Saving Grace (29 page)

"Holy shit,
you'
r
e in love with him
," she whispered.

I stared back at her, not blinking and definitely not denying her words.

She cleared her throat and a wickedly devilish smile spread on her lips, "Then you'll definitely need to wear the new outfits I bought us today."

I giggled, "Yeah, why is that?" I asked reaching for the first bag.

"Because,
then
Shane's not going to even know any other girls exist when he sees you tonight."

The first thing I pulled out of the bag was a sheer tank top and matching panties.
Holy see-through undies!
I, um, tried it own right away and gawked at myself in the mirror.
Did Lea shop at a
n adult
porn store
?

Sheer
naughtiness sparked in her eyes when we heard Shane call my name and knock on my door. She nodded her head and whispered, "Open it. Let him take a peek at you in that outfit before he goes to the bar." She pushed me towards the door (like I needed to be pushed, I practically jumped in front of it!) "Believe me
,
no girl will ever be able to erase the memory of you wearing that!"

Lea wrapped herself in her robe and pretended to busy herself in my closet. I swung the door open and seductively leaned against it. The ultimate badass looked like he was having a heart attack.
Shane's eyes glossed over and his lips parted. His gaze looked frantically over my body like he needed to see every part of me all at once.
H
e
sucked his breathe in and bit down on his bottom lip.
I walked out
into the hallway
with the tiny sheer tank top on and strutted past him. I knew exactly what I was
doing;
I had no bra on, and the man bit his bottom lip
harder
looking at me like his next meal was being served. My fingers brushed along his as
I walked
past
and a burst of prickly heat spread across my shoulders and chest.
I didn't yank my hand back and neither did he
,
we just watched each other
. His eyes were so intense my body trembled. "I was just getting dressed, what did you want?" I whispered.

Shane's eyes traveled slowly down my face and my neck, settling on my breasts. He squeezed his eyes shut
tight and took a long deep breath. When he opened them again his eyes were so dilated, I could see no more blue. "I was going to run home to change and meet up with you guys at the bar," his breath was low and husky. "Damn, Grace. I have never seen anyone as beautiful as you. You're beyond exquisite.
You're perfect
."

I knew damn well that this man probably held a
PhD
in complimenting women, and had major practice making every girl feel desirable, but God forgive me for being weak, the pleasure of his words surged through my flesh.

I leaned in closer to him and smiled, "Okay, I'll see you there."

"Please don't wear that shirt to the bar," he begged.

I closed the door smiling at him, "See you at the bar, Shane."

I leaned up against the closed door panting. Lea ran over to me giggling, "Holy crap, Grace! You are a PORN STAR!
" She jumped up and down, "He is so yours! Oh, my God what are you going to do?"

A loud thump slammed against the door and I knew Shane just whacked his forehead against the wood. We heard him growl and storm down the hallway yelling for Conner
not
to let me out of the apartment if he could still see my
goods
when I was done dressing.

Lea giggled and threw herself on my bed, "What are you going to do?"

"I think
I'm about to press my self destruct button
," I laughed.

L
ea
smiled, "You know
,
Grace, I don't care what you think and what you say. I don't think anything happened between him and Bliss and we know he didn't do anything with Marie. I think that
man doesn't see anybody but you.
" She folded her hands on her lap and her eyes softened,
"You
know, t
hat's the fairy-tale I'd write for
yo
u,
Grace.
You and Shane
.
One hot rock star badass and one beautiful rock star badass with a happily ever after.
"

I walked past my closet laugh
ing at her romantic thoughts. From the opening of the door a
cold
breeze washed along my arms and Gabriel's
dark voice whispered into my ear, "Oh Grace my love, don't forget my part in the fairy-tale. I'll be the character that slaughters all your friends and captures your heart.
The End
."

From Lea's goodie bags
,
I chose a small ripped up denim skirt that hung low on my hips
,
and a deep purple halter top that tied into a knot behind my neck and along the small of my back keeping my whole back completely bare. Thank
God,
it was skin tight to hold me in because there was no wearing a bra with a shirt like that. I was terrified to look at myself in the mirror thinking the outfit would be way too slutty, but it looked elegant
, especially when my wavy hair cascaded down around me to my waist like a fancy silky black shawl.

"I hate you," Lea teased fixing her long dark blonde hair like mine. I thought she looked even better than me.
She wore almost the same ou
tfit as I did,
but a darker den
im skirt and a crimson red top. S
he looked
stunning.

