Rock God_Book 3_A Contemporary Harem Fantasy

by Michael-Scott Earle

  I plucked a few of the strings, tightened up the A, which was a bit flat, and then tried a few sample chords. The guitar sang in my hands and filled the room like an organ filled a church. The acoustics were great from where I sat, and the guitar seemed to vibrate in my hands like, well... like a lover. It was an amazing instrument, and I never would have thought it could have compared to my own in tone. But it sure did.

  I wasn’t a huge Beatles fan, but one couldn’t really be a guitar player without knowing a handful of their songs. I started off with Here Comes the Sun and managed to sing the vocals without any issue while I played. When I finished, the four members of my audience applauded enthusiastically.

  “Wow, you are wonderful!” Aimee’s smile was the largest I had ever seen on the girl.

  “Bravo!” John said, and he continued to clap.

  “Okay, I will play another.” I played Let it Be and managed to get through the vocal part okay. Another round of applause greeted me when I finished, and I made a fake bow movement. I felt my cheeks heating up, and I realized that I was unused to playing for people. Yeah, the band show had been great, but when you are part of a group, it is easy to forget that people are watching. When we played, I had just assumed that everyone at the party would be watching Nicole.

  I played a few more Beatles songs, and then I asked John and Keiko if they wanted to play together. They both agreed. John grabbed the Ovation guitar from the stand and Keiko sat at the piano.

  We picked some jazz standard songs and then stood over Keiko while she played. I didn’t really need to read the lead sheet while we played, since I was familiar with the songs we picked, but John admitted to being a little rusty and asked if I could stand on Keiko’s left so he could cheat off of my fretting hand.

  The three of us played some jazz tunes for a few hours. Sometimes Keiko or John would take a break to sit on the couch with their girls, but I stood the whole time and played with whichever one wanted to continue. Then the sun set, and night began to leak in through the skylights.

  “Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes,” Loretta called into the room. Both Keiko and John had sat out for the last few songs, and they sat with their girls on the couch while I played the guitar. Beth and Aimee had seemed enchanted by the music we played, and, after a few hours of playing for them, I began to understand the real power that I had in our relationship. Yes, both girls were unbelievably beautiful and intelligent, but that didn’t mean I had to deal with their manipulations.

  “Your mom and I will help her get ready. Did you show Eric the backyard?” John asked Aimee. “The view should be great tonight. Nice and clear.”

  “I’ll take him out there, since Aimee gave him a tour of the house earlier today.” Beth practically sprinted across the room and skidded on her bare feet to a stop next to me.

  “No. I’ll take him. You can stay here and help them ready the food.” Aimee got off the couch, and her jaw was set in a hard line.

  “You should both take him. And stop fighting. I would hate to have to ask Eric to leave without dinner after he played such great music for us.” John shook his head, and Keiko frowned.

  “Fine,” both sisters uttered at once. Their parents gave us a last smile, held hands, and then walked out of the room toward the kitchen.

  “Let’s take him walking in the back yard,” Beth said to Aimee with a carefree smile.

  “Why don’t you leave us alone, Beth? Eric and I want to spend some time together,” Aimee whispered to her sister, but it could have been heard as a low growl.

  “He is my boyfriend though. Aren’t you supposed to take walks with your boyfriend? Do you take walks with Jack?”

  “We aren’t talking about Jack right now, Beth!” Aimee groaned.

  “Hey,” I said, and I pried my arms out of Beth’s grip. “I need to put the guitar back.” I did so and then looked at both the girls. I was sick of this shit. Both of them had been trying to manipulate me for too long, and I had let them push me around. Suddenly I didn’t care about impressing their parents, or their money, or their beauty. I didn’t care if I never saw them again. I was going to be in control of my life. I had my music now, and I was going to be happy with my life.

  The girls seemed to have sensed some change in me, and the three of us stared at each other for a few moments.

  “Aimee, you are with Jack. You haven’t broken up with him,” I said to the older sister.

  “But-”

  “Wait, please.” Then I turned to Beth.

  “Beth, you are sixteen. We can’t date. It is the law.”

  “No, you see-”

  “Stop. Just stop.” I held my hands up to both of them.

  “I have feelings for both of you. It is stupid, but I am going to say it right now.” My chest got heavy, and I realized that this might not actually end well. Aimee might not know exactly what had transpired between Beth and I. Would the truth make her angry? Would it make her hate me?

  Would she do anything if she hated me? Would she say something to Jack? I didn’t know if I trusted her enough.

  “This feels childish.” I turned to Aimee. “I don’t want our relationship to start this way. I don’t want us to be hiding behind my best friend’s back. He loves you, and even if you don’t love him, I can’t be part of breaking his heart. I don’t know where that leaves us, but we can’t be more than friends at this point in time.”

  “But, two weeks ago, you said-”

  “You have a way of convincing me that you are right with everything.” Her eyes narrowed when I cut her off, and she opened her pretty mouth to speak again.

  “But-”

  “But we can talk about it later. Tonight, I am Beth’s guest.” I gestured to her younger sister. The girl smiled and turned to look at Aimee with a haughty eyebrow raised.

