Hold On To Me

by Taylor Holloway

  “So, in this town that Jason’s from,” Ryan was continuing, oblivious to my embarrassment, “there’s some real estate that belongs to Jason. About ten acres of mostly empty land. He grew up there. But it’s not a place he wants to live ever again.” He paused and looked at Jason. “Am I accurately representing things so far?” he asked.

  Jason nodded. He was fiddling with his baseball cap like he was vaguely uncomfortable. “Yep. But you should also mention that my family has lived there for well over a hundred years.”

  “Ok,” Ryan conceded. He turned to me. “Rosie, Jason’s family has also lived there for generations.”

  I blinked. “Got it.” Then I paused. “Do they still live there?”

  “No, they’re all dead now,” Jason replied. “Nobody lives there anymore.”

  “But this land, it has, um, sentimental value to you?” I asked delicately.

  He grimaced. “It has non-monetary value. I hesitate to call myself sentimental.”

  He sounded pretty sentimental to me. He wrote love songs for a living. I was pretty sure there was nothing more sentimental…

  “Ok,” I told the two of them. “So, what’s the problem?”

  Ryan smiled. “The problem is that someone wants to buy that land and develop it.”

  Now, I was confused. “Why is that a problem?” I looked back and forth between the two men. “If Jason doesn’t want to sell the land, he doesn’t have to sell it.” I frowned. “I mean, I assume he doesn’t need the money.”

  They both laughed at the preposterous idea of Jason needing money. Ha ha. “No,” Ryan replied, “he doesn’t need the money.” He sighed. “This is the complicated part. The man who wants to develop the land is the ex-fiancé of Jason’s wife, Wendy, who is also from the same horrible tiny town that Jason is. Her family wants to see the development go through, because it will benefit the town. They also happen to like the ex-fiancé more than they like Jason.”

  “Wow. Ok.” I shook my head and looked at Jason. “So,” I told him, “it sounds like you have to choose between screwing over your former rival or causing tension with your in-laws. Is there any chance you just really hate your in laws and want to see them unhappy? Because that would really simplify things.”

  Jason burst out laughing. “Ok, I can see why you invited her in on this!” he told Ryan. “She’s like you, only more.”

  Ryan squeezed my hand and looked down at me with pride. “Rosie’s got a talent for telling it like it is. Are you going to answer her question?” he asked Jason.

  Jason sighed. “I don’t want to see my in-laws unhappy,” he said eventually. “I’m not that vindictive...” he paused. “Actually, let me clarify. I’m not vindictive toward my in-laws. I am vindictive toward Brett. I just really don’t want Brett to win. If I sell him the land, he wins. If he wins, I lose.”

  “What about your wife?” I asked, feeling like this was probably the most important factor. “What does she want you to do?”

  Jason sighed again. “At this point, I think she just wants me to make decision and she doesn’t care what it is.”

  “But she’d be happier if you did what her family wanted?” I guessed.

  He nodded.

  It was a complicated question. In his place, I wouldn’t want to sell the property either. I loved screwing over my enemies as much as the next person. However, I could feel that Ryan wanted Jason to sell the property, and that his wife wanted the problem gone, too. Happy wife, happy life. I started formulating a plan, trying to think three steps ahead…

  “You could just gouge the guy on the purchase price,” I suggested. “Then you’ll feel like you at least got one up on him.”

  Ryan and Jason both nodded. “The current offer,” Ryan told me, “is well over three times market value. It’s a ridiculous amount of money for land that’s virtually worthless in its current state.”

  “Wow, this guy really wants that land.” I thought about it for a moment. “But his victory is contingent on having control over the land and developing it however he wants…” I bit my lip and both men stared at me in confusion as I thought out loud. “If you really want to win, you have to make sure that he appears to win while actually losing hard, and all the while ensuring that your in-laws can’t complain…” I grinned. “I know what you should do. You take the purchase price for three times the market value, but you introduce a few conditions of your own.”

