Surrendering

by Ahren Sanders

  “Whatcha laughing about?”

  “Nothing specific, just a funny part in my book.”

  “I’ve read your books, not a lot of humor in them. More like sex.”

  Busted! “This is a new book.”

  “So you’re not laughing about me laying next to you completely exhausted after volleyball?”

  “You were playing volleyball?”

  Before I can protest, I’m thrown over his shoulder and he drops my reader to the towel. He starts walking towards the water as I scream at him to let me down. He keeps going until he’s waist deep and then he lowers me slowly down his front.

  “Why in the world did you just manhandle me to the water? I would’ve come willingly.”

  “Because this was so much more fun. You think I didn’t know you were watching me? I could feel your eyes staring at me and I needed to get you alone as soon as possible.”

  “This is hardly alone; there’s a beach full of people behind us.”

  “Maybe, but they can’t see me do this.” He slips his fingers into to my bottoms and inserts them into me. I hiss at the intrusion, but my body immediately adjusts.

  Declan has been so careful with me the last few weeks; I welcome his aggressiveness. I lock my arms around his shoulders, trying to give him easier access. He shifts so his bulging erection is against my thigh. I stare into his eyes and ride his fingers. He lowers his mouth to mine to stifle the scream I let off a minute later.

  “Jesus Christ, you’re sexy.” He holds me to him as my body comes down.

  “It’s you, really; you bring it out of me. Wish I could return the favor, but I’m not sure I could pull off riding you in the ocean without an audience.”

  “We have all afternoon; I plan on spending a lot of time in you on this trip.”

  We walk out of the water hand in hand and my insides are jumping up and down over my Declan being back.

  We get back to the room and Declan takes his two hours to show me exactly what the weekend has promised. After three earth-shattering orgasms and a shower, we go out for a night on the town. We end up at Baytowne Wharf. We eat a delicious dinner and listen to live music at The Funky Blues Shack until I can’t dance anymore.

  When we get back to the room, we strip off our clothes and fall into bed. I crawl over to his side and lay down over his body.

  “Thank you for this; you came back to me today and I needed you.”

  “Thank you, Sparkle, for showing me we’re okay. I love you.”

  We drift off to sleep holding one another.

  The rest of the weekend is the same. We go to the beach during the day and make love all afternoon. We eat great dinners and find live entertainment. On Sunday when we check out, I think we might just be okay.

  Chapter 39

  Cut Him Some Slack

  We return to Nashville on a high and it lasts for almost two weeks. Sayge has been busy, performing, sometimes four times a week, and I’ve been trying to finish up my semester. As promised, I kept up the Facebook and Website which has significantly increased in popularity. Sayge has been chosen to headline the Franklin Main Street Festival on Saturday night and Jay wants to promote the disc and get T-shirts made. We took an image from one of their appearances and had a local group screen it onto a white shirt. Then we came up with a script for Sayge and printed it on a plain black T. Both are really cool and all the guys were impressed with our quick thinking.

  Declan has been in touch with Ryan Knight and asked Knight’s Dream to come check out the show. They drive up on Friday afternoon and we decide to go downtown and show them ‘honky-tonk’ city.

  Robbie, Jimi, and Abbi join us for dinner. Abbi and I get a lot of stares from the waitresses since we are the only two girls in this large group of gorgeous guys. After dinner, we go straight to Tootsie’s Wild Orchid Lounge. We settle in at the upstairs stage close to the band. Declan knows the lead singer and waves him over to meet all of us. When he joins our table, it becomes chaotic. There are girls everywhere and Abbi and I are pushed to the side, so we leave to get a drink and go to the bathroom. Before I walk away, I see a leggy brunette push up on Declan’s lap.

  When we finally return, the table is half empty. Ryan’s sitting alone on his phone.

  “Dec, she just walked up with your sister. She looks fine. Yeah man, I’ll keep her here.”

  “What’s that about?” I ask.

