Stronger Within (The Silver Lake Series Book 1)

by McCallum, Coral

  When the song was over Lori got to her feet and blew him a kiss. On stage he played along, pretended to catch it and blew one back to her. The crowd cheered and the moment was gone. Paul struck up the beat on his drums and Jake dashed to switch guitars again before rushing headlong into their final three numbers.

  Shortly after nine thirty the last notes faded out into the night to be replaced with the thunderous cracks and bangs of the fireworks display. Sometime during the fireworks, Sandy reappeared at the next table. She looked the worse for wear and a vodka bottle was poking out of her bag. Her daughter made no move towards her, content to stay safely seated between Lori and Maddy. As the last of the fireworks went up, Silver Lake made their way through the guest enclosure, beers in hand. When she saw her daddy, Becky flew into his arms, her adoration plain for all to see. Jake flopped down into the seat beside Lori and put his arm lazily across her shoulders. Together they watched the last colourful specs burn up. Once the fireworks were over, the floodlights came on and the crowd started to make their way home.

  Someone had sent over another round of beers for the Silver Lake table. The band, still high on adrenaline, were all talking at once about this chord and that rhythm or this missed vocal. Paul, the drummer, only had eyes for Maddy, who was flirting outrageously with him. Becky had climbed up onto Grey’s knee and was fast asleep with her head resting on his chest. All of them agreed the gig had been their best so far. The CDs and remaining T-shirts had sold out. One of the “suits” from the local radio station had asked for a meeting with them to discuss playing at a few more radio station events.

  “Guys,” said Grey quietly. “I’m going to head. I need to get this little girl home to bed and I guess I better take Sandy too.” He glared over at his wife, who had passed out across the table.

  “Let me give you a hand,” offered Rich getting to his feet. “If you can drop me off, I’ll call it a night too.”

  “Thanks, buddy,” replied Grey, more than a little embarrassed by the situation. “Lori, thank you for taking care of my baby girl tonight. Appreciate it.”

  “My pleasure, Grey,” said Lori, genuinely meaning it. “Bring her over anytime. She’s adorable.”

  He nodded and waved as he turned to go. Rich shook Sandy awake and half carried her towards the exit.

  “Well, I’m going into town for a few beers,” declared Paul. “Maddy, are you coming?”

  She looked at Lori hopefully.

  “On you go,” said Lori. “Have some fun.”

  “Are you guys coming?” asked Paul, as he finished off his beer. “We’ll head along the boardwalk to the Turtle.”

  Suddenly Jake wanted some quiet time with Lori before the buzz of a bar. Hoping he wasn’t overstepping the mark, he said, “You go on ahead. We’ll catch up later. If we’re not coming, I’ll call you.”

  “Ok,” agreed Paul, putting his arm around the Goth’s tiny corseted waist. “Come on, Maddy, let’s rock ‘n’ fucking roll.”

  Watching them disappear off towards the boardwalk, Lori commented, “I hope he realises what he’s doing.”

  Jake laughed, “She’ll be fine. Paul will look after her.”

  “It’s not her I’m worried about. It’s Paul I’d be concerned about!” she declared with a giggle. “Will Maddy’s car be ok here tonight?”

  “Should be fine. Rich is parked across from her. We don’t need to be clear till noon tomorrow,” he replied. “Now, do you feel up to a slow walk along the boardwalk or would you rather go home?”

  “A walk sounds good. I’m stiff after sitting all night.”

  The boardwalk was still busy with teenagers and young couples. A few of the kids stopped Jake and congratulated him on a great gig. Some of the girls asked for autographs. He took it all in his stride, keen not to offend any of them, but also made it clear that the show was over and that this was his private time. As they walked, Lori asked what was going on with Grey and his wife. Jake shrugged and admitted it wasn’t good. His friend was talking about kicking her out, but didn’t want to lose his little girl. It was all a bit of a mess he explained and added that Grey was embarrassed and angry about the way Sandy had abandoned Becky earlier on. When they reached the centre of town, they stopped to get a burger and fries. Like a teenage couple, they sat on one of the white benches eating their meal and watching the world go by.

