“Don’t fucking test me or you’ll be out of a job. Do you understand that? Get the fuck out of my face now if you want to keep your job at all. If you aren’t gone by tomorrow, I’ll make sure you’re fired for good.”
“Fine,” she said as she turned and left.
Jesus Christ. Can this get any worse? Not only does she want nothing to do with me, but now she thinks I don’t ever want to see her again.
Just as I began to come to terms with Lila being a lost cause, there she fucking was. Maybe I didn’t really want to see her right then, but Marissa had no right to take it upon herself to make those kind of decisions for me.
The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got, though I didn’t know exactly what was pissing me off. Obviously, the catalyst was Marissa telling Lila I didn’t want to see her, like I’d made some fucking anti-Lila rule, but it went deeper than that.
I was pissed at Lila. There, I said it. I fell hard for her, and then she dumped me like I meant nothing. I loved her and everything we could be and to know she didn’t feel the same pissed me right the fuck off.
Stripping down to my boxer briefs, I went to bed and tried like hell to go to sleep. If I’d had alcohol in my room, I would’ve drowned my sorrows, but since I didn’t, the best thing I could use to escape was sleep.
Too bad the same fucking set of notes played over and over in my head, finally waking me only a few hours after I fell asleep. The song had haunted me from the time things had gone to shit with us. I’d tried to put it off for as long as I could, but the sound only amplified in my head until I finally got out of bed and picked up my bass. It was time to write the fucking song… Her song.
CHAPTER 30 – LILA STEPHENS
Why do I hear music? At least it wasn’t screams of ecstasy coming from the other room like I’d feared I might hear. I’d been sleeping so well, and then not so much. The music was beautiful and nothing I’d ever heard before.
The deep tones from his bass cut through the wall and filled my ears. He wasn’t singing, thankfully, or I’d probably have lost it. His voice always did wicked things to me, and I was already on edge.
Seeing him the night before and listening to him play stirred up so many unwanted emotions: sadness, anxiety, regret for telling him my secret so easily, anger at myself for leaving him, happiness as my feelings for him started to emerge again, among others.
I was a little more hung up on him than I’d like to admit and it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. My heart was telling me to go to him, but my mind was telling me to stay put. He might not be alone after all.
Fuck it. For once in my life, I was going to follow my heart instead of my head. My head is what had gotten me into the situation in the first place, so my heart surely couldn’t do much worse. I was going to see if he wanted to talk, but first I had to make myself decent. I didn’t want to see him looking like I just crawled out from under a rock with the dragon breath and the bed head I had going on.
My jeans were easily located in my suit case, as was my green “Brooklyn” t-shirt. I quickly brushed my hair and teeth and put a light layer of foundation, powder, and eye liner on. I swooped on some mascara, and I was good to go. I just hope he’s alone…
I knocked on his door a few moments later and it occurred to me that he might not even hear me if he was still playing. He could be so into what he was doing that he didn’t even want to see who was at the door. Or maybe he wouldn’t want to open the door when he saw me on the other side through the peephole. Just as I was about to abandon my mission and return to the sanctity of my room, the door opened to my relief.
I smiled at him, and he nodded at me. “Do you want to go get breakfast with me? I guess it might be brunch now.” I glanced past him. There was no sign of anyone else there with him. “There’s a restaurant across the street that looks like it might be good.”
“Yeah, I’ll go. Come in while I take a piss and throw some clothes on.” It was then that I noticed he was only wearing black boxer briefs. I wouldn’t mind if he just left those on if I’m being honest. Images of him playing his bass in nothing but underwear flashed through my mind, causing my knees to go weak for a second. He disappeared into the bedroom and re-emerged with a pair of dark jeans and a black t-shirt on. “Why are you really inviting me to breakfast? I thought you didn’t want me in your life.”
“I’m hungry, but I mainly want to talk...”
“Let’s order room service then and stay here. What do you want?”
“Pancakes and bacon is fine. Oh, and apple juice, too, please.”
After he ordered our food, we sat across from each other at the table that sat off to the side of the kitchen area in his room.
“I don’t know what you’ve come to talk about, but can I say one thing first?”
“Go ahead.”
“First, that shit about me not wanting to see you was all Marissa. I never said that, and as far as I know she’s gone for now.”
I nodded. “Okay.” A small bit of relief flooded over me.
He leaned forward and looked me straight in the eye. “I don’t think it’s fair for you to pass judgment on me so easily and condemn me for a mistake I made years ago. I was wrong for cheating, but it doesn’t mean I would ever do the same thing to you, and I don’t understand why you couldn’t still be in my life as my friend. You tossed me aside like I was nothing to you.”
“That’s why I’m here. I’m never going to be happy with anyone if I don’t learn to deal with my issues. Between being cheated on and being… raped,” I said, swallowing hard, “I have a lot of work to do. I’m sorry for laying that all on you, and I never meant for you to feel like I didn’t care about you or that I threw you away.”
“Let me in there, Lila,” he said, placing his finger on my chest just over my heart. “I think we’re good for each other, and I’m willing to do anything to make it work, but if you don’t let me in, then it’s a wasted effort. Do you have any idea how much I missed you?”
