I found a chair and sat with my sketchbook doodling for a while, losing track of time. Eventually I became aware that the others were gathered around me looking at the pictures on the wall.
Mage pointed at the one of the brothers bloody. “I remember that! Man, you guys beat the shit out of each other that day! What was that girl’s name anyway?”
“Janice,” they replied in unison. Jade gave Marcus a dirty look and Marcus just smiled innocently.
“What? You should be glad I took her off your hands! She was a terrible kisser! No doubt any other activity with her would have been lacking.”
“Fuck you, Marcus, that wasn’t the point! You broke the code and ruined my plans for the summer.”
Marcus looked a tad bit guilty. “Sorry, Jade. If I had known how much you liked the girl I would have left her alone. But if she was so quick to run off with me, she would have hurt you anyway. Either way it sucks, but at least I ruined things before she had a chance to break your heart.”
Jade just shook his head and bit on a fingernail. It must have been rough to be Marcus’ brother. Jade clearly loved and respected him, but struggled with those feelings.
Sherry looked at Marcus with disdain and said, “I hope he kicked your ass, Marcus. You deserved it for being a dick to him and to that little girl.”
He narrowed his eyes at her and then acceptance was clear in his expression. “He gave me this scar on my cheek and broke my nose so yeah, I guess he won.”
She nodded, an eyebrow raised at him. “Good.”
He looked really uncomfortable. I liked the effect Sherry was having on him. If he had any desire to continue this whatever it was they were having then he better learn to have a different attitude.
Sherry looked up at the board and frowned. “How come you haven’t put up a picture, Devon?”
I looked around and found him standing behind me to the left. He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know if I can pick just one. If I did, it would probably be one of us as kids. That was when I knew she was fearless and would always take care of things.” He was quiet for a moment, still looking at the pictures.
“There was this one morning when we were home alone together. I think I was around 7, so she would have been 11. Mama was at the restaurant and Daddy was out on the boat. Anyway, I tried to cook breakfast for her because she had been sick and was still in bed. I was trying to fry bacon in the skillet and it started popping all over and burning. I started screaming and crying because I couldn’t get close enough to turn it off. I just wanted it to be perfect for her and it was ruined. The smoke detector went off and she came running out to the kitchen. She was so brave! She grabbed the lid to the skillet and covered it, burning her hand in the process. She didn’t yell, she just hugged me and held me until I stopped crying. When the smoking stopped and she could lift up the lid, the bacon was burnt to a crisp. She picked up a piece, nibbled it, and said, ‘Mmm, thank you Devon! Thank you for cooking me breakfast. Now go on and get washed up and get your clothes on and we’ll go to the restaurant for some hot chocolate.’ I smiled at her, feeling so proud of myself, and I took off for my room. She cleaned up the mess and probably chucked the bacon in the trash. But she handled it. She handled all of the messes in our life with style.”
I looked over my shoulder and smiled at him. His eyes looked sad, but he smiled back at me. He was really doing great with all of this. I wanted to tell him how proud I was of him.
“Would you guys mind if I chose a picture?” Sherry was asking them all but looking at Devon. He stared blankly at her, seeming a little out of it.
“Of course," I said. “Take a look.”
She started to flip through the albums and found the one after she left for L.A.
“I met Maggie at a work function. We were both interning at the label and I really admired her because she just seemed so competent. I’d heard how all the execs loved her. I went up to her and asked her, ‘Hey, Meg? What’s your secret? You have them all eating out of your hand around here.’ She just rolled her eyes and waved me in for a secret. ‘I’ll tell you, but it ain’t pretty.’ I was so surprised, I leaned in closer and she said with a totally straight face, ‘Blow jobs. Just blow as many of them as you can and they’ll let you get away with murder.’ I remember my heart dropped into my stomach because I thought, oh Lord! My mama warned me about this and how am I going to tell her? But then I looked back at Meg and she was just laughing her ass off. ‘Got you!’ she said. I was so embarrassed! She apologized and said, ‘Honestly, I just tell ‘em like it is and for some reason they listen. I don’t know I just hope I get a job here because otherwise I’m going to have to go home to Louisiana with my tail between my legs.’”