  “But I’m not your boyfriend, Beth. Your parents wouldn’t approve of us dating.”

  “Is that the only reason? Would you be with me if they said it was okay?” Her eyes widened, and Aimee began to cross her arms over the chest of her lilac dress.

  “They won’t approve.”

  “I’ll ask them over dinner. They like you and will say yes. Then you can spend the night.” She smiled sweetly at me.

  “What? No. That isn’t how it works,” I said. Damn it.

  “You are not sleeping with him. Damn it, Beth!” Aimee’s raised voice passed the volume of a civil conversation. If the girls continued to argue, I had no doubt that their parents would put a stop to it by asking me to leave.

  Maybe that was a good idea. It would mean I wouldn’t have to worry about either one trying to seduce me. I suddenly felt exhausted. My head started to hurt, and I felt as if I wanted to nap. I hadn’t realized that this day was taking so much out of me. I had wanted to impress Beth and Aimee’s parents, and I think I may have gotten their respect with my music. It was a good feeling, but the idea that I was causing strife between the two sisters didn’t sit well with me, and I had no doubt that if their argument reached boiling point, I might end up being the loser.

  “You met Eric through me. He is interested in dating me, Beth.” I overheard Aimee’s voice stand out in the argument.

  I exhaled and wondered if they would notice if I left the room. Both girls were standing by the piano, and the obvious exit was past them. Once I looked around the room, however, I saw a smaller door behind me and the guitar stands. I couldn’t remember what room lay on the other side, but exploring the house in silence sounded much nicer than listening to the sisters’ battle.

  The door led to the television room, and I walked past the leather reclining chairs and the giant screen and into the main hallway. I kind of wandered through the dark wooden hallways until I found myself back in the kitchen. Loretta, Keiko, and John were chatting in Spanish, and they didn’t hear me until I said hello and waved to them from across the room.

  “Come sit down.” John smiled at me and pointed to the barstool on the other side of the kitchen counter.
He was dicing potatoes with a large and expensive-looking chef’s knife.

  “Where are the girls?” Keiko asked

  “They are fighting. I think I should probably leave.”

  “Are they fighting over you?” she asked. I felt my cheeks redden, and I nodded slightly.

  “That is too bad,” John said. “More so for Beth than Aimee. She was very happy that you were coming.”

  “I am sorry, John. You are all really nice, and I thank you for your hospitality so far today.”

  “Why don’t you take a walk with me?” John said it as if the sentence wasn’t a question. He wiped his hands off with a paper towel and then turned around to open the fridge behind him. When he turned around, he held two green bottles of beer. “Let us go to the game room.” I nodded at him and followed the man out the other side of the kitchen and down another hallway. I was still confused by the layout of the house, but I was starting to get the design of the various wings and where the kitchen sat in relation to everything.

  There were double wooden doors connecting the game room to the hallway and John closed them both as soon as we entered. Then he opened the beers and handed me one.

  “Whoops. I forgot we have a fridge in here.” He pointed to the small fridge in the corner. The door was made of glass, and I could see that it was already filled with beer, water, soda, and the kind of spiked fruity drinks that girls my age liked. I smiled at him and took a sip of the beer.

  “You play pool?” He walked behind the blue-felted table.

  “I’m not that good, but we can play. Sure.” I set down my beer on a counter and then grabbed a pool stick.

  “Let’s just do stripes and solids then.” John set up the table and broke it with a practiced movement of his stick. A solid ball went in, and he moved over to make his next shot.

  “I am aware of the situation between you and Beth.” He didn’t make eye contact with me. Instead, he focused on the next ball and managed to hit it into the pocket.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I know she is sixteen. We haven’t done anything, and I don’t intend to.”

  “I know. She has told me as much. I trust my daughter. All my girls actually.” He smiled at me and positioned to take the next shot. “Her mother and I were excited when she told us she had a friend. Beth is not very social. Even though she has traveled across the world for school and art, she has no one she is close to besides us.”

  I nodded, but didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how big John’s company was, but I imagined that he had thousands of employees. I’m sure they would all love to be here playing pool with him now. But I also figured that none of them would want to have the ‘you are trying to date my underage daughter’ conversation right now either.

  “Aimee is easier to understand for us. I do not want to say that Beth is not wonderful. But her genius comes with a price that most people do not realize. Aimee is searching for the right person to share her life with. She is still young, so her mother and I have cautioned her to date many different men until she has a good grasp on what she wants. Then she will be able to make a better decision.” He made another shot and sank another solid ball. “Hey, it’s been a while, but I still have it.”

  “Better than me,” I laughed.

  “Not at the guitar.” He smiled and lined up his next shot. This one he missed, and it was my turn.

  “I do not agree with Beth attempting to spend the night at your apartment,” he said as I lined up the last shot. I was about to push the cue through, and his words completely broke my concentration.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I asked her to leave.”

  “I bet you did.” He chuckled, and I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic. John seemed to realize my confusion and quickly corrected himself. “Beth is used to getting what she wants. I am afraid her mother and I have spoiled her more than Aimee.”

  I returned his smile and tried to calm my nerves by taking aim at the cue ball again. I missed my target badly, and John walked around the table to take his turn.

