Falling Stars (28 page)

"It's
okay, baby, I love you." Her warm lips pressed to the top of my head.

"Please
don't leave.”

"Mom?"
"Mom!"

She
was gone.

Waking
with a shudder, this was not the nightmares. This was different.

"Uh…Christopher?"
Mia's quiet voice coaxed my damp eyes to look to her.

Our
faces were closer than I expected. Blinking a couple of times, I focused on her
biting her lip. She was so close, right there. Shit. I had her pinned against
me.

"I'm
sorry." Gasping the words out quickly, I let go of her.

She
half smiled.

"It's
okay," she was still chewing her lip and looking at me confused.

"What?
I said I was sorry." The words held more venom than I intended. I guess
old habits die-hard.

"Yeah,
I know. Uh…did you have a nightmare?" Her nerves painted every crease
lining her brow.

"No."

Waiting
for the questions to begin, they never did. Surrendering, I looked over. She
had rolled to her other side and pulled the covers over her head. She never
does what I expect.

Looking
over to the clock beside the bed, it was only five in the morning and I was wide-awake.
It's probably pointless to try to get back to sleep, it will never happen now.
The bad will just follow.

Thinking
over the new dream I couldn't understand, I tried to make sense of how I was
feeling. This wasn't followed with the usually feelings of terror and guilt.
Neither of those emotions surfaced, nor did the rage that usually accompanied.
My thinking and dream analysis distracted me enough I fell back to sleep.

Waking
up this time, a familiar soft warm scent surrounded me. It was intoxicating.
Stretching my arms up, I put my hands behind my head. Looking at the ceiling
for a few minutes, I took in how great I felt. Glancing at the clock once
again, it read after eleven in the morning. I hadn't slept in like this in
forever. Hell I can't tell you the last time I slept this long.

A
stirring motion brought me out of my reverie. Looking down, I saw Mia curled up
next to me almost buried into my side.  The position made her face was
available for me to gaze at her. Pale skin on her round face, full flesh tone
lips, and even with her eyes closed, you could tell they were large and framed
by thick dark lashes. Again, she entranced me.

Lying
there, I watched her sleep until she whimpered and groaned. Biting back
laughter at her lack of desire to wake up, she stretched out as a cat does and
halted my humor when her hand landed right into my face.

"Oww!"
Pulling my face back, I checked my nose.

"Oh
shit!" she rolled over quickly and sat up looking at me in horror. The
laughter resurfaced from the look on her face. She looked petrified and it was
hilarious. I couldn't contain it.

"Are
you okay?" she huffed, "It's not funny."

I
laughed harder and she started laughing too.

"I'm"
laugh "so" laugh "sorry" laugh, "I swear!" She
covered her mouth.

"It's
fine," Gasping I tried to catch my breath.

"No,
I shouldn't be laughing. I'm sorry. I didn't expect to be so close to you."
She bit her bottom lip.

It
was time to admit it. The lip biting was starting to become one of my favorite
things to watch her do. She definitely had a habit with that lip.

"I'm
fine," I said again. Shaking off my current train of thought, I sat up. "What
a way to wake up huh?" Looking at her, I ran my hand through my disheveled
hair and rubbed the back of my neck.

"I
really am sorry, I didn't mean to do that or to wake you up like that,"
she was looking at me apologetically.

"You
didn't wake me." After the words came out, I wanted to take them back. I
watched her expression go to confusion. "I mean, I'd just woken up before
you, but hadn't gotten up yet."

She
nodded.

We
both got out of the bed. My eyes followed her toward her bathroom.

*
* * * *

I
was a complete ass! I hit him in the face. While I had desired to hit him a
multitude of times over the past weeks, I was still horrified. In my bathroom,
I waited to hear my room door shut before jumping into the shower. Prayed the
hot water would wash away my humiliation, it didn't work.

Drying
off and getting dressed I stepped out to where Kat and Serena were sitting. Kat
had her guitar and Serena had her sticks in her hands.

"The
dead have risen!" Serena used her best southern preacher voice.

"Hardy
– Har – Har!" Grabbing a bagel and some orange juice, I looked around the
room. "Where is Laney?"

"Getting
dressed." Kat strummed her guitar.

"What
time do we have to take off?" With the fullness of my mouth, I would be
surprised if anyone understood me.

"That's
disgusting." Laney emerged from her room looking at me with her face
crinkled up. I opened my mouth to show her all of my food. "Jesus Mia, can
you try to be a lady for a second."

I
snorted, "Um…no."

Before
Laney could say anything else, Una walked into our room with Xander and Tonya
flanking her. Kat huffed when her eyes landed on Tonya. I fought back my laugh.
Tonya glared at her and Kat quickly gave her the finger. A snort escaped this
time.

"Good
morning," Una sang stepping into the middle of the room. "Everyone
sleep well?"

We
nodded.

"Good,"
she paused "Well let's get going. You have to rehearse and Mia you need to
do one more rehearsal with Christopher, then we plan to go live with the
performance in Chicago. My father's here to observe the rehearsal and give his
approval."

Nerves
began to flame up all over my body, knowing Richard would be sitting in the
rehearsals. There was an instant lump gurgling in the pit of my stomach. We
followed Una to our car.

Richard
greeted as soon as we go to our dressing room. My stomach knotted. It wasn't
the first time he'd heard us play and it wasn't the first time I'd met him.
Still I couldn't shake my nerves.

"Good
afternoon ladies, you all look well." He smiled brightly, his eyes
lingering on Kat.

