Buried Castles

by Monica Alexander

  “I’ll be quick, I promise,” I said, reaching down to pull her dress up her thighs.

  She groaned in a frustrated sort of way, but I could tell it was because she knew she’d give in to me. I grinned and kissed her, loving that I could do what we were about to do any time, but more than that, I got to sleep next to her, hold her hand and tell her I loved her. Those were all the things I’d thought I’d never get to do for so long, and now I had to constantly remind myself that she was real, and this really was our life.

  Sometimes things seemed a little too perfect to be true, but of course we had a deadline looming and a few months of separation to get through, and I was pretty sure things wouldn’t seem so perfect then.

  “I love you,” she said then, kissing me hard on the mouth, and I couldn’t help it, I groaned. “But, you’ll have to wait until later to ravish me.”

  “Say what?” I asked, pulling back to look at her.

  “I’m serious, Zack,” she said, starting to push me off of her. “We have to meet my friends in fifteen minutes, and we have a ten minute drive. I don’t want you to be as quick as you would need to be for us to be on time.”

  “So we’ll be late,” I reasoned, leaning down to kiss her again.

  She returned my kiss, but there was a finality to it. Understanding her message loud and clear, I rolled off of her and sat up. She sat up next to me and began smoothing her hair before rising to stand in front the mirror so she could re-attach that hideous headband. Catching my gaze in the mirror, she smiled at me and turned around. She walked back over, and without warning, straddled me, pressing body against mine.

  “Don’t be sad, baby,” she cooed, as she started to grind her hips just enough to make me crazy. “Later you can take all the time you want with me, okay?”

  I groaned again. “I’d rather take time now and later,” I said.

  She looked deep into my eyes and smiled. “Patience is a virtue, and good things come to those who wait.” Then she hopped off my lap and said, “Ready to go?”

  I shook my head a few times to clear it. “Um, yeah, I’m gonna need a minute,” I said, and she just laughed as she bent over to slide on her red high heels.

  ***

  I was watching Emily laughing with her friends from across the room when she turned and caught my eye. She smiled, and my heart melted a little. God, I loved that girl.

  She sauntered over to me with a sly grin on her face and threw her arms around my neck when she reached me. “My friends can’t stop talking about how hot you are,” she whispered in my ear.

  “Really?”

  I was used to girls hitting on me. It came with the territory, but I was done with that. I only had eyes for one girl, and I was pretty sure I’d only ever have eyes for her.

  “Yeah, and I can’t help but agree with them. You look tasty enough to eat.”

  With that, she pulled back and looked up at me, her big brown eyes wide with a mix of glee and mischief.

  I laughed. “I leave you alone for ten minutes, and you go and get all drunk on me. You’re a mess, princess.”

  Molly had called, so I’d stepped outside so I could hear her. We talked at least once a day about something having to do with the band or the tour.

  “I’m a hot mess,” she said, falling against me a little more. “But that’s why you love me.”

  “Among other things.”

  “I have to tell you something,” she said then, and she got all serious.

  I knew she was drunk, so I didn’t put much stock in her demeanor. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “I’m going to L.A. next week,” she said, pausing as if to gauge my reaction. “I have a job interview.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at her. “You do?”

  This was news to me. She hadn’t told me she was even looking for jobs outside of the immediate area.

  “Yeah, with this amazing PR firm, and I was afraid to tell you, because things have been so perfect between us, but this is my dream, and I don’t know if I can say no if they offer it to me.”

  She looked sad all of a sudden, and I was pretty sure of what she was trying to tell me. And I knew if things were in my control I’d tell her I’d follow her to L.A. if she got the job, but I had Lily and the band. My life was here. I couldn’t go with her.

  “You don’t want to break up? Do you?” I asked, needing to get the question out in the open. She was talking about moving three thousand miles away. It was feasible.

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t. Zack, I really don’t. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I said pulling her to me. My heart felt a little heavier in that moment, and the only thing that made things mildly better was being able to hold her against me. “And I want you to follow your dreams. I gave mine up once, and I was lucky enough to get back into what I love. I would never deny you the same experience. We’ll do long distance if we have to.”

  I knew it would be tough, but I would go to the ends of the earth for this girl, and I needed her to know it

  She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good,” she said, as if she’d been afraid I was going to say something else.

  Just then her friend Taryn stormed by and Emily’s gaze was pulled away from me and our conversation. Taryn’s date, a guy named Noah, who apparently wasn’t a big fan of mine since he lived with Emily’s ex, chased after her. He looked pretty inebriated.

  “Stay away from me, Noah!” Taryn called over her shoulder.

  “Dammit,” Emily hissed, pulling out of my arms. “I knew she shouldn’t have invited him tonight.” Then she turned back to me. “Baby, do you mind if I go check on her?”

  I smiled. “I’ll go with you,” I said, wishing it was just that simple.

  When we caught up to them, Taryn was glaring at Noah as he tried to plead with her.

  “Go away,” Taryn screamed at him, but he wouldn’t leave her alone. All around the hotel lobby, people were starting to stare.

  “What happened?” Emily asked, inserting her tiny body in between her friends.