  “You do know you were great out there tonight,” said Lori softly. “You really come alive on stage.”

  Jake blushed and lowered his head to stare at his feet. “I enjoy it. I enjoy seeing others enjoy what I do.” He paused, then added, “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments more, then he helped her to her feet and they continued down the boardwalk towards the Turtle, a sports bar popular with the younger crowd on a Saturday night. Lori struggled with the stairs up to the bar room, but declined Jake’s offer of help. When they entered the crowded room, they quickly spotted Paul and Maddy at a table and while Lori went to join them, Jake went to fetch them a drink. He got stopped by more fans on his way back to the table, much to his embarrassment.

  “Jesus, I just want a few quiet beers now,” he muttered, passing round the drinks. “Show’s over for the night.”

  “Goes with the territory, darling,” declared Maddy loudly. “All part of the rock ‘n’ fucking roll show.”

  “I guess,” he agreed reluctantly.

  It was almost midnight when Lori said she would need to head home. She insisted the others didn’t need to call it a night on her account. Much to Paul’s great disappointment, Maddy said she would share a cab home with Lori. She placated him by suggesting they meet for lunch next day, when she came back into town to fetch her car. The guys both agreed, promising to call to invite Rich and Grey too. Lori phoned for a cab to meet them on the corner of Wilmington Avenue, then allowed Jake to help her down the stairs back to the boardwalk. Her leg was screaming at her and even standing was hurting like hell. Once the two girls were in the car, she let her guard down a bit and sat rubbing her thigh, tears of pain silently gliding down her cheeks.

  Maddy put a comforting arm around her friend, “You should’ve said sooner that you needed to leave, honey.”

  “I know,” sighed Lori. “I’ll be fine when we get home. It’s all so frustrating. I hate being like this.”

  “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you,” said Maddy, showing a soft side that Lori had rarely seen.

  When the cab pulled up at the beach house, Lori paid the fare, then had to ask Maddy to help her out of the back seat. Her legs were shaking as she stumbled the few short yards to the front door. She only just reached the bedroom without falling and collapsed on the bed in a heap, blinded by tears. Her friend came hurrying in behind her, asking what she could do to help. Thankful for the assistance, Lori directed her to the bathroom cabinet and a bottle of Vicodin. Still hearing her doctor’s warning about using such strong drugs echoing round in her mind, she quickly swallowed two pills, washing them down with a glass of water that Maddy had brought from the kitchen. Refusing to accept any more help, Lori said she was going straight to bed. Bidding her goodnight, Maddy pulled the bedroom door closed behind her. Lori slipped off her shoes and her jeans, then slid under the covers. Sleep came in seconds, the drugs working their magic on the pain, melting it away for a few blissful hours.

  Back at the Turtle, Jake and Paul sat on with another beer, then Jake suggested they head back to his apartment for a few more. As they meandered through the streets, his friend asked him about Lori and the artwork she had done for the band’s CD. When Jake had shown the design to the guys, he hadn’t told them who had done it, other than it had been designed by Lori.

  “Maddy let slip that Lori’s done a fair bit of professional design work,” said Paul. “Do you think she’ll do any more for us?”

  “She’s already offered,” replied Jake before adding, “Not a word to the others. Lori’s Mz Hyde.”

  “What?” shrieked
Paul, in disbelief. “I bought framed prints of four of her covers for my lounge last year. They cost me a month’s wages!”

  “The very same,” said Jake with a grin. “Not what you expected?”

  “Not at all,” stated Paul, shaking his head. “So what’s with the canes and the leg thing?”

  “Some kind of accident in New York last Christmas. She smashed up her leg pretty badly. There’s enough metalwork in there to rebuild the Brooklyn Bridge. I don’t know the details. Subject’s off limits, but she showed me a photo of her x-rays,” Jake explained. “I’m no doctor, but it looked as though she was lucky not to lose her leg.” He paused, then added, “She’s a special person.”

