by Vivian Lux
He strummed. And then slowly, stiffly, he started to play.
I'd seen Jonah naked by now. This was a different kind of naked. Stripped. Open. Honest.
He sang with his eyes closed, not watching for our reactions, not gauging whether we loved him the way we should. And that made me love him even more.
As the slow song of yearning rang from his guitar, I could barely keep my eyes off him. Every movement was tight with a private grief but also huge with catharsis. With acceptance, with letting go not only of his uncle but of so many things I wasn't sure I'd ever truly know about him but I was more than ready to spend all the time I could finding them out.
I snuck a peek at the private audience. Izzy was openly weeping, her grief wild and uninhibited. Mrs. King was rubbing her back in rhythmic circles as she dabbed her own eyes with a tissue. Foster King was sitting straight backed, his eyes glittering.
It was an echo of Gid's funeral, except instead of saying goodbye, it was like we'd all come by to say hi, to visit and share our memories, some sad of course but most happy and freeing. Dee laughed out loud when Jonah sang Gid's more ribald lyrics, shaking her head.
Behind me, Taylor was wiping the bar, the same spot over and over. He wanted to seem like he wasn't intently listening, but he clearly was. I pressed my lips together and lifted my chin towards him. "Yeah," I tried to say with my face. "You see him now?He's the real fucking deal, so show some respect."
When it was all over, Jonah just looked down at his guitar for a moment. Then he leaned into the mic. "Okay, well I don't know about you guys, but I need a drink."
We laughed and the heavy weight of grief was lifted, and we turned this memorial into a celebration.
Before long, the party was getting louder, with Taylor helping it along by pouring very generous drinks. Dee was holding court, telling everyone who would listen about the time Gid went toe to toe with the school board and walked away with the biggest budget Crown Creek Elementary had ever spent on a musical. "I was on his side but I was scared of him. The man was a legend. I think if he had asked them to build an entire new wing on the school just for the arts program they would have listened to him."
"He almost did," Izzy piped up. Tears were still leaking from her eyes and she tightly hugged the MP3 player Jonah has given her, with all of Gid's demos and tapes burned onto it. He was going to give her a copy of tonight's performance too. The only one that would ever be made.
I looked at his brothers who were laughing with Claire over something.
And then I looked again to see Jonah standing alone. He'd been the performer tonight, but it was Gid we were all talking about. Pride made my chest feel like it was going to burst. I went to him immediately. "What's wrong?"
He shook his head and slung his arm over my shoulder. "Nothing."
"You're the worst liar in the world and you should never play poker. Ever."
He gave me a rueful grin. "No it's just," he pulled out his phone. "I called Gabe, thinking he might want to Skype in or maybe listen over speaker or something, but he never got back to me. Hope he's okay."
"I'm sure he's fine," I said. Jonah sighed and nodded, pulling me close and scratching the back of my head. I pulled back immediately and grabbed his hand. "Your fingers?"
"They work," he said, with a touch of pride.
"Can you feel everything?" I asked, pressing them to my lips.
His eyes darkened. "I feel that."
Heat rushed through my belly and then down to my core. "Don't you want to stay here? You're the man of the hour, aren't you?"
He shook his head. "No. Gid is." He glanced at the laughing knots of people. None of them were even paying us a bit of attention. "Let's get out of here. My fingers have healed enough to play guitar. Now I just need to make sure they can still make you come all over them."
Spoiler alert: They could.
Chapter Forty-One
Ruby
"Happy New Year, baby," he groaned as my bones turned to jelly. I buried my face in his neck to muffle my scream of pleasure. He was right there with me and then we were falling together, our own private fireworks on New Year's Eve.
I fell back on the bed with a contented sigh, then laughed when I saw Ginger's paw sliding under the door. "She knows what we're doing in here."
I expected Jonah to laugh, but when I looked up at him, he was watching me with a strange expression on his face. "What's up?
He looked like he was mulling something over, and then all at once came to his decision. "I need to do something now," he announced, standing back up again.
His stuff was scattered all over my house, including the guitar he'd played the night of the memorial concert. He told me later that it had been Gid's guitar, a little tidbit that had made me weep openly and then attack him all over again.