The guys were listening intently and I noticed Devon had come closer to me. His hand was dangling close to me so I took it. He looked down at me and squeezed it. He still had that sorrow in his eyes, but he seemed to be laughing at what Sherry said.
“She told me that, too, when she’d call home. I threatened her I was going to tell Mama that’s what she was doing and she threatened me back with even more severe blackmail. That was her way. She’d have my back no matter what but if I tried to cross her, she’d point out all the good dirt she had. You could never win with her.”
They all laughed at that. I noticed Marcus looking at us holding hands and then looking at Devon and I’ll be damned if he didn’t look a little envious. Good. Maybe he’d keep his mouth shut and I wouldn’t have to smack him.
“Here’s one,” Sherry pulled out a photo and made sure to mark the spot. It was a picture of Maggie in LA with some of her friends at a bar wearing a very slinky party dresses. They had on Happy New Year’s tiaras and had glasses of champagne in their hands. And in the middle of them all stood none other than the Working Class Dog himself.
“Oh my goodness, is that who I think it is?” I walked over to her to look at the picture up close. “Holy shit, that’s Rick Springfield! Did she know him?”
Sherry laughed. “Honey, Meg got to know everyone she could. I remember her telling me about that night. She said she’d had a huge crush on him as a girl and had too much to drink that night, which resulted in her spilling her guts to him and almost puking on his shoes. She classified that as a major no no, and after that, I made sure to not drink at functions where I knew I might meet an idol. It came in handy when I met Tony Bennett!”
We all laughed.
“She had posters of that guy all over her room! We used to tease her all the time.” Devon was even laughing about it.
Sherry taped the picture up on the wall with the others.
I figured this was a good time to show them the drawings and her tattoo. “Guys, can you give me a minute? I want to show you what I found last night.” I jogged up the stairs real quick and brought down my book. I came back down and motioned for them to join me around the table. I made sure Devon was closest to me so he could see it first. I flipped to the correct page and laid it out.
“I wanted to show you the drawing I did for her and the picture of her finished tattoo. It looks pretty raw. I hate to say it, but she didn’t sit very well for it. Her skin was pretty sensitive so I don’t have a good picture.”
They all crowded around looking at it, murmuring their appreciation for the design and wincing from the redness of her skin in the picture.
Devon found my hand and squeezed it. “She never did handle pain very well. She always said she’d never get a tattoo, was too chicken.”
He pulled me back from the table a little and into his chest for a hug. His breath tickled my neck as he whispered, “I’m glad you were the one who tattooed her, Jaylene. Thank you for showing us.” He was trembling a little.
I whispered back, “I’m just glad I had the chance to meet her.”
He pulled back and looked into my eyes for a moment before he kissed me sweetly on the lips. Now I was trembling and had completely forgotten about the others, who were now openly staring.
/>
Mage broke the silence. “It’s about fucking time, man. Good for you.”
Devon looked over at Mage who slapped him on the back. Devon blushed and shook his hand. I bit my lip to stifle a nervous laugh. Devon was still holding me to him.
“Thank you, I think. It is time.” He turned back to me with that devastating smile.
“As long as you don’t start writing sappy love songs, it’s cool with me.” Marcus walked over and pulled him into a hug.
Devon looked surprised and hugged him back. “I might do that, asshole, just for you. How could I not want to write sappy love songs? She’s pretty amazing.”
I was thoroughly red and completely mortified. “Ok, enough gooey stuff. He’s still yours, guys.”
They all laughed and hugged both of us. I didn’t understand what all of this meant, but I gathered it was about acceptance, relief that they were finally talking about Maggie without fighting, and letting each other know they still loved each other.