  “It’s a long time since you’ve fallen for anyone,” observed Paul. “Why this one?”

  “I don’t know,” shrugged Jake, reaching into his pocket for his keys. “It’s just different. Feels right.”

  “You look happy, so it must be right,” agreed the drummer. “No more moody, mean Jake at rehearsal. And you nailed it on stage tonight.”

  “Shut up,” said Jake, playfully slapping him on the back.

  ♪

  After a few rushed phone calls and text messages, they all met for lunch at Hooters next day. Grey was the last to arrive with Becky in tow. Over lunch, they all reminisced about the Surfside gig, with the band members tearing their performance to shreds then rebuilding it again. Maddy threw a few observations into the discussion, but, after a dark look from Lori, was careful not to give too much away about her knowledge of the inner workings of the music world. While the adults chatted, Becky used the kid’s entertainment pack to keep herself amused. After a time, Lori noticed that the little girl was quieter than usual.

  “What are you drawing?” she asked softly, leaning over to take a look.

  “Daddy and my Silver Lake uncles,” replied the little girl seriously. “But I can’t draw the music.”

  With a flash of inspiration, Lori showed the little girl how to draw a variety of music notes. Soon the page and several napkins were covered in their doodles.

  “Having fun, girls?” enquired Rich, lifting one of the napkins.

  Lori laughed, “Yes. Do you want to keep that one?”

  “A Lori original,” he teased grinning mischievously. “Will you autograph this original artwork please?”

  Without realising what she’d done, Lori signed her flamboyant Mz Hyde signature and passed it back. Rich looked at it, then at her then at Jake.

  “Mz Hyde?” he asked, eyes wide. “THE Mz Hyde?”

  Lori smiled and nodded slowly.

  “Jesus!” cried Rich. “You did our album artwork!”

  “Yes,” replied Lori. “I did. That’s what you do to help out a friend or to say thank you or both.”

  “I paid a fortune for a signed print of your last album artwork!”

  “Well, you better take good care of that napkin, then, Rich,” said Lori softly, mischief twinkling in her blue eyes. “It’s an original.”

  The others laughed and the playful banter continued for another hour or so. Maddy excused herself and left the table to go to the ladies room, pausing en route to settle the table’s bill. When she returned, she thanked them all for a great weekend, but apologised that she had to go. She had collected her car before lunch and it was now parked across the street and the time had ticked down on the meter. There were protests from the members of Silver Lake about her buying their lunch, but she joked that they could return the favour and buy her dinner when they were all rich and famous. Jake and Lori walked her out to the car. She hugged them both then hugged Lori again, squeezing her tight.

  “Take care of her, Jake.”

  “I intend to,” he promised, putting his arm around Lori’s shoulders.

  “And you take care of him,” added Maddy with a wink. “I’ll be in touch when I get back from my trip. I’m away till mid-June, if all goes to plan.”

  “Call me when you get back,” said Lori, sad to see her friend leave. “Keep in touch.”

  They stood and watched her reverse the Mustang out of the parking space and then roar up the avenue on her way out of town.

  “Do you want to go back in?” asked Jake, giving Lori a hug.

  “Not really,” she confessed, looking up at him. “Can we go home, please?”

  “You struggling today?” he asked, concern filling his words.

  “A bit,” she admitted. “But I really just want you to myself for a few hours. We could go for a walk? A short walk.”

  “Sounds good to me,” he agreed, leading her towards where his truck was parked.

  As they drove back towards the beach house, with the cab filled with the gentle strains of country music, Jake suggested they spend the rest of the afternoon down on the beach. It was a warm afternoon and he commented that he felt like a swim in the ocean. Much to his surprise, Lori agreed, saying she had beach chairs in the garage and possibly a fishing rod of her dad’s if he was interested. It had been a while since he’d been fishing and Jake was tempted. While Lori went indoors to change, Jake opened up the garage to search for the beach chairs. His gym bag was in the back of the truck and he decided to change into his shorts in the garage rather than trailing into the house. Once he had changed, he gathered up his clothes and beach gear and headed round to the sun deck. The patio doors were open and he stepped into the sun room, calling out to Lori.