  “Nothing,” Noah said, visibly annoyed that she was there. “Taryn, come on. Just talk to me.”

  “No,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and turning to Emily and me. “Can you guys give me a ride home?”

  “Sure,” Emily said.

  “Taryn, I said I would drive you home. Come on,” he said, grabbing her arm to yank her toward him, and that’s when I stepped in.

  I grabbed Noah’s other arm and pulled him back. He had a few inches and several pounds on me, but I hadn’t been drinking, so my faculties were all in check.

  “What the fuck are you doing, man?” he asked, looking back at me.

  “She asked you to leave her alone,” I said simply. “You probably want to listen.”

  “Fuck you, Zack,” he said, moving to pull away from me, but I just tightened my grip.

  “Why don’t I call you a cab, Noah?” I offered. Over his shoulder, I could see Emily and Taryn talking and Taryn getting more upset by the minute.

  “What’s going on out here?” another voice asked, and I turned to see a guy I didn’t recognize moving toward me. “You need some back-up, man?” He was obviously friends with Noah.

  “Yeah, get this fucker off me.”

  The guy moved toward me, and then Emily’s voice rang out behind me. “Do not touch him, Ben,” she said, and I realized he was her ex.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he slurred, his face twisted as he appraised me.

  “Zack, don’t encourage him,” Emily said, coming up next to me. I let Noah go, so I could put my arm around her.

  “Zack?” Ben spat, making a face like he’d tasted something sour, before directing his attention to Emily. “This is the asshole you slept with last summer?”

  Yeah, I wasn’t about to get into the middle of this one.

  “He’s not an asshole,” Emily said. “He’s my boyfriend, and you need to leave.”

  “Fuck that,” Ben said, push
ing back his sleeves, and I realized he was going to try to fight me.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Noah move just in time, and I was able to yank Emily out of the way. His sucker-punch that was intended for my jaw, landed on the corner of the wall behind me, and he went down after it, his momentum carrying him forward. As soon as he hit the ground, he cried out in pain, grasping his shoulder.

  “Oh shit,” Taryn hissed, running over to his side. Noah was writhing in pain, rolling back and forth on the floor.

  “Fuck,” he said. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

  I could see people around the lobby of the hotel turning to stare at us. Noah’s cursing had carried across the vast room. The manager behind the desk was watching us, no doubt about to come over and tell us to leave if we didn’t quiet down. Noah was still groaning and cursing on the ground.

  “His shoulder,” Emily said quietly from beside me, and I looked down at her. She was staring at him in shock. “He dislocated it playing football last fall.”

  Yeah, and from the looks things, he’d just dislocated it again.

  “I think he needs to go to the hospital,” Taryn said, looking back at Emily who just nodded.

  I hadn’t realized Ben had run outside until he came back in, his attention now pulled to his friend. “Noah, man, I’ve got a cab outside. Can you stand up?”

  “Come on,” I said to Ben, the nice guy in me taking over. “I’ll help you get him outside.”

  “Fuck if you will,” he said.

  “Ben, just listen to him,” Emily commanded, and he stopped protesting.

  Ben and I loaded Noah into the back of the cab, while Taryn scrambled into the other side, cradling Noah’s head on her lap while he whimpered and hissed in pain. Then Ben hopped in the front, and they were gone. Emily and I stood outside watching the cab drive away, and I wondered if she was ready to leave. I sure was.

  “Did Ben just leave?” a girl with a high-pitched, screechy voice asked from behind me.

  “Noah dislocated his shoulder again,” Emily explained to her. “They went to the hospital.”

  “Son of a bitch!” she screamed. “He just left me here! That asshole.”

  Apparently she was Ben’s date.

  “Brynn, do you need a ride home?” Emily asked, and as soon as she said her name, I realized who this girl was. Emily had told me all about Brynn and what a bitch she was. The fact that Emily was offering her a ride home was incredibly big of her.

  Brynn just sneered at her. “Yeah, like I’d accept a ride from you. You’ll probably spend the whole ride gloating about how Ben ditched me. No thanks.”

  With that, she stormed off, back inside the hotel.

  “Okay, are we ready to go?” I asked cheerfully, trying to break the ominous mood that had fallen around us.

  Emily didn’t say anything. She just looked up at me with what I thought was admiration.

  “What?” I asked, confused by her look.

  “Thank you for being you,” she said, before she leaned up and kissed me. “Just thank you.”

  I kissed her again, pulling her into my arms.

  “Let’s go home,” she said against my lips, and I’d never been so happy to do just that.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Emily

  “Happy Birthday, Lily,” I called as I let myself into Jen’s apartment.

  The door had been propped open, and I could hear party noises from inside, so I figured it was okay just walk in. Inside I was greeted by music and people talking and kids running around. It was a madhouse.

  As if his radar was turned on, Zack turned around as soon as he heard my voice. A wide grin spread across his face, and he left the conversation he was having with Andrew and crossed the room to me. Before I knew what was happening, he picked me up and swung me around. I almost dropped Lily’s present, he was squeezing me so tight.