By the time we finished putting on our make-up
,
Conner was waiting by the front door with three gigantic umbrellas, lightning brightened the sky through the open door behind him. Venturing out into the rain
,
I
took a deep breath of the moist
city air and my butterflies woke up. I loved when it rained in the city, the
smell of the grass and trees from
Central Park hung thick in the air and the hint of the first wildflowers of spring tickled my nose. We walked to Boozer's silently, all three of us knowing all too well that an entire night with Vixen4 was going to be the longest night of our lives. Thank God I could go home anytime I wanted to,
and hopefully not alone
. But I wasn't
stupid,
this was the last night Vixen4 was going to be in New York.
They were continuing their year-
long
tour in all the major cities of the U.S. and I knew Bliss was going to try her best to keep
Shane and me
away from each other
all night
and all to herself. The thought
of his hands on some other girl,
especially Bliss
, made the vomit rise to my throat.

Outside of Boozer's
,
a line of people getting soaking wet wrapped around the block
while
music spilled out of the front doors. Marty the front door bouncer
waved us in and
patted
Lea
and I
on the ass as we
w
alked past. "Looking good ladies
," he called.
Ew
.
I swear Conner just laughed.

Brayden
and Alex sat at our usual table and Conner walked over to them while Lea and I went right to the bar.

Ryan saunte
red over and slid us
two cold beers. He leaned over the bar and planted a kiss on my cheek. "You two look amazing," he said.

"Thanks
Ry
," we both said at the same time.
He laughed and walk
ed away to make drinks for the r
est of the patrons
. Lea and I turned aro
und leaning on the bar and looked
out into the crowd.

"Wow, Boozer's hasn't been this packed since the last time you played. Business really slowed down for them while you were in the hospital and Shane was away."

I listened to her talk as I watched a spiked-hair browned eyed guy try to make eye contact with me. He smiled when he finally caught my attention and pushed his way through the crowd to co
me over to me. "Holy Playgirl Batman! Do you
ever
attract normal looking guys? Damn, if Shane sees this guy talking to you he's going to flip," Lea whispered to me.

"Huh? What are you even thinking right now? Like I'm the type of person to forget about someone I'm in love with and let a guy pick me up in a..." I stared at Lea. "Wait a second. You know something and you're not telling
me
and holy crap
,
I just said I loved Shane out loud." I brought my beer to my lips and gulped.
Very
un-
lady-like, I know
.

She smiled at the
oncoming
stud and hissed, "I told you, I really
think
Shane is in love with you."

"
Think
or
know
," I
tightly
smiled back
,
butterflies
wreaking havoc
along my insides.

Spiked-haired stud
leaned
against the bar
and
smiled down at me with twinkling eyes
. He looked
at me from head to toe
smirking and then said
hello to my chest. I'm not
lying
,
he tal
ked right
to my chest and didn't look back up
.
God where is Shane?

Almost like he could
feel
my thoughts of him, Shane walked through the crowd but stilled when he saw
me. I smile
d
at him and his body relaxed.

Th
e man standing next to me lowered
his face to my
chest;
again,
I'm
not lying, and said
, "Hi, I'm Luke."

I glared at him. "Are you actually hoping my boobs are going to talk back to you? Do you t
hink they'll tell you my name
?"

Lea laughed so hard she spit
her
beer across the bar
,
and it did
n't even faze me because it's not the first time
that's
happened
.

"I...uh...I," Luke stammered
still staring at my chest
.
"Fuck, I'm sorry," he said finally looking into my eyes. "It's just that you're really hot and my friends bet me that I wouldn't be able to stick my tongue down your throat
and I, fuck, I shouldn't have said that. Sorry, I'm really drunk and you're really hot."

"Are you related to Tucker
Bel
v
i
by any chance?" I laughed.

"Huh?" he said eyes on my chest again. "No, never heard of the guy, so can I buy you a drink?"

Then Shane was in between us moving Luke with his index finger away from me. "Move away. Now," he said.

"I was just trying to..." Luke stammered.

"Mine," Shane said. "Move away."

HIS?
Oh, I am so yours Shane Maxton.

Luke raised both his hands into the air in surrender, "Sorry
,
dude. I didn't mean any
disrespect;
your girl's really hot." Then he stumbled away.

Shane's eyes met mine again. Something lingered behind the blue, something hidden and dangerous and made me want to get in all sorts of trouble. My pulse raced and all I wanted to do was reach out and touch him.

"Shane!" a voice screeched. Bliss shoved her body between
us, moved really close to him,
and grabbed both his arms
. "
Babe,
I need you right now!" she said pulling him away.

I tore my eyes off his and they locked onto Bliss's bloodshot ones. She held my stare and smirked, then l
icked her tongue over her lips
seductively.

His raspy chuckle wrapped around me, "I'll be right back."
Insane t
houghts of tackling
Bliss
to the ground crossed my mind as I watched her drag him in
to
the back
hallway.
Oh. My. God
. It's like he just punched me hard in the gut.
Why would
he
just leave with her? Why did he just call me
HIS
, look at me like he wanted to devour me and then
LEAVE TO GO INTO THE BACK ROOM WITH THAT THING?