Star gave me an extra-long hug. “Glad you got out of your head, chère.”
I smiled brightly at him, feeling the tears well up in my eyes. This felt way too good to be true. I was still waiting for the bottom to drop, but right now, in this room, I just wanted to hold on to those good feelings as long as I could.
“Hey, am I late for the love-in?”
Mackenzie came strolling in from the back and came towards us. “You guys really should lock that gate back there. Anyone could just come in.”
I ran to her and hugged her hard then stepped back, confused.
She actually looked kinda earthy and almost normal! The pink hair was gone. Her natural black was back and flowing around her shoulders. She was wearing a pale pink gauzy sundress with wedge sandals on. Her makeup still looked flawlessly applied, but was more subtle than usual. She smiled brightly at me and I almost teared up again at the sight of her. “You look stunning, Kenz.”
She winked at me and batted my hands away. “Just got bored, that’s all.”
Her gaze shifted to someone behind me. I turned to see Star looking as though he was about to faint.
“Star? You ok buddy?”
He slowly moved toward her. Mackenzie’s blue eyes grew wide and she bit down on her glossed lips. Star stopped in front of her and bent down to kiss her hand. I’d never seen Mackenzie blush before. It was very becoming on her.
“Vous etes belle madame,” he said in a low voice.
Her eyelashes fluttered in surprise. “You speak French?”
He smiled at her and I was tickled to see just how much she affected him. He took her hand and led her over to our little group. I took that opportunity to introduce her to Sherry.
“Sherry, this is Mackenzie MacGowan, my shop mate and best friend.”
She and Sherry shook hands.
“I’m the manager of this rag tag group of hooligans.”
They both laughed and Mackenzie looked around.
“Do I offer condolences or congratulations?”
The guys all groaned and she winked at Sherry and I.
Jade clapped his hands together loudly to get our attention. “Hey, how about we take this party upstairs? I set up Trivial Pursuit! We can play teams!”
Jade was so excited and we all agreed.
Sherry and Marcus headed over to the kitchen to grab some snacks and the rest of us headed up the stairs, Mackenzie and Star taking up the rear, still looking at each other that way that people do when they are completely undone over the other person. I kinda knew how that felt now.
Devon led me over to a corner of the couch and pulled me down onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me and resting his head on my shoulder.
I turned and asked him quietly, “I’m not too heavy for you?”
He balked at that. “Chère, you really don’t have any idea how tiny you are, do you? ‘Cause you weigh nothing and you fit here just perfect. So quit worrying. It makes you frown.”
He touched my forehead right between my eyes and I blew up my bangs at him in frustration. That got a groan out of him and he shifted a little underneath me.
“Good, now behave.” I winked at him.
He slid his finger up under the strap of my halter. “Do I have to,” he whispered.
“Yes, you do, for now. If you’re good maybe I’ll let you take this off later.”
His face flushed and he squeezed my hip tight. Between clenched teeth, he said, “You really can’t say things to me like that right now and don’t even think about getting up.”
I bit my lip to keep from bursting out laughing.
“Ok, obviously Jaylene and Devon are on a team together and me and Mage will be on a team. Who else is on the two teams?” Jade was hopping between two feet he was so excited.
Little did he know that he didn’t have a chance. Nerds like me spend a lot of time racking up useless trivia for just these opportunities.
Mackenzie and Star joined us, and Marcus and Sherry joined Jade and Mage. Jade pulled out a beat up 80’s version that looked well used. We played for a couple of hours and I was delighted to see that while Jade’s team did respectably well, we kind of crushed them. I was able to answer all of the history and science questions. The music questions were a draw because both teams knew them all. The film questions Sherry and Mackenzie really battled over. It was so much fun!
“I still say it’s not fair because Jaylene has a freakin’ Master’s degree and Devon went to college, too.” Jade was trying unsuccessfully not to pout.