  It had been a few days since we’d seen each other. I’d been in L.A. for the past three days and had flown in late the night before. When I arrived home, I had a message on my voicemail from, Heidi, the girl in HR who I’d interviewed with. She’d asked me to call her back on Monday to discuss an opportunity with their company. It had been too late to call Zack to tell him my news, but he knew all about my interview and my trip, including how I’d fallen in love with the company.

  I now had to tell him I was taking the job and moving to L.A. in a few months, while he was away on tour. He’d been supportive, incredibly supportive in fact, and reassuring that we could handle long distance. He wanted me to take the job. He said we would be fine. We’d handled worse, and since their label was in L.A., he’d be out there from time to time. Everything would be okay. I just wasn’t sure I believed him. But in the long run, would I regret choosing my career over a guy, or if I didn’t take the job, a guy over my career? What was the lesser of the two evils since neither one seemed like a great idea?

  “I missed you,” he murmured into my hair.

  “I missed you too.”

  “So, did you hear anything?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him, but then Lily walked up to me. “Emmy!” she shouted, reaching her arms up, so I would pick her up.

  “Hi baby girl,” I said, handing her present to Zack, so I could pick up his daughter. I’d adopted his nickname for her sometime in the past month. “Happy Birthday! I can’t believe you’re two!”

  Zack grinned at me, almost mesmerized as he watched me holding Lily. She looked so adorable in her yellow party dress and baby tiara.

  “Happy Burfday,” she said, grinning at me, and I laughed.

  “No, silly girl, it’s your birthday, so you just say thank you when someone tells you ‘happy birthday’.”

  She look at me speculatively for a few seconds before saying, “Fank you, Emmy!”

  I felt tears start to prick the backs of my eyes when I thought about leaving her too. How was I going do this?

  Involuntarily, I squeezed her tight against me. “I love you, Lily,” I murmured, kissing her hair.

  “Wub you too, Emmy,” she said, and I lost it.

  “Okay, go play,” I said, setting her down and ducking my head, so Zack wouldn’t see me crying.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, and I just shook my head.

  “I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

  This was ridiculous. I should be happy. I’d gotten my dream job. I needed to be happy about it.

  “Come here,” Zack said, pulling me out the front door and closing it behind him, so we were out of the prying eyes of the party guests. I didn’t want to bum anyone out on Lily’s birthday. “What’s wrong?”

  “Lily,” I said, the tears now gushing down my cheeks. “And you.”

  “What about us?” he asked, searching my face as if trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

  “I can’t leave you guys!” I cried, throwing my hands up in frustration. “I can’t do it!”

  “You got the job,” he said, and I could tell he was trying to be happy for me, but I knew it was forced. I nodded. “That’s great, Em!”

  “Oh, Zack don’t do that,” I said, throwing my arms around his neck. “I’m upset about this. Just be real with me, please?”

  “Okay,” he said, turning off the fake joy.

  “This sucks! I don’t want to be one of those girls who doesn’t do something because she doesn’t want to lose her boyfriend as a result. It’s ridiculous. I should be independent, but I can’t do it. I love you too much, and I don’t want to be separated from you.”

  “I don’t want to be separated from you either, Em, but I told you I wouldn’t hold you back from this.”

  I sniffed. “So you want me to take the job?”

  “I want you to be happy,” he said. “What would make you happy?”

  “Taking the job and moving to L.A. with you.”

  He sighed. “You know I can’t do that.”

  “I know.”

  “But I do have an idea,” he said, the smirk slowly spreading across his f
ace, and I knew he’d been hiding something from the minute I saw him, and I wondered how long he’d been formulating this idea of his.

  I raised my eyebrow at him, not convinced that his idea would be a good one. There were some very key factors that wouldn’t change and because of them, I couldn’t work in L.A. and be in the same city as Zack at the same time.

  He grinned, unable to stop smiling. “I’d like to offer you a job,” he said, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Zack, quit it. This is serious.”

  The smile then fell from his face. “I’m being serious. I’d like to offer you a job to do PR for Liar’s Edge. It is a legitimate job with a salary and benefits and a hell of a lot of responsibility, especially since Molly called this morning, and Live Ammunition wants to release our first album nationally this summer.”

  My jaw dropped. “Shut up! You’re joking!”

  Zack just grinned.

  “Oh my God, Zack! That’s amazing!” I threw my arms around his neck. “Congratulations!”

  “So you’ll take the job?”

  I pulled back from him. “Wait, you were serious about that?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. We need someone to do promotion for us while we’re on tour and when the album comes out. We’ll be doing radio shows and interviews, hopefully, so we’ll need someone to handle the press and promotions. Will you do it?”

  “Don’t you want someone who has more experience than me?”

  He raised his eyebrow at me. “Em, you have two internships on your resume and an intense love of our music. I think you’re qualified.”

  “And this is a real job? It’s not just something you made up?”

  “It’s totally real,” a British-accented voice said from behind me. I reeled around to see Molly standing behind me, her hands on her hips. “You want it? Technically you’d be working for Live Ammunition, but you’d be assigned to Liar’s Edge, per the request of their lead singer.”