Fall From Grace (3 page)

“Ah, man, our drinks spilled?  Were they margaritas?  Did you kick their asses?”

Leave it to Lea to think that I should kick someone’s ass over a spilled drink.  I stripped off my wet shirt and put on Shane’s dry one.

“Where did you get a shirt?  Did you come with extra clothes?  Did you go shopping without me?  What the...”

“The singer, Shane, right?  He took off his shirt and gave it to me.”  I cut her off before she asked anymore of her dumb drunk questions.

“Shane gave you the shirt off his back?”  Her expression was sheer confusion.  “Be careful of that one. He’s slippery like a fish.”

I wrapped one arm around her waist and helped her drunk-walk out of the bathroom.  “I think I can safely say that you have nothing to worry about there, because he’s definitely not my type.”

She leaned her head against mine as we exited the bathroom and she giggled.  “Gray, there’s no such thing as your type, that’s for fairytales.  You gotta just hook up with a bunch of wrong guys for a while and have fun.”

I missed her drunken soliloquies.  It hadn’t been the same being so far from her and listening to her being a mother hen to me over the phone.

Conner was obediently standing outside in the hallway and looked beyond relieved when we finally emerged from the bathroom.  He grabbed her and helped her walk over to the table where the rest of the people he was with were sitting.  The crowd in the bar seemed to have thinned out and the stage was empty.  I wondered how long we had been on that bathroom floor.

We sat around the table and Conner gave Lea a bottle of water that she sipped continuously.  Lea politely introduced me to Conner’s friend Tucker.

Conner worked in a large accounting firm; Tucker had just finished law school and he was working in his father’s firm.  The two of them and all the members of the band had known each other since high school.

To confuse me even more, Conner and Tucker were explaining to me that most of them were roommates and they all lived in the same apartment building.  It all sounded like a bad episode of Friends to me.

“Hey, how’d you like the brawl?” a voice called from behind us.

We all turned to see Shane, pulling a chair to the table between Lea and me, with a confused looking blonde who stood next to him.  The blonde looked around and seemed to wonder if she should sit or stand, then decided to sit on his lap and start nibbling on his ear.  He was still shirtless and the blonde had the biggest set of silicone breasts I had ever seen in real life.  They were so enormous, I wanted to see if they’d make a big pop if I poked them with a fork.

“Ugh, Shane, get a kennel for your lapdog. The sounds of her slopping your ear is making me wanna hurl again,” Lea muttered.

The blonde stopped and looked at Lea.  “Jealous much?”

I watched Lea’s knuckles turn white with the force of her grip on the table.  “Yeah, I’m always jealous of Shane’s conquests.  They are the equivalent of a blow up doll with the brains to match.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Blondie snapped.

“See, you just proved my point.”  Lea looked at me and smiled.  “Maybe if we use big words, it will leave?”

I shrugged and laughed.  “Lea, you know you should never have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.”

“Shut up, skanks!  You’re both just jealous.” Blondie yelped, puffing her giant silicone chest out at us.

“Slut,” Lea smiled.

I gave the blonde a serious face.  “Yeah, listen you should really stop now, because I’m betting on the smartest thing that ever could come out of your mouth is a penis.”

Lea lost it and the water she was drinking burst from her mouth and landed all over blonde Amazon breast girl.  She jumped off Shane’s lap and scrambled to her feet.  “Shane! Stick up for me!  She just got me all wet!” she whined and then she stomped her foot like a kid having a tantrum.

Lea and I bumped heads laughing.  I tried not to, but I looked at Shane and he was staring right at me.  I held his gaze.  His eyes were crystal clear blue and breathtaking.  I wasn’t used to seeing people with eyes so piercing.  Usually people mentioned it about my eyes, which were light gray, almost silver.

He smiled at me with what I guessed was the smile he used to make most girls act as if they’d suddenly dropped fifty IQ points. I felt nothing.  Truthfully, I felt bad for the blonde.

The muscles of his chest flexed, but I pretended not to notice it.  He wore his sex appeal like a medal, mentally undressing me.  I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head.  “Hey, thanks for the shirt before.  Would have been cold walking home like that.”

