Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set (94 page)

Josh looks a little disgusted at Karen’s explanation, and he nods his head distractedly and glances around as Lucas gets up and heads to the bar for drinks.

“You and the brother seem to be getting along well,” I hear Lee say to Josh once Lucas is out of earshot.

“Yeah. We had a nice talk during the game last Sunday,” Josh answers. “I feel like I know where I stand with him now, and I think we both feel a lot more comfortable with one another.”

“That’s good to hear,” Lee says, and I smile at the exchange. I like the fact that Josh feels more comfortable with Lucas now. They are the two most important men in my life after all.

Lucas returns with drinks for himself and Karen, and we all talk a bit more. Finally, Simon slaps Josh on the shoulder. “Show time, lover boy.”

Josh nods at him and shrugs out of his flannel, handing it to me. “Hang on to that for me,” he says, and I smirk at him.

“Gotta show off the guns for the cameras and all your adoring female fans?”

He frowns slightly at me and then looks into my eyes. “It gets hot up there under the lights, okay? Besides, you know there is only one female fan that I care about.” He kisses my lips swiftly, then stands up and walks to the stage. And as he does, there is a palpable wave of excitement that washes over the crowded bar. Everyone knows the show is about to begin. As Simon takes the mic and thanks everyone for coming out, I watch as Josh picks up his instrument and straps it on.

They start their first number then and the crowd fires right up with the opening strains of “Nothin’ But a Good Time.” With its feel good, party theme, it’s the perfect song to open with, and the fancy guitar work shows off Josh’s ability. Plus, Simon’s charismatic personality really sells it. By the end of the song, the crowd is rocking and they’re just getting started.

After about the third song, Lucas turns to me and says, “Okay, Pita, I am officially impressed. They’re not half bad.”

“Not half bad! They’re fantastic, and you know it,” I shoot back, and he laughs at me.

They play about ten songs, just like last time, and the ladies in the crowd go nuts over Josh, just like before as well. But it doesn’t make me as uncomfortable as it did before. Maybe that’s because this time around, I know how Josh feels about me. He watches me throughout their set and, at one point, he winks at me and I blush. They can drool over him all they want to, but he’s going home with me!

For their last song of the evening, they play one of Josh’s favorites – Aerosmith’s “Shut Up and Dance” – and I can tell that he’s really having fun as I watch him. He and Simon play off of one another a lot onstage, and this song really lends itself to that. And it’s easy to see that they’re enjoying what they’re doing. It’s nice to see this side of him, carefree and having fun. He is so damn adorable, I can’t stand it.

The crowd roars when the song comes to an end and Simon thanks them all once again for coming out. And as the band leaves the stage, Josh is once again accosted by several girls vying for his attention. Some, to my shock and his, even ask for autographs! The look on Josh’s face is priceless, and I can’t tell if he’s more annoyed or embarrassed. I think it’s the latter as his bandmates laugh and give him a hard time, and he reluctantly signs a few slips of paper for a small group of giggling females.

They go away happy once he’s made their day, but he still can’t make his way back to the table for all the ones attempting to proposition him. I watch as he shoots them down, one by one, turning down their offers for a drink or a dance. One of them, a very pretty blonde with lots of curves in all the right places, apparently won’t be let down easy and she keeps subtly blocking his path as she tries to talk her way into buying him a drink. And I can see Josh getting aggravated as I watch.

Taking a deep breath, I stand and make my way over to them. She never sees me coming and I glide right past her and wrap my arms around his waist in a very possessive embrace. “You were awesome, sweetie,” I say looking up at him adoringly.

He smiles and wraps his arm around me, and I think he looks a little grateful. “Thank you, baby.” He leans in and kisses me.

I turn to his admirer then and smile pointedly at her. “Hi.” She looks as if she wants to kill me.
Good thing I’m in a bar full of cops!

“Hi,” she replies with a fake smile of her own then looks from me to Josh.

“Well, it was nice talking to you,” Josh mutters, and we walk back to our table. As we sit down, Josh gives me an appreciative look and he smiles at me. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

“Oh, I was just returning the favor,” I shrug. “You looked like you were in real danger back there.”

