Saving Grace (22 page)

Frustrated beyond any relief, I watched him walk away down the block
from the window
. Lea was next to me laughing, "Is it totally gross that I didn't want to stop you guys because I actually wa
nt
ed to watch
him in action
?"

"
Ew
, Lea."

"Damn. Should have kept that to myself," she quipped. "So where the heck have you guys been?"

"He took me to dinner.
Why
did
Shane just leave?"

Lea walked into the kitchen and poured me a glass of wine
, I followed with trembling thighs
.
"Last time
Vixen4
were in New York for a show, they got kicked out of the hotel they were staying in
,
one of the venues they played banned them
and all four were arrested
. I don't know the whole story, but Conner says they've all been friends since high school and the guys promised to keep
an
eye on them if they ever played here again."

I sipped my wine and squeezed my thighs tight. How the hell am I going to get through this night when I can still physically feel Shane's hands on me? Please God, let him come back.

He never made it back.

I called him around ten o'clock that night but his phone rang twice then went to voicemail. I didn't leave a message, because I knew how phones worked, he saw that I was calling and clicked ignore.
The thought pissed me off, and it made my stomach feel funny, so I just pulled my covers over my head and fell asleep.

I woke up at eight o'clock the next morni
ng tangled in my bed sheets
and
gasping for air.
A terrible feeling churned
in the pit of my stomach
as
nightmares
(or maybe they were real)
of Gabriel's whispering
dark words seeped into my heart
.
An oppressive gloominess hovered over me and I could do nothing to shake the dread that engulfed me.
I shower
ed
, dress
ed, slu
ng my guitar over my shoulder
and walked out the door without looking at myself in the mirror
. The feeling in the pit of my stomach got worse as I got closer to the studio and not being able to handle the new strange
feeling,
I decided to stop and get coffee for everyone
so I could have a minute to clear my head. Maybe I was just nervous
about facing
him after what almost happened last night and the night before. And, uh, what I was hoping was going to happen tonight.

No, it couldn't be that. He wanted it just as much as I did, there was no awkwardness about it, it felt like it had to happen or my body would just not work correctly ever again.

Still,
my legs trembled as I
held onto the brown paper bag
of coffee and made my way to Shane
's building. The city streets we
re
crowded with people making their
way to work, not one person
meeting my eyes, just walking around an invisible mass on the sidewalk along with them. Everything felt surreal, a bit too bright and oddly out of sorts.

I opened the lobby door with my index finger, balancing the coffees and my guitar at the same time. I walked silently through the empty lobby, down the steps to the basement and through the silent hallways to the studio. It was
dark inside like no one had been there yet. I switched on the light and the room brightened.
The clock on the wall read 8:59
.

Everybody must still be asleep upstairs. For some reason that thought sent the but
terflies in my stomach to roll
and thrash against my insides
,
and not in a good way.
They sense
d
somethi
ng wa
s wrong.

I t
ook
all the coffees out of the bag and place
d
them on the small table up against the back wall. Pulling the strap of my guitar case over my head and opening it, I took my guitar out and leaned it up against the couch. The clock on the wall read 9:03. These boys were never late.

I walk
ed
back through the hallway and up the stair
s
to the first floor and knock
ed
on the door to Shane's apartment.
A very tired looking Ethan opened
the door. "
Mmmhhhh
," he moaned
and scratched the top of his head, then cringed like it hurt him to do so
.

I was stunned when I looked past him and my stomach completely dropped
, I swear
,
if I looked down I was afraid I'd see my guts splattered all over my feet
. Usually
the apartment that Shane shared with Ethan and Conner was pristine. You would think that they would live in a shithole because they're three single guys, but no. There were never any couches with the stuffing vomiting to the floor, no half naked
schoolgirl
posters, empty beer cans or pizza boxes.
That was Tucker
,
Brayden
and Alex's apartment; complete with an enormous bowl of condoms on the coffee table, all in different colors.

Shane's apartment looked just like Tucker's on its worst day. Bottle
s
of alcoho
l were strewn all over
, some empty and some that had spilled dark liquid onto the beautiful beige carpet.
A lacy neon pink bra
rotated slowly on
a
broken blade of the ceiling fan over the dining room table.
A dining room table that now stood lopsided on three legs
with
a few sleeping bodies
that
lay underneath
.
They could ver
y well have been dead
bodie
s;
I had no clue
yet
.