Once
in position on stage, I looked back to the girls, they winked and smiled
encouragement. Serena tapped it out and then we started our rehearsal. Letting
the music take over, I became the other Mia; stage Mia. We couldn't have been
happier with our rehearsal and Richard seemed please. He gave us a standing
ovation.

Walking
offstage the choreographer grabbed me.

"Mia
did you forget you have to rehearse with Christopher?"

"No,"
I shook my head. "I was going to grab some water and wash the sweat off my
face. Can I get ten minutes?" I pleaded.

"Ok,
but hurry. Stage changeover will be done soon." She shouted at my quickly
retreating figure.

Back
on stage, Christopher was taking his position. I took my place off to the side.
The music started, the lights dropped, and Christopher began to sing. He must
have been really stepping up his game with Richard watching because he seemed
completely absorbed in the performance.

When
I reached his side this time he turned to me. That was new. I began my part and
headed toward the front of the stage, Christopher following. Turning to each
other, there was the intensity again, only stronger.

Two
different people began to perform with each other. Drawn toward each other, we
sang and got much closer than we had before. When the chorus picked up again
his arm slid possessively around my waist. Looking directly into my eyes, he
sang.

The
blue flames in his eyes became too much. I had to break away before I exploded
just from his eyes. With the last chorus, I turned back to the empty seats. His
arm didn't release me as easily this time.

"Amazing!"
Richard stood. "Absolutely amazing!" He approached the stage. "Christopher,
you wrote this?"

"Um…yeah,
but Mia worked on it with me for a couple of weeks."

"Fabulous."
Richard breathed out. "You have such chemistry together, it's perfect."

"So,
Da-Richard, what do you think about Chicago?" Una appeared on Richard's
side.

"I
think you should get it all worked out and start it," he turned away from
Una, back to Christopher. "Christopher, come, talk with me" he motioned
for Christopher to come.

Hesitantly,
he released my waist. Confused, I walked backstage to get ready for the night.

We
were almost ready to go out on stage when Richard appeared in our dressing
room. Standing upon his entrance, we greeted him. He walked to each of us
taking our hands one by one, though he seemed to linger on Kat, again.

"I
just wanted to wish you a great performance tonight," he looked at all of
us, stopping again on Kat. "I'll be watching tonight from the box and am
extremely excited." He backed out of our dressing room.

Giving
Kat a questioning look, she simply shrugged. Shortly after his departure, the
stage assistant came back to bring us out to the stage. The concert began.

We
were dragging our asses back to the hotel. The night had been intense and I
decided soaking in the tub would calm me down.

The
audience had been so receptive and was now singing along with a couple of our
songs. It was such an amazing feeling when you could see the words you wrote on
a crowd's lips.

A
knock on the door interrupted my hot water relaxation.

"I'm
in the tub." I groaned.

Serena
appeared in the doorway looking down on me with skepticism.

"What?"
I spit out.

"You
have a visitor," she raised her eyebrow.

"Oh,"
I bit my lip. "I didn't realize it was that late. Just send him in, but
shut the bathroom door. I'll get out and dressed." She just stood looking
at me. "Please?"

She
scoffed and then took a deep breath through her nose.

"Fine,"
she growled.

"Thank
you," I said overly sweet. "You're the best sister ever."

"Yeah,
yeah, yeah," she grumbled, closing the door.

Climbing
out of the tub, I dried off. Looking around I realized I had only brought my
underwear in here with me.

"Shit!"
I said aloud at my own stupidity.

"Uh…"

Damn
it, he heard me
. My face warmed with my embarrassment.

"Are
you okay?"

"Yeah,
I, um….yeah, I'm fine." Slipping into my underwear, I grabbed the robe off
the back of the door.

Opening
the door, I went to my large duffle bag. Locating my last set of pajamas clean
– short shorts and a cami. I groaned.
Nice
.

Looking
around, I found a t-shirt and sniffed it. Even though wrinkled, it didn’t smell.
Shrugging, I figured I could throw it on instead of the cami. Christopher's
eyes were on me as I went back to the bathroom to get dressed.

Once
dressed, I brushed my teeth and hair. Turning off the lights along the way, I
made my way to bed. Climbing under my covers, his breathing gave away that he
was still awake. I pulled the covers over my head.

Falling
asleep was difficult. Restlessness twitched in my limbs. No matter how
exhausted I was. Christopher's breathing even out he had fallen asleep.
Lucky
bastard.

Shifting
to lie on my stomach, I hoped the new position would help me. It was working.
The tension in my muscles slackened, my mind began to drift off, and as soon as
dreamland approached, a hand landed on my ass.

Chapter
Fifteen

Surprise
stilled me for a moment. Listening closer to his breathing, he was asleep.
Slowly reaching down, I picked his hand up and dropped it back to his side. As
I was reaching behind me, he shifted and pressed against my side firmly. The
hand I was trying to move slipped from my grip as he slid his arm around my
waist. Wiggling around I tried to relieve some of his weight. Holy crap he was
heavy.

While
wiggling, his hand met bare skin and I froze. My body pulsated from his touch.
Biting my lip to silent the groan on my lips, I shifted again and finally could
breathe again. Christopher's weight no longer felt crushing and, thankfully, he
hadn't woken up.

Still,
I couldn't sleep, my mind and body were too aware of his touch and of his
closeness. Irritation pricked at me. There was no way I was going to let him
cause this reaction from me. Stealthily slipping out from under his arm, I
decided I was thirsty and went to the refrigerator under the bar. Mid swallow, the
suite door opening startled me. Kat came into the room.

"Where
were you young lady?" Choking on the water as I spoke, Kat still jumped.