We performed all the Mad World songs we practiced until Shane put his hand on the small of my back and whispered into his mic, “Let’s introduce them to Janis.”
Something in the tone of his whisper made my knees weak. I could almost picture Janis by my side with her haunting laugh. Come on, she called to me.
I slid up against him, our backs touching and his body quivered in tune with mine. Leaning my head against his shoulder, my hair washing over him, our eyes latched on to each other’s. Changing her words, I sung to him.
Oh, Come on, Come on, Come on, Come on!
Don't I make you feel, Shane, like you are the only man,
And don't I give you nearly everything that I possibly can?
Baby, you know I do!
All the time I tell myself that I, well I think I've had enough of you, Shane,
But I'm gonna show you that a woman like me can be tough.
I want you to come on, and just take it,
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby,
I watched as my words showered over his body; he sang back to me, eyes blazing.
The set ended in a riot of noise and applause. Shane bounced off the stage, but instead of emerging himself in an army of girls, he turned and reached both his hands out for me jump down. Without a second of hesitation or a thought in my head, I dove into his arms. His strong arms caught me, cradling me like a baby and kissed me on the cheek. The lines of friendship completely blurred out of focus as I scanned his flawless face. What am I doing? Is one night worth it? Not in any lifetime.
“That was...intense. I think I need a drink,” I breathed.
“Yeah, well, I need another ice cold shower. Tequila?” he asked.
I glided out of his embrace and nodded vigorously. I gave him a little friendly jab in the arm, “I’m sure in a few minutes any one of these girls will cure you of your need for a cold shower,” I teased. I needed him to walk away and go find some meaningless one-night stand so I could remember what kind of man Shane really was.
He didn’t respond to my statement, only tightened his smile and escorted me through the screaming crowd to the bar. Lea was the first to meet us there and she hugged me tightly, lifting me off the ground. “Oh. My. God! You guys rocked!” She held me closer and whispered in my ear, “Was that as hot as it looked?”
I leaned my head back, bit my lip and nodded a yes. We fell over each other giggling.
Conner grabbed me up next in a bear hug. He reminded me so much of Jacob. “Thanks for helping my friends out.”
Then after that, everyone just started hugging everyone. Brayden hugged me awkwardly around the neck like I had a contagious disease, Ethan hugged me and swung me around like a five year old, and Alex desperately tried to grab me by the waist with his casts. I playfully shoved him in the chest, telling him I was afraid he’d hurt himself by hugging me and he placed a kiss on my cheek. “Thanks for taking my place, Grace. I can’t wait to take these things off and play beside you!” he said holding up his casts.
“Yeah, well just don’t go and get yourself arrested again. What’s going on with that, anyway?”
His face turned red. “Yeah, I know I’m an idiot. I shouldn’t have gotten involved, but he roughs her up, Grace. You’re not supposed to hurt girls like that, you know.”
I nodded my head at him.
“My court date is in three months, they released me on my own recognizance. I’m sure everything will be fine. Tucker and his father are pretty slick lawyers. His dad spun a great story about me coming to her rescue. Which is sorta true, it was just a day or two after the jerk beat up Cara.”
Behind the bar, Ryan lined up the shot glasses and set out salt, lemons and limes. An onslaught of beautiful girls surrounded us, and our conversation ended when Alex noticed them. Tucker and his work buddies also walked over to take advantage of the crowd of ladies that was forming.
With the swam of busty bimbos bombarding us, I felt claustrophobic. Lea seemed to feel it too and she yanked Conner and me out of the middle of the crush of bodies. She elbowed me hard in the ribs and pointed to the far end of the bar. Shane.
He stood alone, leaning his elbows back against the bar. A bottle of tequila stood beside him with a single shot glass. His hair was tousled, messy and incredibly sexy. His dark tee shirt was tight and a tad raised from the way he was leaning. A perfectly toned stomach peeked out. He looked like a Greek god. A Greek god whose eyes were glued on me.
A dark haired girl slithered up to him and brushed a piece of hair from his forehead, blocking his view of me. They spoke for a few seconds and I watched his head shake and the girl walked away. My guess was that she was ugly, but when she turned around to walk off, I saw that she wasn’t. Another girl followed in her wake, a platinum blonde this time. She also walked away with a rejected look on her face.
Lea gripped my arm and nodded towards Shane, “What do you think that’s about?”
I shrugged and looked to Conner for an answer.
Conner’s eyes squinted. “Maybe he realizes that he wouldn’t be allowed to take someone back to your apartment, since that’s where he says we’re staying until that nut is caught.” Now, that made sense.
Lea eyed me. “Nah, I don’t think that’s it at all. I think he’s got it bad for his new guitarist. Did you see them up there, Conner?”
“No way,” I said. “I like Conner’s explanation much more than yours. It’s much safer for everyone involved!”
The three of us walked over to him. He reached over the bar and pulled up three more shot glasses. He slid them over the bar to us and reached over the bar again for the salt shaker and a handful of limes on a napkin.
The four of us each salted the back of our hands, took a shot and popped a lime in our mouths. Lea pinched my waist and patted me on the shoulder. She pushed Conner away from us and started a private conversation with him in whispers. Giggling to each other, they walked off a bit down the bar to be more alone.
