Falling Stars (52 page)

"It
was here that I spoke for the first time after my mother's death." He
whispered, sitting side by side on the piano bench.

"Because
of Gwen?" I tapped a few keys. The sound carried around the silence.

"Yeah."
He sighed. "She seemed to be in here playing a lot when I first arrived. Drawn
out of my room by the music, I would sit over there and listen." He
pointed to a window seat in the far corner of the room. "Then one day when
she finished a particular song," he began to play. I assumed it was the
song he was referring. "I said,
again
." He chuckled lightly. "I
still remember the look on her face when I spoke." He chuckled again and
stopped playing. "After that she coaxed me closer and closer to the piano,
until she got me to play."

I
leaned my head on his shoulder as he started playing again. One deep breath
filled my senses with him. Listening to him play confirmed the truth. He could
relate or connect to me in some way he never had with anyone else. The only
thing that had the same affect was music. I grasped onto that fact as
reassurance we could make this work.

We
tried to do things around Seattle, but the paparazzi had gotten wind that we
were around and together. They first appeared when we exited a restaurant one
afternoon. It was expected, but when the questions and flashes started to go
off it was as if I forgot how to deal with all of it.

"Is
it true that you're living together?" "Are you getting married?"
"Mia, are you aware of the other girls Chris is associated with?" "Mia,
are you pregnant?"

It
took everything in me to keep myself composed after the pregnancy question.
Chris wrapped me up in his arms and hurried us through the crowd. One cameraman
was a little too forward. He jumped in front of us and I stumbled. Chris caught
me before I fell, but I couldn't stop him from reacting.

"You
idiot," He screamed. "You almost knocked her down," he growled.

"Give
us a picture man." The guy ignored Chris's anger.

"It's
okay Chris, just calm down." I grabbed his shoulder.

He
shrugged off my hand, grabbed the camera from in front of the guys face, and
smashed it to the ground.

"Chris!"
I grabbed his arm. The cameraman backed away quickly.

"You
are going to pay for that man." The guy threatened. "You all saw what
he just did."

A
couple of reporters mumbled in agreement, but there were a few telling the guy
he'd caused the whole thing.

Chris
quickly shoved me into his car and drove off. We were silent the ride back.
When we entered the house, Nicholas called out for Chris.

"What?"
His tone still clipped.

"Would
you care to explain to me why I am getting calls about you damaging someone's
personal property?"

"He
almost knocked Mia over, what did you expect me to do?" Chris argued.

"Calm
down," I spoke in a hushed tone.

"No,
I won't calm down," he snapped at me before turning back to Nicholas. "I
was trying to protect her."

"You
didn't have to destroy his camera Christopher. Now we have a lawsuit to deal
with." Nicholas was undoubtedly frustrated, but he was controlling his
anger. Christopher on the other hand was explosive. "Not to mention what
the press will do with this."

"Just
pay for the fucking camera and he will get over it."

"It's
not that simple and you know it." Nicholas stood from his desk. "The
bigger issue is your temper. You need to get it under control." Nicholas
rubbed his neck. "Have you called Dr. J yet?"

"Yes,"
he growled. "I talked with him over the phone this morning."

"Did
you schedule a session?"

Chris
scowled.

"Why
the fuck are you starting this again?"

"Because
you need to see your therapist and deal with your anger issues."

"I'll
deal with it." Chris snapped and pulled me from the room.

We
stayed two more days and at the end of the week, we went back to Whidbey
Island.

The
drive back was as quiet as the drive there. I slept most of the way and when I
wasn't sleeping, I was thinking about Christopher's actions with the
photographer. It had started to throw up new red flags. When we got back to my house,
I decided to speak to him about it.

"Chris?"

"Yeah,"
he mumbled into my side. We were lying in bed about to fall asleep.

"I
think that you should go back to Seattle."

His
head popped up from my side. He looked at me with confusion and fear. He opened
his mouth to argue.

"Let
me finish." I stopped him. "I think you should go back and set up
some time to see Dr. J."

His
face hardened.

"You
want me to leave?"

"Come
on, you know you were out of line with the photographer and it's pretty damn
obvious you have trouble with your temper." I placed my hand on the side
of his face.

"I'm
fine," he growled.

"No
you are not –"

"I'm.
Fine." He settled back in to my side. That was the end of the discussion.
He didn't want to listen.

Christmas
came quickly. There was four feet of snow outside and it was downright frigid.
Two days before Christmas Eve, we went to watch Ryan in his preschool
production of the manger scene. Then we spent Christmas Eve at John and Linda's
house where Serena and I grew up. Christopher examined so many photos and went
through my bedroom thoroughly. Making sure to tease me about my boy band
posters I had from that phase in my youth. Christmas morning we were all woke
up before seven in the morning by a screaming Ryan.

"Santa
was here!! Santa Claus came!!!" he ran up and down the halls and the steps
until we were all dragging ourselves into the living room so he could open
gifts. Elliott seemed to be having as much fun as Ryan.

"Oh
check this out," Elliott would
ohh
and
awe
with Ryan.

"Do
we have batteries for this?" Elliott looked to Serena with real worry.

"Yes,
we have batteries." Serena pulled out a shoebox full of them. Both Elliott
and Ryan's faces lit up like it was another present.

Ry
had gotten so much stuff I thought we were going to have to put an addition on
the house just for toys.

Laney
got Jackson a leather jacket and another gift he wouldn't take out of the box.
His smile indicated that it was for a more private time. Jackson got Laney a
million gift cards to go shopping and he also got her a membership for a spa in
Seattle.