  “What kind of conditions?” Jason asked. He seemed intrigued by the idea. Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose in what looked like frustration. I tightened my snare.

  It was now my turn to shrug. “Whatever you think will make him the most frustrated and annoyed. How about that you get final approval on all development plans, even on things like the house colors. Then you require that he jumps through all sorts of green building and sustainability hoops that probably will make him want to pull his hair out. You could even be really evil and require that your family’s house be set aside as a historical landmark or a protected wetland something. Find a reason it can’t be built on. You don’t have to choose between selling it or keeping it. You could do both.”

  Jason stared at me and then laughed. He shook his head in disbelief. “That’s diabolical. I love it.”

  I smiled my most modest smile. Time to spring the trap. “Or, you could be the bigger person and just sell the land. If you don’t ever want to go back and live on that property, you’ve kind of already won. You got Wendy, and you got out of the town. He got nothing half as good as that.” I smiled at him. “Plus, I’m sure making your wife happy is worth more than seeing that guy you hate be miserable.”

  Ryan was hiding a smile. Jason looked disappointed and somewhat chagrined.

  “Well if you have to go and be all reasonable…” he trailed off. Ryan and I watched him for a moment. “I guess I’ll just sell the stupid thing and be done with it.”

  “I’ll draw up the paperwork,” Ryan said.

  “I should fire Ryan and make you my lawyer,” Jason said to me.

  I shook my head. “No thanks. I’m not cut out for this line of work. I wouldn’t make a good lawyer.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

  “Actually,” Ryan interjected, “Rosie’s a singer.”

  31

  Ryan

  Rosie looked at me with huge eyes. She bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot like she was barefoot on hot sand. Her fingertips darted in and out of her pockets. I deftly translated the expression and the adorable squirming. What are you doing? She was about to find out.

  Part of my job was advocating for my clients when they were too star struck, or too shy to do it for themselves. My extended web of contacts was vast, but as an agent, my advocacy for someone like Rosie was always going to be tainted by the fact that I was her agent. Of course, I would talk her up. Jason, however, had no legal or financial connection to Rosie. The only connection he had to Rosie was through me. And I was going to use it.

  “As it happens, Rosie’s opening for your former bandmates on Friday at the Lone Star Lounge Friday after next,” I told Jason, watching Rosie’s cheeks kindle to a deep, vibrant crimson out of the corner of my eye. “You should definitely come.”

  Exposure, especially big-name exposure (like Jason Kane), was worth its weight in gold. It might not pay off immediately, but it would be valuable one day. If nothing else, Rosie would benefit from just being in the room where other important conversations took place. I suspected that once Jason heard her sing, however, he’d be a strong ally for her.

  Jason sat up and looked interested. “Wendy would definitely want to go to that. I know she misses seeing Emma and Kate as much as she used to. If we can find a sitter, we’ll be there.” He frowned. “Our last sitter was afraid of our dogs.” He shook his head. “They only look scary. Those two are bigger babies than our actual baby.”

  “Alexandra, my secretary, babysits on the side,” I suggested. “Plus, she was specifically hir
ed to stand up to demanding clients like yourself. I guarantee she won’t be easily intimidated.”

  Jason lit up like a pinball machine. “Perfect!” Then he paused. “And I’m not that demanding.”

  I rolled my eyes. Jason Kane was a walking problem. Even in ‘retirement’, he called me for more weird, mundane bullshit than all my other clients combined. I also suspected that he’d never read a single memo that I’d sent, and they had to be numbering in the hundreds at this point. Still, I liked him, and not only because he’d done me the world’s biggest favor and kicked Ian out of Axial Tilt before he drank himself to death. “You’re special, how about we leave it at that. It’s not every client I’d drive across Texas for.”

  “Special?” he thought about it for a moment. “My teachers always called me special. I think they’d been told that ‘dumb’ was no longer politically correct.”

  “Would you prefer VIP?” I asked dryly.

  Jason brightened. “Yes, that’s much better.”

