The Stand Off (14 page)

“You teach classes in that
building?’

“Yes, all of us do. I teach
piano, Pixie gives vocal and tambourine lessons, Kiki teaches bass guitar,
Graves teaches lead guitar, and Lolo teaches the drums. Luckily Pixie plays the
piano as well; it comes in handy when I need a break… like now.”

“How do you afford teachers?”

“We can’t afford them; everyone
there is a volunteer. It’s just us and luckily most of us live there.”

“You live there?”

“Yes, with my sisters and my mom.
Lolo lives down the block with her dad. Graves lives with us off and on. She
moved out last week; I suspect she’ll be back next week or the week after at
the latest. There’s plenty of rooms, so over the years, people have dropped by
for help. Some never left. I don’t think Pixie will ever leave.”

“You don’t have any funding?”

“No, between the lounge and the
instruments, we get by. We’ve gotten donations in the past, and we just take really
good care of the instruments that we’ve got. We give out some of the donations
to the kids as well; we do a lot of contests.”

“What about the record store?”

“My dad started the record store.
My mom continued it after he was gone, but it doesn’t make money.”

“Who taught you to play the
piano?”

“My mom. She used to be a music
teacher… before my father died. Then she just stopped playing entirely. She
stopped doing a lot of things, actually.” She needed to change the subject; she
could feel the emotion trying to break through.

“Like what?”

“What about your mother?” she
blurted and instantly regretted it. She’d heard the stories surrounding his
mother’s untimely death. It was still mystery.

“My mother’s dead,” he answered
flatly.

She watched his face tightened
and his lip twitched. She knew that feeling; she felt it every time she thought
of her father.

“Enough family talk. Let’s eat.”
She grabbed the picnic basket and put it on the table.

“Good idea,” he agreed as he
watched her pull out a large plate and peel the tin foil off.

“They didn’t even go to the
store; Kiki made this food earlier,” Lux told him as she sat the plate down and
grabbed the other one.

“You can untie me; I’m not going
to run. It’s late, we’re here, I’m starving; we’ll make the best of it until
morning.”

“I can never tell if you think
I’m dumb or just dumber than you.” She laid the other plate on the coffee
table.

“I don’t think you’re dumb at
all. I think you’re reckless,
very
reckless… but not dumb. Now untie
me.”

“Over my dead body; I’m going to
feed you.” Just as she grabbed the fork, she heard a noise by the door. She
looked at Dean for a moment before she raced over and grabbed her stun gun.

“Tell me you brought more than a
stun gun?”

She pointed to the metal baseball
bat next to the old couch and whispered, “I brought the bat, and I have a metal
nail file, too.”

“We’re in an abandoned house on
an abandoned block, and all you brought was a stun gun and a baseball bat?”

“And a nail file.”

“What in the hell are we going to
do with a nail file Lux? Untie me!”

“Shush!” When the noise grew
louder she whispered, “What is it?”

 “It could be anyone. Untie me.”

“Shit,” she gasped when she saw
the shadow under the door.

“Untie me right fucking now Lux,”
he roared as he shook the chair, ready to break it apart himself.

Without another thought she
untied the rope and then quickly grabbed the key. She unlocked the cuffs and
stood back hesitantly as he rose. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure if she should be
scared of what was on the other side of the door, or her untied hostage.

He grabbed the baseball bat and
went to the door. He listened for a minute before he whispered instructions to
her.

“On three I want you to open the
door, but I want you to stay behind it,” he instructed, holding the baseball
bat in position and ready to swing. “One… two…
three
.”

She swung the door open and
jumped behind it as he rushed forward, ready to attack.

After a moment of silence, Lux
got nervous and called, “Dean?”

“Yeah.”

 “What is it?”

“Take a look,” he answered.

Lux peeked around the door and
crept to stand behind Dean. She immediately saw a rather large raccoon digging
through what looked like old trash in the front yard.

“Come on,” he held her arm and
guided her back inside. He shook his head as he shut the door and then locked
it.

“I thought it was a psycho killer
or least a vicious Saint Bernard. I definitely didn’t expect a raccoon.”

“Saint Bernard?”

“Yeah, you know… like the movie.”

“Next time you abduct someone and
take them to an abandoned house, at least bring an adequate form of
protection.” He walked over and sat down on the floor before the coffee table.

“Hey, I need to put the handcuffs
back on you.”

“When I’m done,” he nodded to the
spot next to him on the floor. “Sit down.”

She kept her eyes glued to him as
she sat down beside him. She held her stun gun tightly in her hand as she
watched him eat.

“You’re not eating?” he asked.

“No,” she shook her head.

“Your sister said you haven’t
eaten. You need to eat something.”

“I’ll eat later.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

Lux sat silently as Dean ate his
food in record time.

“Your sister is a good cook,”
Dean said as he stood up and grabbed the bottle of wine.

“She’s the best; she should open
a restaurant,” she said with pride.

“I agree,” he said as he grabbed
her hand and helped her to stand. Still holding her hand, he led her to the
loveseat and sat down. He pulled her close to him, but she immediately put some
space between them. He took a long drink from the bottle and then passed it to
her.

“I don’t know, I’m already
buzzing,” she said with a grin as she looked at the bottle.