Blondie stomped her foot again to get his attention, but he didn’t seem to notice.  “This is the one you gave your shirt to?  I want a shirt too!”

I looked to Lea and gave her the let’s get outta this bad soap opera signal and stood up.  I turned to blondie and smiled.  “Just think of it like this, I got him half-naked for you already.  Try to enjoy yourself. He looks like someone who has a land mine in his pants.”

“Huh?” She gave me a really confused look.

“You know a land mine; small, hidden, and explodes on contact.”

Shane’s eyes widened for a split second, and then he stood up and leaned against the table blocking my way past.  “So you must be Lea’s best friend, the one she grew up with and talks about all the time, huh?”

“Must be,” I snapped.

His grin became wider.  “Do you have a name?”

“Yes, I do,” I replied, but not telling him.

Lea started laughing at our standoff.  She folded her arms and watched.  “Conner, watch her outwit him, just watch.”  Her slurred words made her sound like a cartoon character.

Shane glared at Lea and back to me and smiled devilishly.  Ice cold eyes.  “I’ll just call you Red then, since I can’t get my mind off that sexy little bra I saw you in before.” His smile lifted up in one corner challenging me.

I leaned in really close to him and slowly lifted my eyes to meet his.  “Why not Lacy?  Or, did you miss out on the soft silk and lace material it was made from? Too bad, you’ll only get to see the color.  You know, if you’re going to be a smart ass you should start with being smart, otherwise, you’re really just an ass.  Enjoy the rest of your night.”

I held my palm up to his face when he tried to talk.  “Please, save your breath, because you might need it to blow up your date later.”  I walked past him and out the front door.

Lea was giggling behind me.  “Gray, I think you made history in there, as the first girl ever not to jump into bed with Shane Maxton after he gave one of his Coochie Award winning smiles.”

Chapter 3

Conner and Tucker walked Lea and me back to our apartment like gentlemen.  The conversation between the four of us never strayed from Shane’s antics of the night or the fact that he paid an interest in me.  The warnings to stay away from him from the two guys made me feel like a sixteen year old.

When we reached our apartment, I wasn’t surprised that Tucker and Conner came inside with us.

Conner draped himself over the couch as if he owned the place, and Lea curled up next to him, moaning about the room spinning.  That left Tucker and me on opposite sides of the couch sitting in our two side chairs.  Tucker leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and hands dangling between them, watching me.

Tucker had a young boyish face - and he was attractive, very attractive.  His dark copper colored hair matched the exact shade of his eyes, which were still staring at me.   “Can’t say I blame Shane though,” he smiled.  “Grace was the prettiest girl in that whole bar.”

“Grace and Lea,” Conner added.

Lea moaned in response and lifted her head.  “Thanks, babe,” she muttered.

Conner turned to look at me and regarded me with a serious expression.  “You should steer clear of Shane, though.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s one of my best friends and I love the guy.  You know, like a brother, but he’s got some major baggage with women and I just don’t think he’ll ever be capable of having more than a quick sexual relationship with a girl.”

Lea snorted and laughed.  “Um, yeah. Well, gentlemen, thank you for all the warning labels you just plastered all over Shane, but there’s definitely nothing to worry about with Grace.  Without a doubt, Shane is not a thought in Grace’s mind; definitely not her type at all.”  She started giggling uncontrollably.  “Although, I think a great one night stand here and there might be good for her, but trust me, boys, Grace is a nut that’ll never be cracked!”  She gave me a wink and stumbled to the bathroom.

I smiled and settled back into my chair more.  It felt comforting that I had Lea in my life.  She knew me; she knew who I really was.  To everyone else, I was just a regular twenty-something; indistinguishable from anyone else, and that’s what I wanted.  No one but Lea and Jacob knew about my past and my secrets.  Now Jake was gone and Lea was the only person in the world who knew who I really was.  I sighed in relief.   “I appreciate the Shane warnings, but I’m really not interested in being a notch on a bedpost, so I’m really not interested in him.”  Like a narcissistic little boy would get under my skin.  I had to be honest though, Shane was insanely attractive, but looks fade and they are just a covering.  Even if the outside of a building looks beautiful and structurally sound, it doesn’t mean that once you step inside, the building wouldn’t be rotten and crumble down around you; crushing you.  I was way beyond that.  I had been broken so many times, no one needed to remind me of getting hurt.  I just smiled and reassured them the existence of the possibility that I was just an ordinary girl.