  “Aimee has told us about you and Jack. I can understand what predicament she has put you in.” He said as he lined up his shot.

  “What did she tell you?” I was already nervous talking to the man, but now I felt like my hands were too sweaty to take a good shot.

  “Aimee wants to date you, but she is dating Jack,” he said frankly.

  “I’m surprised you think that.” I laughed a bit and gritted my teeth at how nervous I sounded. “She told me that Jack thinks they are dating, but they really aren’t.”

  “Please understand that Aimee grew up with Beth bullying her. She will sometimes do or say things to get her way even when she knows they are not right.”

  He took a shot and then knocked another ball in. I was flabbergasted that he would say anything negative about his own daughter, so I didn’t speak while he lined up his next shot. This one he missed, and I wondered if he was going easy on me.

  “I am glad you were brave enough to come over,” he said, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Some of the tension left my shoulders, and I found myself exhaling.

  “I thought that if I didn’t come today, Beth would keep coming over and putting me in difficult situations.”

  “Yes, I understand what you mean. Let’s talk about that.” His words made my fears flare again, and I missed my next shot.

  “Okay.” I stood away from the table and moved back to the counter by the table so I could grab my beer. Alcohol was good emotional support.

  “I know you’ve said that you asked Beth to leave. I can understand that her age bothers her.” I nodded at his words and took a sip of my beer just so I could keep my hands and mouth occupied.

  “It is not appropriate behavior for her to be visiting you in such a manner, but I also want her to have some independence.” I tried not to gawk at the man. Didn’t Beth already go to her various modeling gigs alone? I imagined those events and after parties were more than adult. Maybe he had no idea what she was actually doing when she left the house.

  Then again, the guy wasn’t stupid.

  “As I said before, she does not have many friends. Actually, I do not think Beth has a single friend besides her mother, me, and you.”

  “How? Hasn’t she been all over the world at different schools?”

  “Yes, but she does not make friends easily, or seem interested in other people.”

  He smirked at me and leaned down to take his shot. The ball went in, and there were only a few solids left before he won.

  “If Aimee came to me when she was sixteen and told me she wanted to date someone five years older than her, I would have told her no, but by the time Aimee was sixteen she had already gotten bored with a dozen boys. She had many friends, social activities, and things to do all the time. Beth has no one. So when she told us she had a friend, and she wanted us to meet him, we were elated.”

  “If you’ll excuse me for being frank, I don’t want to go to jail.” He laughed, and the sound made me feel a bit better.

  “That is good to know. This is an awkward conversation for me to have. I have given a few thousand talks, presentations, and shareholder meetings. This makes me nervous though.” He laughed, and I let out a small chuckle. I knew the man was trying to make me more comfortable, but I wondered where the conversation was going.

  The door opened to the game room, and Aimee poked her pretty head inside.

  “Oh, there you two are!” She smiled, and it lit up the room.

  “We are having a guy talk.” John smiled back at her.

  “Oh, okay.” Aimee turned to look at me with obvious concern.

  “Dinner will be ready in about twenty. Mom wanted me to tell you.”

  “Okay. We’ll head over in fifteen.”

  “Great,” she paused and opened the door a little more. “Can I play pool with you?”

  “I would love that, sweetie, but Eric and I are having a private conversation. How about after dinner?”

  “Okay,” sh
e agreed, but her faced easily betrayed her annoyance.

  “So we were talking about Beth...” He continued about ten seconds after Aimee closed the door.

  “Yes.” I wondered again where he was going with the conversation.

  “Do you have...” The man seemed nervous suddenly. I didn’t know him that well, but it seemed like he was struggling to pick the next word. “feelings for her?”

  The question grabbed my stomach like a sweaty wrestler. There was no way I could tell this man that I had intentions for his sixteen-year-old daughter. Yet, I realized that it was what he wanted me to admit. I didn’t know much of anything about their family structure, but what I had seen so far made me think that they were all healthy together. Was this just a father asking if his odd daughter was going to have a chance at a ‘normal’ life? Did he even know what she wanted?

  “I think she is beautiful, and smart, and funny, and I’ve wished she wasn’t sixteen.” I said the words and then almost immediately freaked the fuck out. Who said that kind of shit to a girl’s father? A part of my subconscious must have wanted some sort of finality with this dance.

  There was a sudden silence across the pool table, and his blue eyes bored into my face just as Beth’s would have.

  “That makes me happy,” he said finally, and I felt my breath release with a slow squeeze. “Do you want to continue to see her?” My stomach convulsed again, and I realized I was squeezing my beer so hard the glass might shatter.

  I studied the man’s face and tried to gauge what his intentions were. On one hand, I couldn’t believe that he would tell me that it was fine with him if I dated his underage daughter, especially since he seemed to understand that I was also kind of seeing Aimee. On the other hand, it was possible that he wanted Beth to have a friendship, and that might be worth more to him than whatever discomfort the idea of his youngest daughter dating might bring him.

  But... as much as I thought Beth was beautiful. As much as I thought she was intelligent, charming, and mysterious. I still wasn’t comfortable around her.