“I missed you, too.”
“So, are we good now?”
“I think so, but who is that Marissa chic anyway?”
“One of the many assistants management forces on me like I’m a child who needs a nanny to keep track of me. It was her turn to go on tour this time. There’s nothing there if that’s what you’re wondering. She just came up here last night to go over my schedule for the next couple of weeks.”
“Okay. I believe you,” I said, smiling. “She was really rude to me. When she told me you said you didn’t want to see me, I felt like such an asshole for coming here.”
“I swear I didn’t—”
“It’s okay. We’re starting over now, right?”
“Yeah.”
“The past is the past then. Let’s not worry about it,” I said as I smiled a bright smile at him.
“What do you want to do today? I don’t have shit to do at all so I’m yours. Whatever you want.”
“I’m supposed to go out with Tori. I can call her and see what time she wants to go.”
“Yeah, go ahead and do that. We can work around whatever you two have planned already. We can at least do dinner if nothing else.”
“I’ll be back in a few then. I just have to go back to my room and get my phone,” I said as we both stood, and I started for the door.
“Don’t leave me waiting too long,” he said, pulling me to him as his lips brushed gently across mine. “I need to look at you some more so I know this is real and that I’m not actually in the other room sound fucking asleep with that goddamn song on repeat in my head.”
I hurried back to my room as the muscles throughout my body tensed. God, he tasted good and though I was still getting anxious, it was nowhere near as bad as it had been. Now, where the hell did I put that phone? I checked the living room and kitchen. Not there. I checked the night stand by the bed, and sure enough, that’s where it was. I pulled up Tori’s name in my contacts and called her.
“Hello?”
“Hey, what time are we leaving? Ash and I sort of worked things out, and he wants to do something today. I told him I’d find out what time we’re going and plan it from there.”
“Sweetie… You go spend the day with him.”
“Are you sure?”
“You guys need this time together right now. I’m absolutely positive.”
“I’ll fill you in on everything on the way home.”
“You bet your ass you will.”
I hung up the phone and did a little happy dance. She was truly a great friend. Note to self: do something extraordinarily nice for Tori when we get back home to show her my appreciation.
As I started back to his room, a thought ran through my mind, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. It was something I’d done with Edie more times than I could count, and it never got old, no matter how many times I did it.
“I want to go to Medieval Times,” I yelled as I burst through his door.
“Really?” He looked puzzled, as if he thought I was jerking his chain.
“Really!”
“If that’s what you want then that’s what we’re gonna do.”
“It’s one of my favorite shows. I think they have an afternoon show sometimes.”
“Let’s go then. I’m ready.”
“But we haven’t gotten our food yet.”
“I’ll just call and have it sent to Matty and Tori as a thank you for letting go of you today.”
* * *
We arrived at the Medieval Times Castle and found out that there was in fact an afternoon show that was to start in about an hour.
“I’ll buy the tickets,” he said.
“You don’t have to buy mine. I’ve got it.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Why? I can afford it, ya know.”
“I know you can, but this is our first real date, and I’m paying for everything. I won’t hear another word about it,” he said, taking my hand in his as we walked toward the front of the castle.
“Yeah, and I’m the control freak.”
“You’re welcome.” Bringing my hand to his lips, he planted a soft kiss.
“Hang on a sec. I thought our first official date was at that place in Charlotte when we had to sit by ourselves because there wasn’t a big enough table for all of us.”
“Well, if you recall, you said it didn’t count.”
“Yes, I know, but you insisted it did count.”
“Go ahead and bust my balls over it then. Come on! I’m still paying.”
“There will be no ball busting today. You can take it easy.”
“Good. Let’s go on our first official date then, milady.”
“Oh, how very noble of you, My Lord.”
“When in Rome, right?”
After we purchased our tickets, we were ushered to an area where guests could have their pictures taken with the King and Princess of the show. Ash insisted that we do this. I knew they would be coming around later to try to sell these pictures to us, and I was thrilled to have a keepsake.
The photographer recognized Ash right away.
“Hey! You’re Ash London! My name is Dave.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Ash held out his hand to shake Dave’s.
“I love Ferrum. Been listening to you guys for years!”
“Thanks, man. We really do appreciate it. You goin’ to our next show?”
“No. I couldn’t afford tickets right now. Money’s been tight. I really wanted to go, though.”
“Well, you’re going now. I’ll add you to the guest list. You got a girl, Dave?”
“Yes, I do, and she’s a big fan, too. She’s going to flip out when I tell her.”
“Write down both of your names for me, and I’ll take care of it. Just make sure you bring your IDs.”
“Wow! Thanks! She’s going to be so stoked!”
“No problem. Now get back to work ya broke fuckin’ slob,” he said with a hearty laugh as he slapped the guy’s shoulder. Dave almost doubled over from laughter as he handed him a piece of paper with their names on it. I could only imagine what other people around us were thinking who might not be familiar with Ash’s sense of humor.