I knew exactly what she was up to; she wanted me to be alone with Shane. Nice best friend, throwing me to the sharks.
Shane poured me another shot and gently took hold of my hand. He stuck his pinky into my shot glass, slid his wet finger over the back of my hand, and then salted it. I watched his hands on mine. This is going to go from bad to holy crap in a minute. My eyes rose to meet his. I licked the back of my hand and tilted back my drink.
“I bet you make that taste like heaven,” he said.
I placed my glass back on the bar and looked down at it. I turned back to him, tilting my head up, our faces so close. “Shane, I watched you before. You didn’t have to say no to those girls because you think you have to stay with me tonight. You don’t have to stay over to babysit me instead of doing your usual thing.”
His face paled. “That’s what you think?” He turned around to face me; shifting his body closer to mine. He blinked back a sullen look.
My cheeks burned. “It’s what Conner said when he saw you standing here letting those girls walk away from you.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Is that what you think?”
“I didn’t think about it at all. I just don’t want you to do something you don’t really need or want to do.”
Shane leaned in closer, our cheeks brushed against each other. His breath tickled in my ear, “Funny thing is, Grace, needing and wanting is exactly what I am doing. And, just for the record, it is not those girls I need or want.”
Without saying another word to me, he delicately took my arm and sprinkled a small pinch of salt on the soft skin of my inner wrist. He raised my arm to his mouth and I watched him lightly press his tongue against my skin, skimming it across the surface. My breath caught. He downed his tequila and squeezed the lime into his mouth, smiling. Oh. My. God. “God, Grace. You do taste like heaven,” he whispered breathlessly.
&nbs
p; I felt a delicious heat rise all over my body. “I think I should go home now. I’m...really...tired.” I whirled around and practically ran towards the bathroom. I had no idea where Conner and Lea had gone. They were probably headed home already. I just needed to splash cold water on my face.
“Then I’m going too,” he yelled after me.
I pushed through the crowds of people and ran into the back hallway. I headed for the women’s room, but hesitated when I touched the handle of the door. Dread crept over my body. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, eradicating all of the burning desperate hunger Shane’s touch invoked. Of course, I opened it and walked in anyway. I am in a bad horror movie.
The only window in the bathroom was wide open, and a fine layer of snow covered the tiled floor. I scanned the room. I heard a soft movement in the one stall that was closed.
“Are you really stupid enough to believe, Gabriel? Do you really believe after thousands of years, all the lifetimes, he’ll get his little human prize?” a voice growled.
The door slowly swung open. My heart thudded to a stop.
Looking intensely at me was Carl Sumpton, or at least Carl Sumpton’s body staring at me though ancient blue eyes. His hands clung to the sides of the stall as if he needed the help to stand.
“No human has eyes the color of an angel, who are you?” I whispered.
“Shamsiel always did say you were a smart one,” he hissed. His body tried to step closer to me, but it only managed to slump back and fall against the toilet. Its flesh was transparent and bluish. The skin around its eyes was bruised and swollen; its cheeks were sunken in.
“It looks to me like that body is about to send your soul elsewhere, who are you? I’ve never heard of an angel who shared the same punishment as me.”
The body trembled, taking great pains to continue breathing life through it. “Azazel, child, and my punishment was far worse than yours, and I’ve grown too tired of the burning fires of hell,” it coughed. A fine trickle of deep red blood spilled from the corner of its mouth.
I lurched forward, grabbing his face in my hands, searching his eyes. Blood splattered on my arms. “A Grigori? One of the Watchers? That Azazel? Where is Shamsiel? I’ve been in hell here searching for him!”
“You will never find him. I won’t let him get what the rest of us can’t have. Do you really think, child, that we could possibly be forgiven? We have fallen, and there are no second chances. And I sure as hell won’t let him get what I can’t have, when his sin was no better than mine.”
“We did nothing wrong. Our only crime was in loving each other. You, the rest of you, you’re the ones that created the Nephilim! You’re the ones that tore the earth apart and helped bring chaos down. You taught the humans war! Shamsiel and I were children; all we did was fall in love. He never even touched me, but for one kiss!”
“Child,” he cooed. “He was thrown into the abyss with the rest of us. Do you really believe with a punishment of that magnitude he’d still want the love of a human?” he sneered. “Besides, do you think he knows you still exist here?”
I stepped back, wiping the blood from my hands on his shirt. “Why are you trying to kill me?”
The body convulsed. “You’re the only one,” it seethed. The body collapsed in on itself and stilled. I was the only one of what?
Someone in the hallway knocked on the door to come in. I stood above the dead body, confused and needing a hell of a lot more answers then what I was just given.
I didn’t want to be found in the bathroom with Carl Sumpton’s body, so I hoisted myself up to the open window and jumped into the alleyway below. Thank God, the bar was on the first floor or I would have broken a few bones. I ran through the darkness trying to carefully step in places where I’d leave no footprints in the snow. There seemed to be enough garbage and crap strewn throughout the alley to make that possible.
