“Oh my God, that is the most incredibly erotic sound I’ve ever heard,” Kieran said, her voice almost a moan in itself.
“Don’t stop,” Memphis said, her voice still ragged, when Kieran started to move her hand away. She kissed her again, reaching up to touch Kieran’s cheek, her thumb under her jaw, guiding her mouth to hers.
“Come here,” Memphis said, gathering Kieran closer to her, higher up on her body, her hand sliding down to hold Kieran against her as they moved rhythmically.
Kieran cried out when Memphis’ hand slipped past the waistband of her panties, almost coming as her fingers moved over her ass, sliding between her legs to touch her.
“Come with me,” Memphis said against her lips.
Kieran moaned loudly at such an erotic request. She was coming a moment later and Memphis came with her, her cries combined with the feel of Memphis’ fingers on her magnifying her orgasm. She didn’t think she’d ever screamed so loudly, let alone during sex. It was the most incredible orgasm she’d ever experienced.
As they lay catching their breath afterwards, Kieran shook her head.
Memphis grinned, catching the movement. “What?” she asked, curious about the gesture.
Kieran pulled back to look down at her. “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt,” she said honestly.
Memphis smiled. “I’d have to say it felt pretty amazing on this end too.”
“Is it always like this?”
“Well,” Memphis hedged, “it always feels damned good, but I can’t really tell you from your side of things.”
“You mean with men.”
“Yeah,” Memphis said, her lips twitching.
Kieran caught the twitch. She had already figured out that it was a sign of stress for Memphis, so she made sure to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“But for you… was this… out of the ordinary?” she asked.
Memphis grinned. “It was better than most, I’d have to say.”
“Really?” Kieran said, her eyes flashing with excitement.
“Have you ever been with a woman before?”
“No, never.”
“Well, then definitely props for your first time, babe,” Memphis said, smiling widely.
“Props?”
Memphis grinned. “Uh, it’s… well, it’s like respect.”
“Oh,” Kieran said, nodding.
“It means you did damned good, okay?”
Kieran laughed.
Memphis glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “And you need to take a shower if you’re going to, or we’re going to be late for sound check, and that’s a really bad thing for a sound engineer to be.”
“Okay,” Kieran said, moving to get up.
Memphis sat up, kissing Kieran’s lips one more time. Kieran got off the bed, smiling fondly. She stripped off her shirt and panties. Memphis watched, appreciation clear on her face.
“Nice. Very, very nice,” she said as she stood up, sliding her hand around Kieran’s waist and pulling her over to kiss her. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you there’s anything wrong with your body, Kier. You are incredibly sexy.”
Kieran beamed up at Memphis. She couldn’t think of a single other thing Memphis could have said to her that would have made her feel better. Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around Memphis’ neck, kissing her deeply to thank her. Memphis immediately moaned, her other hand sliding around Kieran’s waist.
“You’re gonna kill me,” she said, gritting her teeth as she pushed the girl gently away. “Go, get in the shower!”
Kieran laughed softly and turned to go. Memphis smacked her gently on the butt.
A little while later, Kieran turned off the shower and heard music playing. Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life.” The most incredible thing wasn’t that the volume was low—Kieran figured in deference to the people next door—but that she could hear Memphis singing. She was once again completely astounded by her voice. More shocking still was when she walked out and Memphis saw her, she didn’t stop singing.
With a towel wrapped around her, Kieran went over to sit in front of Memphis, staring at her in wonder as she sang.
The bridge of the song came and Memphis sang it to her, her voice so incredibly beautiful Kieran couldn’t help but be completely entranced. The words were about being frozen inside without her, and talked about there being so much in the dark and needing to be brought to life.
The last part, “bring me to life,” required a powerful note, and Memphis not only hit it, but held it even longer than Amy Lee did. Kieran couldn’t help but wonder about the chorus of the song—“I’ve been living a lie, there’s nothing inside.” It seemed that Memphis sang that particular line with emphasis.