Elliott
got Serena a diamond necklace that she thought was too much. Serena got Elliott
the complete 'rock band' video game and accessories along with a whisper of
another gift later. Elliott smiled so wide I thought his cheeks would split to
his ears. He scooped her up and put her in his lap as he helped Ryan get the
remote control robot out of its box and filled with batteries.

Christopher
slipped a small box onto my lap as I sat between his legs, my back against his
chest.

"Christopher
we agreed not to buy each other anything," I grumbled.

"I
didn't," he shrugged. "I already had it."

I
bit my lip and opened the small package. After the paper was off it, I saw the
small leather square ring box. I was about to scowl at him again, but he spoke
first.

"It's
not what you're thinking so don't panic." He kissed behind my ear and ran
his nose down the back of my neck.

Opening
the box, I saw a small silver ring with a green stone. It was simple and
beautiful.

"It's
beautiful Christopher, but –"

"It
was my mothers," he held on to me tighter. "I want you to have it,
please."

I
chewed on my lip for a moment before turning my head and kissing his cheek.

"Thank
you," I said closing the box. He grabbed the box quickly before I could
set it down and took the ring out, placing it on my right ring finger.

"I
want you to wear it." He almost sounded childlike. I turned my body from
my waist up and kissed him. I turned back around and he handed me another
square package.

"Christopher…"

"It's
for the….baby," he said quickly.

Feeling
my heart rate increase, I opened the package and found a CD. The cover read 'A
Lullaby'. I turned sideways now and looked at him.

"I...um…wrote
the song for the baby," he rubbed the back of his head. "It's just on
the piano and it's just an instrumental." He shrugged it off. I didn't
think my heart could handle what he had done.

"Don't
shrug it off." I ordered. He looked worried for a moment. "It's the
most beautiful thing I have ever been given." I took a breath to calm myself
from attacking him on the couch. I put my hand on the side of his face. "Honestly,
the most beautiful."

"No.
That would be you and…" he placed his hand on my stomach. Tears slipped
from my lids. He wiped them away and kissed me gently.

New
Years came just as quick as Christmas; however, by New Years photographers had
finally found our house and stalked the outside on a regular basis. We knew it
was coming, but still you can't help but hope it won't.

Leaving
in our own cars was no longer an option, unless we wanted followed. Now we had
two black cars with dark tinted windows that we shared use. They were similar
looking so we could use one as a decoy when necessary.

The
group separated for New Years. Laney and Jackson flew to New York to appear on
the MTV countdown in Time Square. Kat disappeared without too much detail to
her plans. Jimmy, apparently, met a girl and was spending a lot of time with
her.

Serena,
Elliott, Ryan, Chris, and I stayed home for a quiet and relaxing New Year. Ry
fell asleep before eleven, so after they put him to bed Chris and I decided to
let them have some alone time. Serena and Elliott rang in the New Year with
pizza and beer, while my New Year rang in with an orgasmic explosion.

The
Sunday after New Years we received an unexpected knock on our door. Serena
answered and screamed at the top of her lungs. I stood up and watched our old
neighborhood friends enter the house.

"Oh
my God!"

Christopher
stiffened next to me. He quickly stood and wrapped his arms around me. I turned
to him.

"We
all grew up together." I smiled and patted Christopher's chest excitedly. "He’s
been in Afghanistan for almost a year." I pushed away from him to greet our
guests.

"Mia,"
Jace, Sean’s best friend opened his arms. It had been so long since I’d seen
him.

"Jace,"
I hugged him tightly. "I can't believe it!"

Laney
ran into the room and jumped on him. Kat soon followed.

"Holy
shit! Look what the dog drug in!" Kat laughed loudly as she ran to hug him
as well.

Jace
was surrounded by us and laughing. I reached up to hug him one more time. This
time when I did, Jace leaned down and kissed me on the side of my mouth. It
wasn't romantic.

Chris
didn't know that. And the next thing I knew Christopher roared.

"Don't
touch her!" Everything seemed to go in slow motion when Christopher's fist
hit Jace's face, Jace fell back, and then regrouped enough to attack
Christopher.

"Christopher!"
"Jace!" "Stop!" My shouts ignored.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

"Christopher!"
"Jace!" "Stop!"

She
screamed, but I couldn't stop. The fury raging within me pushed me into the red
zone. All I wanted was to kill him for touching her.

My
jaw clicked when his fist connected. The minute I got my balance back, I threw
my body weight onto him, sending him onto his back. Straddling him, his arms
crossed over his face, I let my fists fly repeatedly into his face making a
connection to his nose.

"Get
the fuck off me!" He tried to push me off, but there was no way the red
haze would allow that.

"Get
off of him!" A familiar voice screamed and then hands on tugged on my
upper arms. Shrugging the hands off, I continued my assault.

"Stop!
Christopher, Stop!" The hands returned with the scream and pulled harder.
Then bigger, stronger hands grabbed me and yanked me off him. I tried to lunge
again.

"Don't
ever touch her!" My hands couldn't reach him, but my warning could.

Sean
and another guy grabbed him before he could lunge in my direction. Elliott and
Jackson held tightly to my arms and shoulders. Then there was Mia.

"Stop!"
"Both of you, Stop!" Tears streamed down her flushed face.
Immediately I stopped struggling Elliott and moved to her.

"Mia…"
I couldn't finish when I saw the look on her face. I froze at the pain and
anger on her face and in her beautiful eyes.