“Then one more sip won’t make a
difference,” he reasoned.

“Sounds legit.” She kept her eyes
trained on him as she took the bottle. She took a tiny sip and passed it back
to him.

“So when was the last time you
got a full night’s rest?” he asked.

“It’s been a while,” she
admitted.

“You can’t keep doing that; it’s
not good for your body. You need to rest.” He took another drink and then
handed the bottle back to her.

“I’ll rest when things are back
to normal,” she answered before taking another drink and then passing it back
to him.

“That may be sooner than you
think,” he said.

He was tempted to tell her, but he
couldn’t. He wanted to give it one last shot, not for sex, but for something.
Although sex with her would be heaven right now, he needed more from her. In
his heart, he knew sex would not be enough. At the same time, he wanted her to
like him, even when she thought he was going to destroy the music hall.

“It would take a miracle.” She
leaned back against the blanket covered love seat.

“You may be surprised.”

She turned to look at him and
spoke softly, “I’m sorry that I…
took
you.” She avoided the word
abduction.

“Took me?”

“Yes,” she refused to elaborate.
“I will be the first to admit that I may have reacted a little… rash.”

“A little?” he grinned as he
handed her the bottle.

“I was between a rock and a hard
spot; it was either sex or abduction.”

“And you picked an illegal
activity over sex with me.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“It seemed reasonable at the
time; the lesser of the two evils.”

“You see sex with me as evil?”

“No but having sex in exchange
for property is. I couldn’t bring myself to do it; not in exchange for the
building.” She told him before she took another drink.

“Is that the only reason?”

“That, and you’re a womanizer.”

“I’m not a womanizer.”

“Isn’t that what a womanizer is
supposed to say?”

It got quiet for a moment as he
watched her take another sip of wine. He grabbed her thigh and slid her closer
to him; close enough for their thighs to touch. He continued to hold her thigh
and was surprised that she didn’t try to pull away.

“Lux…” he began as he slid his
hand up her thigh and looked her straight in the eyes. “I’m going to ask you
something, and I want you to tell me the truth.”

“Okay.”

“Are you a virgin?”

She felt her heart race and her
mind draw a blank as she hesitated. She took a deep breath and then took a sip
of wine before she finally answered, “Yes. How did you know?”

“Your body language, your
reactions, and the fact that sex makes you nervous. It’s obvious; I don’t know
why I didn’t realize it sooner.”

“It’s not obvious,” she snapped
defensively.

“Why did you wait?”

“I’ve just been really busy with
The Music Hall and trying to turn something tragic into something beneficial. I
teach piano classes like seven days a week, I just don’t have time for stuff
like that.”

“Bullshit.” He didn’t buy it.

“What do mean bullshit?”

“That may have been part of it,
but that’s not the only reason.”

She looked at him, impressed that
he could see through her excuse. Maybe it was the liquor or maybe it was the
company, but she threw caution to the wind and answered honestly.

“I’ve never met anyone that
remotely sparked my interest. Everyone is so sweet and charming but ultimately
full of shit. They bring flowers, candy, and shoot out mouthfuls of sickly
sweet words but deep inside they are all the same. So what’s the point of
having sex if you can’t find anyone that you’re attracted to? You can’t force
yourself to feel something you just don’t feel, so eventually you give up
trying and block it from your mind.”

“Did you try?” he suddenly felt
very possessive.

“At first I did. I wanted to know
why I couldn’t feel anything. I mean even my younger sister was raving about
sex but I didn’t feel a damn thing. When I finally realized what did turn me
on, I thought something was wrong with me so I blocked all thought of it from
my mind.”

“What did you discover? What
turns you on?”

She hesitated for a moment before
she spoke the words she had never spoken aloud, “Nothing sweet and definitely
nothing gentle.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that
and there’s nothing wrong with you. You just never found the right man for the
job… until now.”

She grinned, “You really are
cocky.”

“And soon you’ll know why.” He
grinned wickedly for a moment before he looked at her more seriously, “Why are
you on birth control?”

“It regulates my period,” she
explained.

“Do you have bad periods?”

“More like irregular.”

“Are you on your period now?” he
asked as he ran his finger down her pussy.

“No,” she whispered as she pulled
back a little.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“About my period?” She asked with
wide eyes and eye brows raised.

“That you’re still a virgin.”

“That’s not something that you
advertise; it’s personal. Besides, would it have made any difference?”

“As far as sex yes.”

“How?”

“If you knew how many times I
wanted to bend you over, yank down your panties and slam my dick deep inside of
you, you wouldn’t have to ask that question. Let’s just say that is not how you
want to lose your virginity, you wouldn’t be able to sit for months. You have
no idea how close you came to getting it. Especially that day in the board
room.”

“Trust me, I know.”

“Do you?”

She nodded her head slowly as she
looked into his eyes, “Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was trying to get my building back from you; I didn’t
want you to confuse my inexperience for innocence or naivety. I needed you to
take me seriously and recognize me as a serious opponent.”

“But you
are
innocent.”

“No, I’m inexperienced when it comes to sex… there’s a big
difference,” she corrected him. She hadn’t been innocent since the day her
father was murdered.

“You’re more than inexperienced, you’re still a virgin.”

She narrowed her eyes before she spoke, “That’s irrelevant.”