  “You mean besides Declan calling out a search party when he realized you weren’t around? I’ve never seen someone move so fast in my life. Half the guys went out back and the others flew downstairs.”

  “Shit.”

  I feel arms around me lifting me into the air. Declan turns me around and squeezes me until I can’t breathe.

  “Baby, I can’t breathe, loosen your grip.”

  “Fucking shit, Raven, don’t do that again! You scared the piss out of all of us.” People from around the room are looking at us. I feel the heat creep up my body in embarrassment.

  “Keep your voice down; people are staring.”

  “When I looked up and couldn’t find you, I lost my mind.” Everyone is circling back to the table now and Abbi’s trying to start a new conversation.

  “I went to the bathroom. And besides, when I left, you looked content with that girl crawling up on your lap!”

  “Oh, so you were punishing me? You disappear to scare me; do you know what that did to me?”

  “No, I wasn’t punishing you! I went to the bathroom.”

  The look in his eyes is dark and heated with no remorse about yelling at me. I stand still against his side and Nate breaks in. “Raven, maybe in light of recent events, you can let one of us know when you leave the group so we can keep tabs. It’s nothing personal; we just want to protect you.”

  I can’t stay here anymore, the rage is building and I’m not sure how much longer I can hold it back. I get my purse from the table and say goodnight to everyone including Declan. He reaches for me, but I reject his touch.

  “Don’t- you humiliated me. First off, I’m not some damsel in distress that can’t make it on my own in a bar. Second, maybe you can find the tramp from earlier to keep you company tonight. I’m leaving.”

  I turn to leave and pull Robbie with me on my way towards the back alley. Abbi and Jimi follow us until we hit the street. I start walking towards the riverfront with one thing on my mind.

  Robbie catches up to me and I stop only when I see that Declan hasn’t followed us. “Robbie, I’m not ready to go home. I’m going to Coyote Ugly to dance and then going to a hole-in-the-wall to finish getting drunk. You can come with me or not. I don’t care.”

  Abbi links her arm in mine and starts walking. “Sounds like a fine plan. Let’s get our crazy on!”

  The guys don’t say anything, but wisely follow.

  After several shots, Abbi and I dance on the bar shaking our ass and screaming the words to the songs with the bartenders. I feel two strong hands on my legs and fall into Robbie. Jimi has Abbi as well.

  “We need to go now. Declan’s on his way and I don’t want to see his reaction to this.”

  We run out the back door and my phone rings. I have four missed calls and shut my phone off without answering it. We hurry back towards Robbie’s truck because he refuses to go to another bar.

  When we get home, Ella is sitting on the couch with Will. She takes one look at us and starts laughing. “Another fun night out on the town?”

  I laugh back at her. “I guess you can say that. If you count Declan getting mauled by a skanky brunette and yelling at me in front of a bar full of people. Then me walking out on him- then yeah, typical night.” I sit down next to her and she raises her nose at me.

  “I stink; I’m going to shower. Talk to y’all later.” I head to my room.

  When I get out of the shower, Robbie is on my bed hanging up his phone. He gives me a look I know too well.

  I sink on the bed next to him and curl up. “What is it now?”

  “You
need to give him a break; he’s insane about you in a good way.”

  “You think that little display tonight was a good thing?”

  “Not really, but you should’ve seen him when he couldn’t find you. You disappeared without telling any of us. His reaction was normal.”

  “He seemed a little preoccupied with that floozy on his lap.”

  “RJ, he pushed her off of him like a rabid dog. Then he looked for you and freaked out when he couldn’t find you. When you didn’t come back right away, he had all of us looking for you.”

  “I only went to the bathroom with Abbi.”

