else, aside from me.
And she was such shit at protecting herself, which was why I had to
do it for her.

I’d have to watch for her. I’d have to
do my duty as her friend, and decipher how Angel really felt. If
she needed me to step in I would, but if she didn’t I’d have to
bide my time. Watch and wait. No pushing until the time was
right.

I put on the happy face and left the
bathroom. Made my way to the front and held her spot. I felt the
conviction of my choice as I embraced her. Warmth flooded through
me and into my eyes as I took in the burning smile on her face. She
was floating, which told me that the weight of her decision had yet
to sink in.

And then I disappeared to
my place in front of Andrew. I watched the show—which was awesome.
Gary may have looked too old, but had the energy of a young guy. He
had the transitions down. He was
really
good.
Played every song exactly like he
was supposed to, took the stress off of Jake, too, and he sounded
better than ever.

But then, after the show,
Gary fucked up. He was giving out band stickers. I admired his
tenacity, and knew he was right; it was good advertising. People
were going to put those stickers on their bumpers or car windows or
binders, and other people would see them and wonder,
“Who is Analog Controller?”

I wanted to say something, but Andrew
was eyeing me. He was always watching. He walked away from Gary and
towards me. “I saw what you did. That was fucked up. And it wasn’t
the first time.”

I set my lips as close to his ear as I
could without touching. “Are you jealous?”

“I’m telling him.”

“Who, Jake? Go ahead.” I wasn’t sure
what he was referring to but refused to ask. Jake had no claim on
me and Andrew had no right. “I should care because . . .
?”

+++

We’d been back at the motel for a
while. I was done swimming, but Angel hadn’t given me the signal
that she was done with Jake—she was supposed to open the window—so
I had to wait.