Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set (93 page)

“I still want breakfast. No place is serving breakfast anymore.It’s lunchtime now.” I’m still pouting and he leans over and kisses me.

“Don’t pout. It’s too adorable,” he says kissing me again.

“You pouted.”

“Yeah, but I’m not as cute as you are,” he smiles at me. “Okay, let’s get a shower and get you some breakfast.”

“Where are we going to get breakfast at this time of the day?”

He laughs at me. “Never heard of IHOP?”

“Well, yeah … I’ve heard of it. I think. But I’ve never been there.”

“You’ve never been to an IHOP!” He sounds as if he can’t believe what he’s hearing and I bite my bottom lip as I shake my head slowly. He chuckles softly. “Well, you’re in for a treat. Get up!”

*****

“This is the greatest place ever,” I exclaim finishing off my plate of blueberry pancakes, and Josh smiles at me.

“Well, you have eaten enough for a lumberjack today,” he says glancing down at the table at the empty plates. “Guess you worked up an appetite somehow this morning.”

“Hmm, I can’t imagine how that happened,” I say with a smile, and he grins at me. “Besides, my omelet came with pancakes. I had to eat them!”

“Mm hm. Well, what do you say we go for a walk and try to work some of it off?”

“Okay. But try to keep up!”

He smiles broadly at me. “You are a little spitfire today!”

He pays the bill and we leave the restaurant, climbing into my car and heading for Discovery Park once again. I watch him as he drives, admiring the contours of his handsome face. He really is incredibly good-looking. And I can’t help but think about the pictures I’ve seen of his dad. Danny Pierce. It’s easy for me to understand how Olivia found him so attractive. On the surface, he was gorgeous … just like Josh. Same thick, wavy dark hair and bright, piercing blue eyes. The same sculptured lips and chiseled features. And from the pictures at least, he seemed to have a similar height and build as well. If that’s the case, I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for her when he was angry and coming at her.
Yikes!

That thought makes me slightly queasy. I can’t imagine how horrifying it must be to find yourself in that sort of situation. Being attacked by a stranger is one thing, and not something I ever want to experience again. But being attacked by someone you love … repeatedly. I just don’t understand how a person lives that way. And I don’t understand how a person can claim to love you and then terrorize you like that. Maybe I’m just young and naïve but, I don’t get it at all.

I’m still thinking about it as we park the car and get out. We begin our walk hand in hand, and I’m tempted to ask him about the things on my mind but, we’ve had such a great day and I don’t want to upset him. But I have so many questions about his dad, so many things that I’m curious about. I don’t think he’d get angry at me for asking, the way he used to. Not now that I know the whole story about his dad’s death. But knowing him the way I do … I believe my questions would upset him and ruin the lighthearted mood he’s in.

“You’re very quiet.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my mind, I guess,” I say softly.

“Thinking about your show?”

I smile up at him, not really wanting to lie. But I don’t want to admit I was thinking about his dad either. So I say nothing and let him assume he’s correct.

“You’ve got nothing to be nervous about, Sam. People are going to love your work, baby. You are so talented.”

“And you are so very sweet,” I smile up at him and he wraps his arm around me and kisses my forehead, and I slip my hand into his back pocket.

We walk for quite a while and we talk then about the band and about going to the bar tonight. We talk about last night’s poker game and he fills me in on all the details that I missed, like the fact that Lee informed them last night that he’s looking to retire within the next two years. Josh seems sort of saddened at that news and I smile at him.

“It’s not like he’ll be retiring from you,” I say softly.

“Yeah, I know. It’ll be weird though … not having him at the station every day.”

“But you can still spend as much time with him as you like. You’ll never get rid of him,” I say with a smile. “He loves you; you’re the son he never had! He couldn’t brag about you more if you were his own flesh and blood.”

Josh laughs at my words, but I know it makes him feel good. “Yeah, I know.” He grows quiet for a moment and then says softly, “There have been many times in my life when I wished he really was my dad.”

Oh, Josh!
I have no idea what to say to that. So, I say nothing and just tighten my hold around his waist.