  “Baby Girl, I know you have been sheltered from the details, but when you were kidnapped, it was pandemonium. Not just with our family, but Declan went crazy. He was scared shitless. He didn’t sleep, he barely ate, and he stayed in your room at Mom and Dad’s to be closer to you. When we found you, he almost fought me to get to you, but I knew Christie couldn’t be allowed to see him. He blames himself for what she did and he isn’t getting over it. So if he wants to know when you go to the bathroom, you should cut him some slack.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I think you should tell him that. And just for the record, I like that he keeps tabs on you. If something happened to you, I’d never be the same.”

  I squeeze him tight against me. “You wanna stay here tonight?”

  “Yeah, let me shower really quick. I need to let Finn know too.”

  “What’s the deal with Finn? He hasn’t been around lately. I haven’t seen him since dinner a few weeks ago.”

  Robbie stiffened against me, “I think you should talk to him. I’m not getting in the middle of it.” Then he goes to take his shower.

  There’s a pit in my stomach because I know I’ve done something to piss Finn off. What it is, I have no idea.

  I turn on my phone and find several messages and texts from Declan. I decide to call him to get it over with. He answers instantly. “Sparkle, are you okay?” He asks quietly.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Where are you?”

  “I came home. I needed to get to sleep for tomorrow anyway. We’re heading to Franklin early.”

  He doesn’t invite me to go with them so I reply, “Okay.”

  “I’m sorry I yelled at you tonight. I lost my head when you went missing. I had images flashing through my mind that I never want to see again.”

  “I’m sorry too. Robbie explained some things to me tonight that make things clearer. I wish you would have talked to me about those few days when I was gone and what you went through. I may have had a different reaction.”

  “I never want to feel that helpless again. You have every right to be mad at me, but bear with me- Will you go with us tomorrow?”

  “Do you want me to- for the whole day?”

  “Yes, I need you with me. Maybe you can show me how to tweet as a way to apologize to you.”

  “You’re on. I’ll come by your house in the morning to ride with you. Robbie’s staying with me tonight.”

  “Lucky guy. I love you”

  “You too. See you tomorrow.”

  Robbie sleeps on the couch, but I leave my door open so we can talk occasionally. He finally tells me to shut up so he can sleep. I smile for possibly the first time tonight.

  *****

  I don’t have time to knock before the door’s opened and Declan picks me up. I smell his cologne mixed with soap and my legs instinctively wrap around his waist. He showers my neck with kisses and tilts my head so he can get to my lips. He doesn’t pull away until we hear noise from the living room. I slide down and wipe my lip gloss off his mouth before turning to say hello to the group.

  The ride to Franklin is an event in itself. The excitement and energy coming from the guys is contagious. Jay has all the merchandise and I promised to meet him later to sort it for sale. Our plan for the day is to enjoy the festivities and then watch the two opening groups. We both run into people we know and Declan always introduces me as his fiancé. The girls’ faces fall every time. But when I do the same, people automatically look at my stomach to see if I’m pregnant; we both laugh at this.

  I download Twitter on Declan’s phone and give him a lesson on how to tweet. He’s hesitant at first, but after his first response comes in, he decides it’s pretty cool. We take pictures and upload to his feed with the exact time of the show. He promotes the opening bands, encouraging people to get downtown early to see all the musical talent.

  I meet Jay and set up the merchandise tent. Ella, Abbi and Jimi join us right before Sayge starts. I see my parents in the crowd with David. I give them shirts to wear. My dad refuses to wear it, but takes it anyway. Most of our friends join me on the side stage to watch as Sayge takes the stage. The crowd is larger than I’ve ever seen at this festival.

  When the band takes their first break, Jay screams for me to help him because it’s chaos at the sales tent. I grab both the Collins sisters and we jump in. I don’t see him come up, but I feel his arms around me.

  “Hey, baby, you’re doing awesome up there!”

  “You think so? How’s the acoustics?”

  “Honestly, it’s been okay so far, but you might want to adjust a little for Blake’s solo. It could shock the crowd.”

  “Good to know. How’s it going over here?”