  Rosie watched our interaction with an unreadable look on her face. She was probably used to the way her father handled clients, which was never my style, but especially not with Jason. We’d always been a bit more than just a lawyer and a client to one another.

  Rosie couldn’t know it, but the odds were in her favor today and it was all because of personal connections. It’s what made the world go around, and the kismet of it all was really staggering. When I was in law school, I met a computer programming undergrad named Lucas, who’d introduced me to his roommate, Ward, who later became a professional football player, and who just happened to now own the Lone Star. And the person that Ward bought the bar from? Wendy Kane’s grandfather. And what did that boil down to? Jason Kane would be at Rosie’s show.

  When the conversation wrapped up, and Jason finally rose to leave, I saw him glance over at the photo of Ian, Jen, and me that sat next to my computer. Jason had been the one to take that picture, and it was the last photo anyone ever took of Jen. He’d snapped it mere hours before the crash.

  Those had been very different times. Not better, just different. We’d been freer, younger, and less burdened by the pressures of life. When Jen died, however, that time died with her. All of a sudden, I felt compelled to be an adult. While Ian chose to drown himself in the same poison that had inadvertently killed Jen, I swore it off, forever. Ian spiraled downwards, eventually getting thrown out of Axial Tilt and settling for a near decade of local gigs and lesser bands, I put my head down and worked. I raised my GPA from an average number to a spectacular number and got into law school. After her death, I felt compelled to have enough success for the both of us—since she’d been denied the opportunity to ever have hers. In a weird way, it was Jen who led me into entertainment law, to the firm I worked at, and to Rosie.

  Jason’s eyes scraped over the picture, and then a number of expressions that I couldn’t begin to decipher passed over his face. He and Jen had been close friends, and roommates at one point. Unlike me and Ian, Jen and Jason hadn’t been in college. They worked a progression of odd-jobs, usually together, as they attempted to bring Axial Tilt to the next level. The two of them had an aggressively platonic relationship. More like siblings than friends. Her death had crushed him, but his coping mechanism had been a lot closer to mine than Ian’s.

  Jen would have been a superstar. In addition to being an incredible bassist, she could play guitar, keyboards, and drums. She co-wrote Axial Tilt’s first album, the one that had catapulted them into superstardom.

  The woman in the picture, a petite blond with huge, dark eyes, looked absolutely nothing like Rosie. But the passion they had for their music, and for going for their dreams, was the same. Of course, I couldn’t know if they’d get along, but I thought they would. Jen couldn’t have imagined the life I was living now, but I think she’d be happy that I’d found somebody just as passionate as she was. More and more, I was becoming paranoid that fate would steal Rosie from me the same way it had Jen. I needed to hold onto her.

  32

  Rosie

  When Jason left, Ryan hugged me closer to him. My mind was still reeling.

  “Did you seriously just invite Jason Kane to my show?” I asked him. “You know this is going to be, like, my fifth live show ever, right?”

  I’d already had butterflies in my stomach. Now, I had killer bees in there too. Ryan just smiled in reply.

  “It’s my job to promote my clients,” he said eventually. He seemed bemused by my reaction.

  “And your girlfriend,” I teased. Part of me wondered if he’d just said it to rope Jason in. I wanted real confirmation that was how he thought of me. Not a hookup. Not the daughter of his boss. Not even a client. His girlfriend.

  For once, it was his turn to flush. I grinned, sidling up closer and kissed him. I was unprepared for his reaction.

  In a flash, I was pinned flush to the wall of Ryan’s office. His hands grasped my shoulders, immobilizing me while his mouth reclaimed superiority over mine. Sensation overwhelmed me, and I went limp and pliable. It was exactly what he wanted.

  His hands abandoned my shoulders to press and squeeze along the curves of my body, settling on the hem of my dress and setting my heart racing. Any nervousness or confusion faded as he lifted the fabric higher and slid his curious fingers up under my skirt—lifting it above my waist. I knew what he wanted. And I wanted it too.

  I felt his erection growing long and hard against my thigh, and I reached for him, pulling at his belt to unbuckle it. Was this going to happen? Right here against the wall? I was too overwhelmed to second guess our momentum.