By the time we finish our walk and return home, it’s late afternoon and I am slightly exhausted. I kick off my shoes and stretch out on the bed as Josh goes straight to the closet to pull something out for tonight. And I watch as he grows a little aggravated with my luggage blocking the closet door. And once he moves the suitcases out of the way and gets the door open, he is met with a large block of my clothing squished in among his things. It’s not a new phenomenon; it didn’t happen overnight. The problem has been growing steadily worse since I arrived. His closet simply isn’t big enough for the both of us, and neither is his chest of drawers. He’s cleared out the bottom drawer for me and stuffed the items he took out of it into another drawer that he now must struggle to open and close. The bottom drawer now houses all of my underwear, nighties and socks. I bite my bottom lip as I watch Josh’s frustration grow.

“Baby … you know, I was thinking it might be a good idea if we put your things in the closet in the weight room. Give us both more room that way,” he says glancing back at me.

“Um … yeah, we could do that,” I say slowly, frowning at him.

“You don’t like that idea?” he says, studying my face.

“Well, it’s just … I mean, it’s a good idea but … well, it sort of smells like sweat in there.”

He smiles slowly at me. “It smells like sweat?” I say nothing and nod my head at him, and he laughs at me. “Okay. So, maybe we’ll move
my
things to the weight room. What do you think?”

“You would do that?” I ask quietly, looking up at him.

“Well, we can’t keep doing this for much longer,” he answers, gesturing back at the packed closet.

“Well, maybe the realtor I emailed will come through with something and we won’t have to move anything into the weight room. Which reminds me, I should probably check my email but, I don’t feel like it right now,” I say with a yawn. “I think I might finish that nap we started before.”

He smiles at me. “Too much activity this morning, Miss Colby?” he asks, abandoning the overstuffed closet and setting his gun down on the bedside table.

I can’t help giggling at him. “Well, I was held against my will and used as a love slave this morning.”

“Held against your will?” he says, sounding surprised, and I giggle some more. “You are not going to try to use that false argument again, are you?”

We get undressed and he lies down with me, making sure to set the alarm so that he’s not late, and we curl up and take a nap together, and it feels so good just being in his arms. I drift off with the most complete feeling of happiness. And when we wake a couple of hours later, I feel refreshed and ready to face the evening.

We hop into the shower, knowing that we don’t have time to dillydally around. But he’s just so beautiful, I can’t stop myself from running my soapy hands all over his muscular back as he washes his hair. He finishes rinsing the shampoo out and turns to me with a sexy grin. Then he bends and softly kisses my lips.

“You know we don’t have time for that, baby.” I pout as he trades places with me and I stand under the fall of water, letting the flow wash over me and rinse away the soap.

We dress in a comfortable silence as I pull on my gray leggings and a matching gray tank top. Going to the closet, I pull out one of Josh’s flannel shirts with a gray and white checkered pattern and put it on over my tank top, buttoning it only about halfway up and rolling up the sleeves. Then I add a belt at my waist, making a dress out of his shirt. I pull out my Christian Louboutin gray suede booties to complete my look and hurry off to address my hair.

I get out my hair dryer from the linen closet, where it’s been living next to Josh’s, and I finger through my hair as I gently blow it dry, scrunching it as I go. The result is a crinkly, wavy sort of look and I like it. A little mascara and lip gloss and I’m ready.

I head back into the bedroom just as Josh is tying his boots. He looks yummier than usual, dressed in a pair of older, dark blue jeans that are ripped at the left thigh, and a sleeveless royal blue t-shirt that hugs his frame and brings out his eyes. I watch as he slips his gun into the holster at his back and shrugs on a blue and white checkered flannel shirt.

“Ready?” he asks me, and I nod. He walks toward me, looking me over appraisingly and smiles. “Nice shirt.”

“Oh, you like this?” I ask, looking down at my attire. “It’s my boyfriend’s.” His smile grows bigger as I turn and head out of the room and down the hall. I wait as he loads his guitar into its case. Then he picks up his amp, and we head out the front door. He loads his gear into the back of the truck and carefully covers it with a tarp, then he opens my door and I climb in.