Lea wobbled back into the room.  “Really.  Like, how much did I drink, and why can’t I get a normal hangover like everyone else?  Why do I have to suffer the puke until you’re sober situation?”  She plopped the bathroom wastebasket on the floor next to her and collapsed back unto the couch.

Conner bolted upright seeing the bucket.  “Sweetie, if you puke in front of me I’m gonna blow too.  I can’t stand the sight of someone vomiting!”  He eyed her nervously.

She rolled her eyes.  “I think I’m good. This is just in case, and you really should be the one that holds my hair back.  That’s the sign of a good boyfriend!”

My eyes wandered up to the clock, and I saw that it was four in the morning. I yawned loudly, and announced, “Well, I’m beat.  I’m going to bed.  Conner, I’m positive that I will be seeing you in the morning, and knowing Lea, many mornings to come,” I smiled.  A bubble of giggles escaped Lea’s lips.  “Tucker, it was nice to meet you.”

Tucker stood up when I did, which I thought was sweet.  “Good night, Grace.”

I think I fell asleep on the walk to my room, because the next thing I knew, it was two o’clock the next afternoon and I was still wearing Shane’s shirt.  The subtle scent of him still lingered on it causing me to jump out of my bed thinking he was there with me.

Chapter 4

I heard Lea’s laughter in the kitchen and smelled the fresh aroma of dark brewing coffee.  My mouth watered.  I had missed Lea’s muddy strong coffee.

I still had my heels on. So I slipped out of them, changed my jeans for a pair of boy shorts and just left Shane’s shirt on. Then I walked out into the hallway and into the bathroom.  I wondered if Conner was still here.  Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I walked out of my room to run into one of Lea’s friends.  I laughed remembering the time one of them tried to jump in the shower with me.  The poor guy didn’t know what hit him, but the way he screamed like a girl, made Lea and me both laugh for days.  I could tell that Conner was different for Lea though, she was serious about him.  As long as he didn’t try to bathe with me, I figured he was golden.

I floated into the kitchen, grabbed a mug, filled it with coffee and turned around to find Shane leaning up against the sink, watching me.  He ran his hand through his mass of sweaty hair and wiped his forehead with the tee shirt he had hanging around his neck.  He wore nothing else except a pair of black running pants and sneakers.

Conner came into the kitchen dressed the same way.  Apparently, they went jogging together every day, Conner was explaining to me, but I was too distracted by the sight of Shane to listen.  He was ridiculous to look at; every single muscle on his body was clearly defined.  The only word that popped in my mind was delicious.

Shane cocked his head and gave me a sideways smile.  His eyes were the lightest shade of blue I’d ever seen. They were intense and alarming.  They reminded me of something from long ago.  “Red, you still have my shirt on.”  His voice was low and raspy, wrapping itself around me.  I could understand perfectly how any girl could fall for him; he was dangerously beautiful.

Embarrassment spiked through my veins.  I was standing in front of him with his shirt still on and a pair of tiny boy shorts.  I saw him smiling and appraising me.  There was no way I could let this man know how he affected me.  There’s no way, I could let any man affect me, period.

His eyes continued to sweep over my legs, and I could swear that everywhere his eyes locked on me, I could feel a slight touch.  I kept my gaze steady on his eyes until he locked back onto mine.  An alarmingly gorgeous half-smile stared back at me.

“Would you like it back right now?” I asked daringly.

Conner had stopped talking at some point during our conversation, but neither Shane nor I noticed when.  I only noticed Shane’s slight forward movement at the thought of me returning his shirt at that moment.  Like I would fall into his trap and take my shirt off for him.