My mind ran in circles. Why in the world was Azazel around? Wasn’t he stuck in some supernatural prison somewhere? I was the only one of what? And really why was the freaking place on my arm that Shane licked still making me tingle and giddy like kid in a toy store? I needed to talk to Gabriel.
I ran to the apartment, praying in my mind that Gabriel would be there waiting.
I could hear Conner and Lea murmuring and giggling in the living room when I opened the front door. I locked the deadbolt behind me, which echoed a loud click throughout the apartment; silencing their sounds. I quickly walked through the hallway without stopping to speak to them.
“Gray?” Lea called out.
“Yep, just me. I’m beat. I’m calling it a night. Goodnight, guys!” I called back as I closed my door. My room was empty.
I leaned my forehead on the hard wood of the door. Tears stung at my eyes, but I blinked them back. I pressed my hands against the door and spread my fingers across the grain of the wood. I felt the coarse grooves, ran my fingers over the knotty uneven surface of it. My head spun. Shamsiel. Would I truly never see him again? Azazel? What would he get out of killing me, and how would he, when I’d only be thrown into another body? Gabriel? Could I trust him? He was one of the angels who helped to destroy the Nephilim and helped bind the fallen ones to their prisons. Last one? Am I the last of the human souls? I thought it was just me, I hadn’t known any of the others were punished along with me. I thought they were destroyed along with the Nephilim. Shane? Why did I keep thinking about him when he had nothing to do with any of this?
Someone started banging at the front door. Shane. Voices raised; footsteps thundered down the hallway.
I heard the floor boards creak on the other side of my door. I could hear his breath, “Grace...” Then something hard thumped against the door right above my head. I pictured Shane in the same position as me with our faces almost touching but for the inch of wood between us.
“Grace. Please let me in. I’m...sorry.”
I lifted my head and walked away. There was way too much...intensity, too much tension between us; this body was not capable of handling Shane. He’d probably eat me alive. Unfortunately, that sounded so very delicious to me.
I heard his foot kick the door and his body slide down to the floor. “I’m sleeping on the floor then. Right here.” His head thumped against my door again. “Oh. Man. This is so comfortable, Grace. Really. Very.” His sarcastic tone made the butterflies in my belly flip around again. There was no meanness to his voice. It was raspy and silky and somehow made all the crazy thoughts in my head blur and only focus on him.
I walked to the window and pushed the curtain aside. The walkway below was pristine white and glistening. I clicked off my ceiling light and clicked on my bedside lamp. I rummaged through my drawers and found my tank top-boy shorts sleepwear. Pulling off my rock goddess outfit and pulling on my sleepwear, I wished I could wash my makeup off in the bathroom.
From out in the hallway I heard some rustling. Maybe he was leaving? A few bumps and curses. Laughing at the noise, I settled myself under my covers and closed my eyes.
Shane cleared his throat, kicked at my door again and the sound of my guitar filled the room. I sat straight up in my bed. Those beautiful caged butterflies were thrashing their delicate wings against my harsh dark insides. Every single thought of Azazel’s visit flew from my mind, each note embracing a thought and hiding it in the darkness.
Shane played a slow melody I had never heard before. Its beginning was low and wistful, transforming into a passionate yearning melody. His awe-inspiring voice hummed along with the tune, whispered words tickled against my ears.
I opened the door.
Shane stood in the hallway, eyes wide, devouring me with his stare. The music faded or stopped, I had no clue. I focused my eyes on my guitar, my divine instrument in his hands.
He pulled the strap over his head and carried the guitar into my room, closing the door behind him.
“Plea
se, look at me, Grace.”
Sliding the guitar out of his hands, he leaned it against the wall. My eyes stayed on the instrument.
“Grace, please look at me.” He stepped closer to me, blocking me from staring at the guitar. So I stared blankly at his crotch, or where the guitar was located behind his crotch.
I couldn’t even say how he got so close to me. I hadn’t noticed his movements. I tried not to even notice him, but there he was so close that I felt the heat from his body. He touched my chin with his hand and I finally lifted my eyes to his.
“Grace...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”
I suddenly felt the cool wall press up against my back. I hadn’t known I was backing away from him, but I leaned against it for moral support. And, just like he’d done twice before, he rested his forehead against mine.
“Tell me. Tell me, Grace, that you don’t feel this. Please. Tell me and I will walk right out of here.” He touched his lips to my jaw; his words were hot on my skin. My heart skidded in my chest. No reasonable thoughts came to my mind, only the warm sensation of his lips moving gently down my neck.
He pressed his body against mine, one hand slowly sliding down to my waist, tracing his fingertips along my skin.
“Talk to me, Grace, please,” he begged pulling back.
My body moved with him. I placed my hands on his chest and grasped his shirt in my fists.
His hand tightened on my waist and with his other, he twisted fingers through my hair. “Grace...One kiss, please. Let me taste you,” he pleaded, pushing his body harder against mine.
A small moan escaped from my lips. “Shane...” I stood on my tiptoes and brushed my lips past his. Both of us hesitated, breathing in each other.
“Say my name again,” he begged, as he slid his hand down my hips and pulled my leg up around him. My body ached, pounded, and spasmed; I was almost delirious.