It was that guitar that now stood in the corner fo my bedroom. I had wondered why he very deliberately moved there before laying me down on the bed, and I wondered even more as he walked over and picked it up. "Are you feeling inspired or something?" I teased.
He didn't say anything, only lifted the strap to sling the guitar over his body. I settled down low over his hips and I mock pouted. "It's hiding the best part of you now."
He grinned but oddly didn't take the bait. Instead he thoughtfully strummed. And then started picking out a lilting little memory.
I sat up on the bed, listening. The song was simple and totally catchy, the kind of thing that the King Brothers would have sung in their prime but without the overdubbed vocals and the slick production. Just a simple little song that already had me smiling.
The he started singing.
Never meant to love you
I fell without a chance
Now I'm trying hard to love you
Though I suck at the romance
He paused to let me stop giggling. With a gracious, self-deprecating smile, he strummed and cleared his throat.
It's a brand new year now
And I wrote a song for you
About the life I want now
I want to spend it with you.
He paused again. My heart was beating in my ears. "Are you proposing... naked?"
He gave a small shrug.
Ruby will you marry me?
I swear forevermore
To love you, make you happy
It's you that I adore.
My breath hitched. I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe. He grinned again and shook the guitar.
Then frowned and shook it again.
Then turned it over, lifting to look inside.
I burst out laughing. "Is the ring stuck in your guitar?"
"Gid's guitar," he grumbled, giving a mighty shake. "I don't exactly have pockets to put it in right now, do I?"
I was laughing so hard I couldn't get the words out. When the small platinum circle finally clattered through the strings and fell to the floor, I held my hand out.
He bent to retrieve it then looked at me. "Is this a yes?"
I nodded, still helplessly, hysterically laughing.
"You have to actually say it, Ruby," he growled. "It's kind of important."
"Yes!" I choked.
His shoulders finally relaxed. He slid the ring onto my left hand where it fit perfectly. Then his eyes slid from my hand up to my breasts, and then widened. "I think we need to consummate this."
"You consummate a marriage, not an engagement!" I cried. But he had already tackled me down to the bed and, well, we were both already naked so I really could see no reason to object.
Epilogue
Jonah
It was supposed to be a celebration of the impending spring, but the morning of the school play dawned wet and muddy and miserable. A fine sleeting rain made the roads slippery as hell.
I drove us to the Saturday morning performance. Ruby was still intermittently nervous about slippery roads and gladly let me take charge.
Backstage was pandemonium, with parent volunteers trying to corral the nervous,
hyper kids and get them into their costumes. I saw Luke Keely, the dude who'd been after Ruby, chatting up some PTA mom as he braided a first grader's hair out of her eyes. The mom was looking at him like she might jump his bones any second.
I gave the guy a mental high five. He'd been after Ruby which meant he had good taste. I wished him good luck, but it looked like he didn't really need it.
"Oh no!" Lydia Walker suddenly squealed, but deftly managed to get a trash can in front of Kayleigh before the kindergartner vomited all over the floor. ""Oh no, did you eat spaghetti last night?" Lydia groaned.
"Oh dear," the PTA mom moaned, rushing over with her nose all wrinkled up. Luke had wisely melted into the woodwork.
Ruby slid her arm into mine. "Ah, chaos," she sighed.
I leaned in and kissed the top of her head. "People flirting, people puking. It's just like being backstage at a rock concert." I considered for a moment. "Maybe a little less drug use."
"I'd hope," she gasped, looking horrified. I laughed. "Okay!" I shouted, clapping my hands. I was getting good at this teacher shit. "Time for warmups!"
I took them through vocal warm-ups, with all those little voices singing my words back to me, every face turned to mine like I had the spotlight trained on me.
All eyes on me.
It felt kind of like being a rock star.
I heard the sounds of the parents thundering into the auditorium. The show was about to begin. "Okay, you're going to do great!" I called, leading them through one more cheer. Just like I'd done with my brothers night after night for years, I put my hand out and waited for them to put theirs in to. Only instead of three hands, thirty-three little hands covered mine this morning. "One, two, three..."
"Sing!" they shouted in unison and barreled off to take their places.
