Love Like Crazy

by Crystal B. Bright

  She didn’t speak as he ducked into the bathroom again where he had his suitcase. At that point, Avery exhaled. The man had her wrapped around every fiber of his being in a matter of seconds. How could he not have anyone in his life?

  When she thought about that, she figured something had to be wrong with him. Terrible tipper, horrible to his mother, small penis. The last item had her giggling.

  “It’s funny what you discover about people when you’re in their home.” Laz continued speaking to her from the bathroom.

  “Yeah? What’s that?” Avery resumed her seated position on the couch while she waited for him.

  “You don’t have a boyfriend or husband.”

  She sat up straight. If she hadn’t put her hand to her chest, she knew her heart would have pounded out of it at any moment. Laz had found her pink vibrator that she hadn’t used in months.

  Besides feeling the embarrassed heat in her cheeks, she gritted her teeth. She could have spit fire right now. How dare he violate her personal space.

  Laz came out of the bathroom fully dressed while carrying his suitcase. He smiled as he approached her, but he wouldn’t be pretty soon.

  “How dare you.” Avery planted her fists on her hips. As soon as Laz stopped smiling, she continued in on him. “I let you use my bathroom, and you use that time to spy on me and look through my things?”

  “Excuse me?” Laz’s eyebrows furrowed.

  “Okay, yes. I have a vibrator.” Just saying it enflamed her face even more. “Lots of women have them, including married ones. It’s a toy, an enhancement. Some people call it a marital aid.” Now she felt like she talked way too much. She needed to end this conversation quickly. “What I have in my bathroom is my personal business.”

  Laz waited a beat before he responded to her tirade. “I didn’t go through your drawers or medicine cabinet. That bothers me when people come to my apartment and do that, so I don’t do it to them.”

  “Oh. So why did you think I was single?” She lowered her arms, now feeling embarrassed for a different reason.

  “Your bathroom is spotless. If a man lived here, there would be way more junk on the sink, plus a magazine rack.” He smiled, almost like he wanted to defuse a situation.

  “Oh.” She put her hand to her forehead. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry. I—”

  Laz held his hand up. “No need to apologize. We have some time before we need to go. You want to get some studying in?” He pulled out a chair at her breakfast bar.

  “You were serious about that?” Avery approached him cautiously, still wary from her recent false assumption.

  “I don’t kid about education.” He pulled out the other barstool for her. “And I did promise.” Then he patted the seat. “Where are your books?”

  Avery nodded back to her living room. “On the couch.”

  Laz glanced at it and then her. “Bring them over so that we can get started.”

  Maybe he felt the same tension between them that she felt. Instead of acknowledging it, she grabbed her books and notebook, and met him over at the breakfast bar.

  “Since you offered, I am having problems with something we’re going over right now.” Avery sat down. “As a matter of fact, we had a quiz on this yesterday, and I don’t think I passed it.” She shook her head.

  “That’s not good. What is it?” He leaned forward and gave her his full attention.

  That both excited her and made her nervous. “Bayes’ Theorem.” She jumped up from her seat. “You want something to drink? I’m getting some water.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Yes, Lord.

  Avery pulled out a bottle of water from her refrigerator, and immediately placed the frosty bottle at her neck and chest, out of Laz’s view, before turning around to her guest and possible business partner. She sat down next to him and opened her book to the section giving her the hardest time.

  “Bayes’ Theorem is a conditional hypothesis.” Laz looked at her while he spoke, which gave him an air of authority over the topic.

  “Yes.” Avery took a sip of the cool liquid and nodded. “I can’t believe you remember this stuff.”

  “To be honest, I can’t believe I remember this particular theory. But it’s all about comparing the real with the probable, like what’s the likelihood that you’ll win the lottery, or—”

  “Make it in the music industry.” If she had to calculate that, she didn’t expect to get the result she wanted.

  “Not really a good example.” He shook his head. “Most of those who make it do it because they were at the right place at the right time. This is your time. I can feel it.”

  She wanted to feel the same thing, but Avery had been through this before. She had to admit that Laz had gotten closer to her than most in the industry.

  An hour into studying and Avery started to like what Laz taught her. His patience had her thinking about his performance in the bedroom. Would he be a slow and easy lover?

  She had to get her mind off his body of work. “You fix cars. You know statistics. You’re in the music business. You’re like Prince Charming and I’m Cinderella.” She laughed. “A modern-day one, that is. I feel like at some point my foot is not going to fit into that glass slipper.”

  Laz studied her for a moment. “It will. I feel it. Good things happen to talented, beautiful people.”

  “Now you sound like one of my former coworkers. Good things will happen when I graduate.”

  “If I can help you get to that point, I’ll do that, too. I’m here for you.”

  Avery connected her gaze to his and couldn’t break from the stare. If she didn’t know any better, it felt like her face moved toward his. She moistened her lips in anticipation of a kiss. What the hell was she doing? She couldn’t kiss this man. She shouldn’t want him. Damn if he didn’t move his face down close to hers, too, until he stopped.