As the song faded away, Kieran looked reverently at Memphis. “You do have the most beautiful voice.” She reached out to touch her cheek, looking at her tenderly.
Memphis smiled softly. She knew she was taking a chance, but for some insane reason she wanted to with Kieran, at that moment.
“Thank you,” she said simply, then got up. “My turn.” She pulled off her tank top, jeans, and underwear, and walked into the bathroom.
A little while later, Kieran went into the bathroom fully dressed in her black jeans, blouse, and black booties. Memphis was drying off, and Kieran saw some of the tattoos she hadn’t seen previously. She leaned against the vanity, looking at Memphis’ body. She reached out and touched the A. “What does this mean?”
Memphis looked back at her for a moment, her expression unreadable. “It’s the symbol for atheism.”
“You don’t believe in God?” Kieran asked, shocked.
Memphis’ lips curled slightly. “I don’t believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny either. What’s your point?”
Kieran heard the edge in her voice and proceeded carefully. She nodded slowly, then turned her head sideways to read the tattoo on Memphis’ ribcage. “Gods don’t kill people, people with gods kill people.”
She looked up into Memphis’ eyes then, and could see she was waiting for something.
“That’s a really interesting statement,” she said, sounding sincere. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard it put quite that way before, but it’s very true, isn’t it?”
Memphis shrugged. “Just about every war ever started had something to do with religion.” The edge was gone from her voice.
Kieran nodded, her eyes moving to the rainbow writing on Memphis’ other side. In cursive script it read, “Gay by birth, proud by choice.” She smiled at that, and glanced up at Memphis, who was grinning at her.
“I like that one,” Kieran said.
“I like them all,” Memphis said, widening her eyes slightly.
“And I’ve seen this one, but I’ve never really seen it close up.” Kieran reached for Memphis’ left arm, turning it wrist up.
On the inside of Memphis’ wrist was a black triangle containing a rainbow equals sign. Memphis’ lips curled into a grin as Kieran’s fingers traced the triangle.
“What does the black triangle mean?”
“Lesbian symbol for solidarity and pride.”
“And of course the equals sign is for equality.”
Memphis nodded, looking slightly amused.
“What?” Kieran asked, seeing her expression.
Memphis smiled. “You’re just very cute. I’m gonna go get dressed.” She leaned over to kiss Kieran on the lips. “You look beautiful, by the way.” She winked at her, then walked out of the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, Memphis was dressed in faded and tattered skinny blue jeans tucked into black combat-style boots, a black tank top, and a new black Affliction hoodie with a blue-and-silver Celtic weave cross and gargoyle pattern, a gift from Remington and Quinn. On one wrist she wore a leather cuff with a Celtic cross carved into it; on the other she wore a silver and braided black leather bracelet with a Celtic knot. Around her neck hung a long silver chain from which dangled a highly stylized silver and blue steel Celtic
cross. There was an apparent theme to her wardrobe that night.
“Wow,” Kieran said when she saw her. “You look… hot.”
Memphis grinned. “Quinn and Remi,” she said, indicating the jacket. “I kind of had fun with the rest.”
“It looks really good,” Kieran said, biting her lip.
She looked so good, in fact, that Kieran really wanted to keep her in the room instead of leaving to go down to the sound check. That surprised her—she’d never been that sexually attracted to anyone before, and certainly not after they’d already had sex twice, and mindblowing sex at that. Still, as they walked down the hallway, she felt a thrill go through her when Memphis reached down to take her hand.
At the sound check, Kieran made a point of staying out of the way, but watched Memphis working with the various artists.
“Wait, back up,” Memphis said to Jerith Michaels. “That had a real squeal from this end. Give me a sec.” She shifted a few knobs, moved a lever or two, and then nodded to Jerith. “Okay, go again.”
Jerith played the guitar riff again, and Memphis held up her hand, grimacing. “Ow, fucking ow. Wait, something’s way off here. Charlie,” she said into the mic at her mouth. “Yeah, swap out that chord to monitor B, will ya? No, no, not that one, the audience one. B. Yes, B, like ‘Better do it or I’m coming over there’…” She grinned.