  The slam told me someone had just thrown open the door. “Ryan, that girl— whoa!” a voice from the threshold exclaimed. Startled, Ryan and I broke apart, panting and (at least in my case) embarrassed. We stared at the intruder who stared right back at us with huge eyes.

  The secretary, Alexandra, looked horrified for about three quarters of a second. She looked us up and down in disbelief. Then a frown descended. She cleared her throat and straightened up to her impressive, full height.

  “Oh. I see you’ve found one another,” she said smoothly, pulling the door back closed. “I’ll be going home now. See you tomorrow.”

  The clickety-clack of her heels on the wood floors as she fled betrayed her discomfort. Ryan looked conflicted. I giggled.

  He levelled a look at me that shut me up again. “We need to talk about my services,” he told me seriously.

  I was in no mood for serious. He’d lit something in me and I wasn’t ready to extinguish it yet. Instead, I wanted to burst into flames. I grabbed him by the lapels and we both fell back into the wall. His breath puffed out of him in a little, shocked laugh.

  “Your services, hmmm?” I asked him, playing with the soft hair at the nape of his neck. I reached for his tie, loosened it, and pulled it over his neck and onto my own neck. My voice was a low, naughty whisper in his ear. “Why don’t you show me what you want to do for me as my boyfriend?” I nipped his earlobe.

  He pulled away just enough to see if I was serious, and then his expression shifted. What I saw on his face made my heart rate leap again. It was banging in my body like the bass at a concert. My sternum vibrated with it.

  “If you keep on teasing me like that, you’re going to get what you’re asking for,” he told me.

  “Try me,” I told him, feeling bold. I’d just had one helluva day. I’d actually had a conversation with my mother for the first time in months. I’d gotten a gig. I’d fought my way to a new apartment. I’d replaced all of my clothes. I’d met Jason-freakin’-Kane. I couldn’t do any more thinking. I needed an escape from my mind.

  Ryan, standing there in his suit with no tie, staring at me like I was the only woman on earth, seemed like a perfect escape to me. I wasn’t sure where this was going, and my life felt quite a bit like a runaway train lately, but at least I could enjoy the ride.

  33

  Ryan

  I probably should have
resisted her advances. I should have at least tried. This was no place for Rosie. She deserved a lot better than this office for her first time. I knew rationally that I ought to take her home, but my body was way beyond rational.

  Her body felt electric under my fingertips. She was wearing the same dress that she’d had on the day before, so getting her out of it was easy; I already knew where the zipper was.

  Divesting her of her outer clothing was no challenge, but not falling to my knees when I saw her naked again, was. She truly was the most flawless thing I’d ever seen in my life. I pushed the crap off my desk, not caring where it landed, and laid my suit jacket over it. I wasn’t sure if there was some secret protocol to having sex on a desk, so I was just making things up as I went. Rosie stripped off the rest of her clothes, shivering slightly against the cool, air-conditioned air. I followed suit, adding both our clothing to the nest we were building atop my desk. The throw blanket I brought once when the heater went out was added to the pile.

  Rosie happily hopped up onto the desk and I followed her. I reached for her, greedy now to touch every inch of her naked body. She let out a little satisfied sigh when she felt my weight.

  “Are you sure you want to do this here?” I asked her. She nodded, kissing me back and wearing a determined, sexy smile.

  My fingers went to work between her thighs, seeking and finding heat and slick wetness. She wasn’t as tight as she’d been the night before, perhaps because she trusted me a bit more now, but still far too tight to fuck her. I spent long minutes trying to get her to relax.

  I needed no additional invitation, but I was going to need Rosie’s help for this next part. When I felt like I’d die if we didn’t move forward, I surprised her when I reversed our positions, putting her atop me and holding the swell of her hips with both hands. She was so much smaller than me, and so light that it was easy to do. She made a little squeal of delight when she realized what was happening. I rolled a condom on myself, feeling unreal.