  “I’ll be out in a minute,” she called back. “Can you fetch towels from the cupboard in the bathroom?”

  “Sure,” said Jake, heading barefoot through the house.

  “There’s some beers in the fridge you could lift,” called Lori from the bedroom.” And I think there’s some tortilla chips on the counter.”

  “On it, li’l lady.”

  In the bathroom, he found a pile of brightly coloured towels and grabbed four of them. On his way back through, he lifted four beers and the bag of chips.

  “Lori!” he called. “I’ll go down and set up. Will I come back up for you?”

  “No,” she replied. “I’ll be ok. Go on out and I’ll catch up.”

  In the bedroom, Lori stood in front of the mirror. She had changed into a black one piece swimsuit and found a sarong to tie round her waist. It only just covered the scarring on her thigh. It would have to do, she thought, as she lifted her crutches and headed out to meet Jake.

  He had set up the chairs and towels on the soft sand just out of reach of the waves. As she walked barefoot across the warm sand, she watched him strip off his T-shirt, revealing his tattooed, well-muscled body. She was smiling by the time she reached him.

  “What are you grinning at, li’l lady?”

  “You,” she giggled.

  Jake gave her a hug, then turned and ran into the surf. She watched as he ran out through the shallows, then dived into a wave and swam strongly out into deeper water. Another large wave broke over him and Lori was relieved to see his blonde head surface a few seconds later. She watched as he swam in a ragged easy circle, then turned to body surf back in on the waves.

  “Woo hoo!” he screamed, as he walked back towards her. “Christ that felt good.”

  Laughing as she passed him a towel, Lori said, “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “You should come in,” he said, rubbing himself dry.

  “I don’t think so,” she said, very carefully sitting down on the spread out beach towel, taking care not to let her sarong ride up.

  Jake flopped down on the towel next to her. He rolled over onto his back, folded his arms behind his head and sighed. This was the life. He closed his eyes and allowed himself a few minutes to drink in the sound of the waves and the warmth of the late spring sun. Beside him, he was aware of Lori moving into a more comfortable position and attempting to stifle a groan as the movement obviously caused her some discomfort.

  “You ok?” he asked, without opening his eyes.

  “Yes,” she lied. “Just a bit awkward to get comfortable. I’m fine now.”r />
  They lay on the sand lazily chatting about this and that, music, film and books, discovering more that they had in common with each other. After a while Lori grew too sore to continue lying on the sand and, with some help from Jake, she moved up to sit in one of the chairs. He came and sat beside her in the other canvas chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

  “I should’ve brought my guitar down,” he said, digging into the soft sand with his toes.

  “Relax,” said Lori, reaching over to take his hand. “Tell me the story of this body art.”

  “It’s a work in progress. And a bit of an addiction, I guess.”

  “Tell me about them. I’m curious,” she encouraged. “Start with the sword on your back.”

  “Good place to start,” he nodded, with a smile. “It was the first one when I was about eighteen or nineteen. Hurt like Hell for what felt like forever. I got the dragon on my shoulder as a twenty first birthday gift from my girlfriend at the time. The Grim Reaper came along a couple of years later. I gave the guy some guitar lessons to pay for it. The two tribal ones down my sides were an act of rebellion at turning thirty. Now they hurt!”

  “And the two on your calves?” asked Lori.

  “The dagger was with some money I made giving guitar lessons a couple of years ago. The Maori face came along the same way about the same time.”

  “So what’s next?” asked Lori curiously.

  “Come with me next weekend and see for yourself,” he invited with a cheeky grin. “It won’t be anything major so it won’t take long.”

  “Ok,” she agreed. “I’ll watch you squirm.”

  Jake laughed and agreed he probably would flinch a bit. He passed her one of the beers and they sat gazing out into the ocean. The surf had calmed down and the breakers had been replaced with small gentle waves that meandered their way ashore.

  “Come on,” coaxed Jake, encouraging Lori to her feet. “Time to dip a toe in the ocean.”