“I was. She was scary!” He gives me a mock look of terror and I laugh at him, and then and he leans in and kisses me once more.

Lee and Molly make their way over to the bar after the band’s set is over, and it’s soon just me and Josh and Lucas and Karen at our table. And as we’re talking and enjoying the camaraderie, we are suddenly interrupted by the
Seattle Social’s
intrusive video camera and the paparazzi’s silly questions.

“Detective Pierce, that was some impressive shredding. Ever think about playing professionally?”

Josh glares at him momentarily but, ignores his question, sighing heavily.

“Miss Colby, what do you think of your boyfriend’s ability with the ax?”

“I think he’s fabulous,” I say with a tolerant smile, hoping he’ll go away once he’s gotten a response.

“Mr. Colby, Miss Pope … have you heard the Detective play before? What did you think?”

“I think I’ve allowed you to get your pictures and your video sound bite, and now you can leave peacefully,” Lucas says bluntly as he stares the reporter down. Then he motions slightly to someone over the man’s shoulder and Martin appears out of nowhere, looming menacingly behind the reporter.
Has he been here the whole time?
“Or I can take all that film footage and you can be out of a job in about fifteen minutes. Choice is yours.”

The man lowers his camera immediately, his face flushed in embarrassment as he clears his throat. “Thank you, Mr. Colby,” he smiles nervously. Then he nods at each of us in turn, saying, “Miss Pope, Miss Colby. Detective.”

The man slinks away with his tail between his legs, and Martin fades into the background once more, and we resume our conversation. And in between a few of Josh’s colleagues coming over to meekly ask for Karen’s autograph, we talk and laugh for another hour or so, and it feels really, really good. I love the fact that Josh and Lucas are finding common ground and becoming friends. It means a lot to me. And I get the feeling it’s important to Lee as well because, at one point during the evening, I glance off to my left and I spot Lee watching the scene closely. He smiles when we make eye contact.

“Well, someone has a plane to catch in the morning,” Lucas says finally, glancing at Karen.

“Photo shoot in Ibiza, Spain,” she shrugs.

“Even though I offered her the company jet, which means she could leave much later in the day and not have to get up at the crack of dawn.” His tone is clearly disapproving and she rolls her eyes slightly at him.

“And I told you, I wouldn’t feel right using your company’s jet,” Karen says with exasperation. “I’m sure Lois would just love that one!”

“Okay,” Lucas says with raised hands. “I don’t want to fight about this again. Let’s just go home and get you to bed. We’ve already stayed way too late.” He turns back to me and sighs before he says, “But speaking of Mom…”

“I don’t want to talk about your mother, Lucas,” I say, cutting him off before he can go any further. He’s heard all about my confrontation with Mom by now. And I’m sure he’s heard an earful from her too.

“She’s your mother too, Sam,” he says after a beat. “And I know that what she did was both unbelievable and downright mean. But was it completely unforgivable?”

I gape at him for a moment in shock. “I can’t believe you would ask that question. Especially sitting here in Josh’s company!”

“Sam…” he tries once more.

“No, Lucas!” My voice is practically a yell.

“Come on, baby,” Josh chimes in softly, lightly rubbing my back as he tries to calm me down.

“What?” I say incredulously, turning to look at him. “You’re agreeing with him? After what that woman tried to do to you? To us?”

“Baby,
that woman
is your mother,” he says, looking me in the eye. “And no … I’m not saying that I forgive her, or that I trust her. And I’m not saying that you should trust her either. But you also shouldn’t go carrying around a bunch of bitterness toward her either. Because if you do … it’s only going to start to eat away at your soul. Trust me.”

His expression is full of such sadness, and I know he’s thinking about his own feelings toward his father. The pain in his eyes is difficult to miss, and it makes me sad for him. I take a deep breath and turn back to Lucas, who’s watching us closely.

“I will not go to her,” I say definitively. “I shouldn’t have to; I’m not the one who needs to apologize. I meant what I said to her, Lucas. She is not welcome in my life until she is ready to accept me. Not the me she envisions. But
me.
Now, if she can do that … great. But if not…,” I shrug my shoulders and let that thought dangle in the air, and I feel Josh’s hand lightly rubbing my back once more.