My heart is pumping overtime when I hear Shane's deep raspy voice and I see him walking down the hallway pulling a shirt over his bare chest with a gorgeous dark haired girl walking behind him.
She was
,
um, not wearing much a
t all
, just a pair of
red lace
panties
.
Just panties
, NO TOP
!
A wave of heat flushed through my entire body and my pulse s
ped up even faster. I just stoo
d there, at the front door, paralyzed like a damn fool.
I wanted to scream at
him, to shout, and throw myself on the floor.
How could he?
I wanted to just disappear, just sink into the alcohol stained carpet and never see his flawless face again.

Shane's eyes flicker
ed
toward me standing
at the door and his expression wa
s tight and unreadable. But, not mine.
No, not mine,
I could feel my mouth hanging open and
the tears stung my eyes
as if
they were made of fire. And
right there
, standing there
,
DYING,
I realize
d
I had never truly been introduced to Sha
ne Maxton, had
I? This one, standing there, leading a barely dressed girl out of his bedroom, or whatever room they came from, as he dressed to go to band practice with
me
, that's the real Shane. The one who was standing in his living room with a tired and bothered expression across his face staring at me,
as if
I intruded, that's the real Shane. The one who had me wait for him to come back to my bedroom last night so I could hand him
my everything
, but was too busy
in
someone else to come.
Oh, Grace...
I need you like I need to breathe
,
blah, blah, blah
. Yeah
,
right!
I wanted to throw one of the full bottles of liquor at him that was near my fee
t
and smash some sense into him
.

I tried
my best to stare blankly i
n his direction, pretending I didn't give a shit. But I felt like the walls we
re closing in on me and I
struggled
for air.

I had my soul mate taken away from me. I have spent centuries looking for him living the horrible senseless lives of pathetic p
eople. I find my soul mate
;
lose him again. Get taken by a psychotic Gabriel who wants to make me his, and in my last life of this existence
,
Shane Maxton breaks my heart before I could even tell him he could
have it. Wow. Just wow.
Unfrea
king
believable.

I clench my teeth and squint my eyes so the tears do
n't finish forming.
Forget him! W
ho's next?
He shouldn't matter to me.
It was just
Shane;
it was bound to happen, right?
But it did matter, because it was Shane, and
he
was the only one to ma
k
e me forget
.
"I got coffee for everyone dow
nstairs if practice is still on,
"
I croaked.

Alex climbed
out from behind the couch at this point wearing a pair of
black boxers with a giant yellow smiley face on the front. "Ah, Grace my love, you always have the most perfect things coming from your lips. Lead me to the coffee."

Alex stumbled past me in his boxers and down the hall to the staircase.
Ethan followed him.
I smiled, lips trembling, and went to leave
with them. Then Shane's hands we
re grabbing on to me and pulling me back inside to him, digging his
fingers
desperately
into my flesh. His touch seared
me and I flinch
ed
. The girl
st
rutted
past us slowly and bit
her lower lip looking from me to Shane. "
Let me know if you find my bra, sweetie. I'll round up the girls and we'll me
et
you in the studio in a bit."

Shane's eyes widened at her and then they met mine. The girl swayed her
half-naked
ass back down the hallway, giggling. I can't help but watch her walk away. I feel little and insignificant.
Heartbroken.
But my ass was definitely a lot nicer than hers and I pitied
, no
,
hated
Shane for picking the wrong girl. "
Dam
n,
Shane
,
did you cho
os
e the wrong girl last night," I whispered.

"Grace, don't. Don't even think any of your stupid shit about me. The only person I wanted to be with last night was you. It's always you."

Slowly
,
I trailed my eyes away from the sight of her ass and back to Shane.
"Sure, Shane. Whatever you say.
It's not like I don't know how you are Shane, so please don't mistake me for stupid.
" I yanked my body away from him and
smiled sweetly
. "I'm going into the studio to practice. I'll see you whenever you get there."
I wal
ked off down the hallway
with
tears
welling in my eyes, "Remember I brought you boys coffee," I called nonchalantly.

I swiped at my eyes before I stepped into the studio. Ethan and Alex sat hunched over their coffees. Ethan looked up with a curious expression when I walked. "Hey, you okay
,
Grace?"

"Yep.
Fanfrea
kingawesome
!"

Ethan cocked his head. "
Your eyes are all red and y
ou seem a bit pissed."

I
glared at him.
"Nope. Just peachy.
Wonderfrea
kingful
."

Alex laughed, "Why do you keep talking like that?"

"NOTHINGISFREA
KINGWRONG!"

That shut them both up. I grabbed my coffee and gulped
it down. It burned
my freaking tongue. How was it possible that it was still burning hot was beyond me. Must be the shit-ass luck of my life.