“Okay, Kid, one more time, please,” she said.
Jerith played the riff again, and Memphis sighed. “Oh yeah… there’s the angels weeping now.”
Jerith laughed, nodding. “Yeah, that sounded way better.”
“Okay, get your less happy half, will ya?”
“Just remember you asked for it.” Jerith winked at her.
“I have an option not to do her sound check?” Memphis said, smiling.
“No!” Billy called as she walked onto the stage.
“Okay, my blue-eyed devil in disguise, hit me with it,” Memphis said smoothly.
Billy sang the bridge of one of Billy and the Kid’s more popular songs.
Memphis winced. “Okay, hold on,” she said, holding up her hand, once again shifting knobs and levers. “I think it might just be my monitor. Did it sound okay on your side?”
Billy shrugged. “Well, I didn’t get feedback, and it still sounded like me, I guess.”
“Okay, so it didn’t really blow your skirt up, got it,” Memphis said, curling her lips. “Gimme a sec. Let’s see what I can do about that…” Getting up from her seat, she moved to one end of the board, hit a button and turned two or three knobs. She walked back over and touched another knob, looking up at Billy. “Okay, now, this is gonna be like sex. I need it nice and slow…”
Billy’s grin screamed sexual come-on as she sang the verse again, and as she did, Memphis moved the knob she was touching. She had her hand up and raised it slowly to give Billy the tempo she was looking for.
“That’s the spot, babe, right there,” Memphis said, her tone low, but her eyes practically glowing in excitement. “Now just hold it for me, right… there.” Billy did as she was told, holding the note beautifully. “Yes,” Memphis said. Her voice sounded really sexy, because she was excited—for an entirely different reason.
She brought her hand around into a fist to tell Billy to cut. Billy halted, but looked every bit as excited as Memphis just had.
“Okay, beautiful, give it to me hard,” Memphis said, her grin almost pornographic, but Billy completely understood what she was asking for and belted out the verse.
When she finished, she turned and ran to the side of the stage, hurrying down the stairs and into the sound area. Memphis turned and caught Billy as she threw herself into her arms, kissing her soundly on the lips.
“That was abso-fucking-lutely the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard!” Billy said, staring at Memphis in awe.
Memphis smiled, nodding. “It did sound pretty good, huh?”
Billy hugged Memphis again, then looked up at her. Suddenly she had tears in her eyes.
“Thank you.” Billy reached up, touching Memphis’ cheek where she’d gotten the bruise in Texas.
Memphis instantly knew exactly what she was thinking about and grimaced.
“Memphis, I know I said I was sorry…”
Memphis shook her head. “You don’t need to—”
Billy’s finger on her lips stopped whatever she was going to say.
“You are amazing, and I’m sorry I ever acted like you weren’t.”
Memphis smiled again, nodding. “Thank you.”
Kieran noticed that she wasn’t the only one with tears in her eyes. Fortunately, they were done with sound checks. BJ asked Kieran to come see him; Memphis grabbed a beer from the bar upstairs and said she was heading out to smoke.
Memphis was feeling extremely good at that point. The sex earlier, the feeling of acceptance from Kieran about her atheist thinking, and now Billy being human for a minute combined to completely relax her. She was sitting out on the patio at the back of the arena, enjoying the warm spring sun, a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. Her jean-clad legs were crossed at the ankles on the chair across from her, her arms resting casually on the arms of her chair.
She had her headphones in and was listening to Evanescence again, loving Amy Lee’s amazing voice. The current track was “Whisper.” The lyrics had a ring of desperation to them, talking about nightmares and how they could haunt you. She was so connected to the song in so many ways, she didn’t even realize she was singing it out loud. The verse she’d always loved came on and she sang it with the deep connection she felt to it. Because her eyes were closed, she had no idea that BJ, followed by Kieran, had just walked out onto the patio.