Lucas says nothing but nods his head at me with a small, sad smile. “Well, we should go,” he says, patting Karen on the thigh.

“This was fun,” Karen says, looking at me and Josh.

“It was fun,” Lucas agrees. “I had a great time. Josh, you are a very talented musician. I had no idea.”

“Thanks,” he smiles dismissively.

We all stand then and I hug Lucas tightly. “Thanks for trying to play peacemaker, Lucas. And thanks for coming out. This was such an unexpected surprise and so much fun.”

“I’m glad we came,” he says. “And hey, if you don’t have anything to do tomorrow, the game’s a home one. Josh, why don’t you bring your friend Lee? We’d have a great time.”

Josh smiles at him and I think he’s taken aback. “Thanks. I’ll uh … I’ll think about it. I might take you up on it.”

“I hope you do,” Lucas smiles. “I noticed he’s a Bud man so, I’ll have some on ice, just in case.”

They head out then and Josh turns to me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. “You like my brother,” I tease him in a singsong voice, and he laughs at me and nods.

“Yes, your brother is … growing on me,” he smiles down at me.

“I heard you tell Lee that you and Lucas had a good talk last Sunday?” Josh says nothing but nods at me. “What did you talk about?”

He smiles at me and narrows his eyes, and I know that he doesn’t want to tell me what was said. “You. Me. Your mother.”

Oh.
Perhaps I don’t want to know what was said after all.

“We also talked about your dad.”

“You did?”

He nods again.

“You’re not going to tell me what you said, are you?”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about, baby. Just some things your brother wanted me to know.”

Hmm. I wonder what that could be? But I suppose it really doesn’t matter if the end result is this new friendship between them. That’s all that’s important to me.

“So. Do you want to go to the game tomorrow?” he asks with a raised eyebrow and a smile, and I know that he really wants me to say yes.

“Do you want to go to the game tomorrow?” I ask, teasing again, and he shrugs.

“If you do.”

“You can go without me, you know,” I giggle, and he pouts.

“Be more fun with you.”

He is so cute when he pouts. “Okay,” I agree, leaning in and kissing his lips. “On one condition.”

“What condition?” he frowns.

“You invite Lee and Molly.” He smiles at me and smirks. “You might as well. Lucas is going to have the beer iced down anyway.”

Josh rolls his eyes at me, still smiling.

“Don’t you want to invite him?”

“I would love to invite him,” he answers, looking into my eyes. “I just don’t want to take advantage of your brother’s generosity.”

“But it’s not taking advantage if Lucas told you to invite him.” He thinks about that for a moment and nods, and I take him by the hand and lead him over to where Lee and Molly sit at the bar. Josh pats his shoulder and Lee turns to look at us.

“Hey, you two headed out?”

“Yeah, in a minute,” Josh confirms. “But we wanted to ask what you guys are doing tomorrow?”

“Oh. I don’t think we have any plans tomorrow,” Lee says, looking to Molly for correction, and she shakes her head.

“You guys maybe want to go to the game with us?”

“You scored tickets at this late date?”

“Uh, well no … I don’t have tickets,” Josh says a bit awkwardly. “Sam’s brother just invited us to his suite at the stadium. He told me to bring a friend. You want to go?”

Lee looks a bit stunned for a moment. “Hell yeah. Sure, we’ll go!”

Josh looks almost relieved and I don’t understand what his anxiety is all about. But as I think about it, I suppose it makes a crazy sort of sense. In Josh’s mind, Lee is his father figure, the man he looks up to and seeks approval from – just like any real father/son relationship. So, if Lee were to disapprove of Lucas or my family, it would probably be a very stressful situation for Josh to be in.

We hammer out the details of when and where we’ll meet them tomorrow at the stadium and then say our goodbyes. Then Josh takes my hand and leads me over to the stage and I watch as he packs up his gear. He takes his flannel shirt from me and puts it back on. Then he picks up his amp and his guitar and we head out through the back entrance of the bar.

Chapter Nine

Joshua

I’m turned sideways in my chair, sitting in the briefing room at shift change, waiting for roll call to begin and sort of half listening to the guys chattering around me as I text Sam:

Hey, Sunshine.

Can’t stop thinking

about u this morning.

R u gonna tell me