During the pre-show, Ash was called up and introduced as the King’s special guest. A good bit of people in the audience recognized him immediately and began to cheer and clap as he became the center of attention. I honestly don’t know how he dealt with being so easily recognizable, but he did so with ease. I’d probably want to crawl in a hole somewhere if that many strangers knew who I was.
After he signed some autographs and took a few pictures, we were invited to meet with the actors in the show. Several of them were fans of Ferrum and Ash offered them free tickets to the next show as his guests, just as he did for the photographer. He knew how to treat his fans, that was for sure, at least the ones who respected him and didn’t stalk him at his home.
Shortly after we took our seats, the show began and we were approached by yet another photographer to take our picture again. I couldn’t wait until they brought them back around. The thought of having pictures of us that I could set out at home made me positively giddy.
* * *
We spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach. It was a little too cold for swim suits so I opted to wear a black hoodie and a comfy pair of jeans with my Converses.
“I love the ocean. I want to go to the beach back in New York after the weather warms up. I haven’t been there yet,” I said.
“Most of my summers were spent at the beach. It was great. Coney Island was the best, but it gets too crowded in the summertime. Too many tourists. It didn’t really bother me as a kid, but things have changed. There are some other beaches that’d be good to go to. I’ll take you when we’re both home. Doesn’t have to be warm to walk on the beach.”
A slight chill ran down my spine and a shiver overtook me.
“Here,” he said as he scooted closer. “Get close to me if you’re cold. I’ve got plenty of body heat to go around.”
“I’m a little cold,” I said as I snuggled up to him.
“I’m glad you’re here. I really didn’t think I’d see you again, at least not like this. Pretty sure we would have run into each other in the neighborhood at some point.”
“I’m glad, too,” I said, leaning my head against him.
He smelled so good that I decided I had to find out what cologne he used and buy stock in that company. Anything that smelled that great had to be a good investment.
“Was that something new you were playing this morning?”
“Yeah, just something that keeps playing on repeat in my head. I didn’t realize you could hear it.”
“It was beautiful, but sad.”
“I was thinking of you… I really missed you.”
Playing with the fingers on his right hand, I sat quietly and waited for him to speak again.
“You bring out the best in me whether you know it or not. You know, I tend to be a dick with people at times, but not with you.”
“Why? I mean obviously you are aware that you’re acting like a dick to people, so why do it? I guess some people probably deserve it though.”
“Defense mechanism I guess. I have people constantly in my face always wanting something from me, so if I act that way I feel like maybe I’ll scare off the ones that don’t care enough to look past my attitude or the ones that are too dumb to figure out when I’m joking.”
“You were pretty nice to those fans today.”
“Most of the fans I meet are different. If it wasn’t for them, I’d be a fuckin’ taxi driver or some shit like that.”
“You didn’t know anything about me, but you were nice to me the first few times we met.”
“I didn’t have much choice now, did I? You just came flying at me out of nowhere all helpless,” he chuckled. “Then you turned me down for that drink. That’s when I knew you didn’t care who I was.”
“But I did care. I was intimidated by
you and embarrassed to death. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“Okay, but then you showed up at my house when I needed someone. Out of all the people I know, you were the only one there.”
“I couldn’t stand the thought of you being alone at a time like that.”
“You made me feel like a normal man again, like I deserved to have someone care about me… And you also have a great ass.”
I laughed at the sudden change in subject. “I have a fat ass, not a great one.”
“What the fuck are you smoking? Your ass is perfection.”
“No, it isn’t. I need to lose about 20 pounds.”
“Bullshit. You do not. I like you the way you are.”
“I think I’m too soft. I need to be in better shape.”
“I like softness,” he said, as she caressed my back.
I blushed and changed the subject. “So, back to that me turning you down thing… No one ever turns you down?”
“I’m usually the one to say no. I fully expected to be in your bed that night, and you shot me down.”
“Sorry… I think.” I chuckled.
“Don’t be sorry. You’ve turned out to be so much more than that.”
“Can we go back inside? I’m freezing. I need to take a hot shower and warm up.”
“Yeah, let’s go. Here,” he said, digging in his pocket, “take my extra key card so you can just come over when you’re finished. I’m gonna get a shower, too, I think.”
“Here’s mine, in case you finish first,” I said as I pulled out my wallet from the tiny hand bag I carried with me.
“What do you want to do for dinner?” he inquired as we walked down the hallway from the elevator a few minutes later.
“I don’t know. Maybe order in unless you want to go out. We can figure it out when we’re both ready. I love Hard Rock Café, but somehow I think people would notice you there.”
“Yeah, but I don’t mind. I can deal with it if that’s what you want. See you soon.” He kissed my hand and entered his room.
I went straight to the bathroom and turned the shower on. The water warmed quickly, and I let it get as hot as I could stand before removing my clothes and stepping in. I shut the shower door behind me and let the water cascade over my neck and back sending the most relaxing sensation down my skin. Turning around, I let the water run down the front of my body and closed my eyes as I momentarily lost myself in the warmth.
Take Me On (Take Me Series Book 1) Page 19