“You could go to college, too, you know,” I pointed out to him.
He looked at me, puzzled. “I never thought about that. It’s always just been the band. I’ll admit when Devon went I was kind of jealous but I never really cared much about homework and stuff in high school. I barely graduated.”
“A lot of people who wait to go until they are older do better in school because they appreciate it. It’s just a thought, Jade. I only mentioned it because you seem to have a lot of knowledge already and I think college classes just might be something you’d enjoy.” He smiled and had a thoughtful look on his face.
“I will think about it, thanks. But for now, my loser ass is going to bed. G’nite.” We all wished him sweet dreams and Mage followed close behind. That left the six of us. It was late, we had all been laughing a lot during the game, and now it was just chitchat.
Marcus whispered something to Sherry and she nodded. “Guys, I’m going to turn in. I’ve got a long flight tomorrow and I still have some reports to work on in the morning. Thanks for a fun night.” We all said our goodnights, assuming Marcus would be going with, which he did.
Mackenzie and Star were talking quietly together, her legs were drawn up under her and Star was sitting next to her on the couch with his arm around the back behind her.
“Kenz, do you want us to call you a cab or are you staying.” She looked to me and then at Star who was waiting anxiously to see what her answer would be.
“I can’t stay, I’ve got appointments in the morning. Star, would you walk me home?”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Sure, let me just grab us a couple of sweatshirts and I’ll be right back.” He ran to his room and Kenzie watched him go, her eyes flaring.
“Mm mm mmm...Thank you guys for inviting me.” I knew she was thinking of what she could do to my poor friend when she got him to her place. I raised an eyebrow at her and she said, “Don’t wait up for him.”
Devon snickered behind me. Star was back and held out his hand to help her up from the couch.
“I’ll see you guys in a few,” he said excitedly.
Kenz bent down and kissed me on the cheek.
“Thanks, Star,” I said. “Just text Devon when you are on your way back so we don’t worry.”
He nodded and they were off. I turned to look at Devon and he was studying my sleeve, tracing my tattoos with his fingers. Goosebumps appeared instantly and I shivered, nothing to do with the temperature.
“It seems
my bed is still occupied.” He was looking down at my arm, still tracing and his bottom lip was pursed out.
“It does seem that way. I can’t say I’m disappointed.”
His gaze flickered up to mine for a second before resuming his perusal of my arm. He lifted it out to the side so he could see the designs underneath.
In a low voice I said, “I was kind of hoping for another sleepover.”
His hands gripped me tighter at that and I saw his eyes flare again. “I love your tattoos, chère. I love the way the colors look on your skin.” He held up my hand and looked at the Celtic knot I had tattooed on my index finger of my left hand. “What does this mean?”
“It’s a wisdom knot. I figured I could use all the wisdom I could get.”
He held my hand up to his lips, closed his eyes, and pressed them against my finger. A sigh escaped me and he turned his blue gaze on me.
“I would love to share your bed tonight. But before we go, I just want us to set some limits.” He was so serious.
“I can appreciate that,” I said softly.
He still had my left hand in his and he turned it over, gently kissing my palm. “If we don’t decide here, when I get you in your room I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold back. And I meant what I said before. I want it to be special when we make love the first time.”
I reached across with my free hand and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. He closed his eyes and his head fell back.
“How specific do we need to be about those limits?”
He smirked and opened his eyes. “Specific. Mmmmm, this could be fun. Tell me, chère, what did you like about this morning?”
I felt my face flush. I couldn’t believe we were going to talk about this. “Um, well. Besides waking up next to you? I loved feeling your hands on me, I loved being close to you.”
I felt shy. I didn’t know what to say to him. His gaze on me felt so intimate. I was still sitting on his lap, but my shoulder was pressed against the back of the couch so we were face to face, our chests only inches apart.
“I loved that, too. I want to touch more of you. Would you let me, Jaylene?”
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