We get to the bar around 8:30 and I sit next to the stage and watch as the band sets up and does a quick sound check. Then they huddle and go over the set list for several minutes. By the time they finish with their pre-show routine, it’s around 9:30 and Josh comes off the stage and holds his hand out to me. I stand, taking his hand and he leads me over to the end of the bar – exactly where I saw him two weeks ago, the first time I came here – with the rest of his bandmates. This must be part of their normal routine, to gather here at the end of the bar and fellowship before time to go on.

“Everyone, this is my girlfriend. Samantha.” He lets go of my hand and wraps his arm around my waist, and I am loving the small hint of pride I hear in his voice as he calls me his girlfriend.
Yes!

“Hi Samantha!” It’s said practically in unison as they all greet me warmly.

He introduces me to each of his bandmates plus the singer’s girlfriend and the drummer’s wife. So many names to keep straight, but everyone seems very friendly and welcoming. And I really enjoy watching Josh with his friends. He is relaxed and funny and they all seem to really get along well with one another. They talk about problem songs, and they hammer out a time to get together next week for a rehearsal. Then Butler brings up something that was said at last night’s poker game, something having to do with a work concern, and they spend several minutes talking about that. As I listen, my eyes roam around the bar and I can see that it is quickly filling up with patrons. Everyone eager to hear Off Duty Blue, no doubt.

“Can I get you a beer or a spritzer, baby?” Josh asks, lightly squeezing me to his side to get my attention.

“Um, just a beer, please,” I answer, smiling up at him. He walks away then and as I watch after him, I am tapped on the shoulder.

“Good evening, lovely Samantha,” Lee says cordially, smiling at me.

“Hi! How are you?” I hug him warmly and he introduces me to his wife, Molly.
More new people!
And I realize that this is the way it should have been the first time I was here. Meeting all of Josh’s friends, openly and honestly. But, of course, that wasn’t possible then. Tonight is going to play out very differently.

Josh returns then with a Corona for me and a bottle of water for himself, and as we stand and talk to Lee and Molly at the end of the bar, I suddenly hear Josh say, “Oh, my God. They just let
anybody
into this place now!” I look up to find out who he’s referring to and I’m shocked to see my brother standing next to us. He laughs at Josh’s comment and then reaches out to shake his hand.

“Hey, I have been asked to leave better places than this, my friend!” Lucas smiles as they shake. “I’ve never been thrown out but, I have been asked very politely to leave.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Josh responds with a smile. “What the hell are you doing here, man? Sam didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“That’s because Sam didn’t know either,” I speak up as I move to hug Karen. “I’m shocked!”

“Well, we kept hearing about this band, so we thought we’d come check it out. Hope you’re ready to be heckled,” he smiles at Josh, who shakes his head and rolls his eyes at him.

“Lucas, this is Lee Parson and his wife, Molly. Close friends of Josh’s. This is my brother, Lucas and his fiancée, Karen.” There are handshakes all around and some polite small talk and then I notice an empty table near the stage.

“We should probably grab a table, it’s going to be standing room only soon,” I say.

“Yeah, is it always like this?” Lucas asks.

“Most nights, it’s busy. And on nights the band plays, it is packed,” Lee speaks up as we all move toward the table. “But I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it quite this crazy before. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“I think I do,” I mutter distractedly as my gaze lights on the
Seattle Social
cameraman standing in the corner. “It’s the damn tabloids,” I say with dismay as we take our seats. “They followed us here. For all we know, they’ve been following us all day!”

“Maybe not, Sam,” Lucas replies. “They could very well have followed me and Karen here.”

“Well, whoever they followed here … still doesn’t explain all these people,” Josh says, looking around in wonder at the overcrowded bar. And he’s right. I thought the place was packed the first night I came here but, this is incredible.

“Oh, sure it does,” Karen speaks up with authority. “You two have been all over the tabloids for the past two weeks, and the press shows no signs of stopping. For whatever reason, the paparazzi love you; you’re their new favorite ‘it’ couple! Like it or not, you’re something of a celebrity now, Josh, and the ladies have obviously come out to prove it,” she says, glancing around at all of the women in the full-to-capacity bar.