I stood in the wings before the curtain opened, more nervous for these little kids than I had ever been for myself. Some of the older ones, the nine and ten year olds, they were the age I was when I started playing. This could be the start for them, the little shove onto the path of music. It was exciting as hell because as weird as my life had been so far, it had also been incredible. And I had my brothers and best friends there living it with me.
I looked out into the crowd and there they were in the front row. Claire waving to one of the kids. Beau looking thrilled and Finn looking confused as hell as to what he was doing here.
I felt a rush of gratitude to Ruby for making me realize how important they were. I never should have thought I needed to go it alone.
Then I saw Beau grab his cell phone and look at it, then rush off to take a call. I glowered for a second, but decided not to be pissed about it. The show was starting in five minutes, he had plenty of time to get to his seat.
Then my own phone rang.
Ruby raised her eyebrows at me as I looked down at the caller ID. Private caller. I looked back out into the auditorium and saw that Claire and Finn had left their seats. My mother and father were rushing out the door.
"Something happened," I told Ruby and quickly pressed the answer button before they hung up. "Jonah King?" I answered.
Epilogue
Ruby
He went white.
I had never seen anyone actually go white before. But all the color left his face in a rush as he listened to whoever it was on the other line.
The high school orchestra, roped into service at the last minute by Principal Donovan calling in a favor, suddenly blared the opening bars of the overture. Jonah had transcribed Gid's music into a full musical score, and the melody was so familiar now that it felt like part of my DNA. But it was so loud it drowned out Jonah's replies to whoever it was on the line. I heard, "yes." I heard, "How bad?" I heard, "fuck," and then he somehow got even whiter.
Without thinking, I grabbed his arm and steered him away from the sounds of the orchestra and the combined blare of thirty-three kids shouting at the tops of their lungs. "Here," I said, as he still listened to the caller. "Sit down, okay? You look like you're going to pass out."
"Okay," he said into his phone but allowed me to lead him over to the exit stairs. He sat down heavily. "Okay," he repeated and then let his hand fall, the phone tumbling out to bounce on the floor.
"What happened?" I gasped. My heart was in my throat.
"I have to go."
"Okay of course, but what happened? And do you need me with you?
His eyes were darting everywhere, panicked. "That was one of the PAs on set at Gabe's show. There's been an accident."
My fingers leaped to my mouth. The blare of trumpets seemed to mirror the shock that ripped through me. Horrified, I opened my mouth and tried to force the words out. "And Gabe is?
Jonah stood up, no longer frozen. "In the hospital. They don't know anything more." He looked at me. "I have to go."
"Of course you do."
"You need to stay here, right? For the kids?"
I looked down at my left hand. Then I lifted it and pressed it against his chest so that the ring glinted in the low light. I could feel his heart racing under my hand so I spoke as clearly and slowly as I could so he could hear me through his panic. "See this?" I said, pointing. "This means you don't do this alone. This means, I'm coming with you."
He grabbed me in a sudden and fierce embrace. He let out a terrible sigh against my lips, but nodded. "Good," he finally said. "I need you."
"Then let's go."
THE END
The End
Pre-order the next book in the Kings of Crown Creek Series, coming March 2018.
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Also by Vivian Lux
Rockstar Romance:
The Ruthless Series
JAX: A Rockstar Stepbrother Romance
RANE: A Rockstar Stepbrother Romance
WILDER: A Rockstar Romance
LOW: A Rockstar Romance
TRUE: A Rockstar Romance
The Wreckage Series
JAGGED: A Rockstar Romance
RIPPED: A Rockstar Romance
SHREDDED: A Rockstar Romance
TORN: A Rockstar Romance
The Reckless Falls Series:
KEPT: A Small Town Second Chance Romance
WRECKED: A Small Town Bad Boy Romance
TWICE: A Small Town Menage Romance
TIED: A Kinky Small Town Romance
CRAVE: A Small Town Menage Romance
PLAYED: A Small Town Billionaire Romance
Sons of Steel Motorcycle Club:
Steel My Heart
Steel My Love
Steel My Soul
Sports Romance:
FORCE: A Bad Boy Sports Romance
IMPACT: A Secret Baby Sports Romance