  “We’re swamped and almost all your stuff is gone. I think it might be a good idea to offer autographs at the end of the show. I know we didn’t talk about it, but I think it’ll boost your reputation to the local crowd.”

  “I’ll talk to the guys, but I think it’s a great idea. Do you think you’ll spend the night at my place tonight?”

  “Do you want me too? You have a crowd already.”

  “Yeah, I want you there. Last night was terrible and I feel the need to make it up to you.” He starts kissing down my neck until he reaches my collarbone. There’s a cough behind us and I turn to see my dad glaring at us. Declan lets me go and heads back to the stage, but makes a point to kiss me before leaving. My dad shakes his head, but smiles as he walks away.

  When the show is over, Sayge signs autographs for an hour before we leave. The after party at Declan’s house lasts until dawn. Before I go to bed, I make breakfast for the group of people staying over. Ryan sits down next to me and hands me a bottle of water.

  “Raven, I know we don’t know each other very well, but I feel I need to say something.”

  I raise my eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

  “If you were my girl and got kidnapped from some ex-fling, I would act the same way Declan does. He’s torn right now and having a hard time dealing with it.”

  “Ryan, did he say something to you?”

  “Not in so many words, but I know where he’s at. I talked to him a few days ago about touring this summer. He’s scared shitless about leaving you, but I think he wants to give it a shot. He’s constantly looking over his shoulder to see if someone is watching you.”

  “Wow, I don’t know what to say to all that.”

  “Nothing to say, just know he means well. And hell, I told him to invite you along this summer. I think it would be fun to have you around. You even make this bunch of assholes look better.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. And just to let you know, I would never hold him back so if he wants me with him, I’ll be there.”

  Ryan smiles at me and goes to the living room.

  Declan motions me towards the bedroom so I say good-bye to anyone still awake and head to bed.

  Chapter 40

  Graduation

  I never realized how boring Graduation ceremonies are. Declan asked me to go with him to Abbi’s commencement and I promised him I would go. He somehow thought that I could make the hours more bearable. He was wrong.

  To be honest, I’m glad to have this time with Declan. He’s been so distant over the last few weeks and I feel that there’s a hole growing in our relationship. Even though we’ve slept together almost every night, we haven’t had much
alone time.

  Declan finally told me about Ryan’s offer to tour with them this summer. Declan’s band has their own bus, but Declan hasn’t invited me to go with them. He’s been avoiding the subject all together.

  Since I’m still running the website and Facebook accounts, Jay has been keeping me updated with all the info. Jay’s working with Knight’s Dream to put together a schedule, but it looks like the guys are going to be playing shows all over the southeast. So far, they’ve booked twenty shows over a six-week period. Knight’s Dream recently had a song hit the radio circuit so their popularity has skyrocketed. They finally cut an album and their single is climbing the charts. Since they aren’t huge yet, their manager and Jay wanted them to play in venues that appeal to their original fans. Sayge is fine with it because they want to stay connected to their fans. Nothing is solidified yet, but it looks like the two bands will hit the road after Bonnaroo.

  After Abbi’s graduation, David takes us all out to dinner to celebrate. Jimi gave Abbi a beautiful necklace for a graduation present. Since she’s so artistic, he had a pendant made out of sea glass; it’s striking. David and Declan haven’t talked much about it, but I know they like Jimi and Abbi together. Apparently, it’s okay for Declan to meet me, fall in love with me, and get engaged to me all within five and a half months, but Jimi has been warned not to propose until they’ve been dating at least a year. I’m not sure she knows about that conversation, but Robbie told me about it.

  After dinner, David leaves for home and the rest of us head downtown. My Atlanta friends are coming home in a few weeks. Kendall is the only one who got a job, but she isn’t starting until July. She’s going to stay living in Atlanta and Harper decided she wanted to stay as well. Charlie is moving back to Nashville. She has a few interviews lined up, but she mostly wants to spend the summer obligation-free. Blake and her have officially hooked up and she is planning on going to as many of the shows this summer as possible.