  Laz cleared his throat before standing. “I think that might be enough studying for right now.” He slid his hands down his shirt and jeans to straighten them out. “If you’re ready to go, I am. I’ll drive.”

  Before she could say anything else that would incriminate herself and her actions, he walked down the steps to the front door and walked out.

  When he disappeared, Avery paced and shook out her hands, which now tingled. “He thinks I’m an idiot. No, worse. He thinks I’m a horny idiot.” She leaned her head back and growled. “Why can’t you learn to shut up?”

  Instead of beating herself up even more, she grabbed her purse and keys. This would be an awkward ride and a long night.

  * * * *

  During the entire car ride to the bar, Laz’s mind filled with images of Avery pleasuring herself with a vibrator that he didn’t even know existed anywhere in the bathroom. Now he imagined the shape and size of the faux phallus and how she had used it in the past, since, by her response, she had used it before.

  He also thought about the fact that if he hadn’t stopped himself, he would have kissed her. Helping her with her homework reminded him of being a student in college and doing the same with his college sweetheart, only those situations ended up with hot, sweaty sex. Laz couldn’t and wouldn’t have that with Avery.

  Laz had to keep himself and Avery distracted. She remained quiet during the ride as well, probably questioning whether or not to even trust or believe him.

  “So singing. Tell me about it.” Laz drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel.

  “What do you mean?” Avery crossed her legs, which matched the crossed arms over her chest.

  She had officially shut down. He had to make her open up again.

  “When did you start? When did you know you could sing really well? Why didn’t you pursue it as a career?” Those questions should keep her busy and keep his mind occupied.

  “Wow. You really want to know it all, don’t you?” She chuckl
ed. “Okay. If you ask my mother, I didn’t start talking first. I sang. As I got older I would put on little shows for family and friends. If you came over to the Shields house, expect a performance complete with intermission.” Avery smiled.

  Laz liked this side of Avery. He split his attention between her and the road.

  “I knew I had some singing ability when I got to sing more solos in church. And I always landed in first chair when I was in chorus all through school. I went to college directly after high school.”

  “Really? Which one?”

  “University of Pennsylvania.”

  “Wow. Nice.” He nodded.

  “Yes, it was. It was close enough for me to drive home if I needed to, but far enough away from my parents….”

  Laz caught something in her response. Sounded like she didn’t have a great relationship with her parents. Then again, he couldn’t wait to get out of D.C.

  “So final question.” Laz pulled up to a stoplight. “Why haven’t you pursued a career in music before now?”

  “What makes you think I haven’t?” She sank her arms in a little deeper.

  Oh, no. Laz felt her pulling away from him again. “It just surprises me that someone as talented as yourself hasn’t been snatched up before now.”

  She let out a long sigh. “I had made some headway into the industry. I sang the national anthem at a few Norfolk Tides games. I did so well at that, I got to do it at a Washington Nationals game.” She paused.

  “Then something happened, right?”

  The light changed and Laz pulled off slowly.

  “You could say that.” Avery cleared her throat. “I made some mistakes. My parents were not happy with me. To be honest, I wasn’t pleased with myself. After my sophomore year, I left college and came back home.”

  “But you went back. You’re in school now.” He had to build her back up.

  “Yeah. After knocking around for a year, I eventually went back to college, taking classes here and there. I got in on an academic scholarship, believe it or not. After that first year, the rest of my tuition, books, and other expenses would be on me and my parents. I decided to finish school at home. I’m on my last semester.” She pumped her fist in the air. Instead of returning her arms back into the crossed position over her chest, she rested her hands on her lap. “The week after next is spring break. And then a few weeks after that, I’ll graduate, hopefully. My parents should be proud of that.”

  “I’m sure they’re proud of you now. And, hey, we all make mistakes. It’s how we respond to them that makes a difference.” He wanted to pat her leg, touch her somewhere.

  That would have been too much. He shouldn’t have come out of the bathroom without a shirt. He didn’t think it would be a problem until he caught Avery staring at his chest. He wanted her to do more than stare. Had she reached out and touched him, they would have never made it out of her apartment.

  “So why don’t you have a girlfriend?” Avery smiled. “I can’t be the only one revealing myself here.”

  “Fine. I did for a while. She said I was too involved with my work.” He turned to Avery. “For you, that’s a good thing. I’m dedicated to my job and, apparently, nothing else.” He brought his stare back to the road in front of him. He turned to her. “Why don’t you have someone in your life?”

  Avery hesitated before she answered. “Like you, too involved. With me, it’s school. I work different jobs like I’m Ryan Seacrest. I don’t have the time or the energy.”

  “Maybe you haven’t met the right man yet.”

  “Or maybe the right man needs to be patient and let me live my life first. I will be a much better person and partner once I get my life together.” She uncrossed her legs and sat up taller. “So where are we going? It’s not me to blindly get in a car with a stranger.”

  “Have you heard of or ever been to a place called Honey’s in Virginia Beach?” Laz kept his stare on the road until he realized Avery hadn’t answered.

  When he turned to her, she finally spoke. “I’ve heard of it. Kind of like an artsy coffee shop, right?”