The end of the verse had a hymnal sound, with a woman’s voice rising several octaves to hit an impossibly high note. Memphis reached that note with apparent ease. She continued to sing, unaware that she was being observed.
BJ looked over at Kieran, who pressed her lips together. She knew Memphis was not going to be happy that BJ had just heard her. Kieran went to stand behind Memphis, touching her on the shoulder surreptitiously. Memphis opened her eyes. Looking around and seeing BJ and the look on his face, she realized she’d just screwed up.
Reaching up, she slowly took her headphones out of her ears, dropping her booted feet to the ground. The way she looked at BJ bordered on fear. BJ blinked a couple of times, not sure why the girl suddenly looked terrified. He sat down in the chair her feet had occupied.
“Forget to tell me something?” he said, his tone reflecting his shock.
Memphis looked back at him, swallowing convulsively. She shook her head, the look in her eyes rebellious.
BJ narrowed his eyes at her, pursing his lips. “Where the fuck did that voice come from?” he said, like she’d somehow stolen it from somewhere.
Memphis’ lips twitched, her hand tightening on the bottle of beer. She didn’t answer him, instead focusing on relighting her cigarette. Kieran noticed that her hands were shaking. BJ, used to getting what he was asking for, waited, his expression changing from a glower to pensive.
“Memphis?” he said when she wouldn’t even look at him.
He leaned forward, pulling out his phone. He called up a song on it and hit play. It was one of Sparks’ songs, the one he had received a Grammy Award for years before. His voice had been in its prime and had stretched the limits of his range.
“Sing it,” he said.
She looked back at him, shaking her head slowly.
BJ pursed his lips. “But you can, can’t you?”
She didn’t answer, her blue eyes reflecting nothing.
“Just sing it,” he said encouragingly.
“No, Beege.” Memphis didn’t want to piss him off, but she was far from ready to sing his songs.
“Why?”
“I don’t want to be a singer.”
“Ah, but you are a singer, love. That performance a minute ago is proof of that.”
“But I don’t wan
t to be your kind, okay?” She put her hand out in front of herself defensively.
BJ looked both offended and amused. “My kind?”
Memphis pressed her lips together, breathing out through her nose. Kieran knew she was fighting the urge to throw up. This confrontation was stressing her out.
“BJ, she didn’t mean anything by that,” Kieran said, moving to stand next to and slightly in front of Memphis. “She just doesn’t want to be famous.”
BJ looked at Memphis, who nodded, pressing her lips together, her eyes down.
“Beege,” Remington called from the door to the arena.
BJ looked up. Remington nodded her head toward the arena. Getting up, BJ looked at Kieran and then Memphis, then, shaking his head, walked toward the door. Kieran glanced over at Remington, and when their eyes connected, Remington nodded ever so slightly toward Memphis. As Kieran had suspected, Remington had seen what was going on and had created a diversion to get the focus off Memphis. BJ got to the door and looked at Remington; he had caught her looking at Kieran and knew he was being handled. Instead of walking inside, he turned around and went to lean against the side of the building, folding his arms over his chest to watch what happened next.
The minute BJ walked away, Memphis dropped her head low, between her knees, her arms braced on her widespread knees. She was breathing heavily, her breath coming in gasps as she fought to control her nausea. Kieran knelt in front of her, looking up into Memphis’ eyes and reaching up to touch her face.
“It’s okay,” she said softly.
“Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I couldn’t, you had your headphones in,” Kieran said, her eyes searching Memphis’. “I got to you as quickly as I could, but he’d already heard you. I honestly think Cassie told him, and he’s just been waiting for a chance to hear you.”
Back by the door, Remington glanced at BJ, whose grin indicated that Kieran was right.
Kieran saw how badly Memphis’ hands were shaking. She reached out, taking them in her own. They were ice-cold. Memphis was still breathing heavily, and it was obvious that she was still fighting the nausea.
“Okay, you need to slow your breathing,” Kieran said. “You’re panicking, and that’s what’s making you sick. Just breathe, babe. Just breathe…”
In Plain Sight Page 13