  Laz nodded. “At least that’s what the website described it as being. I thought I would see if you sing there first.”

  “First?” She snickered. “Why do you think there will be other chances?”

  Laz’s audible turn-by-turn navigator on his phone directed him to turn into the parking lot of Honey’s. He parked his rental and turned it off before he spoke to her. When he did, he turned his body toward her.

  “I can tell you really want this. If you do, I can help you. I really do want to help you.” Laz had to grip the stirring wheel with one hand and sat on his other hand to keep from reaching out and touching her.

  Avery’s skin looked like chocolate velvet, both smooth and delicious.

  “What if you’re wasting your time on me?” Avery shrugged.

  “You let me decide how I spend my time.” Laz got out and crossed in front of the vehicle to the passenger side.

  Avery already had the door open, but he held it open while she exited. When she got out, he walked next to her up to the building, again, doing everything in his power to keep from touching her, but yet he couldn’t help but place his hand at the small of her back.

  He opened the heavy wooden door for her. It creaked as she stepped inside the dimly lit place that smelled of coffee and specialty teas. The spicy aroma stung his nose as he navigated their way to a table.

  “You sit here. Order whatever you like. I’m going to find the manager or whoever it is that organizes the talent.” He pointed to the stage where a young woman sat on a barstool with an acoustic guitar and sang an emotional song.

  Laz walked over to a bar area and got the female bartender’s attention. The hard part of getting Avery to this place had been overcome. Now he would need to get her on the stage.

  “Hey, I want a singer to do the open mic tonight. Who do I need to talk to in order to make that happen?” The bartender looked disinterested, but entertained him anyway.

  “Open mics are on Sunday nights. Tonight is her gig.” She pointed to the singer.

  He didn’t even look at the singer on stage. He had no obligation to her. “That’s not what the website says.”

  “Needs to be updated. Check our Facebook page. That’s always updated.” She started to move away to take care of other customers.

  “Wait. I’m sure she needs a break, right? Can I get my singer on the stage for one song when she stops performing?” He wouldn’t leave with his tail tucked between his legs.

  Avery already seemed tentative. He had to seal this deal.

  “She’s not going to let you use her guitar unless your singer plans on going a cappella.” The bartender pointed off stage to a large object under a black tablecloth. “You can use the piano if you or her know how to play it.”

  Laz stared at the object like it would grow legs and long, sharp, pointy teeth, and bite his head clean off his shoulders. He would have much rather have that scenario happen than to be on stage with her playing the piano. People would stare at him, judge him, laugh at him. Twenty-seven years old and the thought of that still had him worried.

  “I don’t think she’ll need it. But good to know that it’s there.” He hated not to use all the tools available to him due to his crippling fear. With everything he had riding on this and not a lot of time left, he should have taken his own needs out of the equation and put himself out there for Avery.

  “Dude, whatever. Sure. She has another five or ten minutes left on this set. Then she takes a fifteen-minute break. If you use the piano, you’ll have to set that up, do your song, and break down the set in fifteen minutes.”

  Laz nodded. “Understood.”

  He pushed himself away from the bar and went back to Avery, who wrung her hands over and over again.

  “No one’s real
ly paying attention to her, and her voice is really beautiful.” Avery stared at the singer.

  “It’s Saturday. Date night. Maybe people are paying attention to their dates than her.” He would make sure to keep Avery in a positive headspace.

  “She’s really good. I mean really good.” Avery shook her head. “I’m sure she’s tried getting into the music business, too. What makes me any different?”

  “You have me. I’ll fight for you.” He nodded. When he noticed more of her doubt creeping in her head, he continued. “Do you know what song you want to sing?”

  Avery looked pensive. “I hadn’t thought about it because after I made a fool of myself back at my apartment, I was going to back out.”

  “You didn’t do anything to be embarrassed about. I’ve already forgotten it.”

  “Liar.” She laughed.

  “Anyway, your song. It has to fit your audience and complement your voice. I was thinking maybe some Mary J. Blige or Aretha.”

  Avery looked at him and blinked. “I don’t think this audience would appreciate that type of music.”

  “What? Good music? I didn’t ask you to do Nine Inch Nails.”

  She blinked. “So you don’t go through my bathroom drawers, but you have no problem going through my car console.”

  Shit. He didn’t mean to reveal that.

  “Never mind that. Your song. It needs to be something that people will remember and that will showcase you and your talent.”

  Avery dropped her gaze. A smile crept up on her face as soon as the audience gave a modest applause to the singer on stage.

  “Thank you. I’m going to take a quick break.” The singer stood from the stool while holding the neck of her guitar. “You folks enjoy your tasty beverages. Don’t forget to tip your waiters and waitresses. I’ll be right back.”

  Laz stood. “Okay, let’s go.”

  “Wait. Now?” Avery’s eyebrows pinched together in confusion. “I just ordered my drink.”

  “It’ll be here when you get back.”

  He put his hand on the small of her back again to guide her to the stage area. The possessive touch felt natural. Having her so close to his body would definitely do him in if he didn’t separate from her.